The first in our Conversations series with creative changemakers!I was so thrilled to chat with Vimla Sharma and discover more about her life, from growing up in Nairobi, Ayurvedic medicine and wise elders and also being taught massage from her mother, along with her 7 brothers and sisters.Vimi is open about her personal life events, including devastating griefs that she has experienced and a recent breast cancer diagnosis. She takes us on a journey through homeopathy, craniosacral therapy, Grief Recovery, her Shamanic path in Peru, the Sea, the Universe, the Divine ...and so much more...I felt honoured to listen to Vimi and share this hour with her and I hope you enjoy the episode too. Vimi is currently in the process of gently beginning her business again, of work centred around trauma resolution and if you would like to contact her, please email her at - vimladsharma.gmail.comThe conversation starts at 2 mins 35 seconds in.Wonderful takeaways:The wisdom of Ayurvedic medicine and tribal elders from a childhood in Nairobi.Massage skills passed down through the generations to Vimi, and her own children.'If you're ever unhappy and you don't know what to do with your life, you always have your hands' - Vimi's mother's words.Meeting a homeopath and inner knowing - 'I will do this! And then I let go. The secret is, you kind of have to let go of the outcome'.Living as a series of 'mini deaths' along the way, as well as the literal.How trauma shapes our lives.'I realised I was always looking outside of myself for home.''The Universe really colludes with you when the time is right - it is about Divine timing.'Innate wisdom and Knowing, beyond book learning. 'We are infinite Beings, infinite space'.'I really always have had this innate knowing that everything is going to be ok.'On grief: 'The sea understood me, the sea never judged me...I felt that the sea was holding me, was nurturing me and I had to learn to be really gentle and kind to myself because I realised that I was my harshest critic.'The beauty and honour of craniosacral therapy - working in the sacredness... and the metaphor of the sea, tides and flow.'I've had to go through the fear. I've made peace with the grief.''Somatically, we can a dialogue with it...and then release' - on our blocks.'This is your work, take it to the West' - on the Shamanic Path in Peru.'We have to remember who we are, we are children of the sun.'Sevika - 'Servant of God' - Vimi's spiritual name as given by Mooji - beautiful spirtual teacher/pointer.The Grief Recovery Method - an action programme that's also being taken into schools - about moving beyond loss.'All the work I do is around trauma resolution, in a nutshell.''We are here to shine our light. We have to show our magnificence.''I can choose the path of going down the fear route, or I have a choice, and I can choose the love path.''This is my way of serving the whole.'Contact Vimla on Vimladsharma@gmail.com ..................................................................................................................................................Please see more artwork, articles and info at www.rowenascotney.com Music by Podington Bear www.soundofpicture.com - 'Wavy Glass'Episode Support the show

‘Do you look behind what’s visible? Do you go a step further?’Anja Kersten is an inspiring writer, performer and filmmaker with a huge amount of creative offerings full of wonder, depth and intrigue for a magic world.It was fantastic to have a conversation on topics ranging from sensitivity, imagination, curiosity, wonder, improvisation, courage, authenticity and more...This is the second in our Conversations series with creative changemakers and I hope you enjoy the episode as much as I did. Thank you Anja!The conversation starts at 3 mins 18 seconds in & there's a short musical interlude at 20 mins 44 secs.Wonderful takeaways:'Everything I've done before feeds into what I'm doing now, maybe an understanding of our humanness'  - on trainings in social work, theatre & education, acting, coaching & more...Stories emerging from improvisation and funny occurances such as an aunt's text about a garden dwarf/gnome :)'50 Shades of Stuck' - on feeling stuck, doodling and humour! 'I love fairy tales' - fairy tales and East Germany.'Being wired differently' - on being an HSP (Highly Sensitive Person) and an Empath.'I was a very dreamy child' - on the blessing of attending the Rudolf Steiner School in Nuremberg.'Creating a community of people who feel different, coming together in their weirdness' - 'Dreamy Capuccino - Live!' - On future projects (tea drinkers also welcome :)) 'Standing in your own uniqueness' - a focus for future 1:1 sessions.To young women - 'Really look closely at the messages [you] get from others and instead of doubting [yourself] immediately, look at the messages and doubt them - see whether they're true, or not.''I don't want to be perfect in anything I do.''We have numerous opportunities to see something extraordinary in the ordinary.'You need to cultivate your curiosity.'Anja follows a regular meditation practice and also her own version of 'Morning Pages' inspired by Julia Cameron's 'The Artist's Way'...................................................................................................................................................Contact Anja and visit her website Anja Kersten - For a Magic World Settle comfortably and listen in to Dreamy Cappuccino - Inspiring stories, musings & memoirs - beautiful quirky tales of wonder and delight!..................................................................................................................................................Please see more artwork, articles and info at www.rowenascotney.com ... and more podcast episodes with poetry, meditations and more! here on my Grace & Joy podcast.Music by Podington Bear www.soundofpicture.com - 'Wavy Glass'Episode cover - Anja KerstenPodcast cover - 'Garden Robin'Support the show

‘Remain in harmony, wherever possible. Create beauty, wherever possible. Relieve suffering, wherever possible. That is all we ask of you.’ It was truly wonderful to be in conversation with Janni Littlepage, a friend with so many creative gifts and talents, including being a singer-songwriter, artist, writer, garden designer and much more…Janni shares beautiful experiences, moments and insights that have inspired and influenced her life and the conversation includes thoughts around creativity, sensitivity, being an empath, and gentle advice to our younger selves and others.Many animals also feature, including dogs, cats, quails, monarch butterflies and beetles… xJanni reads her poem ‘Transcendence’ which is Pearl 22 from her book ‘Angels in my Teacup’.*Thank you to Janni’s partner Paul who helped with editing and including Janni’s poem and music, ‘A Delicate Dance’😊        ***                                                   1:54 – Conversation begins2:13 – Alice in her ‘muchness’ and multi-dimensional creativity!2:24 – The inspiration for Janni’s song ‘Strange Angels’ – including a stray cat, reading about a rescue and an encounter on entering the freeway in Los Angeles…10:55 – On garden design and the little creatures within home and garden – celebrating much-maligned insects x16:43 – Mentioning ‘That Quail, Robert’ by Margaret Stanger17:30 – Janni’s current projects, including the illustrated poem ‘Lilli Belle the Wonder Dog’22:55 – ‘The Tiny Kingdom Chronicles’ – Four little books on insect characters 23:22 – ‘Angels in my Teacup – Divine Encounters and Extraordinary Events’ – almost completed24:24 – Having met Janni in a Lee Harris group. Lee Harris, energy intuitive, has been such a wonderful and important part of Janni’s journey.24:50 – ‘If my client is not a friend to begin with, they always end up being a friend.’ x Janni’s garden website ‘Janni the Garden Whisperer’.30:53 – The Buckeye tree – smooth barked, fragrant conical white blossoms…32:09 – At 7 years old …and also the Butterfly Parade in Pacific Grove, California34:30 – ‘As I became a teenager and a young person, I had a difficult time knowing where someone else’s feelings began, or ended, and mine began.’ - On the gifts of sensitivity and being an empath…38:24 – ‘Each soul is sovereign’ – and on developing discernment41:35 – ‘I had this feeling that I was supposed to do something, with music… Asking spirit and encountering an Angel.43:58 – Interlude and the song ‘A Delicate Dance’ by Janni Littlepage and Johan Seige and then ‘Pearl 22’, ‘Transcendence’ – Janni reading her poem45:42 – ‘When you have an idea, whatever it is…be discerning about who you share those early ideas with… ‘Now, as I’ve gotten older I have only very beautiful friends... Really think who you feel safe with… it is like finding a jewel.’50:34 – ‘A Delicate Dance’  to the endPlease see Janni's album website: Jannilittlepage.com& garden design website: Janni the Garden WhispererSupport the show

An intuitive poem of 2 mins 45 written in a few minutes after listening to 'The World at One' on Radio 4 and then looking outside.  Feeling a  great need for calming ... and the birds and the trees spoke to me xSo wonderful writing these, having no idea really what will emerge... the process of writing and then reading them is always so surprising and calming for me.'This is the news' – an afternoon poemThis is the world at 1.45 says the news presenter on Radio 4. This is the news, firmly, this is the news at 1. 45. This is the news, says the wood pigeon outside my window. This is the news, says the collared dove who comes to eat at the bird table with her.  It's all okay Rowena, it's all okay. After the fighting, after the darkness, after the killing, after the bruises, it's all okay Rowena. And then the purring, the mala all along, its Buddha beads, my cat, in orange and white, breathing and purring like beads. Ginger. And softly sliding through different doors. A myriad to ignore, these doors. It's all okay Rowena. Feel the earth in your hands. Gritty, grounding. Outside of culture. Voices. Life out there. This is life. This is the world. To in here. In this culture, this extraordinary richness in this soil. The morning spins and it is gone.  The birds are still here. Onka, onka, onka. Flitting through myrtle leaves.One thing, one thing, one thing, one leaf.One shiny, one satin, one thing, Rowena, one thing.  The sycamores in their perpendicular bowing are in agreeance. Their branches are knotty, one thing, one thing. Bare, weighing up the wind. Comme ci, comme ça they say in the breeze. The camellia is full pink, blooming pink, and so healthy, so well, so new, full of buds and blossoms, she calls to me.......................................**  please see the donate button on 'Buy me a coffee' as so happy to find out about this! Any contributions towards coffees, poetry books and bird seed :)... (& of course the podcast/audio recording/editing costs!) gratefully received x...................................................................................................................................................................Please see more artwork, articles and info at www.rowenascotney.com Artwork by Rowena ScotneyEpisode cover - photo of my garden camelliaPodcast cover - 'Garden Robin' - feltingSupport the show

A two minute episode, celebrating a heightened moment of hush ...Sitting in the garden this morning and there was such a sense of pause, a hush, for a moment so intensified, so palpable, all senses heightened ... I had my diary with me -  and a poem came through the drizzle, so quickly written x... and then a 5 min intuitive sketch, with crayons, on cardboard from an old catfood box, inspired by the poem xPlease see more artwork, articles and info at www.rowenascotney.com Music by Podington Bear www.soundofpicture.com - 'Wavy Glass'Artwork by Rowena ScotneyEpisode cover - 'Morning Poem - crayon on cardboardPodcast cover - 'Garden Robin’ feltingSupport the show

An episode of almost 5 mins, and a poem that wrote itself after a night of high winds.On inner and outer, energies, fences and a woodlouse... Poem begins at 1min 20 secsPlease see more artwork, articles and info at www.rowenascotney.com Music by Podington Bear www.soundofpicture.com - 'Wavy Glass'Artwork by Rowena ScotneyEpisode cover - 'Night' - monotypePodcast cover - 'Garden Robin’ feltingSupport the show

An episode of  just over 2.5 mins, and a morning poem of calm, the day after the winds...On toes to ear-tips, darting great-tits and Charley dreaming...Please see more artwork, articles and info at www.rowenascotney.com Music by Podington Bear www.soundofpicture.com - 'Wavy Glass'Artwork by Rowena ScotneyEpisode cover - 'Charley dreaming' - quick watercolour sketchPodcast cover - 'Garden Robin’ feltingSupport the show

An episode of 4.5 mins, and a morning poem that arrived with the rains...On windows, falling rain, garden flowers, birdsong, morse code and Angela, so much missed xPlease see more artwork, articles and info at www.rowenascotney.com Music by Podington Bear www.soundofpicture.com - 'Wavy Glass'Artwork by Rowena ScotneyEpisode cover - 'Morning rain & jackdaw' - intuitive paintingPodcast cover - 'Garden Robin’ feltingSupport the show

An episode of just over 3 mins, and a morning poem written in a few moments before work, after listening to a super short weather report.On the weather, the river, 'tup of the flock' and Eeyore xPlease see more artwork, articles and info at www.rowenascotney.com Music by Podington Bear www.soundofpicture.com - 'Wavy Glass'Artwork by Rowena ScotneyEpisode cover - 'Reflections 1' - intuitive paintingPodcast cover - 'Garden Robin’ feltingSupport the show

An episode of 4:43 mins, and a morning poem written quickly after noticing how I was reading a sentence. On how we constuct meaning, on making sense...and this led to the Hindu Maya - the play of existence, non-dual, Advaita Vedanta, literary theory and celebration! ...and the garden jackdaws xPlease see more artwork, articles and info at www.rowenascotney.com Music by Podington Bear www.soundofpicture.com - 'Wavy Glass'Artwork by Rowena ScotneyEpisode cover - 'Play in colour and shape and a blue bird' - intuitive paintingPodcast cover - 'Garden Robin’ feltingSupport the show

An episode of 4:55 mins, and a Sunday morning poem, after a week of morning poems...written in a few quiet moments.The themes of cycles and recycles emerged, from birth and death & the seasons to broken things, laundry and washing-up x (Also exotic blue manakins!) Dedicated to an astounding little mouse who appeared at the end of writing the poem.Please see more artwork, articles and info at www.rowenascotney.com Music by Podington Bear www.soundofpicture.com - 'Wavy Glass'Artwork by Rowena ScotneyEpisode cover - 'Walking through the fields' - intuitive paintingPodcast cover - 'Garden Robin’ feltingAll content © 2020 Grace & Joy!Support the show

With Cornish winds from the very beginning ... do not adjust your set :) (a little hard to hear in a few places - apologies if it hurts your ears! If so, please skip to 3:30).An episode of almost 7 mins.Recording a few minutes of a walk with Moss, my beautiful borrowed dog, on a blustery, stormy day. Starting dry, bright and warm in the sun, after 10 mins the sky had darkened, it turned colder and then the rain flung itself down, all in one go, and we were saturated!Poem (recorded out of the wind) begins at 3 mins 30 secs..............................................................................................................................................Please see more artwork, articles and info at www.rowenascotney.com Music by Podington Bear www.soundofpicture.com - 'La Di Day'Artwork by Rowena ScotneyEpisode cover - St Michael's Mount from Perranuthnoe fields, Cornwall - September 2020Podcast cover - 'Garden Robin’ feltingSupport the show

An episode of 8:15 mins, and a poem just after midnight, whispering to me to get out of bed, put on the light, find a pencil and start writing x (Audio voice a little coldy/fluey!)This one wrote itself, too, beginning with words that emerged last Friday which inspired an intuitive painting - 'Leaping alive - into the green space'.Then two beautiful phrases and imagery by Janet Frame, a writer I've recently discovered and love - her short stories in 'The Daylight and the Dust' are luminous and beautiful, subtle, poignant and tender... 'Mr Paget's lawn shone like fur in the sun' &'The green minus-marks of grass' (after being cut with an old mower)both from the story 'The Winter Garden'.The poem is also about creativity, as a wild, warm-hearted and gentle creature... and how, if we can hear, we must listen in and honour and celebrate xNone of this was 'thought out' but I love how it flowed and was determined to be written, in the night hours. :)Poem begins at 4:24....................................................................................................Please see more artwork, articles and info at www.rowenascotney.com Music by Podington Bear www.soundofpicture.com - 'Wavy Glass'Artwork by Rowena ScotneyEpisode cover - 'Leaping alive - into the green space' - intuitive paintingPodcast cover - 'Garden Robin’ feltingSupport the show

An episode of almost 8 mins, and a Monday morning poem written in a few quiet moments.Beginning with the non-dominant hand sketches which have been a recent focus in the intuitive painting workshops, the poem continues with elements of spaciousness, stillness and awareness ... and the Loony-Tunes'  'Tasmanian Devil'! :) hmm... cartoons seem to be a recurring theme!Poem begins at 4 mins 26 secs**New** - just adding the donate button as recently found out about this! Any contributions towards coffees, pencils and cat treats (and podcast/audio costs) gratefully received :) if you like x...............................................................................................................................................................................Please see more artwork, articles and info at www.rowenascotney.com Music by Podington Bear www.soundofpicture.com - 'Wavy Glass'Artwork by Rowena ScotneyEpisode cover - 'Plum eating a piece of old rabbit' :(  Non-dom 3 second sketchPodcast cover - 'Garden Robin' - feltingSupport the show

An episode of just over 5 mins, and the first in the Wednesday Warmers series inspired by reading Pablo Neruda's poem today 'Ode to My Socks'.A beautiful poem celebrating the gift of a pair of hand-knitted socks.There's extra poignancy in the warmth, love, comfort and kindness shown with the gift, and in the joy in receiving too, when considering Neruda's history of exile and writing in many turbulent times... and it's also so gently humorous too xA little bit at the beginning and then the poem begins at 2 mins 45 secs'Ode to My Socks' by Pablo Neruda (translated from the Spanish by Margaret Sayers Peden)**New** - just adding the donate button as recently found out about this! Any contributions towards coffees, pencils and cat treats - and celestial socks! (and podcast/audio costs) gratefully received :) if you like x...............................................................................................................................................................................Please see more artwork, articles and info at www.rowenascotney.com Music by Podington Bear www.soundofpicture.com - 'Wavy Glass'Artwork by Rowena ScotneyEpisode cover - 'these celestial socks of lapiz and gold' - crayon sketchPodcast cover - 'Garden Robin' - feltingSupport the show

An episode of almost 7 mins, and the second in the Wednesday Warmers series inspired by reading Ron Padgett's poem today 'Inaction of Shoes'.A wonderful, gently humorous poem and quietly profound too.On doing, being, happening, non-happening, advaita vedanta...and the US election xA little bit at the beginning and end and the poem begins at 2 mins 27 secs'Inaction of Shoes' by Ron Padgett in 'The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness and Joy' by John Brehm - a beautiful anthology of spiritual poetry. -  'The Buddha once told a disciple that good spiritual friends are the whole of holy life. The poems expertly gathered here offer all that one might hope for in such spiritual friendship: wisdom, compassion, peacefulness, good humor, and the ability to both absorb and express the deepest human emotions of grief and joy.' - from the back cover .**New** - just adding the donate button as recently found out about this! Any contributions towards coffees, pencils and cat treats - and inactive shoes! (and podcast/audio costs) gratefully received :) if you like x...............................................................................................................................................................................Please see more artwork, articles and info at www.rowenascotney.com Music by Podington Bear www.soundofpicture.com - 'Wavy Glass'Artwork by Rowena ScotneyEpisode cover - 'shoes sitting there'  - crayon sketchPodcast cover - 'Garden Robin' - feltingSupport the show

An episode of  7:34 mins, and a  morning poem written in a few quiet moments after reading the short story, 'You are now entering the human heart' by Janet Frame.An intro and then the poem begins at 4 mins 47 secs**New** - just adding the donate button as recently found out about this! Any contributions towards coffees, pencils and cat treats (and podcast/audio costs) gratefully received :) if you like x...............................................................................................................................................................................Please see more artwork, articles and info at www.rowenascotney.com Music by Podington Bear www.soundofpicture.com - 'Marsh Wrens (Instrumental)'Artwork by Rowena ScotneyEpisode cover - 'Love Within' - intuitive paintingPodcast cover - 'Garden Robin' - feltingSupport the show

An episode of  almost 15 mins beginning with thoughts on 'embracing and accepting' the grey, alongside other 'Silver Sisters' :)Also on general self-acceptance through the many changes, internal and external that we experience in our lives.The poem began as a consideration of how our days, our lives are a woven fabric and then the theme of time passing seemed to merge into my own siver hair experience xPoem begins at 11 mins 28 secs**New** - just adding the donate button as recently found out about this! Any contributions towards coffees, pencils and cat treats (and podcast/audio costs) gratefully received :) if you like x...............................................................................................................................................................................Please see more artwork, articles and info at www.rowenascotney.com Music by Podington Bear www.soundofpicture.com - 'Wavy Glass'Artwork by Rowena ScotneyEpisode cover - 'Embracing the greys' - intuitive paintingPodcast cover - 'Garden Robin' - feltingSupport the show

An episode of just over 9 mins, and the third in the Wednesday Warmers series, this one inspired by W.B.Yeats' poem 'A Coat'.Extended metaphor on identity, art, life, illusion and truth! (Apologies if I ramble on a little in this one :))The  poem begins at 41 secs **New** - just adding the donate button as recently found out about this! Any contributions towards coffees, pencils and cat treats - and celestial socks! (and podcast/audio costs) gratefully received :) if you like x...............................................................................................................................................................................Please see more artwork, articles and info at www.rowenascotney.com Music by Podington Bear www.soundofpicture.com - 'Wonderblues'Artwork by Rowena ScotneyEpisode cover - 'I made my coat a song' - watercolour sketchPodcast cover - 'Garden Robin' - feltingSupport the show

An episode of just over 4.5 mins and the fourth in the Wednesday Warmers series, inspired by clothing in poetry.  This one is by Jimmy Santiago Baca and is an offering of love and warmth. The  poem begins at 2 mins 27 secs **New** - just adding the donate button as recently found out about this! Any contributions towards coffees, pencils and cat treats - and celestial socks! (and podcast/audio costs) gratefully received :) if you like x......................................................................................................................................................Please see more artwork, articles and info at www.rowenascotney.com Music by Podington Bear www.soundofpicture.com - 'Morning Mist'Artwork by Rowena ScotneyEpisode cover - 'I am offering this poem ...  a scarf to wear over your hair' - watercolour sketchPodcast cover - 'Garden Robin' - feltingSupport the show