Dropping Keys

My Dropping Keys co-conspirator is Dana Walters
Dana Walters has been working with individuals and groups exploring the path of Yoga and other embodied practices since 2008. Her work has deepened from her early days as a student of Psychology and Religion in the mid-1990s, later as a Yoga student and practitioner; and most recently, as an educator, and as a woman in recovery. 

She is a Leadership Trainer and Spaceholder for the Yoga of 12 Step Recovery, a community organizing and trauma-informed education platform dedicated to the healing of all addictions. 

Dana is the creator of Yoga, Writing, and Recovery, a community-based modality that fuses embodied and conceptual modes of knowing and relating to foster empathy, wisdom, and joy. 

She believes that each of us can learn to navigate a challenging and changing world with integrity, balance, and whole-heartedness. 

Find Dana here:
DanaWaltersYoga.com
Instagram: @Dana_Walters

In this episode, we talk about
recovery as a path to wholeness,
how we create a split when we shun a part of ourselves and exalt another part,
how we need a bit of structure to grow,
and what to do with our cleverness (it's not what you think).

resources:
rolfgates.com
y12sr.com

What you have just opened up is an "A" volume.

It's an extension of the previous conversation where I take a deeper dive into one or more of the Keys dropped. 
In this case, a complement to Volume Fifteen with co-conspirator Erica Dixon

This "A" volume contains reflections about 

how difficult it is to keep going,

the Dip (Seth Godin),

Austin Kleon’s book, Keep Going

and

taking care of yourself.  

Enjoy.

My Dropping Keys co-conspirator is Erica Dixon
Erica Jasmin Dixon (she/her) is a writer, screenwriter, poet, and artist. Erica formerly served as Fiction Editor of QU Literary Magazine, Copy Editor for Brave Voices Magazine, and Co-Chair of the Queens University of Charlotte MFA Professional Development Weekend. She currently serves as Art Director for Southern Review of Books and Staff Writer of an upcoming animated comedy web series. Additionally, she is presently serving as Guest Editor for Genre: Urban Arts' Prose and Script Anthology.
 
Erica holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from Queens University of Char
 
She is originally from the rural South (Raeford, NC) and is an avid adventurer, having lived in Italy and traveled extensively throughout much of Europe, Asia, the United States, and South America. She is also a devoted fan of Star Wars, DC comics, and anime. Prior to writing, Erica worked as a preschool teacher and a Registered Behavioral Technician. In addition to writing, Erica also works as an actress and is an ardent lover of improv. Her work often reflects on her life experiences as a Black woman from the South, a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, a social observer/activist, and her knowledge of the psychological.

In this episode, we discuss:
walking for flow,
patience,
meditation,
and
going for it!

You can find Erica  on
Twitter: @TheEricaJasmin
Instagram: @TheEricaJasmin

Website: https://www.ericajasmin.com

What you have just opened up is an "A" volume.

It's an extension of the previous conversation where I take a deeper dive into one or more of the Keys dropped. 
In this case, a complement to Volume Fourteen with co-conspirator Hope Whitby.

This "A" volume contains reflections about 

power,

influence,

intention,

and 

encouragement.

Don’t Stop!

Today, my Dropping Keys co-conspirator is Hope Whitby
Hope is a poet, fiction writer, and haiku aficionado.
She is the creator of Art in the Shop and Books in the Bay book club supporting the local Richmond art scene since 2012.
Hope has received awards for her poetry from the Virginia Poetry Society and Richmond magazine.
She is the author of Traveling the River
She lives in Richmond, Virginia, with her Chihuahua, Princess.

We share
stories,
how to practice empowerment,
the Hope Whitby Show,
the power of assumptions,
and how the words
"Don't Stop" helped change a life.

You can find Hope  at
Instagram: @hopewhitby
Website: https://www.hopewhitby.com/

What you have just opened up is an "A" volume. 
It's an extension of the previous conversation where I take a deeper dive into one or more of the Keys dropped. 
In this case, a complement to Volume Thirteen with co-conspirator  Elizabeth Ferris.
 
This is Volume Thirteen A

This "A" volume contains reflections about 
making a path,
the mind,
social media comparison run amok,
where you are
and
now what?

Enjoy. 

Today, my Dropping Keys co-conspirator is Elizabeth Ferris

Elizabeth is a writer and writing teacher living in Richmond, Virginia. In 2018, she helped found Life in 10 Minutes Press, a small, Richmond-based press celebrating stories that are brave & true, She served for two years as the press’s Executive Editor where she developed and published Unspoken: Writers on Infertility, Miscarriage, and Stillbirth along with co-editor Whitney Roberts Hill. She is a graduate of the MFA program in Creative Writing from Queens University of Charlotte and currently teaches writers of fiction and nonfiction at the Studio School at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and at the Life in 10 Minutes writing center.

She’s edited for multiple presses and magazines and is a former contributing writer for Richmond magazine and instructor for Richmond Young Writers. She’s been a hotel maid in Northern Spain, a nanny in Darwin, Australia, and a tomato picker on a farm in South Australia.

She recently completed her first novel, about a group of girls in a home for unwed mothers in the summer of 1968, titled, for now, We Were Girls.

We talk about:
being magnanimous
why we keep things in cages
jealousy
how you know when a season is over
and
revising/re-seeing.

You can find Elizabeth at

Facebook: @elizabethferriswriter
Instagram: @eliza_be_than
Website: elizabethferris.com
Information on the Unspoken anthology: lifein10minutes.com/unspoken-anthology

Special Volume:  Sixteen Months and Counting

Dropping Keys is a podcast conversation with real people about keys to life, leadership, love, and whatever else we get into.                  

What you have just opened up is a Special volume. The first of its kind. 

All of these conversations are personal, but this one is more so.  

If you follow Dropping Keys (Thank you so much. Keep listening and sharing!), you know there has been a gap between episodes which I am closing with this episode and what follows in 2022.

I'm looking forward to the co-conspirator conversations and the Keys being dropped. If you have suggestions for those who ought to join me, please send them my way.  

This Special Volume is titled "Sixteen Months and Counting…."

In this podcast, I will share a story about how golf and a chance pairing led me to stop drinking and how easy and unexpectedly difficult it has been.

Enjoy

Today, my Dropping Keys co-conspirator is Dr. Jon Bibbs
He is a singer, songwriter and educator from Richmond, VA.
He is lead administrator at Richmond Prep: a unique independent Christian school for children in grades Pre-K - 5th.
Aside from his work at Richmond Prep, Jon is a well known singer and musician who has developed deep roots in our city and state through his music.

We talk about:
containers of our own creation,
being "me",
meta-feelings,
code switching,
translating,
creating our own bogeyman,
and
not letting the fear of people defining you define you. 

You can find Jon at
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter @jonbibbs
Internet:  www.jonbibbs.online

This "A" volume contains reflections about 
breathing,
breath,
connection,
cages
and
keys.  

Enjoy.