Sometimes I recognise when my art making process aligns completely with the teachings of our lineage and I am taught in a direct and experiential way through this creative act - it is quite phenomenal and very exciting when it happens! Making a new work in a different medium opened me up to this teaching of how forms evolve and dissolve out and back into the vast spaciousness through Buddha Dakini. The first image was the first work in the pair and originally the only one i was going to make. It is called SEEDING and is made from moulding Japanese paper over the seeds and seed pods or the 2nd work (called RECEDING) and as empty pockets of air with a thin translucent form they 'appear' from the white spacious background, half formed in the rocess of becoming a solid . And then the second image is called RECEDING since once a form is solid it is already changing back to vast formless space. I deliberately used the form of a droplet referring to a droplet of timeless awareness nectar - and so it was! I spent hours digesting and thinking and feeling how this was revealed to me - it was so enriching. I hope it can speak to you too !

Today in the Dendok Chikma Cho practice with KL and the sangha I had this feeling of flowers bursting from my heart as we were guided in meditation into Prajnaparamita. Suddenly (and momentarily) I felt an outpouring of joy and compassion. This is the image I had in my mind in a very rudimentary drawing. May all being benefit 🌸😊💞

I found 3 fragments of driftwood walking along the beach. I 'saw' that they could fit together and form this passing-cloud / sky-dancer / dakini. I have been posting little 'episodes' of her movements on social media and it was just today that I made the connection to the 3 principles of practice, Renunciation, Bodhicitta and Wisdom. I have called her PUZZLE and her attributes have been that she is totally at ease in any environment and responds to what is there with non-attachment. She has become a bit like a personal avatar for me. A teaching tool. I have her 3 parts in a bag and every now and then I take her out for a walk and place her in random different natural situations. Sometimes she finds aids like wings or puts on a hat for fun or flips upside down or spins her head around. She is very versatile, curious and responsive to any place she finds herself. I called her Puzzle because she is a bit like a jigsaw and the nature of Dakinis is quite puzzling. She has become a bit like a yidam for me. This way of connecting the teachings is 'serious fun' for me. Please enjoy some of her antics of embodied wisdom as she flips and flits and lounges in the aspects of the 5 dakinis ! Her play continues !

In todays SBT experience we explored Fox dakini and energy. The fox is often referred to in mythology as a trickster, using its cunning, alertness, sass and focus to turn things around or upside down! This attribute aligns with Coyote energy too. We discussed other manifestations of fox such as jackal, dingo and wolf. It is so meaningful to embody the animal. Feeling into the way it moves creates a sense of being the animal. The human aspect dissolves a little more - i LOVE this. So being a fox today and tapping into its alertness and awareness of its surroundings I spotted a little Coyote sculpture from Mexico on the shelf behind me. Also its the anniversary of my mum's death and I am beginning slowly to see her very dakini-like qualities. She had red hair at one stage and was as energetic, flighty and focussed as a fox! Here is my coyote/fox/mum addition to my altar at present. Reminding me to look with attention, be a bit crafty and leap around with glee.

I met Ratna Dakini when i created an artwork for an environmental art prize. I didn't win that prize but the bigger prize was in the emergent encountering and creation of her. As I played with images of an ephemeral artwork i made on the beach around a rock a figure appeared - howling and/or singing. I imagined 'her' singing and howling out all of creation, replenishing and restoring the earth. So she became The Songstress - Rhythms for Regeneration. I felt her power ad capacity for nourishment and destruction as I made her. When i had finished the artwork I saw reflected back to me Ratna Dakini. Pics of the process end to beginning

A few days ago i made this 'artwork' carving out two meandering lines through the layer of discarded waste deposited onto the beach from storms. It wasn't until later when i was playing around with the images that i made the connection to the body mandala and the subtle body mandala! I work intuitively and non-conceptually when i make works in Nature, using what I find available to me at different times and locations - in everyday life. Here are the images which brought to life (for me) the pranic channels inside/outside our bodies as realms and deities of the subtle body or inner dakini. Also an image of the original large scale line work in situ which then i realised was like a charnel ground where i had chopped or sliced through the layer of detritus to reveal the golden nectar pathways underneath. For me this was such a profound and viseral experience and teaching from my 'artwork'. Today in our class I had these visuals of my and universal subtle bodies in my mind and it really expanded my experience. I hope it resonates and benefits you too !

This week in the SBT KL described a position we were in as 'leaning forward with your heart dripping its nectar onto the ground'. I felt that image as a reality expressed through my body and it stayed with me the whole class. Resting in awareness at the end I had this vision of multitudes of dakinis and/or golden nectar pouring out of the heart centre. Here are my 2 very quick drawings of that imagination/feeling. One on the earth, the other in the sky.

Last week I visited the state Art Gallery which has quite a good Asian Gallery and an exhibition called ELEMENTAL. I was excited and surprised to see a large Vajrayogini displayed as the initial image/manifestation at the entrance to the show! The first 'artwork' was this incredible 21st Century adaption of Buddhist teachings in the form of a video game video "The Great Adventure of the Material World" - by Lu Yang. Astounded and entranced I watched it and highly recommend it - not the usual 'form' of teachings - it must be the Dakinis at work! Here is a link for the video : https://vimeo.com/673837345 ps. I am not usually attracted to the 'gaming' genre - this is amazing though....

I came across this image of a sculpture "Outpouring" by an Australian artist Sue Ferrari and was struck by how it resembles the image I have in my mind of Golden Nectar Tea Offering I participate in with the DW group on Mondays. How beautiful an interpretation of the imagined vision I have of transforming 'ordinary tea' into 'timeless awareness nectar' and what a useful tool for visualisation! Dakinis come in many forms!

Recently during the Troma Nakmo Retreat, Khandro La spoke about imagining Vajrasattva Father Mother Union as white figures but crystalline clear white. I had been playing with creating a 'natural' representation of Stainless Clear Light, as it is part of my new refuge name which I had received from KL the day before, and was very excited about. I was surprised that the image I had created the day before with the Sun, seemed to me to fit perfectly the description of Vajrasattva Heruka. This is a less conceptual and abstracted form - yet it seemed to resonate. Please enjoy and utilise if it calls to you. Blessings and thanks Shona (Drime Osel Lhamo)

I wanted to share the pre-dawn outlook which inspired my SBT class focus on Buddha Dakini this morning. Such immense beauty 🙏

All the dakinis visited my backyard a few days ago - literally pouring in a shower of rainbow light. What a blessing to experience this! During the 5 Dakini Practice I particularly love the part where you visualise all the dakinis returning into Buddha Dakini in the centre and becoming a light shower but I never imagined it like this before 😍💦🎶 - so grateful

I was inspired by Dan's beautiful art expression post of Machik Lobdron in the 'Meeting the Dakini' category to share some of mine too. This first one is of a feeling/vision I had whilst practicing the 5 Dakinis. It is my heart opening and expanding with billions of pink lotus petals ( but this is just a quick pencil drawing to capture the feeling of it). What a glorious feeling - i hve it on my fridge as a reminder. Thank you for the teachings Khandro La! What a gift you offer us.

Khandro La's teaching on Mackik Labdrons's 5 SLOGANS last week showed me the profundity and 'simplicity' of Cho practice. Confess your Hidden Thoughts Approach what you find repulsive Help those you feel you cannot / don't want to Give up anything you are attached to Go to the place that scares you All of these actions show us Fear in different guises. All the same fear which comes form our false view of what we really are. Emptiness...... I have been thinking about The Charnel Ground - the inner, outer and secret. I associate my mind - my false thinking/ false view (which is where I am most of the time)with my inner charnel ground (atm). I have so many aversions and so many attractions which all seem to arise from my false view of seperate self. This false view that holds me so tight is beginning to loosen with the practice and by listening to Khandro -La and the sangha discussions. Some space is coming in/opening up so I can begin to feel and experience more time outside of this framework. This space opens up with 'non - judgement' and the 'resting'. Watching with compassion - I so appreciate this teaching.There is light - ness and playfulness here. When there is more lightness - I have more energy and capacity for compassion - for myself and others. I also began to query, 'could the Charnel Ground equally be the places of beauty and peace and freedom we want to attach to, because they feel so good?' If so, where does that leave me/us? I can only then be satisfied with Emptiness. And what about attachment to the teachings? Am I still thinking incorrectly?? Khandro -La maybe you can help me with this question? I hear the Dakinis laughing laughing laughing..... I am going to adopt Ellens' practice of reciting these 5 slogans daily! Great idea - thank you. See what happens ...... A spontaneous drawing for this post - haha!

Hello and happy Dakini Day ! I felt this a perfect time to post about my intuitive journey creating a Dakini (sculpture) and to hearing the Dakini’s Whisper. I find the creative process gives me greater visceral connection to the unseen and intangible aspects of a spiritual practice. Art can be spiritual practice. Before I ever knew what a Dakini was or that they were ‘a thing‘I made this drawing below (10 years ago), with the guidelines being a self portrait with ‘super powers’. I drew this and listed the attributes : Power to Love Unconditionally, Power to Heal, Power to See, Fearless and Brave, Flexible, Strong, Joyous, Amphibious, Able to thrive in All Environments. I visited Nepal 5 years later and became acquainted with and fell in love with Dakinis. In paintings on Thankas and temples and in sculptures and statues. Now that I had seen them - I found them everywhere and I remembered my drawing. Shazam ⚡️⚡️ connection was made. When I returned from that trip I began making the sculpture at the beginning of the post. I make art usually with found parts of nature (and in this instance some human made). The need to have a human connection had become more relevant. Fast forward 5 years and through a series of miraculous events (causes and conditions) I found with great excitement and astonishment Dakini’s Whisper and Khandro - La and this Sangha. It was time to finish the sculpture that had sat partially done for 4 and a half years. I feel the beginning of my deeper inner journey coincides with the completion of this artwork. It’s like an exclamation mark. I am now embracing the Five Dakini Practice and finding myself smiling as I sit and become more acquainted with my ‘super powers’😘. And BTW as is the magic of the Dakini - this one’s wings ( halves of one seedpod ) actually curl up and extend out according to the humidity in the air. It’s now quite humid so they are quite outstretched. This work is full of symbols and memories and surprises. I hope you enjoy her too. I am so grateful to have found this teacher , this sangha. shona 🙏 🌸🎶🌈