I always marvel at how my local barista painstakingly creates a beautiful design atop my double tall latte, even though it exists for merely a minute or so before I stir in some agave and begin to drink.

Perhaps it's our culture's version of the Tibetan Sand Mandala,
where millions of grains of sand are arranged in elaborately intricate patterns over a period of days and sometimes weeks.

Like my latte's handcrafted design, most sand mandalas are ritualistically destroyed very soon after they are completed, a vivid demonstration of the impermanence of all thing created.

Here's an excerpt from Werner Herzog's documentary THE WHEELS OF TIME, where the Dalai Lama supervises the creation and destruction of one such elaborate masterpiece.

(Perhaps as Kansas sang, "All we are is dust in the wind."

So often the most valuable advice I offer Creative Clients is to simply create some kind of personal ritual around their process, some way of framing their artistic time and bracketing it off from the rest of life's mundane tasks.




So I decided to get creative and re-invent the Retreat Wheel.

--  A two hour private yoga class with me (shared w/2 other people)

--  A Game of Transformation played around your personal focus
     (Trust Me:  this can be life-alteringly great)

--  Mastermind Session + Journaling / Vision Quest Work

--  A private consult with Belle (priceless)