Hey dear stranger,
Welcome to Your Wild and Radiant Mind!
My name is Sarah Kokernot (she/her). I’m a longtime practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism, a fiction writer, an essayist, and a creative writing teacher.
I believe that spirituality is a form of creative practice and creative practice a form of spirituality. Both can awaken us to a greater sense of clarity, wonder, interdependence, and unconditional love.
What happens once I sign up?
You’ll immediately start levitating in the air, rainbows in the sky will appear above you, and all the beings in your area will experience profound bliss. From now on, you’ll be able to subsist on only a handful of barley flour per day. You’ll never feel hangry again.
Additionally, you’ll receive two posts from me, monthly-ish. (I work, I’m a parent, I’m on a fixed income, and I’m perpetually working on a novel; I make no hard promises.)
You’ll learn how to connect your writing and creativity to wonder and the numinous. I draw on my years of experience as a creative writing professor, coach, and manuscript consultant.
You’ll gain insights into how spirituality can be integrated into life outside of formal meditation.
I’ll help you you find Dharma in places where you didn’t expect it. Once in a while, I’ll send you a curated list of sneaky secular Dharma recommendations. I’ll cover topics such as impermanence, death, sexuality, love, decay, joy, illness, splendid vulgarity, liminality, spirituality, and inter-religious dialogue.
Who is this newsletter for?
You believe that awakening belongs to us all. Dharma is meant to be lived, not only by monks, nuns, scholars, Lamas, or Buddhist teachers, but by everyday people from all backgrounds.
You’re interested in how meditation, the creative process, and joy can be woven into your everyday life. And, like me, you enjoy finding spiritual teachings in wildly unexpected places. Like this plate, a memento mori from the 17th century, found in a London sewer:
You are irresistibly drawn towards wonder and awe—but you also think that while open-heartedness is crucial, reverence without humor isn’t trustworthy. You balance gravitas with levitas. When Buddhism dresses too classy, you want to hand it a leopard-print accessory. You have an extremely liberal definition of what divinity is. You didn’t give up on your juvenile quest for understanding. You sort of don’t give a f*ck about what most people care about. You don’t mind me cussing.
Why pay to subscribe?
Your financial support makes this newsletter possible. I devote hours of labor to writing, researching, and crafting posts. If you can’t afford $5 a month, please consider a one-time donation and I’ll give you a gift subscription, no questions asked.
Paid subscribers also receive:
Mini-salons on the spiritual and practical sides of the creative process with co-host Inés Bellina. Discover existential meaning in your artistic life. Woo-woo meets nitty-gritty in these guided discussions. Send us your question before the salon and receive personalized resources and advice from both of us. Mini-salons occur on the 2nd Thursday of every other month from 12-12:40pm CST//1-1:40pm CST. Paid subscribers also receive a recording of the salon if they can’t make it in person.
Personalized advice and guidance. Questions, challenges, and obstacles are all part of the creative process. I respond to your questions on the months we don’t have a mini-salon.
Quarterly classes on Writing Into Wonder & Amazement. Think of these classes less as traditional writing workshops, and more like candlelit Hatha yoga classes for the part of your mind that does language. Paid subscribers also receive a recording if they can’t make it in person.
Each session includes a meditation, writing exercises, creativity challenges, outside texts, and strategies to tap into your own poetic awareness. People from all spiritual traditions (or none at all) are welcome!
Full access to the archive of posts, essays, and creative writing exercises.
Writing and creativity prompts + resources in a monthly paid-subscriber-post.
A 15% discount on creative writing coaching and manuscript consultations.
Paid subscribers who pay the $60 a year in full also have the option to receive a 20-minute Zoom coaching call annually. Read more about 20-minute calls here under “My Offerings.”
Wait, who are you again?
I’m a Buddhist practitioner who writes and teaches creative writing. I also offer 1:1 creativity and writing coaching that marries craft, meaning, purpose, and spirituality.
I grew up in a queer family with two moms in the 1980’s and 90’s in Kentucky. I found refuge in nature, books, chosen family, and sense of the numinous. Like many weirdos who grew up in the Bible Belt, I read a lot about paganism and land-centered religions during my adolescence. I’m culturally Christian, which means I take my kids to church twice a year. I like Buddhism, but I like it wild.
More formally: My fiction and essays have appeared or are forthcoming in The Best American Short Stories, The New York Times, Tricycle, EPOCH, Michigan Quarterly Review, Crazyhorse, West Branch, and others. I’m currently finishing my first novel. I live outside of Chicago with my husband and our two children. I teach creative writing to college undergraduates at Northwestern University.
Lastly, please note: I’m not a Buddhist teacher, Lama, or scholar. I will inevitably provide you with wrong information at some point. If you are looking for professional Dharma folks, I highly recommend my current teacher, Lama Justin von Bujdoss, an ordained Karma Kagyu repa and co-founder of the Yangti Yoga Retreat Center. Additionally, I’m incredibly grateful to receive teachings from Lama Lena and Dr. Nida Chenagtsang.
And although I haven’t studied with them formally, my practice wouldn’t be what it is without the work of Lama Rod Owens and Dzogchen teacher Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche.
May all beings be free and happy!
Thank you for reading Your Wild And Radiant Mind! I’m able to make this work happen through the generosity of free and paid subscribers. If you would like to further support my writing, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. You’ll gain full access to mini-salons, quarterly creative writing classes, prompts, and personalized creativity advice.
