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 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 one to two free 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 teacher, 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?
Paying writers is a great way to show that you appreciate and care for their hard work.
Paid subscribers also receive benefits such as:
A free coaching email. Ask me anything about your writing, creativity, or spiritual practice and receive down-to-earth guidance over email.
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.
Two prerecorded classes on Writing Into Wonder & Amazement and Make Your Own Writing Oracle. 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.
Each session includes a mind/body relaxation exercise, 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.
A 15% discount on creative coaching and manuscript consultations.
Your financial support makes this newsletter possible. I devote hours of labor to writing, researching, and crafting posts, and your contribution of $30 a year makes this all a little easier. Thank you!
Wait, who are you again?
I’m a Buddhist practitioner, writer, and creative writing teacher. I’ve taught fiction workshops to undergraduates at Northwestern University and to working adults at StoryStudio, a nonprofit creative writing center, where I also work as a grant writer and fundraising consultant. I also have a very small business offering 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.
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, Lama Tasha Schumann, 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.
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.
