Advertise on podcast: Vital Presence: Embrace Your Muse

Laurie Seymour is the author of Unconditional Remembrance: Your Connection to Source, a deeply personal account of the transformative journey that led her to found the Baca Institute and devote her work to helping others reconnect with their innate creative intelligence. In this conversation, we explore Laurie’s unexpected path—from therapist, to solutions engineer, to student of a mystical teacher—and how each transition shaped her understanding of healing, creativity, and consciousness. Today, Laurie is the creator of the Quantum Connection Process, a system designed to help people express their divine blueprint, and she also works with Turaya Meditation and Turaya Touch to support embodied spiritual awakening. Learn more about Laurie and her work at www.BacaInstitute.com This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sallyfox.substack.com/subscribe

Heather William has been teaching drawing for decades, to artists, children, inmates, people suffering from AIDS, and others, and she knows for sure that EVERYONE can draw. Her pioneering book, Drawing as a Sacred Activity, recently republished, offers ideas and exercises to inspire anyone who wishes to open their eyes and open to spirit and their authentic selves by drawing. As a review from Shaun McNiff on the back cover states: “Mystics and artists throughout time have appreciated how practical and spiritual worlds meet and shape one another through the act of drawing.” Join us in a spirited conversation about how we can all grow by drawing and how Heather helped Sally overcome her draw-o-phobia so that she can now delight in drawing. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sallyfox.substack.com/subscribe

Author Christina Baldwin is a pioneer in the field of personal writing, a decades-long teacher of journal writing and story. In 2024, she released her debut novel, The Beekeeper's Question, Love and Honey, War and Reckoning, A Novel of WWII, a book I heartily recommend. We talk about a rich array of topics, including themes from the book, the relevance of a novel set during World War II to today, how Christina worked with a Native American advisor to make sure her story was appropriate and accurate, and the challenges and rewards of independent publishing. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sallyfox.substack.com/subscribe

Vicki Robin has been breaking ground throughout her career—now she's challenging how we think about aging with her Coming of Aging writings. We talk about the possibilities and paradoxes of aging. She challenged the stories of our times in 1992 with her seminal book written with Joe Dominguez, Your Money or Your Life, a book that challenged our obsessions with acquiring things rather than creating the time we need to live a rich life. She challenged us again with her book about eating locally with her book Blessing the Hands that Feed Us; Lessons from a 10-mile diet. She's a true social innovator, and has been active supporting her community on Whidbey Island, Washington.   This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sallyfox.substack.com/subscribe

Chris Miller (CJ) is an entrepreneur, artist, writer, and speaker. He’s a lifelong Spiritual learner who has spent the last 20 years examining the creative process and its relationship to spirituality. He’s the author of the book, The Spiritual Artist and produces a podcast by the same name in which he interviews artists and spiritual thought leaders. In addition, CJ holds yearly Spiritual Art Retreats where consciousness and art-making combine. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sallyfox.substack.com/subscribe

Dr. Michael Williams is a Canadian-born storyteller who spent three decades living in Scotland, where he honed his skills as an oral storyteller. We talk about our mutual love of storytelling as we trace Michael's history as a contemporary bard, in Europe and Canada and his recent work with elders and hospice patients. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sallyfox.substack.com/subscribe

Dr. Clarissa Castillo-Ramsey brings artfulness together with leadership and helping people grow. She is an organizational psychologist, artist, coach, and author of the book: Painting Your Path: 21 Interviews with Extraordinary Women. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sallyfox.substack.com/subscribe

Francesca Aniballi, PhD, uses fairy tales as a transformative tool for adults. She combines her knowledge of expressive arts, literature, myth, and Celtic culture, to offer us a path toward self-insight—tapping the healing power of the imagination.  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sallyfox.substack.com/subscribe

younger? Author Sally Jean Fox made it her quest to discover what could bring heart and meaning to the second half of her life. She chronicles her story in her new memoir Meeting the Muse After Midlife: A Journey to Meaning, Creativity, and Joy. In this episode, she is joined by Dana Lynne Andersen, her friend, colleague, and teacher to explore what it means to follow an artful, transformative path into one's last decades. Dana Lynne Andersen is the Director of the Awakening Arts Academy in Assisi, Italy, where she offers courses and also leads a Transformative Arts Certification program, which Sally has taken. Sally Jean Fox is an author, coach, performer, and artist who writes about the search for meaning in the post-midlife years. She writes the Engaging Presence blog and hosts (with exceptions like this) the Vital Presence podcast.  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sallyfox.substack.com/subscribe

Legacy educator Merle Saferstein teaches the power of legacy journaling—capturing thoughts and memories that might be only for the writer's eyes but from which lessons might be shared with others.  For 48 years, Merle Saferstein journaled, amassing a collection of 380 journals. From there she distilled key passages into two books Living and Leaving My Legacy Vols. 1 & 2 and interspersed her writings with tips on how to begin legacy journaling. Prior to writing her books, Merle spent twenty-six years as a Holocaust educator helping hundreds of Holocaust survivors to share their legacies.  After retiring, she created Leaving Your Legacy®. Through classes, workshops, and lectures, she has guided thousands of people in sacred legacy work, writing for wellness, and journaling. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sallyfox.substack.com/subscribe

  Mik Kuhlman is an actor, physical theatre comedian, performance artist, theatre-maker, and teacher who has worked and taught globally. Building on her twenty-five years experience with original ensemble and solo theatre, she recently created a stunning outdoor performance and celebration of our connection with nature called, "The Standing Nation."  Merging science and feminist inspiration, she performs a piece of art and activism that will forever change how you see trees.   This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sallyfox.substack.com/subscribe

Gretchen Staebler is an award-winning author in the Pacific Northwest who wrote a moving memoir about returning to her childhood home to care for her mother. It's a candid, complex, and well-crafted story that will be useful to anyone faced with providing end-of-life care or support for a family member. Gretchen also provides advice and support for caregivers at her website GretchenStaebler.com.  In this interview, she offers some of her top tips for caregivers while talking about her own writing journey and how she produced her first book after sixty. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sallyfox.substack.com/subscribe

Priscilla Long, Seattle-based author or Dancing with the Muse in Old Age, Minding the Muse, and The Writer's Portable Mentor takes us behind the scenes of her fascination with late in life creators.  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sallyfox.substack.com/subscribe

  Dana Lynne Andersen is a multimedia artist, writer, playwright, and teacher who has taught and exhibited on three continents. She is the founder of the Awakening Arts Academy, with programs in Assisi, Italy, and online. In this conversation, we explore the nature of the Transformative Arts Certification Program she offers—why it is so needed in the world and what it represents. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sallyfox.substack.com/subscribe

When her beloved husband took his life, and with it her life as she knew it, Suzanne Anderson faced a choice: would she be broken down and defeated, or broken open and transformed? Join this conversation about walking an unexpected path to a powerful outcome. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sallyfox.substack.com/subscribe