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Open your heart by watching Ananda’s 2/12 online yoga class for computer users

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Hi All,

Give yourself the gift of love by taking 15 minutes to watch my yoga class video that explores the power of opening your heart.  It includes kind and gentle yoga poses that you can do while sitting in a chair or in your bed.  Click here to watch the video: http://stickam.com/anandaleeke.

FYI – My yoga class honors women’s heart health month (celebrated in February) and the people of Haiti.  If you learned something from the class, please consider making a donation to Doctors Without Borders to support their work in Haiti: www.doctorswithoutborders.org.

I am teaching two more online yoga classes on February 19 and 26 at 7:00 a.m. EST: http://stickam.com/anandaleeke. I hope you can join me for the classes.

Enjoy your day and weekend!

Peace, Creativity, Compassion, and Love OMs,

Ananda

Watch video of Ananda’s 2/11 creativity coaching session on how to use six-word memoirs to discover who you are in the present moment and creative process

Posted by on in Creativity CoachingLeave a comment

Greetings All,

Check out the video of my creativity coaching session (15 minutes) that aired on Ananda Leeke Live! UStream.tv on February 11:  http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/4654453.  It discusses how to use six-word memoirs to discover who you are in the present moment and creative process.  During the show, I give an overview of six-word memoirs. For more information about six-word memoirs and Smith Magazine (folks who created the six-word memoir movement), visit www.smithmag.net/sixwords.

Writing exercises from my new book That Which Awakens Me: A Creative Woman’s Poetic Memoir of Self-Discovery (available on Amazon.com – http://tiny.cc/7uFsg) are included. So get your pen and paper ready! Let me know if they helped you.

FYI – I am hosting another creativity coaching session on what creativity looks like in your life on February 25 at 9:00 p.m. EST on Ananda Leeke Live!: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ananda-leeke-live.

I hope you can join me for the live class. If you miss it, don’t fret.  You can watch a video recording of it.

Enjoy your weekend!

Peace, Creativity, Compassion, and Enthusiasm for Writing Six-Word Memoirs,

Ananda

Ananda Celebrates Love Day w/ a poem & video from her new book That Which Awakens Me

Posted by on in Ananda Leeke, That Which Awakens Me - A Creative Woman's Poetic Memoir1 Comment

Happy Friday! Happy Early Valentine’s Day!  Happy Love Day Every Day!

I thought you might like to read a poem about love from my new book That Which Awakens Me: A Creative Woman’s Poetic Memoir of Self-Discovery (available on Amazon.com –  http://tiny.cc/7uFsg).  See below.  I have also included a video of me reading the poem. Let me know what you think of the poem.

What does love mean to you?

Enjoy your day and weekend!

Peace, Creativity, Compassion, and Gratitude for love in all of its beauty,

Ananda

Excerpt from That Which Awakens Me

Copyright 2009 by Madelyn C. Leeke.

The Word

In the beginning was the word.
And the word was a seed called a thought rooted in Spirit.

In the beginning was the word.
And the word that we were given from Spirit was choice.

In the beginning was the word.
And the words that we choose each moment create energy,
meaning, and power in how we experience ourselves, each
other, and the world around us.

As we think and speak, we become a vessel of spiritual,
emotional, physical, silent, verbal, and written expression.

Our thoughts and words have lives of their own.

They tell our life stories out loud.

They stamp the universe with our vibratory signature.

Our vibration finds its way into the universe and dances to the
beat of beautiful music or noisy disturbance.

If we are mindful and aware, we can choose to allow our
vibration to create love, peace, light, beauty, joy, healing,
happiness, laughter, and abundance.

If we are unconscious or ego-tripping, we run the risk of
making a choice that will add more emotional, spiritual, and
physical violence in the universe.

The question we must ask is: what do we want the beginning
of each moment to look and feel like?

My answer is L-O-V-E.

The influence of India.Arie’s music and Spelman College on Ananda’s novel Love’s Troubadours – Karma: Book One

Posted by on in African American Women, Art, Love's Troubadours - Karma: Book One, Spelman College3 Comments

Hi All!

India.Arie’s music has been a powerful influence in my creative work.  Her first CD Acoustic Soul (2001) inspired me to keep moving forward during my novel writing journey.

Karma: Aham Prema (2005) by Ananda Leeke 

(Aham Prema means I am divine love in Sanskrit)

 

Her composition “Strength, Courage, and Wisdom” became a personal mantra for the main character Karma Francois in my debut novel Love’s Troubadours – Karma: Book One (2007). 

I mentioned the song in Love’s Troubadours because India’s music chronicles a woman’s journey of self-discovery.  It vibrates with authenticity and vulnerability.  Surrender and self-acceptance are key themes.  Love’s Troubadours embodies all of these things.  Karma’s journey explores a woman’s pain, passion, and power with authenticity, vulnerability, surrender, and self-acceptance. To learn more, visit www.lovestroubadours.com. The book is available on Amazon.com.

Spelman College is also featured in Love’s Trouabdours.  Several characters are Spelman graduates (Karma’s twin sister and cousin are Spelmanites).  To learn more about Spelman, watch the video below.

Spelman College Museum of Fine Art is mentioned in Love’s Troubadours too.  Watch the video below featuring a tour of the Museum  given by its director Dr. Andrea Barnwell , an art historian, writer, and critic.   I was able to visit the Museum and see the exhbit featured in the video in October 2009.  AMAZING! 

FYI – Art plays a major role in Karma’s life. It inspires, consoles, and teaches her. My novel offers you a wonderful opportunity to look at life through Karma’s eyes as an art enthusiast and museum curator. Through her eyes, you will learn about exciting artists and photographers from the African Diaspora, Americas (USA and Mexico), Europe, and Japan such as Lois Mailou Jones, Kara Walker, Renee Stout, Yayoi Kusama, Faith Ringgold, Chris Ofili, Ansel Adams, Marion Perkins, Elizabeth Catlett, Francisco Mora, Alexander Calder, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Maria Izquierdo, Jean Michel Basquiat, Andre Derain, Annie Lee, Betye Saar, Alison Saar, Amalia Amaki, Joyce Scott, Lorna Simpson, Constantin Brancusi. Eldzier Cortor, Amedeo Modigliani, Sister Gertrude Morgan, Archibald Motley, Adrian Piper, Hughie Lee Smith, and Charles W. White. Read the art blog post: http://kiamshacom.blogspot.com/2007/09/blessings-all-my-debut-novel-loves.html.

Enjoy your day!

Peace, Creativity, Compassion, and Gratitude for India.Arie and Spelman College,

Ananda

Tulane Professor/Author Shayne Lee reviews Ananda’s novel Love’s Troubadours – Karma: Book One

Posted by on in Love's Troubadours - Karma: Book One1 Comment

Happy Snow Wednesday in D.C.! 

Yes it is snowing in the wonderful District of Columbia.  I am loving the peace and quiet that comes from snow days!  It is giving me an opportunity to sleep  a lot, have long yummy yoga/meditation/Reiki sessions, read magazines and books, chat with friends on Skype, and discover what is happening online.

Shayne Lee

Yesterday I learned Shayne Lee, an author (one of my favorites) and Tulane University professor, wrote an incredibly generous review of my debut novel Love’s Troubadours – Karma: Book One on Amazon.com.  See below. Let me know what you think.

Enjoy your day and week!

Peace, Creativity, Compassion, and Gratitude for the peace of snow days,

Ananda

Shayne Lee’s Amazon.com Review

 An Intriguing work of art, February 9, 2010
By  Shayne Lee (Houston (by way of New Orleans)) – See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Amazon Verified Purchase(What’s this?)

Great artistic efforts do more than just entertain, they enlighten. Love’s Troubadours was highly entertaining, but also challenged me to explore the greater context of the world around me, which is in my humble opinion the hallmark of great art. I learned much about my own strivings and angst while perusing life through the eyes of a hip, chic, post-soul, educated yoga-loving, highly spiritual Black American Princess named Karma. There are no canned characters in this masterpiece, only complex women and men dealing with the vicissitudes of life through their inimitable postmodern brands of spirituality and social perspectives. Karma teaches us much about perseverance as well as about self-transcendence and spiritual consciousness. One of the most fascinating aspects of this book is its fresh appropriation of black middleclass sensibilities. Karma is an intuitive and progressive woman and her tastes and interests reflect a mélange of black middleclass tropes often unexplored in contemporary cinema and books. Ananda Leeke fastens our consciousness to a world of black female sophistication, and depicts Karma as an apotheosis of urban-chic and self-transcendence. Leeke takes us on an entertaining and enlightening journey as we watch an incredibly complex protagonist like Karma navigate through the matrices of her personal reformation, negotiate transitional changes, overcome family and relationship challenges and emotional angst, and emerge as a more evolved and emotionally whole woman. This is a well-written book and a fascinating look at an underrepresented portion of contemporary black middle-class life and spirituality.

Listen to my first Author Chat on BlogTalkRadio – Who are the love’s troubadours?

Posted by on in African American Culture, Black History Month, Love's Troubadours - Karma: Book OneLeave a comment

 

 

Happy Monday!

Today I hosted the first episode of my author chat series on BlogTalkRadio.  Click here to listen to the show: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/anandaleeke/2010/02/08/author-chat-with-ananda-leeke.   During the show, I discussed my debut novel Love’s Troubadours – Karma: Book One (www.lovestroubadours.com).  I also reflected on the question of the day – Who are love’s troubadours? – and how African American playwright Lorraine Hansberry inspired the novel series. Let me know what you think of the first episode (it is pretty short – 10 minutes).

By the way, Love’s Troubadours – Karma: Book One is available on Amazon.com. It makes for a great winter read and Valentine’s Day gift. Click here to order the book: http://tinyurl.com/yfxtqyq.  

Thank you for your support!  Enjoy your day and week!

Peace, Creativity, Compassion, and Joy for knowing I am one of Love’s Troubadours (so are you!),

Ananda 

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via Author Chat with Ananda Leeke.

Check out my February and March events!

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Happy Friday!

Check out my February and March events:  https://authoranandaleeke.wordpress.com/events.  There are some great things happening online and offline like the DC book reading and signing on March 14 at the Historical Society of Washington, DC. 

Enjoy your day and weekend!

Peace, Creativity, Compassion, and Gratitude for making it through this week,

Ananda

What does it mean to be a Black man?

Posted by on in African American Men, Black Men, Love's Troubadours - Symon: Book Two, Post Black1 Comment

A Tribute to Deno, painting by Ananda Leeke

(appears on back cover of Love’s Troubadours – Karma: Book One – www.lovestroubadours.com)

Happy Thursday,

Today I am celebrating the birthday of my best friend and co-writer Deno Moss.  Deno was born in 1962. He made his life transition on February 6, 2003 (two days after his 42nd birthday).  During the last two years of his life, Deno spent an enormous of time working with me as a co-writer on the Love’s Troubadours novel series.  He is one of the reasons I started writing the novel.  His persistence, support, friendship, and writing talent made him the perfect partner.  He also happened to be my best friend from the time we met during my freshmen year at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland.

During the course of our 20 year friendship, I witnessed Deno’s journey as a creative, giving, consistent, and loving Black man who was a husband to Marcie, father to Jordan, son to his mother, brother to his siblings, and friend to many.  He gave from his heart.  He shared wisdom wrapped in his Wilmington, Delaware accent, silly humor, life experiences, soul music, comic books, and Brooklyn living.  He continues to give from his heart as my guardian angel.

Last night I was doing research for one of Deno’s favorite characters Symon Allure, the main man in my new book Love’s Troubadours – Symon: Book Two. Symon is a post-soul man born in 1963. His mom is Afro-Cuban. His dad is African American with Richmond, Virginia roots. When the book opens, you meet Symon in a state of reflection about what happened to him in 1968. One of his memories is his father Maxwell, a jazz musician, taking him to a barber shop in Brooklyn.

Malik Yoba

The barber shop was key in my research last night. It led me to the first episode of actor/musician/healer/father Malik Yoba’s new BET web TV show called Shop Talk: What’s on the Hearts of Men. It is set in Brooklyn.  The first webisode is entitled “Father and Son.” It features Malik and his seven year old Josiah. They visit a barbershop. Josiah asks the men in the barber shop what it means to be a man. Check out the four-minute webisode: http://shoptalk.bet.com/video/webisode-1-father-and-son.

Shawn Wallace

Here’s another thing to check out: author Ytasha Womack’s great blog post featuring an interview with Shawn Wallace, musician and producer of the upcoming documentary You’ll Be A Man , about what it means to be a Black man: http://postblackthebook.blogspot.com/2010/02/doc-youll-be-man-interview-with.html.  Click here to learn more about Wallace:  http://www.myspace.com/qimusicgroup.  Watch a short video (7 minutes) about Wallace’s You’ll Be A Man documentary: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=53896857. FYI – Womack’s new book is Post Black. Check her book out on Amazon.com.

Now after all that, I wanna know one thing.  What does it mean to be a Black man?

Please share your thoughts. They will deepen my book research.  Thanks in advance!

Thanks for stopping by!

Peace, Creativity, Compassion, and Gratitude for the Black men in my life who demonstrate love, support, friendship, consistency, understanding, and responsibility,

Ananda

PS: My dad John; grandfathers Robert and John; Uncles Bob, Robbie, and Samuel; brothers Mike, Mark, and Matt; cousins Tre, Finis, and Tony; and brothalove friends Fred (play father), Wayne, Jason, Ken, Henry, Andre, and Tim’m represent what it means to be a Black man to me.  They demonstrate love, support, friendship, consistency, understanding, responsibility, and so much more.

Beautiful Black History Made By India.Arie Saluting Dr. Ruth Simmons, President of Brown University

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Happy Middle of the Week Day!

Watch India.Arie’s tribute performance to Dr. Ruth Simmons, President of Brown University.  It was featured on BET’s Honors telecast. It is just what I needed for February 3rd.  Enjoy!

By the way, pianist Eric Lewis accompanied India. He is amazing. I saw him perform in 2006 at HR57 in DC. That night I fell in love with his music especially his composition “Puerto Rico” which stirred up childhood memories of visiting the beautiful island I call my adopted home (like Cuba is for me).  In 2009, he performed at the White House and woooowed President Barack Obama and FLOTUS Michelle Obama.  Click here to learn more about this fabulous musician: http://ericlewisgroove.com.

Be beautiful! Be resilient! Be free!

Peace, Creativity, Compassion, Gratitude, and Appreciation for sistalove sheros like India.Arie and Dr. Ruth Simmons and brothlove heros like Eric Lewis,

Ananda


bflower beth 2010
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PS:  Watch a YouTube video of Eric Lewis playing his composition”Puerto Rico” (my all-time favorite!).  Get your dancing shoes on! Move those hips! It’s time to salsa with ELEW! Baile!