“Listen for the Invitation:” A Creative Contemplative Interview with Award-Winning Poet, K.E. Ogden

Wise practices that shine a light into those dark corners

I have long been inspired by contemplative practices and how they intersect with the creative process, and I am so incredibly honored to host my dear friend, K.E. Ogden, as the first guest in my most recent series, The Creative Contemplative Interviews.

Even though I’ve known K.E. for fifteen years, I learned so much more about her creative philosophy and contemplative practices. I found this so inspiring — I hope it also inspires you!

Learn more about the Creative Contemplative Interviews here:

Welcome, K.E. Ogden!

K.E. Ogden is a poet, writer, book artist and teacher living in Los Angeles with her partner, cartoonist Mathew Digges [sequential-life.com]. She teaches at Pasadena City College. Her award-winning, debut poetry chapbook, What the Body Already Knows, is available now at Finishing Line Press.

What are your favorite contemplative practices? How often do you practice?

There are so many important contemplative practices we can each take advantage of that inspire healing, mindfulness and creativity. In my daily life I practice yoga, mindful breathing, and meditation, and often have rituals that help to center and ground me for the day.

Writing, of course, is my favorite contemplative practice. I write every day, employing a self-created method that I call “Navigating the Notebook.” It’s true “free writing” that begins with in-the-moment thought — with the idea of capturing my “inner Kirsten” onto the page with the least amount of distance and editing as possible.

I tell my students to “listen for the invitation” they’ll receive from themselves to go deeper into something that their inner-self wants to explore more fully. This is a vulnerable practice, but it is vital for me.

Reading is also an important contemplative practice, and I spend about half an hour each morning reading books that inspire inner feelings and thoughts to come to the surface, but this reading employs dialogue and conversation through a heavy annotating process in which I’m constantly questioning and restating as I read. The end result is often what I consider to be a beautiful collage of my words, the writer’s words, images drawn in the margins, and more.

What is your personal history with contemplative practices? How did you come to discover these practices?

I grew up in Hawai’i and as a child learned breathing practices as a source of grounding and power when I was in Kindergarten and First Grade — and there was always space to continue these practices in school and also on the weekends surfing and snorkeling and being in rhythm with the ocean. I know these practices now as “Ha” or ancient Hawaiian breathwork, but at the time I just loved unfolding my puffy nap mat and sitting cross-legged with eyes closed being led in inhaling and exhaling breath.

As a child with ADHD (it wasn’t called that back then) this practice taught to me so young has been a wonderful gift to calm myself, to generate compassion and empathy, and also to “enlarge” my inner light and step into my own power when I’ve needed it.

As I got older and began to visit my father’s side of the family in Louisiana, my great grandmother, who was a very religious person, introduced me to what she called “Church breathing” which was taking in air and “puffing it out loud” — very similar to audible breathwork and meditation so popular today — and that is a practice I still do every day along with “Ha” breathing.

What do you like to create? How do you define creation?

I love creativity in all its forms. When students come to me and tell me in the first week of class that they’re “not creative” we dive into all of the ways creativity enters our lives: cooking, arranging or decorating our homes, clothing choices, hair and make-up, conversations, etc.

I find cooking to be a wonderful creative outlet. I also love to collage and do quite a bit of playing with paper — book arts and just ripping, cutting, painting, drawing and coloring — always with words though — words I write or words I’ve “borrowed” from magazines and books. I guess I’d define “creation” as close as possible to “authentic energy.”

Breathing and moving can be forms of creativity — and when we are “creative” we are “in energy” — clearing it, generating it, harnessing it, observing it.

What is your personal history with the act of creativity/ creation?

I’ve always been drawn to creative practices. Improvisation and theater, writing and drawing, gardening, playing. There’s not enough playing in the world. We need to make more time for our children (and adults) to play.

I remember as a child the creativity involved in play — usually outdoors — making forts, creating “mud pies,” and flower garlands to wear, singing, making up stories and acting them out, drawing our own storybooks of characters from the neighborhood etc. I followed those creative invitations throughout my academic career and I treasure time for them in my personal life.

Would you like to share some of your creations with us? What are you most proud of?

I was invited to submit a quilt piece to author Gretchen Henderson’s “Unstitched States” https://unstitchedstates.com/ and loved creating my piece “My President: A Politics of Hope” and I also make or alter journals and alter magazines and notebooks etc. and create original pieces that you can see at https://wellalteredeiderdown.weebly.com/

Of course, I’m a poet and writer, and am very excited about my first poetry collection out with Finishing Line Press — a lot of the poems in that book were written with my high school students from the Kenyon Review Young Writers Summer Workshops — the collaborative atmosphere of teaching and writing together is very powerful.

I love the book because I collaborated with an artist and high school friend, Kiyoshi Nakazawa, as he developed an original cover for the book that is so beautiful and reflects so much of what is in the poems included in the book– the images, the movement of the colors all feel so present. I’m very proud of that.

How do these practices overlap with other creative aspects of your life? How do these practices support your creative process?

Contemplative writing, breath work, Hot Yoga and meditation help “wipe the slate clean” and make a space for my writing and art work — I would add a non-judgmental space — because society pushes so much into our lives and tells us what is “acceptable” — so this kind of “daily cleaning” of my mind and body help me to remember that exploration and curiosity are important, and these practices also help me strengthen focus on my purpose in life: to be a helper — to be a listener — to bring light to others.

It may sound cheesy, but when I was a teenager and my family was going through a challenging and difficult time, my mother took me aside and said “I named you Kirsten because it means “child of light” and I’ve never forgotten that. There is a lot of darkness in the world — I’ve experienced my own darknesses too — but we can all shine a light into those dark corners and examine and reflect in order to heal and to empower others.

What advice or insights can you offer for others who are seeking creative support?

Finding a daily practice of your own is so very important — a practice that isn’t dependent on anyone else. That will enlarge your breathing space in this life. And then, finding your kindred spirits in the world and connecting with them — that is important for our creative lives as well.

One of the things I treasure is dialogue and conversation. There’s so much to discover when you listen to other people and make space for sharing ideas. I thrive on that connection with other human beings.

I also think animals can give us a great deal of creative support. My cat is an unending supply of love and teaches me mindfulness and presence every day. I also want to say that if you have opportunity, big or small travels that can take you away from your daily environment and give you new environments is really important for resetting yourself if you’ve accumulated a lot of energy blockages.

When I’m able, I take small day trips out to nature, or I try to visit places that renew my spirit. A favorite place is a writing retreat in Virginia called “The Porches.” There are prescribed quiet hours, very poor cell phone coverage, and super slow internet — and a lot of trees, summer thunder storms, hummingbirds, grass and flowers. Sitting on the porch and staring out at a beautiful vista, breathing, or practicing yoga outdoors there is incredibly restorative.

Once again, deep gratitude to K.E. Ogden for sharing her wisdom with us. Please check out her award-winning, GORGEOUS, debut poetry chapbook, What the Body Already Knows, is available now at Finishing Line Press.

Also, visit her at www.kirstenogden.com and Instagram as @SizzleAndBounce.

Many thanks to Ellie Jacobson and Flint & Steel for hosting her here.

If you are interested in being considered for The Creative Contemplative Interviews, please complete this form. I look forward to learning from you and sharing your practices with others.

E. Katherine Kottaras the writer, voice, and co-creator of Yoga with Eleonora on PillowFortTV and the co-writer with Vanitha Swaminathan of the forthcoming picture book, A RAINBOW INSIDE MY BODY, illustrated by Holly Hatam (Viking 2024). She holds an M.A. in English and an M.S. in Kinesiology with a focus on Integrative Wellness, and she is a contemplative writer and holistic teacher, having worked at the K-12 and community college levels for over two decades. She is a yoga teacher, personal trainer, and health coach while also living with invisible illnesses and neurodivergence, and as such, she is passionate about mindfulness, bodily self-determination, and health equity. As the queer daughter of an immigrant, Katherine believes that holistic and inclusive approaches to expression, healing, and growth should be accessible to all.

Connect with Katherine on the social medias: IG, YouTube, FB, LinkedIn, or at katherinekottaras.com. Check out Katherine’s new series, Yoga with Eleonora on PillowfortTV/YouTube, which helps kids of all ages calm their minds and bodies so they can respond to and communicate their feelings in healthy ways.

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