Meditation is a great way to add peace and stability to your life, or to enhance your already Zen lifestyle!  People often tell me that they don’t know how to meditate or begin to still their minds.  Well, meditation really is a state of mind.  Meditating simply means focusing fully on what you are doing at the moment.  For people with really active and busy lifestyles who have never meditated before, I recommend starting with some active meditation.  Determine activities in your life that you do on a daily basis such as showering, washing dishes, driving, etc.  Choose at least one of these activities one time a day to do with complete purpose and focus.  For instance, if you get up and make coffee at the same time every morning, use the act of making coffee as your daily active meditation.  Stand in front of the counter before you begin making the coffee and tell your mind to quiet itself.  Take 3-4 deep full breaths from your belly.  Then as you begin your routine of coffee making, pay extra special attention to each detail of the process.  So it would look something like this:

1.      Stand, quiet your mind, take 3-4 deep breaths in and out.  As you breathe, inhale for 4 full seconds and exhale for 6 full seconds on each breath.  Try to maintain this breathing pattern as you continue.  If you like, set your intention for the day, such as “I am going to maintain a positive attitude throughout every facet of my day.”

2.       As you reach for the carafe, think to yourself, “I am reaching for the carafe.” 

3.       Next, think, “I am filling the carafe with water.  I am grateful to have running water.”

4.       “I am pouring the water in the coffee maker. “

5.       “I am putting the coffee grounds in the coffee maker.  I am happy to have coffee to make this morning.”

6.       “I am turning the coffee pot on.  I am blessed to have electricity.”

7.       “I am pulling my favorite coffee mug out of the cupboard.”

8.       “I am pouring my coffee.”

9.       “I am drinking my coffee.  I am going to have a great day.”

You can apply this technique to virtually any activity.  If you do so and you maintain and regular, deep breathing pattern, you give your lungs and vital organs a wonderful and much needed massage and allow your body to release toxins that clog up when you get stuck in a shallow breathing pattern.  Stay tuned for more meditation blogs, including easy daily mantras and cleansing breaths.

Hi, everyone! Thanks for taking a moment to connect with our music happenings!

Breaking News:

I am extremely humbled and happy to announce that the Arkansas Arts Council has awarded me an Individual Artist Fellowship for recognition of creative excellence in Music Composition in the Folk genre. The award is a one-time, unconditional financial contribution and will allow us to finish "Incognito Baby" in the coming months! Please visit www.arkansasarts.org to read more about the fantastic ways the Council supports local artists. Also in breaking news, this morning I was notified that one of my songs has been selected for the Art of Noise Compilation Album Series. I will keep you posted on the album release and song details!!

Upcoming Shows:

This Friday, Sept. 2nd, Rodg and I will be playing another duo acoustic show at WORDS & AFTERWORDS in Hardy, AR from 7 pm til 9 pm. FREE ENTRY - All Ages. This is one of our favorite places to play. The staff, food and ambience are excellent! Please visit www.wordsafterwords.com for more menu and other info on this wonderful songwriter venue.

September 10th we will once again take the Mt. Ida Front Porch Stage (outdoors) in Mt. Ida, Arkansas for a fun and frenzied night of Country/Americana original music. We are mixing it up this time with a more acoustic sound! Rodg on bass, me on acoustic guitar, Dave on acoustic drums (darbouka and djembe) and introducing Roxi on Viola. Show starts at 7. Free entry and tip if you can! CDs available for a summer discount price of $5!!! More info at www.frontporchstage.org. Bring a chair or blanket!!

Dragonfly Songwriter Showcase:

In other news, Dragonfly Songwriter Showcase is still taking the original music scene by storm!! Here are some shows to look forward to:

In Hot Springs, catch BIG CHILL FIRST THURSDAYS 8 pm til Midnite - Songwriting acts from all over the world! Coming up on Sept. 1st we have Treva Blomquist (www.trevamusic.com) with Opening at Justin Patterson (www.justinpattersonsongs.com). Laura Lynn & Friends SECOND THURSDAYS at THE LOFT on Sept. 8th from 7-9 promises to be fun and whimsical as always!! Also at The Big Chill on October 6th, we have two awesome chick songwriters from Nashville, Ashlee K Thomas (www.ashleekthomas.com) and Karen Waldrup (www.karenwaldrup.com). The girls will be featured that morning on "Good Morning Arkansas" on KATV Ch. 7 in Little Rock. Tune in to hear this dynamic duo! Karen was recently featured on the new hit Bravo show with Jewel and Kara DioGaurdi, "Platinum Hit" and she is also opening for Sara Evans on Aug. 6th here in Arkansas! We are so thrilled to have them both that we are bringing you a double whammy of their talent! We have teamed up with Khalil's Pub in Little Rock (www.khalilspub.com) to host them for a night of songwriting on Friday night, October 7th from 7-9 pm. Thanks to Charlie Crow's Songwriter nights at Khalil's, the venue is becoming quite the hot spot for original music! All of these shows are 21+ and have free entry. For complete info on DSS Events, please visit www.renawren.com/dragonfly.

Check out the "KIND" tees below! There is something for everyone! Your purchase of a KIND tee helps spread the kind word globally!!!

As always, thank you for being part of this newsletter and continuing to support live original music!

"If you will listen I will try to sing you the song of my heart."

Namaste & great day,

Rena Wren & Team

I wrote this post on August 1, 2011, my "Vegan Birthday," and wanted to share it with you all!  See below. Cross-posted at Chicvegan.com here: http://chicvegan.com/celebrating-my-life-as-a-vegan-and-a-recipe/#disqus_thread.

One year ago today I became vegan, so I am calling this my “Vegan Birthday,” as it is soooo much more than an anniversary. When I became 100% vegan, a whole new “me” was born. I felt an almost immediate sense of peace and connection with my deep inner self and with Mother Earth, even stronger and more meaningful that I had felt before. So today I celebrate this birthday by telling you my story and sharing the recipe for a lovely vegan lasagna I have planned for my family.

But first, let me share a little more with you about my vegan journey. Prior to taking the plunge to complete veganism, I was a vegetarian for over 20 years and truthfully, even before that had never eaten meat. Well, I had tried some kinds of meat out of sheer parental and peer pressure, but I never liked it. Even as a very young child, I thought it unnatural and cruel to eat an animal. I remember vividly many Thanksgiving dinners as a child where I just looked at the turkey on the table and thought everyone was insane for eating it. I mean, how could they eat it? It was an animal with thoughts and feelings and, in my opinion, RIGHTS! So I lived my life mostly vegetarian and then at age 19, I became a vegetarian for good. I remember my family and college friends thinking I was going through a “phase” or a “crisis,” thinking I would soon snap out of it and rejoin the carnivores. I am happy to say that never happened!

So, why did I wait so long to become vegan? I don’t really have a good answer for that except to say that in my early 20’s my life changed in some pretty unexpected ways. I suffered from a lot of depression and really was just “muddling” through for many years. I always remained vegetarian, but for some reason I didn’t explore or learn more about being vegan. However, in the last 5 years, through soul-searching, yoga and meditation, I began to find the “real” me. I learned that the peaceful, passionate person I am inside is just who I am at the core and that embracing it would be the most beautiful thing I could do. Part of that journey led me to a college friend, Meredith, who had been vegan for about 5 or 6 years. Meredith really helped me understand the connection between the commercial meat industry and the environmental devastation in the world and it all started coming into focus for me. So, last year on August 1st, I woke up, declared I was vegan and began this adventure that has brought me more peace and joy than I could ever imagine.

My husband and my daughter (who just turned 18) are not vegan or vegetarian, but they do try to go meat-free at least one day per week. They also have tried many of my vegan meals and are slowly starting to find that vegan food is yummy! On that note, I am going to make an awesome vegan lasagna for my family for dinner tonight. See recipe below. What do you do to celebrate YOUR vegan life?

Vegan Spinach Lasagna
 

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb. vegan lasagna noodles
• 2 10-oz. packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
• 1 lb. soft tofu
• 1 lb. firm tofu
• 1 Tbsp. organic raw or maple sugar (optional, or to taste)
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 Tbsp. organic lemon juice
• 3 tsp. minced fresh basil
• 2 tsp. organic sea salt
• 4 cups organic tomato sauce
• Shredded Daiya mozzarella cheese (optional)
 

Directions:

Cook the lasagna noodles according to the package directions. Drain and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Squeeze the spinach as dry as possible and set aside. Place the tofu, sugar (to taste or optional), almond milk, garlic powder, lemon juice, basil, and salt in the food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Pour in a separate mixing bowl. Stir in the drained spinach.
Cover the bottom of a 9" x 13" baking dish with a thin layer of tomato sauce, then a layer of noodles (use about one-third of the noodles). Follow with half of the tofu filling. Continue in the same order, using half of the remaining tomato sauce and noodles and all of the remaining tofu filling. End with the remaining noodles, covered by the remaining tomato sauce. Top with some vegan cheese (Daiya is good!) if you like, but it is just as good without it.
 

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Hi, everybody!  Long time no chat!  Quite a few things to tell you about my trip AND some new exciting news!!  First, I have some big announcements to make, but can't give you all the details yet.  Just know it involves a digital record deal and a really cool video project.  Details coming SOON!  "Red Dress" was recently featured on Rick Mizuno's "Indies in Motion" show on L.A. Talk Radio Ch. 2 (www.latalkradio.com).  I met Rick at my show at The Talking Stick in Venice Beach, CA and he offered me a feature, so I will be a guest on his show in September.  Check out his great work for Indie artists at www.indiesinmotion.com.  Also, I am getting some airplay on www.radiogetswild.com and on www.irmgradio.com!  And thanks to my licensing deal with APM Music, I learned yesterday that "Random Matter" was chosen by a non-profit company to be featured in their video contest entry for TOYOTA's "100 Cars for Good" campaign.  I will have more details on that soon!!  Thanks so much for your continued support and for believing in my music! 

Okay, so the California tour was nothing short of SPECTACULAR!!  I drove in my new ECO-friendly Chevy Cruze (Thanks Russ & Allen Tillery Chevrolet!) from Hot Springs all the way to Southern California and had an awesome roadtrip.  I even started a new song called "Truckers & Tumbleweeds" on my way out, cuz that is basically all I saw between Texas and California!  Once in Cali, I stayed at a beyond charming and perfect cottage one block from the beach in San Pedro (out of hustle and bustle of city with 70 degree weather the entire trip).  Learn about the owner's beach cottages here: www.aideaworks.com or search "MCBCS" on Facebook.  A brief recap of shows:

June 25th - SOLD OUT standing room only show at the legendary House of Blues Foundation Room on Sunset Blvd. Meredith did a great job promoting the show because random people in L.A. kept telling me they had heard of me and had seen me on Facebook.  I was even asked if I had recently appeared on The Jay Leno Show!  LOL!  Now THAT would be fun!  Special thanks to Jay Matsueda for sitting in on lead guitar (www.jaymatsueda.com), and to Meredith and all her fab friends for coming out in full force and to Margie for bringing out her friends and tenants!! 

June 27th - Super fun show at The Talking Stick with Ms. Laura Lynn Danley and Jay Matsueda. Special thanks to Matt Moran Band for closing the show and to Toni Koch and TK Promo Presents for booking this!

July 2nd - Kulak's Woodshed - Justin Patterson, Laura Lynn Danley and my wonderful husband Rodgey joined me for this Songwriters In the Round show and many of you across the country tuned in for the live webcast. Thanks to Jay Matsueda for opening the show and thanks to all of you who listened and especially for the generous donations to the venue that some of you made. We will each soon have video of our songs from this night available on YouTube.

July 3rd - By FAR the most rewarding experience of the tour was having the honor of playing at The Gentle Barn's Vegan BBQ & Benefit in Santa Clarita, CA.  Laura, Justin, Rodg and I played for the lovely patrons and animals of The Gentle Barn against a backdrop of running horses, beautiful mountains, clear skies, and just sheer joy.  See a video of the horses running and playing here: http://youtu.be/L4GzGSKiBlI or visit www.youtube.com/renawren.  I got to meet and take a picture of Ellen & Portia's cows, Madonna and Holy and I played with dogs, horses, an emu, chickens, turkeys, sheep, goats, cows and more! Also, the vegan fare provided by Southern Fried Vegan was out of this world.  Check them out at www.southernfriedveganbbq.com.  I enjoyed the mac & cheez and fried pickles!  Special thanks to Steven Leavitt who did an incredible job on sound and to Ellie and her amazing crew at The Gentle Barn. Be sure to visit www.thegentlebarn.org to learn all about their heroic rescue of neglected and abused animals and their work with special needs children. Also, search THE GENTLE BARN on Facebook and "LIKE" them!

In other news, Dragonfly Songwriter Showcase is really taking off and getting national interest!  Here are some things to look forward to:

In Hot Springs, catch  BIG CHILL FIRST THURSDAYS 8 pm til Midnite - Songwriting acts from all over the world!  Coming up on Sept. 1st we have Treva Blomquist (www.trevamusic.com) with Opening at Justin Patterson (www.justinpattersonsongs.com).  Also at The Big Chill on October 6th, we have two awesome chick songwriters from Nashville, Ashlee K Thomas (www.ashleekthomas.com) and Karen Waldrup (www.karenwaldrup.com).  The girls will be featured that morning on "Good Morning Arkansas" on KATV Ch. 7 in Little Rock.  Tune in to hear this dynamic duo!  Karen was recently featured on the new hit Bravo show with Jewel and Kara DioGaurdi, "Platinum Hit" and she is also opening for Sara Evans on Aug. 6th here in Arkansas!  We are so thrilled to have them both that we are bringing you a double whammy of their talent! We have teamed up with Khalil's Pub in Little Rock (www.khalilspub.com) to host them for a night of songwriting on Friday night, October 7th from 7-9 pm.  Thanks to Charlie Crow's Songwriter nights at Khalil's, the venue is becoming quite the hot spot for original music!  All of these shows are 21+ and have free entry.  Also, remember that Laura Lynn's Second Thursdays at The Poet's Loft in Hot Springs is really taking off!!  For more info on these and other Dragonfly events, please visit www.renawren.com/dragonfly.  

Check out the "KIND" tees to the left of the blog and on the MERCH page!  There is something for everyone!  Your purchase of a KIND tee helps spread the kind word globally!!!

As always, thank you for being part of this newsletter and continuing to support live original music!

"It's not a token part, it's my broken, broken heart."

Namaste & great day,

Rena Wren & Team

Rena Wren Hits L.A. for House of Blues, Benefits & More!