“To be lucid is to truly be alive.” So begins the explanation of Lucid Practice — the method by which one lives fully engaged, and fully conscious of one’s thoughts and actions. It’s also the base off of which Brian Levine, Paz Romano, Kate Reder, and Danielle Lussier curate the content for their blog Lucid Practice. This amalgamation of music, video, and stories on art, travel, wellness, and more, touches on the idea of living lucidly in all aspects.
We spoke with the foursome about their blog and what it means to truly engage in lucid practice.
The Trip Tribe: If you had to pick a well-known person, who would you say most embodies the idea (and, well, practice) of lucid practice?
Lucid Practice:
-
- Pope Francis and The Dalai Lama. Directly prior to accepting his papal appointment, Pope Francis asked if he could spend a few minutes by himself in an empty room. Once he was in the room, he closed his eyes, prayed, and meditated. He guided his mind into clarity — he no longer had anxiety or emotion. He explained that he was then filled with an amazing beam of light, a sign indicating that he should lead the world into light. At such a monumental moment, we admire that he took time to be alone, to connect with God, to pray, to meditate.
The Dalai Lama is so positive, real, and simple. He breaks down complex concepts into easy-to-comprehend practices. Instead of skipping his meditation practice during “busy” days, the Dalai Lama meditates for an extra hour in the morning. As a society, we tend to glorify being “busy.” We admire how the Dalai Lama upends this common conception. He reminds us to embrace our own internal world and to realize that we are all connected.
Both of these men inspire people across the world — regardless of each person’s religious or spiritual views. These men lead through example displaying virtues of acceptance, love, and by encouraging acts of kindness. Pope Francis and The Dalai Lama practice these virtues with the utmost presence and awareness. That’s lucid practice.
TTT: There are so many different types of mediums for each of your postings. How do you decide what to feature as a post on your blog?
LP: We mix it up. Everyone connects and learns differently. Perhaps a video is very powerful for one person whereas a written blog post connects more with another reader.
As most of our contributors are on the road right now it seems that the content has been “travel heavy.” We’re becoming a hub where people can find great music, travel guides and travel stories, discussion on yogic philosophy, and spiritual and religious guidance.
Our goal is to post and repost inspiring positive energy content — content that you won’t see on the news. Content that will make people think and question assumptions. Some days that is a travel story, some days that is an interpretation of a yogic philosophy or a post about happiness.
We created Lucid Practice with the intention of sharing positive energy stories with readers around the world. We are steadily building a beautiful community of like-minded people who enjoy spreading love and joy with the world.
TTT: Your Transparency Income Report is interesting. What role does it play on your blog and what was the inspiration for creating it?
LP: The Transparency Income Report helps us track our progress. These reports also give our readers a deeper insight into our progress. We have readers that have been with us since day 1 and have played a big role in our growth. It’s fun to look back and see how far we’ve come and to give our readers an idea of where we’re headed.
The inspiration came from other bloggers (Dave Schneider, Pat Flynn, John Lee Dumas) who have used similar reports. We feel that transparency and honesty are a big part of lucidity so transparency income reports mesh well with our overall message. It also gives aspiring bloggers a glimpse of what it takes to generate income through a blog.
TTT: What blog (besides your own) do you love?
LP: For travel, we enjoy reading Drive Nacho Drive – a travel blog that details the story of a couple traveling around the world in their old VW Station Wagon Nacho. They are currently in India and the detail they write with is beautiful. And of course, the Trip Tribe Blog (we especially enjoy your photos) is the ultimate inspiration!
TTT: Describe yourselves in 6 words.
LP: Loving. Kind. Bold. Different. Alive. Lucid.
About Lucid Practice
Brian Levine, along with Paz Romano, Kate Reder and Danielle Lussier, are authors of the travel, wellness and yoga blog, Lucidpractice.com. Lucid Practice’s goal is to inspire people to feel happy and more alive through lucid engagement in enriching activities such as international travel, yoga, helping others, and eating enlivening foods. Check them out on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.
This piece was originally published April 2014.