Appreciated for her capacity to transmit the sacred through accessible and digestible pieces of poetry, performance, and teaching, Brooke’s work is an emanation of her core longing to feed the soul.

Tending to the deep questions buried in the soil of the heart, she creates work that invites or commands you to courageously do the same.

REALIZATION + ARTISTRY

I am passionate about creating and tending diverse, genuine practice spaces for people

1) to realize their abiding, boundless nature,

2) to embody their own artful expression of their exquisite uniqueness, and

3) to co-create real community of belonging, in which they can awaken, unfold, transform, and deepen naturally, and in compassionate attunement and service with others.

Brooke McNamara, MFA, is a poet, dance-theater artist, teacher, and Zen dharma holder. She has published two books of poems: Bury the Seed(2020) and Feed Your Vow (2015). For her poetry, she is the recipient of the Charles B. Palmer prize from the Academy of American Poets.

Brooke has taught at Naropa University in Yoga Studies and at the University of Colorado, Boulder in Dance, and she is co-director with Lauren Beale of Eunice Embodiment, an organization that offers cutting edge performances, embodiment education, and creative practice workshops and retreats.

Brooke is creator and instructor of the online courses Write to the Heart of Motherhood, Summoning the Unseen, Cultivate: Creative Practice (with Lauren Beale), and Women’s Ritual of Renewal (with Lisa Gibson). She is a long time Zen student of Diane Musho Hamilton, Roshi, and empowered as a dharma holder.

Brooke lives with her husband, Rob, and their two wild, adorable sons, Lundin and Orion.

I offer classes in yoga + dance, awakening and deepening creativity, zen meditation and more. Check out my current classes and private session offerings here.

If you prefer a deeper dive, explore my coaching offering here.

Teaching: “Brooke has a way of helping you to expose your creative nature in a supportive, inspiring, and FUN way.” – Dance student, Boulder, CO

Performance: “Brooke Gessay so vivid she burned.” – Janice Steinberg, Dance Magazine Critic

Poetry: “These are gloriously urgent wake-up poems. McNamara is a modern Zorba. She urges us to stop, to rest, to listen to the life pouring through and over us, to steep ourselves in the mystery that we are, ‘the rapture of being just this.’” - Roger Housden, bestselling author of the Ten Poems series

Coaching:“Brooke provided a tremendous support for me while going through a major transformational period. She gently listened, and provided welcome reflection and inspiration to act with courage to step into work that I love, create a more loving relationship with my partner of seven years and nearly double my annual income. I am so grateful for the time I spent with her!” – A.F., Coaching Client, San Francisco, CA

Kids Teaching: “Brooke is a wonderful, engaging teacher who taps into a child’s creativity. She has a very positive, inclusive management style that children love.” – Lisa Tsukamoto, teacher at Rosa Parks Elementary School, San Francisco, CA

Explore more from brooke

Dance + Yoga

Classes + Workshops

Meditation

Just under a year ago on zen retreat, during the first morning meditation (candles lit, incense rising), I felt a rush of love move up my body and (silently, viscerally) say: “Get up early. Every day. Write poems again. A book is coming.” My son, Lundin, was eight months old at the time. The idea of writing a book seemed possibly insane.

I hadn’t written many poems for over a decade since my college thesis. But something about that call from who-knows-where in meditation that morning put me under a spell – of sheer curiosity for what I’d find if I actually followed through. Not in my head, but actually. Not in fantasy, but with my real, tired, working-mothering self every damn, glorious morning.

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