From the Portland airport we took a cab to Red Lion Hotel on Jantzen Beach in Hayden Island, Oregon. The eastern sky threatened with thunderclouds, pouring down with vengeance, while the western sky welcomed us with dazzling sunlight. Our hotel balcony overlooked the Columbia River, partly hidden behind pine trees. Was it the same river upon which Louis and Clark sailed with their crew? I couldn’t believe I was looking at it. How fortune! The next morning we walked to where our boat, “American Harmony,” was docked right behind the pines! Under the early morning sunlight the air was fresh. We continued walking on a trail that ran parallel to the river. Cumulus clouds announced themselves against the bright blue sky with such assurance that I straightened my shoulders. The......
Madhu Bazaz Wangu
Welcome Mindful Writers &
Mindful Creators!
The founder of Mindful Writers Groups and Retreats, Dr. Madhu Bazaz Wangu has won awards from Writer’s Digest, Feather Quill, Readers Favorite, Next Generation Indie Book, Indie Excellence, and TAZ Awards. She inspires novice as well as advanced creative people to become better writers and creators, and authentic human beings by following the practice of Writing Meditation.
Madhu shares time-honored practices using personal anecdotes to teach Writing Meditation Practice (WMP). The practice is not only entertaining but also life transforming. Introduced to writers in 2011, it provides daily skills, tools and rituals for making yourself the better versions of you.
Madhu has written about her own struggle, trials and tribulations as well as pleasurable experiences that have come her way and taught her what it means to feel awe, wonder and afterglow of creative flow. Currently she is writing her eleventh book, the fifth fiction, tentatively titled, Meaning of My Life.
Dr. Wangu is a regular workshop presenter at writing conferences. She was the Featured Author at Beaver County Book Fest in 2017, Inaugural Guest at International Indo-American Literary Festival, 2020. That year she won Pennwriters Meritorious Award. In May 2023 she was the Lunch Keynote Speaker at Pennwriters Annual Conference.
Online Mindful Writers Group
- 12 Aug 2026
- 10 Aug 2026
Nature is imbued with numen (spirit). Rudolf Otto, the German phenomenologist of religions, qualified the numinous (spiritual) as being mysterium, fascinans et tremendum. In other words: mysterious, awe-inspiring, and filled with terror. He used the Latin phrase, Mysterium Tremendum et Fascinans to describe the dual nature of the experience of the Holy or the Sacred. It encompasses both a terrifying and awe-inspiring aspect (tremendum) and a fascinating/alluring aspect (fascinans). He argued that this profound emotional experience was at the heart of the world religions. I have experienced this in nature which I regard as Sacred. I would like to share with you two such experiences, the first being fascinating and the second terror inspiring. #1 Awe Inspiring and AlluringOur stay at Denali National Park in Alaska remained covered with mist and clouds. The guide had promised an unforgettable view of......
- 05 Aug 2026
The month of August is dedicated to “Mindfulness and Travel.” I’d like to begin with one of my experiences about how this country to which I arrived as an immigrant in 1974 became my home. So here it goes, A trip with my husband tracing the last leg of Lewis and Clark’s Expedition from the east to the west coast was an adventure of a lifetime for both of us, especially for me. After reading two hefty volumes, Undaunted Courage and Journals of Lewis and Clark I was “called” to go on the similar journey like the one they experienced. We took a flight from Pittsburgh, PA to Portland, Oregon. From there we embarked on a boat that carried us upon the waters of the Columbia and Snake Rivers. The third American President, Thomas Jefferson......