My debut novel Maya of the In-between was recently reviewed by book blogger Laura Sandonato. Here is a summary of her review and a link to her Blog :) You can read the full Review Post Here ~ https://pickingbooks.com/blog/a-new-ya-dystopia SUMMARISED REVIEW OF MAYA OF THE INBETWEEN "Maya of the Inbetween combines dystopian themes of environmental destruction, government control, and survival. In Maya of the Inbetween, Bennet adds Tolkien-like world-building to a YA dystopia a

*That I've read. Books that explore Higher Consciousness, Personal Transformation, Enlightenment, Toltec Wisdom, & the Nature of Existence. I'll begin by saying that my repertoire isn't massive. I've never deep-dived down the rabbit hole of reading a lot of spiritual books, wary of soaking up too many spiritual ideas and it becoming a heady quest for knowledge rather than an experiential exploration of truth and self. BUT, these books have all had profound influences over my

Stills, a Scene, and a Short Story from our recent shoot in the pines. Freya was a warrior at heart before becoming a warrior of bow. After watching the murders of her sister and mother during an unexpected raid on her village as a teenager, she took to the forest and lost contact with the world, knowing she would never truly be safe until she acquired the skills to protect not only herself, but also others. She would not allow herself to be helpless under any threat of dange

. . . I just got the final cover designs for Maya of the Inbetween from the stunning artist Dion MBD, and having a work of art to envelop the story has made it feel so much more real and tangible. I was so nervous about this stage of the process, and through it learnt a lot about LETTING GO, TRUST, and the beauty of artistic collaboration/united creativity. Like many artists I'm sure, I didn't believe anyone would be able to take the ideas and put them into a picture in the

Crisp. Clear. Present. Invigorated. Alive. Energy moving. Life-Force flowing. Heart beaming! Thus is the feeling surging through every cell after a simple swim in ice cold water. Addictions and cravings for substances ~ drugs, caffeine, sugar, food, adrenaline~ arise, often out of a desperation to be stimulated into life. We often forget there is an infinite source of life resting within that can be returned to at any moment. And when we return, there is no need for any subst

A collection of Poems on Emptiness, the substance of all life that is unimaginably full. I re-found these in one of my journals I was flicking through :) ~ It is in stillness. It is in silence. It is in quiet. It is in life. It is in love. It is in heart. It is in peace. It is also in sadness. It is also in grief. It is in pain, hatred, relief. It is in everything, for it is everything. And I am it, as are you. ~ Falling, Floating, swimming in stillness. An embodiment of some

Returning home, de-cluttering the mind, discovering higher states of clarity, buoyancy, aliveness, freedom. Just wanted to share this elegantly captured video from a Meditation Retreat with Rohan Heaton held four times a year in Yallingup Western Australia, where I teach yoga and cook! Videography by my unbelievably creative brother, young filmmaker Frank Bennett Love Sita #yoga #meditation #yallingup #yogaretreat #awakening #awaketeacher #natureretreat #wakeup #howtowakeup #

We were born of love, as love, created by the act of love merging. Maybe you remember what it felt like to rest in that state of unconditional love as a child. The sense of lightness, open-heartedness, freedom. The capacity to fall in love with anyone, anything, at anytime. Fall in love with life itself, as it is, for no reason. Because there was an understanding, without being conceptually understood by words or thought, that that's what you were. Before the labels and the p

Sharing my story as a deeply introverted being in an extravert society, in hopes it might shed light on yours. The heightened love and pain of being sensitive in a desensitised culture. If your reading as someone raised in a western culture like me, it's brave to acknowledge that you feel, because most of us are conditioned to ignore the fact. That feelings are weak and must be supressed. But without acknowledgment of feelings, what are we? In a way we might as well be dead..

When we drop from our mind to experience the world through our body, our heart, our senses; all resistance drops away, and our natural intuition can shine through. Can you feel it when you take a deep breath? The rich sense of presence that resides deep within. Unshakable peace. Beyond thought and mental comprehension. Beyond the mind itself. That wide open space, where your heart pours open and becomes your primary source of intelligence, a space where your own intuition can

Cultivating a morning ritual that opens you up to meet the day with vibrancy, clarity and buoyancy. Sometimes I get asked what I do to get in the 'flow-state' as a writer, so I thought I'd share it here for anyone else wondering how to up their efficiency, and strangely it begins with a morning ritual that has nothing to do with writing. Having a morning ritual was something I began as a teenager to align with myself. A deeper self than the one I yet knew, but sensed beneath

How clean, conscious eating helped free my mind from limiting beliefs and unlock higher clarity, energy and joy! When I was young I was sick a lot. I have an extremely sensitive stomach and system that reacts severely against anything remotely toxic, but when I was younger, I didn't understand this. I just thought there was something wrong with my body, and when I was having little luck with traditional doctors in figuring out what the 'wrongness' was, I started looking at

Everywhere you look, someone's doing yoga. But why? Why are you doing it? Say Yoga was a tree; the fit, toned, nimble body you might be stoked about would be one of the leaves. Just one. A flimsy bi-product. Your sense of connection with yourself and the healing you might feel each time you hold a pose long enough for a deep emotion to rise and release; the branches. The sense of stillness, and silence you might find by the end could be the trunk. But the majority of people a