Leslie St. John

This weekend Ryan and I celebrated our five-year wedding anniversary. We both agreed our intimate ceremony in Mexico was the best day of our lives…up to this point. Anniversaries are a great moment to pause and appreciate the life you’re creating with your love. When I look back at these photos, I see real love, joy, and a grounded sense of worthiness and trust. I also see that we had no idea what was right around the corner; the pandemic changed our lives. Our careers had to shape shift overnight. Relationships dissolved and new ones emerged. And the political landscape became supercharged. But what remains is our steadfast connection, our belief that we can weather any weather, keep learning along the way, and continue to deepen our love. At times we can both be too serious. At times we laugh each other into the sweetest levity. During our picnic Saturday, we shared about what we are proud of in our lives, and I am proud of our marriage. Second loves are possible. I’m so happy we met when we did, especially because this Doc Martins and flower dress, Cranberries and coffeehouse poetry girl would not know what to do with a handsome jock, life of the party guy. My how we’ve grown…into people who can love each other, compromising on the small things, while remaining steadfast with shared core values. I wouldn’t want to savor this life with anyone else. I love you, Ryan, my dear handsome husband. 💙💜 #marriage #fiveyearanniversary #wedding #mexico #lovestory #personalgrowth #beauty #dearhandsomeman #leslieandryaninlove #leslieandryanrivieramaya #iloveyou Beautiful photography @anniehockphoto 📷💜

A Prayer Request ~ We are a community. Our paths have crossed while practicing yoga, reading books, dancing Qoya, writing poetry, or simply sharing values of love, beauty, and depth. We are part of each other’s web, whether closely connected or from a distance. So, I am plucking the cord, asking for prayers and good energy as I have surgery to address an enigmatic growth within my skull. Without going into all the medical details, I can share that I have a large growth within my skull that has “less benign“ properties that sits over a major blood vessel in my brain—the area that governs memory, sensation, and movement.  I’ve been to four doctors, and everyone keeps referring me to someone with more expertise because they are nervous about surgery complications. I met with a neurosurgeon at Stanford, and we’ve scheduled surgery for tomorrow, Wednesday, March 18th to remove the lesion, including part of the skull bone, which they will rebuild (this part scares me). Dr. Dodd is not sure how the blood vessel and growth are interacting or if they are entangled (This is the complicated part). His team will send the tissue to a pathologist for testing. I will remain in the hospital for 2-3 days to monitor for intracranial swelling, brain bleeds, or stroke. I trust my strong body will heal well. Right now, I don’t know what my recovery trajectory will be. This also scares me—the unknown, the cave I must enter. I have a lot of questions. I am trying to trust. Proceeding as if all shall be well, and all shall be well, and every manner of thing shall be well. Please, however you connect with the divine, offer up some light for me. I am doing the same for you. This Affirmation has brought me comfort; may it for you as well. Trust, Trust, Trust. All is well… even in the midst of this. Thank you, everyone, for your words of encouragement—the songs, soup, kind gestures. My heart is blooming out in all directions. I keep telling myself I’m going on an anesthesia-otherworldly holiday to see my loves on the other side: Claire and Lucy…Dave. 💜 And when I wake up, Ryan will bring me back, kiss by kiss. Sweet dreams. Leslie 💜

Let’s try this 20-pic, slice-of-life gallery. Images are in no particular order, curated according to my heart (not an algorithm), implying connection amidst loneliness, beauty within a mess of stress, attempting to use this platform as I originally intended—to gather glimmers and cultivate belonging. Of course, it took a great measure of discipline to not simply post 20 pictures of Lucy sleeping in various rooms of our home. She is the star, always. Not pictured: 300,000 hrs of grading; 34 runs in streets and trails; 3 hospital rooms, 12 flights, and 3am worry whirlwinds because of my sweet Mother Teresa’s fragile health; yoga classes and the students that return week after week thus buoying my soul; Lucy sniff-walks, front door booty-wiggles, (forced) cuddle sessions; MUSE - Writing Circles under the moon with apple trees and peacocks; Prose & Poses personal sessions in Paso sunshine; morning meditations to “get right with Jesus”; night-owl habits that create and destroy me; and conversations with my Dad, cousin, and friends that help me feel the tug on the web that connects us all. Just curious: 💕 What picture made you pause? Why? 💕And, I want to know, what was your original intention with Instagram? How’s that going for you? Let me know in the comments. ✍🏼 #yoga #proseandposes #writing #creativity #bodyasally #family #motherteresa #beaglecorgimix #running #winelover #dearhandsomeman #marriedlife #keats #poetry #heartcentered #44 #iloveyou #dance #livemusic #leonbridges #californialove #arkansasroots

Happy Valentine’s, my dear, handsome man. Thank you for all the ways you love me, hold me, support me, challenge me, (cook for me), pick me up and twirl me around. You are the best season of my life. 💙💜 #happyvalentinesday❤️ #hawaii #leslieandryaninlove #sunset #loveisreal

A Valentine for you—Open Hearts & Chocolate! 💜 Join me for a heart-centered Slow Flow designed to help you soften, open, and feel at ease in your body. This practice will include mindful movements, supported heart-opening postures, and simple partner stretches to invite connection. 💞 Whether you come with a friend or on your own, this class is about showing up as you are and settling into a shared experience that feels nourishing and light. We’ll close by enjoying sweet treats from Mama Ganache and The Secret Garden, offering a moment to linger, connect, and savor. Come as you are—leave feeling more open, supported, and at home in your heart. ♥️ 💫 FRIDAY, 2/13, 6;00-7:30pm @thecenterslo 💫 FREE for members. $33 for nonmembers Register: Excited to practice with you! Cheers, Leslie 💜 #valentinesday #galentines❤️ #heartopener #chocolate #selflove @thecenterslo @mamaganachechocolate @secretgardenslo

Meet Agnes Doyle, a Southern girl from Hot Springs, Arkansas who followed her Bradley to the Big Apple, so they could pursue dreams of seeing the world, reading in cafes, and starting a family. As a switchboard operator, Agnes was often heard and not seen, quiet in the background, connecting others…listening. Over the years, she heard all of Alister Crowe’s lies, bribes, and double crossing. She loathed him. Bradley worked for Crowe, and she witnessed the slow degradation of spirit. Crowe psychologically destroyed Bradley, crushed his dreams, and left him a shell of who he was. She despised Crowe for diminishing her husband— but especially for taking away her own dream of living a beautiful life and starting a family. Her husband never talked to her, never touched her. His light dimmed to nothing. So she took Crowe’s dream in one whisky-sweet sip (poison, the silent seal of death). Well… at least that’s the story we made up for our 1927 speakeasy murder mystery! I loved playing my part, though silent, in the background, and secretive was definitely a new role for me. it was such a pleasure to celebrate Melinda‘s birthday in a social and creative way. She’s a rare diamond! Happy birthday, @mkmgood #1 Beautiful headpiece. Thank you, Lesley. @lesley_chapman18 #2 I looked up how to style long hair and found a good trick of wrapping tendrils around the headband. #3 Ryan looked so dapper as Julian, the nightclub manager, who unwittingly let me into the bar where I slipped poison into Alistair‘s secret stash of whiskey. #4 loved his reaction to the reveal! He thought I was angry all night and not enjoying the party, but I was just being a shy, secretive, switchboard operator, ha! #5 I was seated next to Alistair, my victim. Poor greedy aristocrat gangster. #6 this crew was fantastic! Loved the costumes and characters. Everyone was so committed and playful. #7 Thanks @tawnysterios for the fun fringe number. It didn’t work for the party because my character was more subdued in the shadows, and obviously well, this dress wants to sing and dance—loudly! #8 So that’s what we did! Let’s throw another party! I’ve got pearls! 🥂 #murdermysterydinner

Two days before Christmas, I sat alone in the Palm Theater and watched a woman on screen curl fetal at the base of a tree, mosses and ferns soft around her body, leaves wisping in wind—a dark cave, inky as earth, secreted near her quiet repose. From the first frame of Hamnet, I was hooked into Agnes’ story of love, loss and the transformative power of art. Her husband was Shakespeare. Their story may have inspired his play Hamlet. During this powerful film, the audience was brought close to the story through Jessie Buckley’s honest, lived-in performance and an emerald-shadow cinematography that evoked beautiful depth. More subtly, in many poignant scenes foreshadowing birth and death, we see a cave. Quiet behind vine, rock, and root. A silent witness, an invitation. Just as the film’s cave symbolized Agnes’ journey from wild maiden to lover and mother, so to The Cave represents our own internal passages into and from the quiet darkness. In these winter months, we may have greater access to unordinary time: between what has been and what has not yet arrived. Though the Gregorian calendar flips, work and school resumes, and “New Year, New You” marketing blasts, we can still tether ourselves to The Cave, that dark vessel of inner knowing, listening, and trust in what is to be revealed. In The Cave, we can nourish what matters, let go of what no longer aligns, and explore honestly the mystery of life. The Cave is both a dark void and a life-giving womb. If you want to access your Cave of Wisdom and Creativity, while gathering with women in a supportive circle, please join us for MUSE - Writing Circle on Friday, January 16th, 6:00-9:00pm in San Luis Obispo, CA. 💫💫💫UPDATE: WE ARE SOLD OUT! 💫💫💫 please stay updated for our next gathering. Sliding Scale $35-$60🥂 Space is limited in this intimate circle. I’m excited to write with you and share this nourishing, empowering experience. ✍🏼 #muse #writingcircle #women #slo #thecave

This December was a bit of a wild hair. Stress and grief blew around with beauty and belonging. A part of me dreaded the sometimes forced joy of the season because the part of my heart named Lucy is gone. But I light candles and speak to her to keep the connection alive, and in doing so, invite in more moments of joy, quiet elegance, and spontaneity. I’m grateful for all the family and friend holidates, a body that loves to move, our yoga community, a husband that stands solid as I swirl and storm, and this life that just wants to keep living through me. What a gift. Thank you, December, 2025. 🥂♥️🐾 PS - Scroll for pictures with somewhat less wild hair. 😍 #life #happyholidays #family #holidate #merrychristmas #happynewyear #cambria #ilovelucy #griefandgrace #quietjoy #glimmers #sanluisobispo #yoga #dearhandsomeman #cheers #gratitude #december #muse #lovethislife

Dear Lucy, Do you come to me, through some cosmology of Dog, in every brown-eyed, cold-nose, uplifted face I bend to, pet, and speak to in my ice-cream voice: “Oh, how good,” “the most precious,” “how pretty” they are, you are? And as I scratch their scruff, petal their ears, thumb the ridge between their eyes, do they know, you know, how much I miss you? 🐾 Since my sweet Lucy passed on October 11th, I’ve been writing her letters. It helps me process my grief and gratitude, while keeping her memory alive. I haven’t been able to write that post. You know the one. The post that arrests all of our hearts. The one that starts with a puppy photo of a familiar dog and continues with a progression of sweetness and play and connection, and ends with the beloved held in beautiful, forever stillness. I just haven’t been able to post that. Words of what she meant to me, how she taught me to mother her and love myself, how she brought Ryan, companionship and joy, how her presence was a constant comfort and reminder of goodness, how our rhythms made my life beautiful—all the words just fail, fail, fail. But I know in trying to find them, I get to keep finding her, our thread of connection that connects this life to the beyond and moves back-and-forth like breath. She is still helping me breathe. After she passed, the algorithm flooded my feed with pet bereavement advice and tacky memorials. Every day I saw puppy-paw bracelets, dog-shaped photo frames, trinkets made of plastic that of course fell short of honoring my sweet girl. Until this.💜 The day after Christmas, when Ryan and I finally opened our gifts, I saved this one for last. My Aunt Kristi made a watercolor of Lucy. As soon as I saw her eyes, looking up at me, alert and questioning: Walk? Treat? Ride? , I started crying. Hard crying. I love the photo and wish I was looking at Lucy‘s eyes, not their painted reflection, but I still felt so much gratitude for an artistic rendering that came from someone’s heart, through their hands, onto the page: A generous, authentic gesture of love. Thank you, Kristi. Lucy, thank you for coming to me through art, tears, and breath. Now, let’s go for a run. 🐾

Happy Holidays from cozy Cambria, CA. We hope your Christmas is full of warmth and quiet moments of magic. ♥️🎄🥂 #happyholidays #merrychristmas❤️ #joyeuxnoel #cambria #quietmagic #christmaslights

In this season of waning light and fireside shadows, I’ve been thinking about the stories that shape us. Not the grand narratives of country or family, but the strange tales of missed connections, synchronicities, detours, endings and beginnings that have brought us right to the threshold of who we are now and who we are becoming. Last weekend I had the gift of writing and dancing Qoya with the sequoias. As I stepped onto the forest floor, I felt a thrum of quiet aliveness beneath my feet; as I touched the bark of a 3,000 year old redwood, I felt the bark of my own skin shiver with knowing; as I walked inside, yes inside, a tree, I sensed a timeless steadfastness that fortified my own bones. As I lay my body at the foot of this ancient, reaching lifeforce, I felt held by something larger than me, and yet also, made of me...our breath, our body. The Trail of 100 Giants is a strange land. It’s quietude and scale are wild. The open veils of tree skirts and uplifted presence they evoke help me remember my own innate wild nature. Forests replenish my roots. Roots of self-love. Roots of sacred practice. Roots of family. Roots of writing. I am of the forest. What is your ecological identity? What are the ways you connect with animals, plants, trees, and landscapes? If you want to nourish your wild roots and write the unearthed stories in you, while gathering with women in a supportive circle, please join us this 💫Saturday, October 18th, 6:00-9:00pm in San Luis Obispo, CA.💫 Arrive around around 6:00 to sip, savor, and connect at Tawny’s creekside home. Bring a blanket or cushion, layers, and your journal. I’ll provide wine, tea, and tasty bites. If you’d like to contribute, feel free to bring something that helps you connect with the wild. We’ll start the Writing Circle at 7pm. ✍🏼 If you can’t meet with us in person but would love the Writing Prompts, comment: WILD WRITING. I’ll send them your way. Sliding Scale $35-$60🥂 Once I receive registration, I will send you more deets, including the location. Thank you @the_ecotherapist for the eco identity reflections. 🍁 #muse #writingcircle #women #slo #wild

We had a beautiful time at the Central Coast Writing Conference. It was such a joy to work with writers of all genres. We spent the weekend sharing insight about craft, wisdom for overcoming self sabotage, strategies for navigating publication, and inspiration to persevere. I taught two sessions: Poetry - “Your Body, Your Muse: Inspiration & Resource for Poetry” & Creative Nonfiction/Memoir - “Shaping the Short-Form Essay.” I loved seeing the participants’ open mindedness and eagerness to experiment with writing. ✍🏼 I especially enjoyed the opening evening keynote speaker, Brook Warner. @brooke_warner Two takeaways: 1. - You have a point of view, a voice. 2. No one can write the book you have in you—it’s as unique as a thumbprint. I left the CCWC feeling inspired and enthusiastic to get back to the page, to my poetry students at CalPoly, and to out MUSE - Writing Circle (next gathering is Saturday, October 18th, 6-9pm in SLO). 💜 this is my new writing mantra: I AM THE NIGHT SKY THAT ILLUMINATES. What is yours? I am… (aspect of nature) that (verb). Thank you CCWC 2025 Director Meagan Friberg for inviting me to be a part of this wonderful gathering of writers. Looking forward to next year! #ccwc #ccwc2025 #sanluisobispo #musewritingcircle #proseandposes #poetry #cnf #yourstorymatters #unshacklecreativity #writingprompts #writingcommunity #centralcoast