Below, I’ve listed several reasons for why I teach writing the way I do.
The body is how we experience the world. It is through our bodies that we gather information for our brains to process. Lively writing incorporates the senses.
When we pay attention to our bodies, sometimes we are able to bypass brain chatter and “notice” on a deeper level. Rather than pushing our thoughts and words around, we open and notice thoughts and words that arise.
Sometimes people get really wound up about writing. How many of us put our research papers off until the last minute while we were in school? What about some of us who have taken on copywriting as a job – and we are strictly bound by rules and deadlines? Or maybe someone told us we were stupid or had nothing important to say – and that stuck with us? Movement lightens things up – it’s fun.
Most of us simply don’t move enough in our day – so why not get some exercise before doing a practice that pretty much requires us to sit?
Personally, I’m hyper and easily distracted and bored. I need to let off extra energy often, and I find that movement helps. Music helps. Dancing helps. Singing helps. If I try to fight my need for action, my mind gets stuck in a loop. A shift in focus breaks the thread.
Yoga body/yoga mind. Stimulate the body/stimulate the mind. Sometimes the body just needs a little attention in order to relax, and when the body relaxes, the mind can relax.
I am coming to believe that we ignore our bodies at the peril of not only ourselves, but, our planet. We need to remember that our lives are lived not only in our heads and on our computer screens. We are beings in bodies experiencing a physical life. We physically live on Earth. Our disconnect with the planet mirrors our disconnect with our bodies – we cannot live without a planet nor our bodies. (Common sense, but . . . ) Paying attention is important – denial is dangerous.
Our heads sometimes have ideas about things that our bodies completely disagree with – that’s worth exploring.
I’ve found that what works for me works for others, too. Write what you know . . . teach what you know.
“Your hand opens and closes and opens and closes. If it were always a fist or always stretched open, you would be paralyzed. Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding, the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as bird wings.” ~ Rumi
The thing that I am most happy about is this huge exploratory project on sexual healing that I am working on with Sydney Francis. It is beginning to take on a life of its own — and we have plans to see that it continues to grow. We are committed to seeing the writing project through and I am thrilled! Working on a deep creative project with another person is essential for my happiness.
Through the project, my energy for painting and drawing has returned. My desire to teach yoga and create more workshops has returned. Considering making music has returned. Being more grounded in my feelings is returning. Enjoying reading tarot is returning. All around, it’s wonderful for me to have a creative anchor.
I borrowed this post from one of my workshops. The exercise was based on writing and using the energy of the new moon. Tomorrow is the New Moon – why not use its energy? If you don’t have a ritual that you already do, give this one a try . . .
Third Eye Chakra “And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche “Poetry is a way of looking at the world for the first time.” ~W.S. Merwin “She who opens herself to the expanded vision of boundless awareness gains inner and outer […]
Some of our big questions are, “Where do we find our power in this society without losing our humanity, creativity, sexual energy, time for love, personal relationships and nature? How do we heal trauma so that we may experience our lives fully in the moment? How do we survive financially without trading over or losing our power?”
Now I am feeling happy and energized to get back to work on our writing. I spent the weekend in the wilderness with my partner where we enjoyed one another and the world around us. I felt safe and relaxed, and finally caught up on sleep! And I breathed fresh air, and sat by a fire, and spent prolonged periods in the moment – marveling at the beauty of the stars, at the sound of water and birds and grasshoppers, and at the love and appreciation of another human being.
holly troy ~ sacred folly 