Hi friends,
This week I read my favorite kind of article, an essay that managed to add to and reframe my thinking about a topic that matters to me. The subject at hand: posture.
In this New Yorker piece, writer Rebecca Mead debunks some of the catchphrases I use when teaching Yoga and Pilates. Essentially, she depicts how we can often take it too far as a culture that hyperfixates on our postural alignment. Here’s what appealed to me most about her perspective…
I loved considering the consequences that can arise when we engage in black-and-white thinking and/or/especially, fearmongering. According to Mead, we can default to hating on the perils of contemporary living and idealizing our ancestors’ “lifestyle.” What’s more; we can come to movement and exercise from a place of fear.
I believe our bodies are unruly and miraculous. They bend, they break, they heal. They get injured, or they don’t, or they do, and recover again, only to gain trauma in another place. We’d like to think these variables are more predictable than they are, their healing parts more sped up than they usually show us to be. On and off the mat, I’ll keep drawing my shoulders back and down, but maybe I’ll allow for more nuance in my approach and less forced rigidity.
I’d love to hear what you think about the story below, too. How often have you pushed through or held back from a place of fear or feeling “scared straight”? Does this concept affect your relationship with your body and its intelligence? Does it urge you to reframe your approach to how or why you move? IMO the why, or in yogic speak, the intention, is once again what sets a fearful movement practice apart from one that is rooted in a more grounded sense of embodiment.
“Don’t go back to sleep.”
~Rumi
REMEMBER TO SIGN UP FOR YOGA & MINDFUL WRITING AT THE BAY CLUB! FUN STARTS NEXT FRIDAY!
Back by popular demand, we will join for 4 monthly evenings of yoga and meditation, mindful writing, and optional sharing. Part One will be 5/4, Two will be 6/14, Part Three will be 7/12 and Part Four will be 8/9.
The first part of the evening is for embodied movement and mindfulness tools to open up the body and mind. Then, Babette will offer a different creative prompt every month and we will have some time to write quietly. Finally, we wrap up each session in our closing circle for a short group discussion, when we connect and learn from each other. These sessions are designed as a reminder that mindful reflection can happen in silence, with introspection on a page, as well as in a collective conversation.
Enjoy the benefits of mindfulness for your creative practice; and explore how your personal stories can support your yoga journey, too. This series is open to all, no previous experience with yoga/writing is required. Leave feeling grounded, inspired, and motivated to keep breathing deeply, moving well, and expressing yourself authentically.
See you on the mat,
xo