Move your Mind

Start your week fresh with a quick tip for your yoga & writing practice

Original artwork for Y&W by Therese Rausch Potgeiter at TRP-Studio

Welcome to Yoga & Writing! We are a new community with a podcast, courses, and retreats coming soon. Stay tuned for ideas, tips, and conversations.

These first few weeks, I’m sharing the origins of this project and orienting you in my approach. Soon, I’ll be sharing ideas, also in podcast form, from a variety of angles: practical, philosophical, cultural, historical, or literary. Additionally, I’ll alternate these articles with community discussion threads. Another part of the newsletter and podcast will bring you fun and meaningful ways to deepen your practice to start each week.

If you want to check out some of my other writing, please visit The Matterhorn: intersections of literature & art (also a podcast) or my author website.

This is the first post in the Move Your Mind section of the newsletter with the fifteen minute video below!

Today in the newsletter:

• Welcome to the community!

• Whom is this for?

• What is Move Your Mind?

• Video and notes for the first Move Your Mind activity: The Delicateness of Strength

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Happy June! Thanks to all of you for joining me at Yoga & Writing. I know it’s all still a little elusive. I like to start things that way and give us more possibilities. I would love to hear more about our growing community, so feel free to reply to this email and let me know why you’re interested in the project.

Relatedly, I posted something without emailing in the introductory info section called: Whom is this for? In short, it’s for anyone curious. But I thought it might be helpful for some to spell it out a little more.

Whom is Yoga & Writing for?

Introducing Move Your Mind

I’m happy to announce that Move Your Mind will henceforward come to you on the first Monday of each month. (Do you like all the alliteration?!) Soon, members can also access these each week.

So, what is Move Your Mind? In short, it’s something fresh and quick to start your week in the realm of yoga and writing. Sometimes, it’s all about the metaphor that can help us see things differently. Other times, it’s something based in neuroscience or sports science and backed up by research (which I’ll share). And then there’s a lot in between: personal observations in my own practices or as a teacher about the connection between a single pose or movement and its effect on the mind; an exploration of yoga’s ethical grounding; guided meditation or breath work and fun writing prompts.

All of the activities are differentiated and include modifications. I was a high school teacher and sports coach for a loooong time, so I truly believe in being able to reach many “levels” or types of bodies and learning styles and have a lot of experience doing it. This means whether you are a beginner or professional (writer or yogi), you should be able to do the activity.

However, as we are not all in a cafe or studio space together, it’s hard to include absolutely everything, so please just reply to any Move Your Mind post for help if you need it. Relatedly, please read this disclaimer for your health and safety. The most advanced practitioners of yoga are not those necessarily who look like pretzels on Instagram but those who understand their limits and the way those limits change. We’ll look at this concept over time as well. I think it has a lot of application to writing.

I hope you’ll find there’s something for everyone this week —

The Delicateness of Strength

Key ideas:

• Finesse takes strength / landing softly is difficult

• Being strong does not always look or sound forceful

• Impactful writing is often nuanced and subtle

Notes & further reading:

• Today’s activity lies in physical activity and metaphor (it won’t always be like this; see above) and the writing is more general today rather than a specific task/prompt

• You don’t need anything to do this practice. If you want to try some of the more advanced movements, you might want a mat and comfy clothes.

• Beginner writers: try starting with a daily Haiku to access your ‘delicate strength’ in language

• I didn’t mention in the video that some of the physical movements may also apply to other sports: jumping in basketball, using a lighter hit for effect in tennis, running like Messi in football, etc. [this linked Messi video is such a treat!]

• “Benefits of Quiet Walking” (Coastal Physical Therapy Services)

• “Ground Reaction Forces Among Gymnasts and Recreational Athletes in Drop Landings” (Journal of Athletic Training)

• “Make Your Reader Work for It” (my article in The Matterhorn last week)

• “Your Guide to Writing Better Dialogue” (subtlety vs. info dumping, NY Book Editors)

• Lesson plan - Learning to create nuanced arguments and thesis statements (San Jose University)

• Apologies for my cold :)

Let us know how it goes for you in the comments. Also, if you want to share examples of writing or videos that demonstrate these ideas, please share a URL in the comments. We would also be happy to see your own related work!

                                                             Have a great week. 

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Thanks for checking out Yoga & Writing, a new community with a podcast, courses, and retreats coming soon. These next introductory posts will help you to get the most out of the community and understand my approach. I would be grateful if you share this post with anybody who might connect with our ethos or be curious about something new!