March Forward
Getting outside daily and noticing your surroundings. Moving for moving’s sake. Finding joy and beauty in moving and breathing.
It can be tough coming out of the slump of winter. Where I live it can be freezing cold (32 degrees F) in the morning and 70 degrees and sunny by the afternoon.
I think getting outdoors every day is a very important way to care for yourself. But what to wear in such swings of temperature? And wouldn’t it be great if that’s all we had to be concerned about?
Since starting this monthly newsletter on Substack, I have enjoyed learning of other writers and reading their weekly or monthly offerings. One of those writer’s is Devin Kelly. His weekly newsletter is called “Ordinary Plots.” Devin Kelly doesn’t know this little piece of trivia, but it was his writing that prompted me to start my own newsletter. He was the guest lecturer in my online Publications Lab class for my Doctor of Ministry work last August. It was the first time I had the opportunity to interact with someone actually writing on Substack as their primary platform. The first thing that caught my attention was that he had just recently shut down his Twitter account with upwards of fourteen thousand followers. In a world where those sort of numbers can mean making a living from your work, I was immediately drawn into his story. But there was no drama or fireworks. What I heard was a quiet revelation of needing and wanting to write for the sake of writing itself. Indeed, Kelly demonstrates this every week in “Ordinary Plots.” He had noticed that he was spending more time being drawn to Tweeting than the writing he so clearly loves. I don’t know, but there was a sort of humility to what he was saying that I found moving. Since then, I have been reading his weekly “Ordinary Plots.” His keen observations come only from one who has immersed himself in words. His writing is eloquent and so beautiful.
I am new to poetry both reading it and writing it. Devin Kelly is a high school English teacher in New York City who loves teaching his students about the world through words. I suspect that his students may not recognize his brilliance, but I hope they at least notice his passion for the words he offers them. This week I read “Ordinary Plots” (and I recommend you do too) and once more I heard the importance of writing for writings sake.
So why am I telling you about Devin Kelly and his embodiment of writing? First, I like to share beauty wherever ever I can. Second, one of my objectives with my own newsletter is to encourage you to move for movement’s sake, because it is a good and beautiful thing to do (in addition to all the related physical and mental health benefits). Just like Devin writes for the sake of writing, might you consider moving because you can and because you want to? For the sheer joy of it. And no one can do it for you. Devin points out that the AI bots may well deliver content but they can’t replace the love of writing words. We don’t have AI bots who will move your body for you. But who knows, it’s probably coming. But I do know we often wish that we could just take a pill or wave our magic wand and poof movement (and all its benefits) completed for the day. But there’s more to it than that. In a similar vein, British author, Katherine May, just released her new book this week. It’s called “Enchantment.” She writes about simple things that fill her with wonder and awe and lead to a sense of feeling alive again. She says we need to give ourselves permission to connect with the sacred and “give in to the fascination” found in daily life. May says to ask yourself what soothes you? I would like to ask you which yoga poses and breathing practices soothe you?
My only argument here is to reframe your daily movement to I get to, not I have to. What might happen if we dwell in the beauty of what your body can actually do today and for that to be enough. And we turn toward gratitude and amazement of what your body does. Like Devin Kelly does with words. Like Katherine May does with seeing beauty in the smallest of things. Let’s March forth together.
What I am Working On
Drumroll please: I am adding a link below. The Trauma-Informed Yoga Card Deck is available for pre-order. Launch date is May 16. More on that to come!
Link to preorder on Amazon:
Create ease in your body and peace in your mind with the Trauma-Informed Yoga Card Deck. Sustainable and easy, the restorative yoga practices in this deck can be done anywhere, anytime, by anyone.
Practice one at a time or use the suggested sequences to:
· Elevate your mood and energy level
· Reduce anxiety and rumination
· Ground and calm your nervous system
· Improve focus and balance
· And more!
Summer InPerson Training Opportunities
Come and join me at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, Lennox, Massachusetts.
YOGA FOR YOUR MOOD: Trauma-Informed Practices To Restore Your Nervous System // Amy Weintraub and Joanne Spence // July 2–7, 2023
BRING BALANCE TO THE EMOTIONAL AND PHYSICAL BODY
Is there a part of you that sabotages your best intentions for remaining calm, experiencing joy, or being kind?
Join acclaimed yoga therapist and founder of the LifeForce Yoga® Healing Institute, Amy Weintraub, and certified yoga therapist, spiritual director, and author, Joanne Spence, for a program that helps you shift your mood and soothe the scared parts of you that hijack your nervous system. Through the accessible yoga practices that have supported Amy, Joanne and the thousands of students they have trained, learn to achieve and sustain emotional wellbeing as you explore
Pranayama and kriya, breathing techniques, to regulate the emotions
Meditations to lift your mood
Sankalpa, affirmations
Bhavana, guided visualization
Mantras, tones, that manage the emotions
Mudras, hand gestures, that affect the the chakra system and body
Simple ways to guarantee your practice is trauma-informed.
Return home feeling refreshed, renewed, and excited about incorporating these new tools into your home, teaching, or clinical practice.
Note This program is accessible for all levels, including beginners. Health professionals and yoga teachers will learn techniques not regularly taught in yoga classes to help their clients focus, relax, and have greater access to their feelings. CEs are available for yoga teachers and yoga therapists. For more information or questions, contact info@amyweintraub.com.
What is Poetry to Me?
Sometimes wild and open
At times fluffy and soft
As in should I actually spend
My precious time
My one and only life
In the service of words
As slippery as a poem?
But something happens to me
When I pull out my notebook
Or pull out of my laptop to a blank document
It’s as if the page is beckoning me
to center myself
Calm my thoughts
And something/someone takes over
My fingers
At first, the words come slowly
Then in a flurry
Almost illegible
Then the words “straighten up and fly right.”
They tell me things I was afraid to tell
Myself
My words express feelings that were
Too deep to name
But there they are
In. a. poem.
So I guess my poems tell me things
I need to know
About life
myself
my art
And you never know who might be listening
~ Joanne Spence c.2023
Audio of poem:
How to Connect with Me
As always, here are some ways to connect with more of my work:
Group Class: Tuesdays 8-9 AM ET Zoom Gentle Yoga Class
Click here for details and to sign up.
Buy my book: Trauma-Informed Yoga: A Toolbox for Therapists: 47 Practices to Calm, Balance, and Restore the Nervous System.
Individual Sessions
Yoga Therapy
Embodied Spiritual Direction
I have limited time slots available due to my writing commitments, but I still have availability. I do my own scheduling via email or text at Joyogi5 at gmail.com or 412.287.4591, so call or email me to schedule an appointment.
For more details on the above sessions, click here.
As always, thank you for reading this far. Feel free to let me know via email/text/grocery store line if you tried something new to care for yourself. Or that you simply remembered to go outside each day. Or you have taken up the 5 Tibetans and you are up to 4 reps of each (or whatever). It truly makes my day to know that someone somewhere has been prompted by my words to take better care of themselves. Because then you can
Be well! It doesn’t happen by accident.
Til next month – keep breathing,
Joanne