Hello yogafolk—

I’m nearing the close of two years of graduate study, the culmination of which will be 11,000 words on śavāsana, the practice of yogic rest. As I hone in on a single posture’s history, evolution, role and goal in practice, I feel my own consciousness necessarily narrowing to a pinhole focus. But it is said that for every pose there is a counter pose; for every exhale there is an inhale. And even as my vision contracts, I simultaneously feel it widening: the more I zoom in to a single fractal, the more I see fractals replicating to create a larger, magnificent whole.

The below readings and attitudes are keeping me sane and steady as I hold both the micro and the macro in my palms. I hope you find them reassuring, too.

From the research depths,

Erica

In their perpetual brilliance, adrienne maree brown reflects: “For me, working with an embodiment framework through a somatic lens has most helped me feel healing, rather than just think about healing. I feel the presence of my healing work when what I feel within is totally aligned with what I am expressing and practicing externally, socially. I know I am in healing dynamics with others when I can fully be myself, without feeling pressure to wound myself with contortion, dishonesty, or overextension. How do you know when you feel healing in yourself, and in your relationships?” | Yes Magazine

This past winter I was agonizing over yet another term paper. I was striving for a perfect, articulate, meaningful, and original piece while straddling two continents, and staring down the Omicron wave. I was complaining to a colleague that I couldn’t seem to get the words quite right, and she responded: “What if it isn’t perfect? What if it’s good enough?” Mind blown, I turned in my paper and I haven’t stopped asking: “but is it good enough?”

Perfectionism “makes for a thin life, lived for what it isn’t rather than what it is.”

— Moya Sarner in The Perfectionism Trap

“Seasons and the natural rhythms of bees determine much of Ava Roth’s practice, which hinges on collaborating with the fuzzy pollinators. The Ontario-based artist stitches elaborate embroideries with beads and intricate thread-based motifs that, once her contribution is complete, she turns over to her insect counterparts. The critters then finish the mixed-media pieces by embedding them in golden, hexagonal honeycomb.” | Colossal

“Like a wild animal, the soul is tough, resilient, resourceful, savvy, and self-sufficient: it knows how to survive in hard places.”

— Parker Palmer, Let Your Life Speak

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