Dear Good Looker,
 

Gosh. So much to tell, so little time. Let's cut to the chase....

I need your help, dearest reader, with a project I have been busy putting together. I cordially invite you, and your loved ones, to celebrate the space of otherness, difference and delight that your body occupies through THIS SURVEY all about movement.

********
**** ABOUT MOVE ME ****
********

Move Me is an ever evolving survey designed to prompt people to think more deeply about their bodies in terms of movement choices, habits and patterns. The project is about commonality: The one thing we all have in common is that we have to move to live.

Researching the whys and ways of movement is a part of my job as a yoga teacher. I know there is a vast amount of information and advice about the way we 'should' move out there,  but often lacking from this are the personal stories, from a variety of different backgrounds and experiences,  that shape each of us in discrete and individual ways. Through eight years of teaching it is these stories that have come to help finesse what I do beyond the more 'evidence based' scientific discourse. This thread is a vital part of the map to understanding what it is we need to feel well.

Human beings are not built to float you see. They need an earthly anchor of meaning and care so they don't get left in confusion. This survey, with your help, is my contribution that anchor of meaning. The information gathered is being used on an ongoing blog and as research for an art project, both aim to express a riot of opinion and give a snapshot of the complexity of modern movement decisions with cultural influences; a portrait of the human body today revealing impulses that influence our daily ritual of being.

Anyone who has a body is invited to take part and I am also open to creative submissions about movement, like this wonderful story, from everyone and anyone.

Join me for this major shift in cultural thinking and be the laxative which lubricates the constipation of the way we contemplate movement (I'm so sorry about that sentence).

 CONVINCED? THEN MOVE TO THE SURVEY
(please note, you can answer anonymously and you DO NOT have to answer everything, just whatever takes your fancy.)

********
**** FORWARD THIS POST ****
********

The revolution is now. Yay! However, I know finding people willing to give up precious time to fill out a long winded survey is hard (I have no idea why). So, following the runaway success of my past newsletters free hug initiative, I urge you to forward this email to ALL PEOPLE WITH BODIES that might be interested in taking part. Come to me (click here) with evidence of your benevolence, and I will send you something magic in the post.

You can be social and forward via the magic of these buttons....

Share

Tweet

Share

+1

Forwar

'Brogis need to recognize...'

J.Brown's latest blog post is a smart, kind and much needed reflection on men, women, sex, yoga, teaching and more...read it in full here.

"There is a lot of conversation in the yoga world these day about the “yoga body” and the empowerment of women through yoga. And then there is a backlash of “Broga” classes being marketed where men can be men and do their yoga without having all those empowered women around. We must bridge this gap. Both men and women need to abandon these unhealthy notions of beauty and gender. Both men and women need to learn how to have genuinely mutual relationship to one another.

But lets be clear, men are more to blame. As Holland so eloquently states: “For we are the inheritors of an ancient tradition, going back to the origins of the great civilizations of the past which have so profoundly shaped our consciousness and fashioned the dualism that lies behind our efforts to dehumanize half the human race.”  It’s up to us to either continue carrying the torch for hurt and dysfunction or be courageous enough to forge a better way."

-- J. Brown

Wild Thing

" The claim that Wild Thing can be done safely might involve the same wishful/magical thinking as the claim that yoga and meditation will automatically “shift consciousness”, whether individually, communally, or “vibrationally”. Both claims seem to depend upon overlooking concrete material conditions in favour of nurturing faith in vague metaphysical principles. Concrete material conditions demand specific learning objectives. If yogis want to be smart on the biomechanics front, yoga needs physios, osteos, neurologists and kinesiologists. If yogis want to be at all relevant on the cultural front, yoga needs anti-oppression educators and activists."

If you have a bit of time to spare I would recommend heading over to Matthew Remski's blog to read his What are we actually doing in asana? posts. His latest addition to the ongoing project provides
a thorough biomechanical critique of what “Wild Thing” forces the supporting shoulder joint to do. 

His writings so far make for some thought provoking reading, every time I delve in I come away with the same simple question; 

 'What is my intention when practicing and teaching this stuff?'

It's an important question and Mr Remski (and others!) are opening up a well needed debate.

Go check it out!
(p.s. read the comments section too!)

Why do you have a yoga blog?

It's a sketch book!

I am not a religious person. I don't pray or chant and my meditation practice is patchy (at best), but images and lines from poems and books I love run through my head and they feel holy to me in a way. 

There's a line in Tove Janson's The Summer Book that I first read three years ago and I thought of it when I was asked the above question this morning. 

"Gathering is peculiar, because you see nothing but what you're looking for. If you're picking raspberries, you see only what's red, and if you're looking for bones you see only the white. No matter where you go, the only thing you see is bones."

So simple,  but It seemed such a radical thought when I read those lines the first time. I have always been a 'gatherer' and i think it's because it helps me learn. It sparks research into things, clarifies what I know and helps me see more clearly why I love what I love. I made it public because its nice to share! There is always someone out there who resonates with what you think/believe/love.

I can't count the number of times the line No matter where you go, the only thing you see is bones has run through my head in the past few years. You could say I'm devoted to it.