Yoga and Writing: Synergy!

lizshine74by lizshine74

In On writing, Yoga.

I wrote a post on this subject twelve years ago over on WordPress, but I’m returning to and expanding the subject today because 1) I nailed an “impossible” pose this week and it flooded my creative well, 2) I just came from an amazing yoga class which left me feeling taller, more focused, and ready to write, and 3) —well, three I’ll articulate in a brief story…

I’ve been practicing yoga a little longer than I’ve been writing. A gift of Richard Hittleman’s 28-day Exercise Plan at fifteen started me on the path. That gift saved me, and that is not an exaggeration. Another book gift, Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones , a year or so later added more value to the first and set me on my writing path. I didn’t necessarily have awareness of the synergy between these two practices then or for a long time after, but I’ve kept up both of these practices side-by side for all of my adult life. Writing is a necessity, and yoga is magic that helps me unlock the words. I don’t say yoga is magic lightly. If you know me, I have probably tried to drag you to a yoga class at some point or responded to whatever ails you with a yoga pose that might help with that. It’s only in more recent years that the world seems to be agreeing with me. Same for being vegan/vegetarian, but that’s another story…

Anyway, I turn fifty next month and for my birthday, I am giving myself the gift of losing the weight I added to my body in my forties. This was an important decision I did not make lightly. I mostly despise diet culture and have so much generational body image baggage I can’t even take it as carry-on. It was not an easy decision to commit to a weight loss plan, but I made it. I have been using the Noom app to support me in this goal, and I’ve lost fifteen pounds so far in two and a half months of effort. A couple of days ago that app was taking me through a mindfulness lesson that suggested I try yoga and took me through a basic sun salutation. Which leads me back around to 3) The world seems to be ready to embrace the magic of yoga, so I am happy to pile on.

Here is an article about yoga and its benefits for writers and also about the importance of solitude and stillness (which yoga provides). Included in the article is a quote from Writing Down the Bones, the book I mentioned above as an early influence. Here is an article with poses especially selected for writers, though they are really just good yoga poses for all, but hey, it’s written with y’all in mind and gives a nod to Hemingway.

Yoga boosts creativity by making you more open and aware. Yoga is a practice of focus and concentration, so basically like calisthenics for when you are sitting at your desk trying to stay in the flow of your words, even though there are a million distractions ready to destroy your flow at any moment. It is a meditative movement that can unstick creative problems in the same way that walking can (I’ll post separately on walking soon). Yoga also helps undo some of the damage done to our bodies with all of that sitting and typing that we do. Synergy is where two or more things work together to create an effect greater than either one on its own. Yoga and Writing—Wonder Twin powers activate!

I also work as a writing coach and love helping writers gain confidence, set goals, and develop their work. For more information on coaching, email me at eatyourwords.lizshine@gmail.com.

Wonderland 2022
lizshine74

lizshine74

Liz Shine teaches high school English, writes, edits, and coaches other writers from her home in Olympia, WA. When she begins to feel overwhelmed by it all, she simply looks up at Mount Rainier in the distance and gets back to work. If that fails, she heads to the ocean. She is a founding editor at Red Dress Press. Her Substack Make Time is her gift to writers, like her, trying to magic time in this crazy, busy world. All of those posts are cross-posted on the blog here. You can see more of her writing at lizshine.com and find her on Instagram {@lizshine.writer} cooking, traveling, and in other ways seeking moments of awe. She has been an active participant in communities of writers since the early 1990s. She’s learned that two things feel truly purpose-driven in life: writing and coaching other writers. In the in between (because one cannot be driving for a purpose every moment), she enjoys looking for wonder and connection. She is a lifelong yoga student, an enthusiastic walker along streets and trails, and an amateur gardener and vegetarian cook. She lives in Olympia, WA. She believes in the power of practice and has been practicing writing since some time in the early 90s when she became an adult in the rain-soaked city of Aberdeen. Writing began with journaling, as a way to understand a confusing, sometimes violent coming-of-age. She writes mostly fiction, some nonfiction, and poetry, and holds an MFA from Pacific Lutheran University’s Rainier Writers Workshop. She is a founding editor at Red Dress Press.