What do Yoga and Poetry have in common?
photo credit: @Movingmusings
This is one of the topics I am interested in exploring in life, on this blog, and with you. Both Yoga and Poetry are art forms, which are interested in transcendence. They both rely on rhythm, repetition, and metaphor. They have rich histories, but are practices devoted to presence. They help us to feel the nectar and pulsations of life, and to weave even the ugliest of times into a grand tapestry of aliveness.
Here are a few quotes, poetic + yogic, which establish the crux to this exploration.
“The poet brings the whole soul of man into activity.”
- Samuel Coleridge
“Now we begin to practice of Yoga.
Yoga is the quieting of the fluctuations of the mind.
Then the seer becomes established in her true nature.”
- Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, 1.1 - 1.3
"Poems arrive ready to begin.
Poets are merely the transportation."
- Mary Oliver
On this blog we will explore The Poetry of Presence. I will share poems that I love, as well as ones I am working on. I will share yoga sequences + philosophy, as they relate to prosody. I hope this site becomes a hub for poetry lovers, yogis, and people who want to learn more about these art forms.
We live in very creative times. Because of freedoms that humans have fought for and finally won; massive movements away from home towns and towards city centers; art-supply super stores; the ability to grow massively popular on Social Media; and 200-hour Yoga Teacher Trainings -- the barriers to express oneself creatively, and make a living on one’s passions are breaking down. Cheers to the poets, the yogis, the painters, the free-lancers, and all the creators of our time.