One of the most helpful exercises I've ever done for a class was to write a story about myself as a superhero. Once you get over giggling about what color tights you might wear, or blushing over your superhero name, you can find a sense of expansion and play in this exercise. And no cheating! You have to actually write the story, not just sort of think about it!
What is interesting about it is that you take characteristics you already have, or characteristics you almost have and would like to make more of, and then make them larger than life–heroic, in fact. Here's a tiny excerpt from my story, as I walk the streets of the city as the Queen of Calm:
In the station, she quiets herself and unfolds a piece of her, opening out into a quiet grotto, dark with moss and dappled light. She allows the people around her to come in, bring their anxieties and release them into the quiet dark before moving on into the day. And everywhere she goes she tells people the stories of their beauty. A story of weakness becomes a story of strength in her eyes, a story of fear in her becomes a story of courage. A story of loss becomes a story of spaciousness, a story of pain becomes a story of comfort. She walks in beauty and beauty is what she sees.
So what exactly does this accomplish? I know that my story allowed me to be tender towards myself, and to see myself in a different light as a noble figure in my own story. It became part of the dream I have of how I want to live my life and how I want people to experience me. It has become part of my work ethic and of how I like to teach. And it gives me inspiration and shows me what my life can be, how I can be satisfied at the end of the day and feel renewed in my purpose.
So...what's your story?
copyright 2007 J. Autumn Needles
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Hey Autumn! This is Erica (from Ballard Peace Activists days)
:-) I haven't seen you in yonks, but I was looking for a yoga class for an independent study I designed as part of a degree at Antioch Univ., entitled "Satyagraha: The Balance of Being." It's about FINALLY finding life/work balance and integrating those better...and mind-body integration in general :-) I saw your business flyer at Rain City Video and thought - that's great! A synchronicity? ;-) I'm most interested in hatha yoga, and also restorative asanas.... your website says that you don't have any classes going on now :-(( can you make any recommendations for classes?? I'm a starving student :) My e-mail is cmelak at covad.net (just add the correct punctuation ;-)
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