(Imbolc is an early spring celtic holiday.)
Hi Fellow Body Awake ‘rs ~
Today’s email is a little catch up for those interested which, for me, is coming on the end of a long, deep, dark winter. So, to spring’s earliest blooming on the horizon (I know how cold it is, yes:)) …
==== Projects and Teaching ====
- a new class in Bellingham starting next month: "Strength, Mobility and Body Awareness." This class has been really powerful for a lot of people (when I used to teach it in Montana). Details for first class, which'll be free, here.
- an involved, cumulative project with Brooke Thomas (of Liberated Body, and Bliss + Grit) that will culminate in a course you can do anywhere. It's been quite fun to create so far. I will proudly let you know when it's ready
- Michael Hamm will be co-teaching what's latest and freshest for us — we're in planning stages now — in a four-day workshop in Leavenworth (in a really awesome lodge): Aug 28 - Sep 1. Last year this workshop sold out months in advance; I'll definitely let you know when registration is open.
==== Listening ====
I dig how much at least some of y'all appreciate knowing what I tune into. (I get this feedback.)
Largely, this winter, the answer was mostly: silence. I took a huge break from music with lyrics, podcasts, studying, and sat with a lot of candlelight and silence. (And what a remarkable privilege that is to have access to that material peace.)
And now, in spring's earliest stirrings in my body, I am tuning in a bit more again to words outside my own heart, most notably:
- bliss and grit's latest episodes on turning towards and away from psychological pain
- the podcast scene on radio; right now I'm on their first season on seeing white
- music, again; I most notably had fun putting this playlist together on spotify for the dance I facilitated in seattle last week
==== Reading / Studying ====
I’m having another whole-hearted go at the very complex and dense (for me) Blechschmidt’s The Ontogenic Basis for Human Anatomy. I treat this book like a workout: one hour and then a rest day.
(And a huge thanks to the TBA listener who reached out with a video series on this very book as a reply to the poem I published “heart and spine” — thanks, Kit!)
Also finally diving into Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen’s Basic Neurocellular Patterns. BBC is a master in her field — including lots of embodied anatomy — from which I’ve learned a lot and continue to.
Lastly, a huge book for my heart in the past couple months — that was recommended to me years ago by Martin Keogh but I never got around to reading it until I stumbled upon it in a cabin on New Years Eve — is The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart: Poems for Men
(And of course, we’re in a wonderful season to revisit Mary Oliver. Godspeed, sensei.)
==== 💛====
And, as I’ve mentioned, a TBA season 3 is brewing and will be with us soon.
Thank you all who write me for your wisdom, your kindness and your curiosity. (Those three go so well together, no? Check and balance style.)
Reply anytime,
LB