Emotions get a pretty bad rap, even amongst us non-Vulcans. Crying especially is looked at with some disdain. It’s like it’s not just your eye fluid leaking, but your inner untamed beast bleeding into civilized society. Those of us with our hearts on our sleeves often feel like a hot mess. We can’t hold it together, we…
pose
Being a Belief Polyglot (But Not Letting the Bastardes Te Carborundum): High Lunge Twist
Choose two: Compassion. Knowledge. Truth. Freedom. Loyalty. Family. Friendship. Science. Faith. Bravery. Order. No, this isn’t a test to see which Hogwarts House you belong in, although it probably could be that too. (Ravenclaw FTW!) Rather, it just goes to show that out of all these values, which are all arguably good things, we all…
The Finite’s Guide to Dealing with the Infinite, Part 2: Getting What We Want (in Warrior I)
In this vast, incomprehensible universe, we are but tiny specks – but we are tiny specks who want so much. In fact our very specky nature is part of what compels our extreme wants. We want not to be hit by asteroids, we want to have enough speck food. We want the other specks to…
“Honey I’ve Shifted My Perspective!” through Camera Tricks and Yoga (Plough Pose)
Seeing grasses as forest and ants as loveable steeds comes naturally to my generation. That is, it’s natural to those of us who grew up loving “Honey, I Shrunk The Kids!” the 1989 Disney movie in which two teens and their little siblings get shrunk to the size of bugs. It’s Rick Moranis being adorable…
The Neverending Story Sandwich: Interfacing with the World (in Half Monkey Pose)
The most delicious-looking sandwich I’ve ever seen on TV wasn’t in an ad for a restaurant – and in fact, it was no more than a PB&J on white. It is the sandwich eaten by Bastian in “The Neverending Story,” the 1984 fantasy movie beloved by us 80s kids. Harassed by bullies and his buzzkill…
The Finite’s Guide to Coping with the Infinite, Part 1: Understanding It All (in Sphinx Pose)
Cats crawl into boxes and kids make cardboard forts, but we older human folk have truly perfected the art of the self-made sanctuary. Ours may or may not be figurative but are certainly no less fanciful. Fandoms of course, theater, sports, philosophies, religions, even relationships can make up the walls and ceilings of a mini-world…
You Shouldn’t Mute the Beat: Locust Pose
Do you ever feel like you are too much? Too big, too messy, too emotional, too loud, too enthusiastic? Too boisterous? Just too much? I certainly do. Sometimes it feels like I just take up too much space, and the world would prefer that I fold inwards as small and as crumpled as possible. In…
Hone Your Super Power: Planking
What’s your super power? You see that question on t-shirts sometimes, usually adding, “I teach, what’s your super power?” Or the occasional shirt on NASA employees that say “Actually, I am a rocket scientist.” It’s braggy but kind of nice to see people owning their powers, super or not. Because while we don’t usually have…
It’s About Time: Wheel(ish) Pose
“Time is the fire in which we burn.” – Bad guy, Star Trek Generations “It’s linear!” -Captain Sisko, Star Trek DS9 “It’s not linear.” – Captain Sisko, Star Trek DS9 “People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but *actually* from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint – it’s more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly… time-y wimey… stuff.” –…
Who You Gonna Call? Self Awareness!: Revolved Lunge
Specters are all around us. Maybe they aren’t ghosts, as such, although I don’t want to claim I know for sure. But we are all haunted in our own ways. Even something as simple as the words we use are haunted – there are connotations to our words and phrases, specters of our past reading…