What percentage of you is pigeon? It’s got to be in there. After all, even after you know what makes you you, and how that can change, and how that change happens, even after you have tamed your most basic dragon instincts – we are pretty much all still part pigeon. By pigeon, I specifically…
books
Who are You Roar (Four): How to Train Your Dragon: Where the Wild Thing (Pose) Is
Pardon me while I roar my terrible roar and gnash my terrible teeth and roll my terrible eyes and show my terrible claws. Ahem. Thanks. Of course you too may have been indulging in some wild behavior, particularly if you’ve read and loved Maurice Sendak’s amazing “Where the Wild Things Are” (and who hasn’t?). In…
Who are You Free (Three): Itching into Inspiration (Star Pose)
If you’re feeling itchy, you might just want to consult your closest lobster. It turns out we may have a lot to learn from our crustacean friends, beyond how good they are with butter. In a viral video from 2009, Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski posits a rather compelling analogy between people and lobsters when handling…
Lemony Snicket’s Crippling Conundrum: Bound Side Angle
What makes your waters muddy – a word that here means addling, discombobulating, befuddling, bewildering? For me, the most glaring example is my vision, which is simply terrible. That’s one reason I’ve always loved my glasses. They bring clarity to the confused, muddy mess of my sight. Glasses clarify your powers, too–or at least they…
Who are you? : Finding yourself through Fandom (Mountain Pose)
Are you an ugly bag of mostly water – or are you a luminous being (not this crude matter)? Do you believe a sentient crystal in Star Trek (the former) or a wizened Jedi master in Star Wars (the latter?) Another way to think about it: do you have a destiny – or as Marty…
Faith in the Secret Garden: Chair Pose
Being mere mortals, we are limited. The Doctor can choose to move back and forth in time in her TARDIS. Superman can see a vistas of land below him. Billy Pilgrim is unstuck in time. We, however, can only see what’s in front of our faces right now. And we so often don’t like what…
Why do yoga? To travel to the Wood between the Worlds
Loving the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a fairly universal phenomeon, I think. Solid quaint British writing + fanciful characters + a solid allegory = a winner, unless you are one of the non-religious people who didn’t realize the direct religious tie-in’s and then felt a bit duped. In any case, anyone who…
Anne’s revolutionary rapture: Warrior III
Picture “Anne of Green Gables” – you’ll find yourself with images of long red breads, quaint frocks, and pastoral nature scenes. You’re not wrong. But Anne is also subversive AF. (as in, “as far [as possible]” Ahem.) Sure, she goes to Sunday School, learns a moral a chapter, and oozes family values. But those who…
Be a Warrior (I) through a Wrinkle in Time
“Speaking of ways, by the way, there is such thing as a tesseract.” So goes my favorite quote from what’s probably my favorite book. At least, it’s the book that opened up to me a world that has become a cornerstone of my life – “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’Engle. It might have…