Slice #12 The Yoga Studio

This year, I'm going to spend 31 days writing about places.  In my profession, I talk about place-based writing quite a bit.  I frame it like this when I share:  We believe in the power of including spaces in the process of writing.  Place-based writing is the concept that the place where we write may influence our thinking, impacting the writer’s perspective, engagement, ownership, and/or purpose.  I'm really jazzed up, thinking about where I will spend time as a writer in 31 different spaces this month and how I can use each post to share a little slice of my day. 

Today, the yoga studio.

I took an 8:30 class this morning.  Yesterday, I listened to Michael Pollan on the 10% Happier Podcast.  He said this thing that I'm not sure I get yet, and I tried to think about during yoga this morning--

"So some very interesting things happen when the self dissolves. 
But we're also afraid of it because it's kind of like a death practice to let yourself go."

He's talking about 'letting the walls of ego' come down.  He personally feels self dissolve in music and says perhaps others find it in meditation or nature, etc.  And I'm wondering if that is just the same feeling of awe?  Or is it something different?  Why does he value this?

A concept that has been circling in my mind the last several months is onlyness and what it has to do with the human experience.  I wrote these two paragraphs as a part of a larger piece recently:

So here I would like to share an additional concept that has impacted my thinking about the human experience.  It is the concept of onlyness by Nilofer Merchant.  Many of us are fortunate to have loved ones in our lives that know us well, but what the concept of onlyness is trying to capture is that YOU and ONLY YOU have full understanding of your own lived experience.  No one else has lived, is living, or will ever live the life you lead.  Saying that out loud can sound kind of overwhelming.  In fact, when I was first introduced to onlyness it reminded me a lot of loneliness.  It’s easy to feel alone, and in this world, it's hard to be fully understood.

But what I think this concept calls us to do, is to share our onlyness with others.  This reminds me of one of the core values of the Writing Project, that learning is a social practice.  Why we must write and why we must share with others is because we only truly begin to understand the world around us when we hear others’ stories.  The act of writing may help us process the life we live, but it is only through sharing that we understand the world as a whole.  

So, all of this has me thinking, like why is it powerful to dissolve self if the point is to live your one life?  Why would dissolving self be a goal?  Anyway, this is how a place can change your thinking.  Being on the yoga mat today gave me time to think about something I would otherwise dare to ponder in the middle of my hectic day.  I'm very grateful for the spaces that give us permission to mind wander.