Writing as Contemplative and Embodied Practice
We ask "What does it mean to be a person now?" with poet Nadia Colburn
“Sometimes writing can feel solitary. Creating a community to connect with one another feels like it is shifting those patterns from solitary into real support.”—Nadia Colburn
Preview: Episode 115 with Nadia Colburn
“Our bodies carry our stories,” says Nadia Colburn. “Pleasure, grief, and trauma are stored in the body. When people meditation or do yoga and then write, they say, ‘I went places I hadn’t been before.’ It gets us out of our more analytical mind when we move through body. And opens up a more creative part of us.” In this episode of Emerging Form, we speak with the poet, writing teacher and founder of the Align Your Story School for writers about the power of blending practices that explore mindfulness, physical awareness and writing.
Writer, yogi, activist and teacher Nadia Colburn is author of two books of poetry, The High Shelf and I Say the Sky and her poetry and creative nonfiction have been published in The New Yorker, American Poetry Review, Spirituality & Health, and dozens of other journals. She’s been a professor at MIT, Lesley, and Stonehill College, and she is currently the writer-in-residence at Northeastern's Center For Spirituality, Dialogue and Service. She’s also the founder of the Align Your Story School for writers which combines a traditional academic background with a more holistic, mindful approach.
What We’re Reading and Listening to:
Rosemerry:
The most recent poem that opened me wide—“Self-Portrait as Coriander Seed.” I freaking love this poem by Abby E. Murray that combines growing a seed, growing a child, school shootings, devout loyalty, love and politics into one astonishing poem. Recently selected for a Pushcart Prize, it originally appeared on Rattle.com.
2020—what the heck happened? What does it mean about who we are? How did it affect us and how does it continue to shape the world? I am impressed with the recently published anthology A Journal of the Plague Years, named after the site where the poems, essays and stories were originally shared. With chapters such as The Shock, The Response, and We All Have Different Ways of Coping to chapters on politics, history, and the larger scheme, it’s a powerful compendium of voices exploring this chapter.
Christie:
I can't stop thinking about Courtney E. Martin's beautiful new essay about what it feels like to be on the receiving end of outreach that's not really support and what it feels like to be truly seen and supported on a journey that is terrible and humbling but also sacred and mind-opening. In case you missed it, Courtney was our guest on episode 112.
As an avid mushroom hunter, I absolutely loved my friend Veronique Greenwood’s recent New York Times story about mushroomers who are finding new species of mushrooms. “We could probably go outside right now here in California — or really, wherever you are at in North America — and we could easily find a new species of mushroom or fungus that hasn’t been described,” mycologist Mandie Quark said.
Only a Few Things Matter
It could be an invitation to gather around the listening table …
—Julia M. Fehrenbacher, “It Could Be”
Today we gather around the listening table
and I notice how when one woman speaks
of grief, her notes ring in me as if
I were a cave made for echoing with the song
she sings, and another’s words strike me
as if I’m a bell made to be rung by her voice.
And when one woman says, “I’m a digger,”
I want to shout, “I’m a digger, too,”
but I don’t. I listen. I listen and notice how
the act of listening is its own kind of digging
in which we are hollowed out and filled
at the same time. Around the listening table,
I let the spade of joy and the shovel of ache
the spoon of awe do their good digging work,
though sometimes it hurts as they
excavate in me what is real, and sometimes
it thrills me to hear another speak,
filling me with what I, too, know is true.
—Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
A Note About Paid Subscriptions:
First, we want to thank ALL our subscribers! We are so grateful you join us in this conversation about what it is to engage with yourself, the world and others in a creative way. And a BIG thank you to our paid subscribers. You make this podcast possible. Starting this month, only our paid subscribers will receive our bonus episodes as a thank you for their financial support.
This week, we talk with Nadia about the gift of failure, her favorite writing prompts, and she leads us in a guided writing meditation. If you are not yet a paid subscriber, you can go now to our website, EmergingForm.substack.com, or by clicking the button below. Thank you!
Two Questions:
(share your answers with us here on Substack or in our FB group)
What obstacles keep you from your creative practice?
What is your newest discovery or thrill in your own writing practice?
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