Daily Nourishment for January 10: Stay Close to the Body
Daily Nourishment Read Time: 55 seconds
Pause/Prompt/Practice Time: 15 minutes
“Stay close to the body.” — Kitsi Watterson
Pause.
Set a timer for two minutes and look at the painting It Was a Season of Change, and In Retrospect, I Knew by Catherine Repko.
Prompt.
Writers, journalers, and creative souls can learn from painters like Repko, grounding emotion the imagery of the body—sensation, gesture, touch. In the memoir Stranger Care by Sarah Sentilles, the author recalls her grief after being separated from the infant she’d fostered and expected to adopt.
She writes with bodily language as she remembers, “Day after day, my teeth ached. My jaw ached. I walked into a door and a bruise bloomed on my cheek. Somehow I bruised my forearm and both shinbones. My hips hurt. My eyelids swelled. My eyeballs were tender. My back knotted. Eric refused to wash Coco’s clothes. He put them in a bag in his closet. He carried them around.”
Recall a time of intense emotion. Write about how this moment felt in your body.
Practice.
Sit in a comfortable position, close your eyes, and establish a comfortable rhythm of breath. Then scan your body, beginning with your toes and moving slowly to the top of your head, noticing how each part of your body is feeling right now. When you have finished, take three deep breaths and open your eyes.
Want More?
Read all of Stranger Care: A Memoir of Loving What Isn't Ours by Sarah Sentilles.
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The Flourish Anyway Creative Soul Series with Workshop Local (with online classes and in-person classes in Birmingham)
Class 1: Flourish Anyway with Wintry Rhythms, Rituals, & Retreats
Class 2: Flourish Anyway with a Sustainable Retreat Practice
Class 3: Flourish Anyway with Lessons from Iconic Birmingham Writers, Artists, & Musicians
Flourish Anyway with Rhythms, Rituals, & Retreats
Today’s Daily Nourishment was provided by Catherine Ricketts.
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