By Mia Velez
Last Friday, I attended the New Beginnings Writing Group with Susan Ford, and it inspired me to write this blog! I like to write. It sorts out ideas floating in my mind. When I write, I can complete my thoughts without interruption and be thorough with/in my expression. I can open into new depths of ideas that I wouldn’t have reached without writing them down. Even though the process is wrought with all sorts of obstacles; – time, focus, grammar rules, etc. – it is always rewarding to finish a piece. Over the last two years however, I had not finished one. I had pages of half finished articles. Actually, “half-written” would have been an accomplishment. It was more like a smattering of words.
Writing had started to feel like a source of anxiety. I don’t know when that had started, but I could figure out why: I want to be a writer. There, I’ve said it! Even as I wrote that last sentence, I could feel anxiety and intimidation lurking in my psyche. Can I really do it?
The first thing I did was tell someone. So I could hear myself say it out loud, and also to see the reaction of the other person. The next thing, by recommendation of a friend, was to look for a writing group. And what a coincidence, IYI was offering one!
I met Susan Ford when she assisted at my teacher training. She was supportive, kind and always had the right things to say to turn a situation around. She was just the same leading the writing group. We did some writing exercises – something I had never done before. I felt a little silly doing them sometimes, but I was trusting the process. After all, I was the one who was intimidated by writing. After each exercise, we wrote, and the block that often stood in the way of my words disappeared. Sure my first assignment was clunky, but with each new exercise, the words started a flow.
I’d like to share one of the pieces I produced at the workshop. I’m really happy that I went and I am excited to return..hoping to see the friendly faces that were there. Certainly, it does feel like a new beginning.
Susan chose a poem by W.S Merwin, Black Cherries, a snapshot of time for the author. Goldfinches fluttering, the petals on the ground, the shadows of the day as he eats his cherries.
“Remember this,” he says.
The writing prompt asked: What does the poem evoke?
I think W.S Merwin might be letting on how satisfied he is with his life. Not just at that moment, but that particular period of his life when he wrote the poem. Appreciating the details of his surroundings like they are time capsules or landmarks of his whole human experience at the time of its writing.
I too, have intentionally created landmarks of time when I take in the moment to “remember this.” Everything is framed to be remembered: the lines on the floor, the light resting on objects just so, and more importantly how I’m oriented in this particular moment of life:
A six year old racing with the moon.
A teenager outsmarting god.
An exhausted young mother wrestling with her toddler.
I remember and become that person again.
Please join Mia on Wednesdays for her online Mixed Level Hatha class, Wednesdays at 7:30 AM – 8:30 AM PT
And you can also join Susan Ford’s monthly, online workshops: New Beginnings Writing Group on Fri. May 13 @ 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm PDT. This
Mia Velez entered the Integral Yoga Sangha in 2016 through the kitchen by helping to cook Thursday community lunches and silent retreat meals. In 2018 she certified as an Integral Yoga teacher to learn more of the IYI approach and be part of the lineage. Mia is a disciple of the Moy Yat Ving Tsun Kung Fu lineage and is highly influenced by her martial arts training. After completing her first 200 hour teacher training in 2008, she began to see undeniable parallel in Yoga and Kung Fu. When she began teaching Kung Fu in 2014, she incorporated Yoga insight and principles in her classes. Her goal in teaching is to connect with the students and to facilitate a safe space for exploration and self inquiry. Yoga and Kung Fu is integrated into her daily life as a mother, a preschool teacher, and an advocate for gender, race and class equality through multiple non-profits groups.
Mia is also a trainer for the IYISF 200-Hour BIPOC Yoga Teacher Training. Please read more on our website to learn about, apply or support this scholarship based training. This training is an effort toward dismantling the structural and institutional racism that exists in wellness communities, and to increase diverse representation in Yoga. If you are BIPOC and would like to become a certified Yoga instructor, we encourage you to apply today!