Our favorite heroes’ stories follow a common pattern – as do our lives, really! Joseph Conrad defined 12 steps in this pattern as the Hero’s Journey, outlining how every hero starts out in a dull, not-quite-right beginning, gradually gains allies and enemies and goes through ordeals, and finally emerges changed at the end. It rings…
harry potter
Self-Care Flow: A Yoga Massage from Bottom to Top
The Cloaks (& Safe Places) of Fandom
We all need our happy, safe spaces – both mental and physical. For those who love their fandoms, those spaces might even be imagined. It’s lovely just to picture yourself in the TARDIS, on the Enterprise, or in Hogwarts. There may be no space more snug, however, than the kind that you physically can wear….
Fandom Mindscape Meditation Flow
One of my favorite moments in any sort of fandom comes when a mindscape is depicted – when someone’s internal mental processes are revealed through visuals or words. These scenes almost always feel strange and unhinged, like a dream, while also relatable. It’s bizarre but intriguing that these mindscapes feel more alien to us than…
Cow Face Pose: When You’re Open to the Weird and the Wondrous
Today, during pigeon pose in yoga class, my mat split into four different transparent levels, stacked on top of each other. When I swayed slightly, they swayed too. The tiny dots in the pattern of the mat gaped open a little farther, almost seemingly like they were singing. What could have been underneath, if I…