Monthly Archives: May 2015

Sianna Sherman on Storytelling (+ My Illustrated Notes)

Storytelling Illustrated

Yoga and Storytelling: My Notes Illustrated- part 1

Storytelling and the Teachings of Yoga

Yoga and Storytelling: My Notes Illustrated- part 2

I listened to a podcast recently of Sianna Sherman on the Power of Myth and Storytelling through the International Association of Yoga Therapists and in true illustrated note taking fashion, drew and wrote what I heard. Above are some snap shots from my notes.

Sianna makes some interesting points about the healing power of story in the context of the yoga tradition. I would add that mining ones personal life stories and sharing them with others are equally as valuable, and perhaps more personally transformative then reading an already famous, classic story and trying to find yourself in that story. And while I’m all for plummeting the riches of ancient religious texts in search of meaning and applying it to ones life, ( if that is your thing) I think we all carry this kind of wisdom inside of us already if we can learn to access and also share it with each other then we our lives as we know it will be transformed. No analyzing of ancient yoga texts required. You can find more out about this process here. Below are a few of my favorite points from Sianna’s talk:

  • Stories are alive.
  • Stories feed life.
  • When stories are told it helps the world to flower.
  • When we hold the space for the flowering of the story inside us then it catches [something important] inside. [edit-mine]
  • Discovering the teachings of yoga through storytelling is a creative way for the soul to come to life and for us to have insight into our own lives through the story.

A poem for your Aliveness

Here's to your aliveness!

Here’s to your aliveness!

May you experience you whole life as a practice for this very moment:

To rewrite the blueprint that has been etched across you hearts, you bones and you mind.

To mend that great divide, one cell at a time.

To be able to give yourself full permission to put away the ruler, and throw away the mask.

To feel wildly uninhibited

To shout, “My experience matters” and “I belong!” as you fling open the rusty, 200 pound door you have crammed your life behind.

Then, most importantly; may you have the courage to lay the palm open and to risk receiving.

To dive beneath the surface of things and learn to trust again, regardless of what life has in store for you.

To let the warm liquid of life flow like milk, all the way down to the belly.

To say “I’m choosing to let love in now”