#3 Generative: wring it out
Twists lengthen, squeeze, and wring the toxins from the cells and the words from the pen. They continually find an edge--in reach, in wait, in motion--and dance along the gradient: a little more, a little less. They renegotiate a boundary and rewrite the line.
In this practice, you will need a comfortable place to sit, two large sheets of paper, and a writing utensil (note: if outside, you need dirt/sand and a stick; if the floor is uncomfortable, flank your chair between two surfaces (desks or tables or ledges)). You can twist as yoga-pretzely or un-yoga-pretzely as you wish.
If you have back pain or injuries, twists are contraindicated, so please refrain from rotation at the core and extend rather with arcs from the limbs.
Begin seated with both sitbones firmly grounded. Gather an intention: what would you like to investigate in/through/of/from/with your body today? As you inhale, lengthen tall through the spine, collect an inquiry. As you exhale twist to the right and release your inquiry, thoughts, feelings, emotions, responses onto the page...follow the arc of the limbs: the limit is the range of the core. When you reach your edge (in body or word), inhale soften and exhale surrender. Inhale release the twist and gather back to your center, exhale restore. Repeat to the left.
Continue to twist back and forth at your own pace. Watch as the words arc out and surround you. What does it feel like to sit in your investigation: to both drive it and be driven by it? Can you see the edges, the boundaries on your page? Does the writing ever touch?
When you feel sufficiently wrung out, gather these field notes and process. What will you throw out with the bathwater? What will you keep? How will you arrange it; what does your body say?
Feeling generous?!? If you are in the sharing mood, please, submit the writing generated from this exercise to Precipice-Collective for inclusion in our anthology - Precipice: Writing at the Edge. In addition to critical essays and creative works, the anthology will include writing prompts, and hopefully, with your contributions, writing samples from our online community.