body language
weekly story work exercise
If you’re new here, Story Work is the name of my current book-in-progress. It describes a process of reflecting, reclaiming, and reimagining the stories of our lives. It involves looking at your life experiences as creative material that you have the power to shape.
The weekly Story Work topics cover universal life themes with references from literature, philosophy, science, and spirituality; offering perspectives that spark ideas for personal growth and creative expression.
Paid subscribers receive Story Work exercises every Sunday night at 8 pm et. This week’s exercise is open to all subscribers.
Hi community!
We just wrapped up a series of story work reflections and exercises using the five senses as inspiration for our writing. Before we get into our new theme and this week’s exercise, I want to remind you about our author chat with Chelene Knight that is happening this Wednesday evening on Zoom at 5 pm et.
Chelene is a multi-genre author of four books including her most recent narrative nonfiction release: Let It Go: Free Yourself From Old Beliefs and Find a New Path To Joy, a warm, candid and essential book that will guide the reader to carve a new path to joy.
She is also the author of a collection of poetry, Braided Skin, the memoir Dear Current Occupant, winner of the 2018 Vancouver Book Award, and long-listed for the George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature. Her novel, Junie (Book*hug 2022) is winner of the 2023 Vancouver Book Award, long-listed for the inaugural Carol Shields Fiction Prize and a finalist for the Ferro-Grumley Prize for LGBTQ fiction.
Chelene has a wealth of knowledge and a generous spirit to go with it. We’ll be discussing her recent release, Let It Go, as well as her creative process and publishing journey. The session is on Wednesday, April 17 from 5 - 6 pm et.
Here’s how you can attend:
Join the Inner Story Writing Circle. If you’d like to attend this session and join our all-access writing group to support your story work & creative development, you can learn more about the Inner Story Writing Circle here.
Purchase a Copy. You can also attend the session by purchasing a copy of Let It Go: Free Yourself From Old Beliefs and Find a New Path To Joy and sending me proof of purchase. Proof of purchase can be a photo of you with the book, a picture of your receipt, etc.
Book Giveaway. Everyone who comments below or on this post will be entered to win a copy of Let It Go and access to our visit with Chelene on Wednesday, April 17 from 5 - 6 pm et.
Okay, let’s get into our weekly exercise.
body language
“Making peace with your body is your mighty act of revolution. It is your contribution to a changed planet where we might all live unapologetically in the bodies we have.” ― Sonya Renee Taylor, The Body is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love
I wasn’t taught to love my body. I wasn’t taught to listen to my body. I was taught to keep it under control. My flesh and bones with its needs and functions was a source of shame. In any scenario from the mundane to the extraordinary, my bodies’ natural expressions could be twisted into something strange or dirty or wrong.
The church taught me that my body was a sin. The media taught me that my body has to fit certain requirements to be seen, to be normal, let alone worthy or beautiful. Pain taught me that my body is a stranger, that it has secrets, and that there are consequences for not acknowledging its mysterious needs.
For this series, let’s consider our next theme, body language, as more than the posture, facial expressions, and hand gestures we use to communicate and interpret unspoken feelings. Let’s get uncomfortable and explore the underlying stories that create the outer expression. Let’s write about lived experiences that are centered in a meaningful physical/body experience. By dissipating the avoidance that often fogs the lens when we start thinking about our bodies, we can discover new truths, insights, and freedoms.
Have you ever considered that your stories don’t just live in your head, that your mind is a translator of what your body is experiencing? Let that sink in for a moment and imagine how that concept could impact your creative expression.
Sonya Renee Taylor says, “Making peace with your body is your mighty act of revolution.” I would also say that making peace with your body by releasing its stories is a mighty act of creative freedom. She goes on to say, this is how we contribute to a changed planet, by living unapologetically in the bodies we have.
Imagine for a moment, how opening up to our bodies—expressing instead of apologizing—can lead to the liberation of our stories.
Over the past few months, I’ve become more in tune with how my body releases its stories.
I know now that my writing process requires movement. When I’ve been sitting still at my desk for too long, my creative well runs dry. Instead of closing my eyes and trying to think harder, I get up and pace or dance or stretch. Many times a fifteen minute movement break has saved me hours of mental labor. It was hard for me to grasp this until I experienced it, not once, but many times, and now it’s a trusted part of my practice.
I have only scratched the surface of understanding the sacred language of the body.
We experience the world through inner and outer sensations, a complex, vibrational messaging system that we often ignore or don’t understand. Many of us live in our heads, dissociated from our bodies, entranced by our thoughts, but our creative practices present us with ways to reinhabit our bodies.
When we take a full-bodied approach to writing, we can take the pressure off our logical minds and access the truths that live in our bodily experiences.
Even if you feel some initial resistance to this concept, be curious and journey with us.
Exercise:
Before you start this exercise, do a body scan. Starting from the top of your head, scan your body, part by part, down to the tips of your toes. Close your eyes and slowly bring your attention to the curves, joints, nooks, crannies, holes, and crevices. Notice the sensations, particularly any tension you are holding. Make a note of what you feel. This might be really difficult and uncomfortable to you. That’s okay. Don’t criticize yourself or have a particular expectation. Notice what you can and move on.
Next, write about a bodily experience that is a significant or impactful memory for you. You might write about giving birth, being closed into a small space, what it feels like to overeat or to starve, losing your virginity, your mother’s hugs, falling off of a bike. Let the story present itself to you, and tell it in a way that feels natural, raw, and unfiltered.