“It’s not happiness that makes us grateful but gratefulness that makes us happy.” – Br. David Steindl Rast
A note from Erin, As I begin this week’s writing, might I offer a few invitations?Could your next exhalation be a bit more complete? Could your belly soften a bit more to your next inhale? Could your shoulders drop?Could your gaze be less tight, more soft and receptive, seeing things in the periphery? Could you feel the weight…
A note from Erin: Greetings from Cape Cod! Thanks for welcoming us to your inbox. Today, we’re waking up in this beautiful place on our annual visit with Carl’s family. I’m sitting on a breezy porch, watching swift-moving clouds cruise overhead, listening to morning birds and reflecting on a few things I’d love to share…
A note from Erin: How about a little Rumi? (I’ll never say no to that…) Love Dogs One night a man was crying, Allah! Allah! His lips grew sweet with the praising, until a cynic said, “So! I have heard you calling out, but have you ever gotten any response?” The man had no answer…
A note from Erin: A few things before today’s writing: 1. We have a fresh new podcast episode exploring Embodying Resilience with Dr. Don St. John. Give it a listen! 2. Registration is open for our amazing retreat in Costa Rica in January! Read all about it and Join us! On the importance of roots and…
A note from Erin: What can I possibly write when there are kids in cages, families seeking aid only to experience such unimaginable tragedy? And when it’s so tempting to numb out because it’s all just so heavy? I don’t know, friends. Here’s my attempt: I’m doing my best to lean in and not shrink away,…
The Inner-Wilderness
A note from Carl: Yesterday, I got to take a long walk in a local canyon, the path overgrown with all the fresh life, following the rains of May here in Utah. In the continuously dynamic balance of parenting, working, writing, practice, husbanding, teaching, interneting…(the many lives we are all embodying simultaneously) it is a…
A note from Carl: Greetings Friends! This week, instead of our weekly writing reflections, we would love to offer you a free sample movement lesson from our 15 Favorite Feldy Lessons series. We looove that series, and we got great feedback from participants on how the format really supported their learning and wellbeing. The lesson we’re sharing…
A note from Erin: So much beauty around here these days… It’s rose season, we got an adorable new kitten, we’re in love with our podcast, we’ve had great retreats in local canyons for Women Embodied and Embodying A New Masculine courses, I got to teach somatic meditation at Cancer Wellness House this week, our…
Friends, you are most warmly invited to join me on the Sunday morning of Memorial Day weekend for a special community ritual to honor the grief and gratitude we carry. In case you missed it, a few months ago I made a video talking about why you might be interested in tending grief through ritual. You can…
A note from Carl: I just finished re-listening to our most recent Embodiment Matters Podcast conversation with Francis Weller. Just like when we were having the conversation live, I pretty much had goosebumps (truthbumps) and tears the entire time. We covered such fertile terrain about what it means to be an embodied human being, living…
A note from Erin: This morning, the first roses opened on the bush in front of our home. This week it’s also been the white irises, and the cones of vibrant flowers gracing the horse chestnut trees in our neighborhood. Last week, the redbuds and lilacs had me swooning. The week before, it was the…
A note from Carl: Good morning! Ok, I need to jump right into a Mary poem, as this line just called out to me this morning: Listen, everyone has a chance. Is it spring, is it morning? Are there trees near you, and does your own soul need comforting? Quick, then––open the door and fly…
A note from Erin: Good day! Oh, there’s so much I’d love to share with you today. First, a little spring beauty. Friends, our podcast conversations are blowing my mind and heart open in such beautiful ways. I’m so thrilled and so honored to be able to share them. I’ve relistened to all our original…
A note from Erin & Carl: Friends – after many years in the making, it’s finally here!!! We’re thrilled. Drumroll please…… OUR PODCAST IS LIVE!!! WELCOME TO THE EMBODIMENT MATTERS PODCAST | WAKING UP & BEING EMBODIED Embodiment Matters is an ongoing, rich conversation about what it really means to be embodied, and why and…
A note from Carl: A poem that I return to most frequently is this beauty from William Stafford: The Way It Is There’s a thread you follow. It goes among things that change. But it doesn’t change. People wonder about what you are pursuing. You have to explain about the thread. But it is hard for…
A note from Erin: What I most want to write about this morning is the gift and the calling of community, and our deep longing to belong. A photo of the amazing community of people who attended our Ghost Ranch Retreat last year. You can still register for September! I keep realizing what an extraordinary gift it…
A note from Carl: Recently, Erin and I have been beginning our weeks with a Monday morning inner-listening practice. The practice, which has roots in Focusing and Embodied Life, in one that can be so simple it can be easy to miss the profundity. We sit across from each other on our couches, and while Erin…
Good day! I woke up today pondering the Grief Tending Ritual my friend, Kinde Nebeker, and I are hosting at Great Salt Lake, likely in the rain, tonight, with an amused sense of “Wow. I never expected to be doing this. And yet, how perfect.” As I buzzed my coffee beans in the dark and quiet morning, with the…
A note from Carl: Greetings! Before I head into this week’s reflections, I want to remind those in our local vicinity that we still have space in our Movement Immersion this weekend, exploring squatting on Saturday, and many other dynamic, functional, enlivening movements. You can come to either day or the whole weekend– it will be awesome and…
A note from Erin: Hello! Here’s something important. We need beauty. Like a soul nutrient. We may be withering for want of it, or for beauty’s want of our deep attention. How can we bring more beautyto the world today? How can we stay determined to pause, to see, to praise the beauty that surrounds us? “Beauty is…
A note from Erin: Good day! I’d love to share an excerpt I particularly loved from Michael Meade’s book Fate & Destiny: “We are each woven into the common world of time and space, yet we are also secretly tied to things eternal. We each have a foot in time and a toehold in eternity;…
A note from Carl: Erin recently introduced me to Stephen Jenkinson’s book, Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul. This book will join the cherished collection of books in my world that I would call the life-changers. There have been many, many through the years, all held with immense gratitude. The “me” that entered this book is…
A note from Erin: Hi Friends! I recorded a short video for you about Grief Tending which I want to share here. Locals, please mark your calendar as my friend Kinde Nebeker of New Moon Rites of Passage and I will be co-facilitating a Grief Tending Ritual at Great Salt Lake on the evening of Thursday, March 22nd.…
A note from Carl: Recently, several clients have been asking me about exercise. They resonate with what they have learned through the Feldenkrais pedagogy – they no longer want to just push and crank on themselves, but also they also want to grow stronger, and be agile, and keep their bone density with aging. “Should I do yoga? Should…
A note from Erin: As we prepare to begin our Fifteen Favorite Feldy Lessons online course on Monday, I wanted to share some more ideas about why this work is so timely and important. While many Feldenkrais professionals may have very different ideas about this than I do, I’d love to share from my heart why it matters…
A note from Erin: Is it worth taking the time to slow down and learn from what poet Hafiz calls “the most insignificant movements of your own holy body?” I believe it is. I have a lot to say about why this work is important. For starters, here are seven perspectives in answer to the question: Why Feldenkrais?…
A note from Carl: Greetings Friends, As we are so excited today to open registration for our home study series “Fifteen Favorite Feldy Lessons,” I wanted to share a great story we heard from one of our early Feldenkrais teachers. During the last training Moshe Feldenkrais taught in Amherst, MA, in the early 1980s, he had a stroke.…
A note from Erin: Let’s start right off with a gorgeous poem for the new year, shall we? It’s from a beautiful poetry book by Mark Nepo, The Way Under the Way. Be A Circle I wish you the ability to breathe after pain, to begin again, though nothing else seems possible. I wish you resilience: to…
A note from Carl: Greetings Friends! Happy Winter Solstice to you! Last weekend we had a small gathering of friends over, enjoying delicious whiskey, candlelight, and genuine connection. At one point, our dear friend, Nan Seymour, asked if she could share a poem. Personally, I think any social gathering improves when someone reads a poem, as…
Since I got the call from life to tend the River of Grief over the summer, I’ve started doing some private mentoring with Francis Weller, who has been such an inspiration to me in so many ways – especially in how he holds space for the skill of grief. Last week when I spoke with him, I…