by Cheryl Pallant | May 29, 2015 | body awareness, dance, somatic practice, spirituality
When I fleshtalk about my bodyflesh which brings to mindflesh organismic waves of fleshbeingspirit, my tendency, at least years ago, was to assert mental control over all of me in whatever way possible. Knowing, I was taught, occurs through rumination and cogitation,...
by Cheryl Pallant | Feb 28, 2012 | body awareness, creative writing, somatics, Writing From the Body
You master an important initial step when you sit at your desk to write: showing up. Positioning yourself at the desk conveys an intent to commit words to the page. Manifesting the intent should follow, but for some of us, that next step can be tricky. We may get...
by Cheryl Pallant | Jan 19, 2012 | body awareness, creativity, dance, writing
During college, my modern dance teacher Carmen Beuchat continually challenged my comfort level. In class, she’d urge me to reach toward the horizon of my limits. Straighter torso, she’d say. Hip closer to a classmate’s. More energy. I squirmed. Daily. Unfamiliar...
by Cheryl Pallant | Jun 21, 2011 | body awareness, buddhist poetry, poetry
After years of writing and meditating, I’ve reached the point when it’s unclear when I’m doing which. It’s not as easy as sitting on a cushion versus sitting before a computer. The similarities are endless. In both, I am attending to my breath, subtly shifting my...
by Cheryl Pallant | May 21, 2011 | body awareness, breath, embodiment
One of my ongoing favorite quotes comes from a James Joyce short story, “A Painful Case.” The first line reads, “Mr. Duffy lived a short distance from his body.” I place the quote at the top of my Writing From the Body syllabus, its premise...
by Cheryl Pallant | Apr 27, 2011 | body awareness, Buddhism, enlightenment, somatic practice
I continue to flip through Reginald Ray’s Touching Enlightenment: Finding Realization in the Body after completing it several weeks ago. Ray is a Tibetan practitioner in the lineage of Chogyman Trungpa Rinpoche, the founder of Naropa University. His book on the...
