à la carte spirit by ilona fried
Art
Feldenkrais and the Tyranny of “Touch Your Toes”
“…some have the knees straight as if it were a rule that you have to touch the floor having the knees straight.” – Moshe Feldenkrais, The Master Moves One afternoon in my Feldenkrais program, trainer Katrin Smithback invited us to take a break from a seated activity by having us stand. “Now,” she said, “touch your toes.” … Continue reading
On Not Killing Your Joy
In my ongoing attempt to live with less, over the spring I turned a ruthless eye toward my art supplies: acrylic and powder paints, pastels, collage materials collected over the years, dozens of different beads from when I designed jewelry professionally, tons of mosaic tesserae from my subsequent artrepreneurship, partially completed works in various media, wire … Continue reading
The Vagina Monologues as Spiritual Bootcamp
In December, I heeded an inner Yes! and auditioned for The Vagina Monologues (VM) at Boulder’s Naropa University. I wasn’t sure what, exactly, my Yes! had been about until I received my lines. That I wasn’t assigned very many caused my big fat Yes! to shrink to a more flaccid “Hmm…OK.” Perhaps the Yes! had … Continue reading
What’s Your Territory?
When I need a sane, no nonsense reminder of what resistance is, and inspiration for battling it daily, I pick up my worn copy of Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art. It’s a must-read for anyone trying to live more powerfully, whether that means creating art, healing a relationship, or getting in shape. As he … Continue reading
Of Mountains and Mark Doty
Somehow, I managed to not know of poet and memoirist Mark Doty until Lighthouse Writers Workshop brought him to the Denver area over the weekend. Friends raved about him, so I attended a “Writers Studio”, a combination of poetry reading and interview on Saturday, and his craft talk on Sunday. That the first event took … Continue reading
à la carte spirit by ilona fried 
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