the background story
It all started with a face plant.
Literally. Chin on floor. I had just fallen out of a yoga pose – crow pose, if you’re interested – a pose I knew I could never do because I’m not good at balancing poses.
Then, one day while doing an on-line yoga class, I found myself balancing: knees resting on elbows. For one glorious moment, my entire crouched body hovered in the air. When my face hit the floor, I couldn’t suppress the smile. I did it, maybe only for a fraction of a second, but I had done this impossible (for me) thing.
And I had done it after making a radical and counterintuitive change to my yoga practice: I had decided to be gentle.
For decades I believed that the only way to become a better version of myself was to set ambitious goals, follow punishing daily routines, and then berate myself for any and all shortcomings that inevitably followed. Life was outward directed and performative.
I may have gotten some things done, but I was pretty miserable.
In the spring of 2020, I decided to try something different. Like everyone else on the planet, I was feeling unmoored and isolated. I was looking for something that would make life a little less dark, less angry, less hopeless. I don’t know why the word gentleness floated into my consciousness, but it did. And it had an appeal that I had never noticed before.
After the face plant, I wondered about other aspects of my life. If being gentle with my yoga not only made me happier in my yoga practice, but also made me objectively more skillful, how could gentleness change other parts of life?
So, I spent a year testing practices to figure out if gentleness could help me navigate all of life. Would it be possible to achieve ambitious goals gently? Could gentleness help me with my harsh inner critic or how to feel comfortable in my body? Could gentleness improve my relationships? And, the most important question I asked: Was gentleness the key to reconnecting with my kinder and wiser self?
That journey is the substance of The Art of Living Gently.
And now?
Life on planet earth has moved on from those early pandemic days, but I’ve decided to keep the living gently project going with weekly musings about the messiness and joy of figuring out how to live more gently.
I’m delighted you’re here on the path with me. Thank you for coming along.