The Mission
To activate poetry as a tool of imagination, truth, and discovery to foster an embodied practice of liberation and belonging grounded in yoga.
the roots
The idea for “365 Revolutions“ began at approximately 5 AM, March 1, 2016 on a yoga mat at the Samdhana Karana Yoga (SKY) studio. This was my first day as a “writer in residence” which was a fancy excuse for being able to sit alone in the studio and savor the peaceful and serene surroundings as an inspiration for a writing project. The idea and title came on that first day; I wanted to write a full year of devotional poems completely inspired by yoga poses that embraced revolution, liberation and a re-centering of multiple identities including race, gender, disability and environmental consciousness into radical belonging within yoga practice and beyond. I had no idea at the time it would take almost four years to complete the manuscript.
The journey was a rich one and required more patience than I’m accustomed. Every time I sat down to write, I waited for the pose to inspire a narrative, a history, a declaration. My “ask” always began in the body, putting myself mentally and sometimes physically, in the pose, waiting and listening. There were numerous times where I wanted to say things that the persona in the poem would not let me. Each poem and each voice speaks for itself and that means releasing control and serving an independent and usually insistent source.
During this period I’ve come to believe that “revolution“ and “evolution“ share many common elements. An overthrow of a system or government does not necessarily lead to governance that is more humane or guided by conscience. Revolutions manifest in different ways. It’s my hope that these poems will explore some of these.
I’m a straight white male who has most certainly not lived the experience of many of the personas which emerge from “365 Revolutions”. As a person who spends much of my day in the work of equity and justice, I can tell you that I’m constantly aware of my privilege and my limits, however hard I am working to stretch them. What I am certain of, however, is that you and I need to construct a more humane way of being together in this world and this means re-imagining and re-creating the institutions, and spaces around us. That includes the studios and communities of yoga which now draw over 37 million students and participants in the United States alone. I believe this book can be a tool infused into daily disciplines to invite teachers and students to bring more intention to the practices of belonging through the lens of race, gender, disability, environmental consciousness and other ways of being in the world. It’s meant to put these evocations into the body to start a larger conversation and practice. I’ve leaned heavily into poetry, embodiment practice, and imagination. It is my belief that many readers will respond and discover themselves within the pages and within the poses that inspired the writing on the pages .
The vision
We’ve got some big plans for this project. We expect this book to be the foundation of many collaborations including the work of photographers, composers, filmmakers, voice artists and even choreographers and dancers. The text of 365 revolutions as an audio book will extend at least six hours and be an ideal platform for a diverse voice cast supplemented by a full sound score developed by a lead composer and other collaborating composers. We would plan for our team of composers and voice cast to be wildly diverse in every sense of that word.
As for the visual mediums, it’s our plan that the poems will eventually inspire a photographic exhibit that showcases the work of photographers from across the US and the world. I see large scale photos hung in affiliation with specific poses and poems at the exhibit.
Finally, each pose generates seven poems, about seven minutes of narrative. I believe those narratives could inform 52 independent films, each linked to a pose.
That is the beginning of a vision that could grow from these roots and lead to other multi genre projects.
I could go on, but suffice it to say I look to recruit many artists into the vision so if you see yourself involved in a specific way, let us know about your interest and your work via email. We look forward to many conversations in pursuit of this vision.