The spider’s web is web of protection around art-making, around play, and around intentional community. It is an offering for spaciousness from social media. This work is meant to bring hope back into creation. This work allows me to take time with my daily practice, with myself, and with my communities that feels easeful in my body. I hope that these offerings will bring you more ease and consideration in your own body.
Thank you for joining me here. Y’all are welcome to share this offering with your communities. I just ask that you credit my work
@meredithannewhite
. Thank you so much <3
I did an amazing workshop with Mary Grace and Rachelle Knowles recently called “Somatic Strategies for Overwhlem.” One of the questions Mary Grace offered after a centering practice with Rachelle included:
“What can I do with my body and not against it?”
And that struck me deeply. So much of this season for much of my adult life has been one of disassociation. Am I committing myself to something before my body feels ready to commit? Am I checking in before I put in x amount of hours in the studio? Am I saying yes to an event because it’s aligned or because I think I won’t have another opportunity to make money/have the fear of missing out/etc?
I’m noticing that the more I tune in with my body for integration, the less my body needs to “do” in those moments. It feels like I’m less “productive,” and quite frankly, this is true. It turns out, we’re not machines. We’re not supposed to be productive all of the time. If I allow my body to rest, integrate, and observe, my work reaches new heights. It means my work to has time to breathe. It allows my body time to breathe. I’m working with my energetic capacity instead of against it. I’m working with my strengths when they’re available to me and setting things down when I just don’t have it in me.
Where might we notice our bodies feeling misaligned in work? Where might we notice when our bodies feeling aligned in work?
Here’s a recent example for me. I was feeling overwhelmed with a sweatshirt I wanted to sew. I kept forcing shapes upon it and nothing felt right. I took the afternoon to meet a friend, go on a walk, look at the the trees, and share company with them. I came back to the piece the next day with a fresh perspective. I felt more at ease. I felt less restricted in my body. I was able to see the shapes with less force. The sweatshirt wanted to be a heartspace home with gusts of wind on the sleeves :)
There is SO much pressure for makers this season to be constant vessels of production. We are required to make a *majority of sales this time of year.* I decided for myself that this feels misaligned for me right now. I made the choice to look at this urgency in my body specific to this season. I made the choice to allow my viewers, my clients, and my community to set something down too. Because ultimately, I want people to feel empowered in their purchases with my work. I want people to feel empowered in their bodies this season in moving how they feel called.
Another question Mary Grace offered was this:
“How might we anticipate needing care?”
If we’re asking for help ahead of time and receiving the support we need, then it creates less of an emergency for those around us. Let’s sink into that because this is a big one. If we’re taking more time with ourselves to check in, then we’re projecting less of that urgency onto those around us.
Now I know that this is not realistic all the time as the human tornado that I am sometimes, but I found myself being more of a tornado this season because I was more urgent with my own choices. Therefore, it was creating ripples for those around me.
How might we continue to show up for ourselves and communities in a less heightened way?
We have the opportunity to transmute the ripples of urgency to ripples of mindfulness. So in the time that I’ve removed myself from circumstances that felt misaligned for me this season, I was able to fill those moments with other more tender possibilities.
Some of these moments have been:
Witnessing Pat + Didi at Tic-Tac with baby Rose
Sharing a veggie burger with Alice and toasting to our accomplishments
Dancing with Peyton for her birthday <3
Meeting Barry at our bench over tea and listening to the birds around us
Kevin cooking steak and vegetables when I didn’t have the capacity to make myself dinner
Eating cinnamon rolls with Lizzy and watching Harry Potter
Booking myself a massage on Christmas Day with Damaris
Witnessing my neighbor Deb at the holiday beekeeping party accept beekeeper of the year with delight
Deb (beekeeper of the year) doing hive inspection with Tammy this summer on 35mm.
I’ve been sinking into the moments of this season that do not work for me, and yet I’m continually reminded of how much community exists for me that I am so damn grateful for. These are the people that show up for me deeply on a day-to-day that I consider my cultivated family. This is my chosen family. The people in my life that orient around very nuanced spaces, practices, and livelihoods. Many of us have difficult relationships with those that raised us. Yet, this does not mean that the word family cannot exist for us.
How can we continue to carve out practices for ourselves and each other this season that is in alignment with our chosen family?
I honor how you choose to show up for yourself this season. I honor the challenges that you may be facing this time of year, as I know it’s not easy for many of us. I honor the new boundaries, the “no’s”, and the pivots. Because I have had to reorient myself each and every day this season and lean the fuck into the pivots even though I may do so begrudgingly.
So what would it look like for you to allow for a pivot?
What would that bring up?
Would it be uncomfortable in the moment?
Would it allow for more ease in the long run?
I am holding space for you, and I am holding space for myself. I made myself this rain drop sweatsuit as a means of protection and grounding this season for this very sake.
Thank you for joining me here. Y’all are welcome to share this offering with your communities. I just ask that you credit my work
@meredithannewhite
. Thank you so much <3