Yoga for Writers
an intimate mini-retreat
with Sarah Kowalski
Friday Mornings
9:00 - 11:00 am
In Sarah’s Home
(near Broad and Morris)
Spring Series
March 13 - April 24
(no class on April 10th)
You have important things to say.
Yoga can help.
Writing can connect you to your deepest self — your truest thoughts, your most expansive wisdom, your fullest experience of what it is to be human in this complicated, painful, incredibly beautiful world.
Writing can also be lonely, arduous, and uncomfortable — emotionally and physically.
This series is designed to build community, to support your body, and to give you a weekly deep-dive into using yoga practice:
- to connect to first thoughts
- to increase your bandwidth to witness and open up to a full spectrum of sensation and emotion
- and to sit with uncertainty.
This intimate practice (limited to four people) will connect you to a network of fellow writers, be a perfect space to get personalized assistance with your physical yoga practice (such as variations for tender wrists, neck or low back pain, nerdy chats about a specific pose, etc.), and an opportunity to build both movement and writing into your weekly routine.
No prior yoga experience needed, and no physical requirements other than the ability to climb stairs, as Sarah’s house has five steps. Chairs are available and encouraged if you prefer not to sit on the floor. Sarah loves teaching advanced practitioners and brand-new-beginners and everyone in between. If you have any questions about whether the physical part of this practice will be right for you given your specific needs or goals, don’t hesitate to ask!
Next Series:
Six weeks:
March 13, 20, 27, and April 3, 17, 24
(no class April 10th – Good Friday/Passover/Philly public schools on Spring Break)
Cost: $175 for the six-week series
$35 to drop in for a single class, if space permits
Want to know more about what to expect?
We’ll begin each practice with a brief discussion of a theme or philosophical concept that connects the mind/body practice of yoga to the mind/body practice of writing.
Our physical practice will often begin with stress-relieving restorative poses, guided body scans, self-massage, and/or breath work — practices that help to down-regulate the nervous system, slow down the chatter of the monkey-mind, and access patience and witness consciousness.
We’ll move into some steady, gentle flow, linking movement to the rhythm of breath to warm up your being-in-process muscles and relieve the aches and pains of sitting, typing, writing, and life-in-general.
We’ll explore some evocative poses to notice how leaning into strength, joy, sorrow, vulnerability, or novelty in the body can help access forgotten places in the mind.
Guided imagery into silent relaxation will connect you to the spaciousness and bounty of your own creativity.
And then! Each week, there will be time for writing to digest your experience. Write from the shared prompt, or just go with whatever inspiration wells up for you.
Bring a notebook or laptop, and perhaps plan to head to a coffee shop afterwards to continue your weekly writing retreat.
Deepen your writing and yoga practices with this gift to your writer self!
Reserve your spot by applying here: Application Form
About Sarah
Sarah Kowalski has been writing for more than 25 years, and remains deeply curious about the workings of inspiration, attention, memory, and how to get unstuck. Sarah holds an MFA in creative writing from the Stonecoast program at the University of Southern Maine, and has published work in various print and online publications. Sarah has been practicing yoga for over a decade and teaching since 2014. She specializes in adaptive, restorative, and slow yoga, and has specialized training in alignment, biomechanics, myofascial release, brain injury, and pain science. Sarah lives in South Philly with her husband and daughter and a growing jungle of houseplants, and has maintained a near-daily writing practice for most of her adult life. Find her on Instagram at @sarahtarrkowalski.