Hello Reader,
In her memoir, Fearless and Free, Josephine Baker (a world-renowned artist, animal lover, and French spy) asks, “Why don't we make more funny faces? What are we scared of? Making faces is a sport [...] just as important and interesting as the others!”
This summer, I gathered weekly with over a hundred strangers to make funny faces, strange sounds, collective songs, and sometimes to weep gently, full-bodied.
We were led by Linda Thai in “The Voice Keeps the Score,” a six-week continuing education course to support authentic expression through experiential play, theory, and deep community shares.
Whether I had a big fat grin or big fat tears rolling down my face, I was where I needed to be. I also learned new somatic practices to share.
Around the same time, I also joined a group coaching program led by Kim Moy, “Walking the Ambiguous Loss Path,” to support my new identity as a caregiver to my life partner living with Long COVID and ME/CFS.
Nearly three years ago, this dynamic, invisible illness with no cure began to transform life as we knew it.
In my support group, we practiced both/and thinking, to honor the grief of what has been lost and tune in to the now which still includes joy and wonder.
I am in a season of radical acceptance.
As a ritual oriented person, I continue to engage my daily somatic practices. My solo practices can travel with me everywhere.
Yet, I still seek community to nurture, sustain, and tether gently to that which is larger than me.
Sharing space with people who are going through or working towards something similar, can be profound.
Here's to seeking playfulness, realness, aliveness.
Reflection
How do you play these days? What delights you, frees you up? What would happen if you looked in the mirror and made all the silliest faces you could think of? Maybe threw in a couple deep throaty or high-pitched "strange" and out of the ordinary sounds?
Resources
My Creative Updates & Offerings
Sign up for my group class Friday September 19, in-person at REVEAL Healing Arts at 4:15 p.m. PT. Class will last an hour and include gentle rest and gentle movement. Accessibility info here under the FAQ.
For $5 off a group class, use coupon code: WORTHY. For anyone who does any kind of direct service with the public, 30% off: SERVELOVE.
p.s. I have a couple fully funded spots if you need one, just message me.
My essay “Boca del Lobo,” is out now in Guernica. This piece is about violence, migration, music, this moment, the Other, and each other. Deep thanks to Shze-Hui Toja, Nonfiction Editor, and the Guernica team including Youmna Melhem Chamieh, for the immersive accompaniment over six weeks. Thank you Eileen Jimenez for gorgeous soul moving artwork to pair with the piece.
Community & Care
Linda Thai has some free resources including Movement, Breath and Sound for Transforming Grief as well as Healing the Legacy of Historical Trauma.
Writerly resources:
Writer and baker Jen Shin is offering “Feasting on Words: The Third Course,” a free BIPOC-only writing workshop, over five Saturdays this fall, held in Portland.
From author Susan Dennard a helpful post on “Three Publishing Lessons I Wish I'd Learned Sooner.”
On job, career and identity:
Marina Martinez-Bateman from New Coyote, Zhou Fang from Intersectional Group, and Eliana Mendez from Human Centric Media are offering two months of leadership training, “You Are the Leader You’re Looking For.”
A Queer & Trans Wealth Substack post from Leo Aquino on “How to survive a layoff.”
Grateful to to Soleil Blackwell's wisdom, as featured in Michelle MiJung Kim’s podcast episode titled “Who Am I Without My Job?”
Shout out to writer Jennifer Kane for sharing this Coherence podcast episode with me “So You’re Having an Existential Crisis. Good." I loved around the 32 minute mark when there is a conversation around the creative process transforming the artist as much as the final creative object.
Disability justice resources:
Disability At Home shares the “creativity that caregivers and disabled people […] use every day to make home accessible.”
Kim Moy's posts on “Navigating Ambiguous Loss in Chronic Illness Caregiving,” plus avoiding caregiver burnout wisdom and how to explain ME/CFS or Long COVID to others, as well as a resource she shared on an ME/CFS severity scale framework.
From the In Sickness caregiving podcast: "The Impact of Illness on the Entire Family."
Soft Pants for Your Mind
A little video of somatic practices, from Azul Mariposx Healing.
A humor piece on a body tired of keeping the score.
Notes & Citations
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/between-the-generations/202102/what-is-bothand-thinking
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/click-here-for-happiness/202301/how-to-practice-radical-acceptance
https://www.ambiguousloss.com/
Let’s resource! Let’s play! Let’s happen to notice, together.
In peace,
Vanessa Micale
Founder of Poderosa Voz LLC
(she, they, ella)
P.S. You can show your support by sharing this micro-newsletter with a friend, or you can send me a digital tip and treat me to a pastry.
P.P.S. Sharing resources is one of my love languages. Is there a resource related to somatic and creative realms you want to see or you know of? Hit reply and let me know.
