This evening, my yoga teacher, Jade, spoke in her calming voice about using diachromatic breath. She encouraged us to breathe in “from all sides of the chest” and exhale “from a center focus point into the world.”
The imagery struck me. Most yoga teachers refer to this as belly breathing—a relaxation technique for anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, and even IBS. But Jade’s description felt different, almost poetic. Breathing in from all sides conjured the idea of expanding awareness in all directions—front, back, and sides—before focusing and releasing outward.
As I consciously tried it, expanding my chest cavity in all directions and exhaling with intention, I realized this was as much an exercise in imagination as it was in awareness.
And then, she asked us to balance on one foot and twist ourselves into all kinds of contortions.
It was challenging, a little awkward, and sometimes downright frustrating. But it also felt like life—specifically, the journey of writing and publishing.
This balance of expansion, focus, and then managing the unexpected twists is what I ask writers to embrace. When I teach memoir writing or publishing, I encourage writers to inhale from all sides—researching, reflecting, and absorbing the stories, lessons, and tools available to them. It’s about expanding their awareness of craft, community, and possibilities.
Then, comes the exhale. From that expansive inhale, we release our stories and our books into the world, focused and intentional.
But of course, it doesn’t stop there. Just like yoga, the journey of writing and publishing often throws us off balance. Deadlines, revisions, marketing, platform-building—it can feel like trying to balance on one foot while doing a deep twist. Sometimes you wobble, and other times you fall. But that’s the journey!
The beauty lies in coming back to your breath, your center, and continuing forward.
Perhaps this idea could inform a new teaching exercise:
- Breathe in: Absorb everything—the craft lessons, the advice, the feedback, the ideas swirling around you.
- Hold it: Let it settle. Give yourself a moment of stillness to process and organize.
- Breathe out: Write with intention, focusing on your unique center point. What’s the message, the feeling, the story you want to release into the world?
And then, like in yoga, embrace the twists and turns. Writing and publishing are as much about balance and flexibility as they are about focus and intention.
So, expand, center, release—and when things get wobbly, just laugh, breathe, and keep going.
What about you? How do you stay grounded through the balancing act of writing or creating?
Haha! Love it!