Out your mouth, exhale
Cancer, violence, and death. Into chaturanga, progress.
Let your chest rise in cobra. Inhale.
Let breath out like a steady dragon. Inhale.
Downward dog. Fingers and toes pressed firmly to earth. Exhale.
Take in the dawn of tomorrow like the warmth of coffee. Progress.
Pro-gress.
Empty your lungs. Right foot forward in crescent. Inhale.
Left foot forward and bend at the hips. Exhale.
Breathe. Lengthen spine and reach for the skies above. Exhale.
Stand on the edge of the new year, arms outstretched for hope, love, and progress.
Palms together in prayer. Through your nose, inhale.
Photo courtesy of Kyson Dana/UPnsplash
Danielle Dayney 
Lovely.
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Thank you, Nancy! It feels like I’ve been away for too long. Glad to get something back on the grids 🙂
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Really awesome combo of the yoga and thoughts!! Nice idea!
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Thank you! Yoga is so cleansing. I couldn’t think of a better way to welcome the new year
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What a great concept, combining yoga and poetry! Enjoyed reading this 🙂
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Thank you, Hema!
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The ritual of breathing works really well with your point here, Danielle.
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Thanks, Nate! It’s making me want to get back into practicing.
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I actually think this poetic form is perfect for yoga. The repetition, short lines and even stanzas correspond perfectly to the repeating poses of the form. Very cool.
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Thank you! It wasn’t a poem at first, but managed to work itself into that. Glad you liked it!
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Yes’ Breathe well indeed…
I am purchasing Yoga blocks to better train my core… I suppose I best learn how to master my inhalations and exhalations for a finer tuned more sculptured workout.
‘Breathing is a good thing indeed, and living as and who you were born to be, even better’… I at first read this work of yours and though I was in study of the respectable passive / aggressive Martial Art ‘Aikido’… But I see it is a lesson in being who you were born to be, you know, life… and living it well…
‘As a side note Danielle if I may say, when I first lay my eyes upon your blog post with the Red Leather Boxing gloves, it instantly took me to the Music Video of ‘The Cowboy Junkies’ ‘Misguided Angel’ in my mind’ of a father and his wee mite at the Boxing ring. The feel of Ireland in that said. Keep up in writing your passions Danielle’.
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You used the cyclical nature of the lines really well to illustrate the practice of yoga. Very cool approach. It’s almost a tritina, though not quite; to really nail the form you need the three stanzas plus one final line (not stanza) with the ultimate words in 1-2-3 order. But even so, it’s quite lovely!
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I’ll update that now! Thank you for noticing and I’m glad you liked it 🙂
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Actually I’m not sure my three words would work as one line. Oh well 🙂
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No worries – this is how we learn, sometimes. I wrote what I intended to be a lanterne once, and turns out I missed the mark entirely. But now I know what makes a lanterne. 🙂
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I felt like I had just interrupted a yoga class and felt a smidge guilty for watching and not doing. 🙂 Nice work with the inhale exhale to language the poem. I also learned a new word 🙂
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Which word was that? Glad you liked it!!
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chaturanga
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Great contrasts here with breathing, yoga, and poetic rhythm. Thanks for sharing.
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Aww thanks, DL! Glad you liked it!
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This was such a perfect tritina in subject matter! The yoga breathing and the repetitions were especially great. You should definitely try more poems!
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Thanks, Melony! I do them here and there.
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Beautifully written.
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Thank you!
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Of course 🙂
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