Dear Tribe of Mat, Poem & Pen~

So I did some reading this weekend about Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs and am here with a fun fact: creative activities are actually one of our self-actualization and growth needs. As I reviewed Maslow's tiers of needs, moving from those called "deficiency needs" to those termed "self-actualization and growth needs," I couldn't help but think of the relationship between my commitment to my yoga, embodiment and self-care practice that began twelve or so years ago, and the way my needs for self-expression, crafting creative meaning out of life's complexity, and the mystical and transcendent were both supported and inspired by my basic human and physiological needs being met and tended to more fully. It was both organic and somewhat miraculous and as I reviewed these tiers of need and self-tending yesterday, I couldn't help but be excited by the ways one need sings to another. As we fulfill our needs for food, water, warmth, safety, belongingness and love, and esteem, our motivation and desire for self-actualization and creative growth needs grows. Another fun fact: the more we tend to and meet these larger needs for meaning, beauty, creative self-expression and the transcendent, our motivation to continue tending to them grows. 

I noticed another alchemical connection between Maslow's hierarchy, and my upcoming 4-week remote course POETRY AND THE BODY: CRAFT & REVISION: the structure, content and overall experience of the course meets each tier of our basic human and growth needs.  

 Biological Needs: We'll meet after lunch and before dinner, meaning you'll have time for air and sunshine before and after we gather. We will take water and bathroom breaks, and I'll encourage the group to consider their self-care practices both during and around their creative practice in the weeks between our live meetings. Because really, we are all just houseplants with more complicated emotions. 
Safety Needs: In the first class, I'll outline how each live session will be conducted, we'll set collaborative ground rules, and manage workshop in a way that is both creatively constructive and supportive.
Love and Belongingness Needs: We'll hold supportive space for one another around our shared humanity, and alongside our unique individual creative expression, experiences, and identities. 
Esteem Needs: We need both our own embodied sense of self-esteem which includes personal dignity and achievement and we need the esteem that comes from being seen and respected by others. These are things the supportive workshop space, learning new craft skills, and tending to your own creative work will organically build individually and collectively. 
Self-Actualization Needs: We need creativity, curiosity, exploration, meaning, appreciation of and the search for beauty, personal growth, and transcendence. These are the things that organically arise from and are part of engaging with our poetry and embodiment practices. 

I've found that tending to and feeding these needs supports us in deepening our daily sense of embodiment, writing more deeply, and experiencing sacred, mundane and profane as doorways into deeper connection with ourselves, our poetry, each other and something larger. As of today, there are 6 SEATS LEFT in my POETRY AND THE BODY: CRAFT & REVISION remote course that begins June 5. SEE LINK BELOW to learn more and secure your seat. 

POETRY AND THE BODY: CRAFT & REVISION--REMOTE! 
DATES: SATURDAYS JUNE 5-26
TIME: 2:30- 5:30PM
INVESTMENT IN YOUR POETRY & EMBODIMENT: $255 GrubStreet Members/$265 Non-Members {Roughly $12/day for the length of the course}
LOCATION: A COMPUTER NEAR YOU 

What I also found reassuring about our hierarchy of needs is that we don't have to fulfill them in exact linear order or perfectly in order to be lured by and feed our growth needs. While my storage locker grief has taught me resiliency, innovation, and consequence's inevitability, watching all those home reno shows this past winter has me curious about the new ways I'm building something beautiful by recalibrating some of my own structural needs---and there's something truly transcendent about that. 

In Poetry, Embodiment  & The Sacredness of our Humanity, 
Lindsey