Marinating in poetry, reading, writing & visual art.
This is where time both expands and deepens for me.

Lindsey O’Neill is a Boston-based Integrative Vinyasa and Restorative Yoga teacher, Yoga and Writing Workshop Facilitator, and Poet. BOSTON YOGA recently welcomed Lindsey as a contributor as well! When teaching both yoga and creative writing, Lindsey works with a focus on breath, alignment, grounded expansion, and embodied awareness which supports practitioners in connecting to their own sense of center. In her own yoga and writing journey, Lindsey has come to find that both yoga and creative self-expression are indispensable art forms capable of enhancing our wellness, inspiring our passion, and creating embodied social change. “Art is a way of embodied social change. Writing, self-expression, mindful creative movement, and the human experience can be lived as forms of communication with ourselves and the world around us. Our lives are fresh ink in motion.”  This, from the manifesto which she shares on her website.

Lindsey has led yoga and writing workshops at Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston’s Grub Street and the 2016 Massachusetts Poetry Festival.  She is currently working on her first manuscript of poems. Next Saturday afternoon, January 7th, will find the self-described “Wilderness Poetess” at Beacon Hill Yoga leading one of her signature yoga and writing workshops, New Moon Reflections and New Year Intentions.  This workshop will blend mindful movement and embodied awareness to listen to innate wisdom, unique visions, and voice.  Keep current with Lindsey’s teaching schedule by following her on Instagram, Twitter and on Facebook.

wind up…  how do you wind up, prepare for the week ahead?
I like to use Sunday to get a lay of the land for the week ahead. I try to have my week mapped out and scheduled by Sunday afternoon for what is happening each day in the coming week. I’ll review what is coming up, what my obligations are both to my teaching & creative work, and map out time to tend to that on the days I’ve designated for each. This breaks down to prep & planning time for teaching, deep creative time, group class or private lesson teaching and any other events that may be happening that week. I also feel well taken care of when I’ve gone grocery shopping on Sunday. That for me is a big part of feeling well set up, and from there I am able to let the week flow.

and, when you need to exhale…  what’s your other direction?
Marinating in poetry, reading, writing & visual art. This is where time both expands and deepens for me. The pause button can also be letting myself explore creative ideas and images on Pinterest & Instagram. And, I find restoration in spending time outside by the Charles River.

what three things are you never without?
A pen, eyeliner, and water.

the sound of music…   you have room for 5 tracks on your playlist, they are?
Silver Lining, by First Aid Kit

Holocene, by Bon Iver

Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, by Sarah McLachlan

Mantra, by Jane Winther

Night Moves, by Bob Seger

could you repeat that?  one cue that you regularly share with your students,
and the story behind it…
I’m always cuing connection to the core. Whether it be in seated meditation, standing poses, or bigger crescendo poses like arm balances, inversions, etc. I’m constantly languaging uddiyana bandha as an energetic lift upward from the navel to the heart center.  Sometimes I hear myself say it so many times in class and think, “God, they must be so tired of hearing me saying this!”. But, to me it really is one of the alignment cues that allows us to fully land in the pose and keep coming back to our bodies. It also helps us learn what it feels like to move from our center. Deep connection to your center can lead to that feeling of being grounded and expansive at the very same time. Another phrase you may tend to hear me use often.

your bible…  what one book have you most often give as a gift?
I like that idea of gifting our bible – I don’t know that I’ve done that much.  I tend to give books as gifts that I think might be unique to a specific person. But my own personal bible is actually my journal. It helps me remember to keep living the questions, and to honor my own experience.

bliss pose?
Restorative savasana. More specifically, legs up the wall, or a traditional supported savasana with a bolster behind the legs & blanket beneath the torso.

finish the sentence?  i’d like to teach the world to…
Take time to write & create. Even if it is sometimes on the back of a napkin or paper restaurant check – both of which I’ve used before. To allow ourselves to hear our own written voice, honor our perspective, our experience, and our emotions, and see how that can grow up into art, and down into a deeper understanding of ourselves & each other. This is how I see us dissolving boundaries like race, culture, and social class with more tolerance, understanding, compassion and shared human connection.