Setting Intentions by Emma Newlyn

Yoga philosophy. Very thoughtful. “There is no resolution and I don’t wait until 1 January to make one.”

Wellcome Collection Blog

We asked writers to talk about the idea of setting intentions for 2016. Picking up on some of the themes in Tibet’s Secret Temple each blog post relates to the exhibition from the perspective of the writer. Kicking us off is Emma Newlyn, a Yoga teacher, writer, musician and massage therapist.

Bringing ancient tantric Buddhist teachings into modern-day life

January is abundant with ‘newness’ and a new year often calls for a new year’s resolution or intention.

The word ‘intention’ has the potential to have different definitions within different contexts: it’s often described as a “thing intended; an aim or plan”, but interestingly within the field of medicine, it also refers to “the healing process of a wound”. The word is derived from the Latin intendere or intentio, which means both “stretching” and “purpose”. In essence then, when we make a new intention, we aim to stretch ourselves with the purpose…

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Thoughts on A Fictional Future | Fauxpocalypse

Yesterday, to mark the date of the speculative end of the world in the anthology Fauxpocalypse, I posted a short piece of fiction following my character as they seek out the stragglers and survivors of the non-apocalypse. Having run from Switzerland through Milan, they enter an almost dream-like Venice, where murky canals are invitations to …

Finding God in the Happiness

As Lent rolls around again – and with it, the first-year anniversary of my Rite of Election – I find it apt to reflect on spiritual health. Now, in terms of the other levels of health one can have, I have been pretty physically healthy over the last few months (praise God!), my mental health …

Why Don’t We Talk About Intangible ‘Firsts’?

The whole world seems to put a great deal of significance on ‘life events’ and romance checkpoints – first kiss, first time…first marriage (in some cases) – which leaves out a great deal of people, not least asexuals or aromantics. However, society appears to be missing a certain chunk of what it is to be …

Words Are the Images of the Soul

A thought-provoking quote to end your Monday on. Linguistics is so fascinating that it’s no surprise how much consideration has been given to how it reflects the world. With our souls, we paint metaphysical pictures of our world unfolding; with our mouths, we do our best to vocalise the ineffable.

Plot Line and Sinker (Ellen Gable, Author)

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A Thought for Today: Bunny Bennett’s It Gets Better Video

I may be a cis-gender heterosexual and mostly-heteroromantic woman – and Pride month isn't particularly a well-announced thing here in England, so I didn't really know about it – but I wanted to share with you this video by steampunk performer Bunny Bennett. Yes, it's an old video, but the band Steam Powered Giraffe has …

My Thoughts on ITV’s ‘Endless Night’

Here I discuss the recent for-TV adaptation of Agatha Christie’s crime novel of the same name. It is worth pointing out that I’ve not read the book yet. Also SPOILERS. That’s the point. Endless Night has certainly been portrayed as one of Christie’s darker pieces – more thriller than cosy. The story follows, and is …

We Should Go to Daily Mass

Reblogged this short but thought-provoking post from Deus Nobiscum. "Mass is the most important thing on the face of the Earth." I've always admired those who set aside their other duties to go to Mass on a daily basis. Oddly, since I am not legally Catholic yet, I find God most when I am in …

Writers: Are You Living Under a Paper Moon?

Writers or not, we’ve all been there, to that place where our imaginations take precedent and where they create a world inside our own, above and beyond what must fall to the rules of our concrete Earth. I’m building a place/something amazing/just for the sake of saving us. I am an escapist artist. I write to …

CampWriMo: Chapter Eighteen + Emotional ‘Shifts’

Yes, July was over four days ago (and I reached the beginning of chapter 20 under its pressure), but this post has been in the queue since I wrote the chapter. I'm discovering more and more about this new novel the more of it I write. For one thing, it's as eclectic as I am. …