What you want most right now might not turn out to be what you actually want. This is a big deal when you start telling me about your hopes and dreams to go to XYZ school, and no way would you go to LMNOP school, because you want QRS for sure. You intend to write a convincing essay about that future. You want to be sound like you know. In our essay writing sessions, we do some digging under the narrative of what you want. Sometimes real personal growth lies in the other direction from what your mind has been fixated on. How do you know what you want? Let me tell you a little personal story. Way back before the towers fell, and New York City went into a post-terror slump, I knew I wanted to train to be a yoga teacher. In my final spring at Brown University, I had studied intensively with a great teacher. Everyone should be so lucky. Of all the days spent on the sweat-slick mat, I remember one particularly: after a 2 hour practice, in complete silence on the meditation cushions, a student let out a hefty fart. The whole room erupted in laughter, as if we were but 12 years-old. (This is why I love, and will always serve, 12 year-olds.) That no one chastised us, made us feel immature or small, let me know that I was in the right kind of room, with the right kind of people, reaching the right kind of enlightenment. One that wouldn't exclude the basic pleasures of human life, or frown too hard on the physical bodies we really have, in all their less than perfect moments. In New York City, I practiced near the school where I taught Latin, skipping my lunch period to get chakras cracking. When I told my exquisite instructor I was interested in doing a training, she (who is now is a full time commercial real estate agent and brings equanimity, or at least compromise, to the roots of all aggression that way) recommended an infamous "teacher of teachers", Alison West. This teacher stopped me in my tracks Over the phone, Alison's communication was Continue Reading …
yoga
Tips for Exercise While Sitting
Let's get the facts about exercise: Americans spend more time sitting, and sitting with poor posture, staring into our devices, than most descendants of apes do. We're famous for this statistic. But that doesn't mean we can't find sneaky, critical ways to do better and fit in stress-alleviating exercise-- even while we're shackled to our computers, our desks, our homework and, in this case, our college applications (if you still haven't finished yours. In which case, o baby, you better get a move on!). Can you really exercise while sitting? This excellent article by fierce yoga teacher Ana Forrest (read: hardest ab work I've ever done in my life, and a great physical antidote to fear and stagnation) details great ways to keep moving even when you're stuck sitting. Try Ana's suggestions at your desk-- or, if you're a jet-setter, on the airplane (you know you want to be that person on the plane who everyone stares at, don't you?). Generally, long stretches spent sitting should be punctuated by breaks so you can increase blood flow and give your brain a boost. Also, you'll feel less busted and more bionic. Exercise stirs up your circulation, your joie d'vivre and your efficiency. It makes you feel better, period, during and after. So why not optimize how you feel while you're doing what you gotta do? If you missed that first link because you were distracted by your numb butt and throbbing neck, read how here. How Exercise Helped Me When I was in grad school getting my MFA in writing, I spent long hours staring at my computer, writing or, um, pretending to write. Once per hour, I would jump up and get my freak on by faux jump-roping (I had a basement office), wall-push-ups, and low back stretches (many taught to me by NYC master yoga teacher, Alison West). I made sure to inflate my lungs all the way, and breathe out as deeply as I could, shake out my hands and roll out my neck (poor, poor neck!). And, BAM! The muse (or call her the Continue Reading …
FAQs on writing with us
FAQs you wanted to ask (but didn't) on writing with us at Essay Intensive's Summer Intensive Q: I see you guys meditate in your writing intensives. That's a little weird. Do you have to be enlightened to take an Essay Intensive workshop? A: No. But wouldn't enlightenment be a great side-effect of writing a successful college essay? And relax-- it's just for about 10 minutes of each day. Treat it as an experiment. To us "meditation" is a method of accessing what is best and most natural in ourselves, and of putting our stories in the broadest possible perspective. You don't even have to be able to cross your legs. But you could also choose to continue writing your college essays feeling stressed and edgy-- your call. That's just not what we're about! Q: And yoga? And self-defense? Again, these are support tools for your Big Goal: Write the Essay (while feeling good). Yoga is a system of cutting through self-limiting patterns and the ways we keep ourselves small and constricted without knowing it. In short, it helps us to open up, be more ourselves, with less tension. And self-defense is unbelievably fun, which you are definitely not having enough of as part of this Serious Process--- teaches us to deliver with impact, to assess our environments, to use only what we need. How perfect for producing great writing! And as an added benefit you can kick the *** of anyone who challenges you on your essay. Q: You guys seem smart. Will you puh-lease write my essay for me? A: No. No! Well, wait-- will you come change our baby's poopy diapers at 3AM? Then we should talk. But barring that-- no. It's unethical and pointless (admissions officers have a special ear for crafty and overdone adult-ese). And you should run the other way from anyone who offers to do so...right to our baby's diaper station. Q: What if I'm not a writer, and I'm not really into getting better at being a writer? I just need to get this college essay done! A: Continue Reading …