Connecting With Inner Self Through Poetry

In this session we introduce the course Finding Peace Through Poetry. Then we touch upon what poetry actually is and how you should approach the writing of your poetry within this course. We look at the poem ‘Dear Little Part Of Me’ using it as a touching point for connecting with the self and embracing silence as a way into peace through poetry. This track is taken from my course, ‘Finding Peace Through Poetry’, available now via my profile.

Transcript

Hello, And welcome to the course, Finding Peace Through Poetry. Given that this is the first session, I thought I'd give you a little bit of a rundown of the format, What you can expect from this course, And how to get the most out of the course. So each session will begin with a poetry reading. I'll be sharing one of my poems, And then that poem will be used for the duration of that session as an example. After the poetry reading, We'll be introducing a discussion, Talking about either how to write poetry, Or how to use the poetry writing to find peace. Then I'll introduce a practice for you to do and complete, And then we'll do that practice together. And each session will end with a summary of the poem, The discussion, The practice. So that's the format, That's what you can expect. In order to get the most out of this course, We want to look at the overarching goals, And it's in the title, Finding Peace Through Poetry. So if at any time you are listening to the course, And you find that poetry is coming, You find that peace is coming, That needs to be prioritised. I'll say that again. If you are finding that during at any time during the course, Feelings of, Or a desire to, Or inspiration to write has come, Pause the audio and simply write. That's the goal. The goal is to get the words onto the page. It isn't to complete the course, It isn't to listen to what I'm saying, It's to get the meta lesson of writing, Poetry. And even more so, If you're listening to the course, Or if you are writing, And a feeling of peace comes, If you've found the peace that you've been looking to attain, That's the priority, That's the goal. So if you feel compelled, Pause the audio and just sit with the peace. If you feel compelled and you are writing, But you find this wave, Or emotion, Or something comes that feels desirable, That feels like peace, Stop, Embrace, Sit, And just be with that feeling, Because that is the point. Now obviously you are free to take that guidance however you like, And I trust that you will have a good measure of your own internal state. If you feel like words are coming, But you're not quite there yet, Keep listening. If you feel like the attainment of peace is dependent on continuing to listen, Or continuing to write, Do so. But just keep the overarching goal in mind. The goal isn't to complete the course, The goal isn't to write, The goal is to find peace through poetry. And if already there, You're there, Well done. In terms of equipment, I encourage you to have a pen and a pad beside you when you're doing this course, Or if you prefer to use a digital device to write, Use that, But just make sure that any notifications are turned off, So that you're not distracted, Or pulled away from the practice during the course. So with all of that said, With this preamble out of the way, Let's get into the content of this session. Dear little part of me, Dear little part of me, You are safe and you are free. I know for years I didn't see just how much you kept my safety. You acted bravely, You kept watch gravely, Forced to wield the sword and the shield in the armor of a lady. But I need you to know, Those times have now long passed, We can breathe and break our fast, We can live and love and laugh, We can finally rest at last. That it is safe for you to let go, Safe to play, And safe to be free. It is safe for you to be you and me to be me. I know for years I didn't see what you did for us, What you did for me. But I do now, So you can release. But I do now, So we can walk together in peace. So I wrote this poem after a session spent connecting to myself, My true self, My core self. And I realized there was sort of an aspect of myself that had taken the brunt of the environmental impacts of my life. He was on guard, He was defending me, This part of me stood watch and protected me. But then I realized there was a part of me that remained ever vigilant, A part of me that remained on guard, A part of me that couldn't put down the sword and the shield, A part of me that couldn't rest, Because it still felt like it had to keep watch, It still felt like I was in danger. And only by connecting to a deeper part of myself, My sort of core self, Could I even realize that this part of me was there, That this part of me needed to rest. So this poem, Dear little part of me, You are safe, You are free. I know for years I didn't see just how much you kept my safety. This poem was basically me acknowledging that part of myself and allowing that part to let go, To release. And the act of writing this poem was sort of like a first step in acknowledging that part, Thanking that part, And just allowing it to put down its guard. Your watch is over, You can release. So throughout this course, We're going to be looking at different aspects of the self, Looking at the idea of tension being held in the body, And using poetry as a way to release that tension. But I guess more importantly than all of this, Is that we take a step back and look at what poetry actually is. I chose this poem for a reason. Number one, It is resonant to the core of the course, Finding Peace Through Poetry, But also is a little bit more typical, So to speak. It has a simple rhyme structure. It sounds more like a poem that the average person would write, So to speak. But I want to just clarify with you what poetry is. Poetry is words on a page. It is expression. It can, But doesn't have to, Have any or all of the following features. Rhyming. It can rhyme, It doesn't have to. It can have alliteration, That is, The words of the poem having the same starting letter, For example, All starting with the letter S. It can add some good tonality, Good sounds to it, But it doesn't have to. It can have a particular rhyme structure, For example, ABAB, As in the last word of the first sentence and the third sentence rhymes, And the last word of the second sentence and the fourth sentence rhymes. It could be in the form of a haiku, Where you're playing with the amount of syllables in each line. It could be evocative in the terms of having visual or suggestive imagery that highlights certain things that speaks as symbolism, But it doesn't have to. Poetry is simply words on the page. It is expression. It is you taking something from the soul, From the universe, From wherever you feel compelled to draw from, Perhaps the muse, And just releasing it onto the page. There is no structure that you have to follow, But you may have felt compelled to mimic or copy something that I'm saying, Something that other people have said, Something that you've seen before, Or what you feel like poetry should be. And if you're compelled, If the poem comes that way, Embrace it. But I just want to highlight in this first session that there are no limitations. You could start a poem with the words, And then. For example, In my short poem, And then you remember the breath and the silence within. And then you remember the breath and the silence within. What I'm trying to instill here is that there are no rules. You are free to write however you write. Rhyme or not rhyme. Use poetic language with symbolism and visualizations and all these things. Or not. You're free to write a long poem or a short poem, One that has alliteration, One that has sort of a flow or a bounce or sort of meter to it or not. What we're doing here is finding peace through poetry. We're not trying to win a poetry prize, And you don't have to show it to anyone. All we're doing here is embracing the practice of writing. So what I suggest you do is just sit with the idea with your pen and pad in hand, And just embrace silence. And just for the moment, Just allow words to come without any thought, Without any attempt to change or alter, Without any attempt to move or manipulate. Just allowing whatever to appear on the page. If there's a flow or a rhythm or a rhyme that comes, Great. If nothing comes, That's also fine. If something abstract or odd or weird or insert any sort of judgment comes, That is also okay. All we're going to do for the practice in this session is embrace silence. So I encourage you for the next minute, The audio of this course is going to go silent. And just allow that silence to just fill you. And if you feel the need to prolong that silence, I encourage you to pause the course now and then come back to it when you're ready. But we're going to sit in silence for a minute and just allow whatever to appear to appear on the page. Let's give it a try. Okay, So if you feel like you need more time, Pause the audio and just sit with the silence. This practice of sitting with silence and just being still with a pen and a pad is quite useful because it allows us to just sit and be with ourselves. As an aside, The world is quite noisy. We literally have the opportunity to engage with distraction, For lack of a better word, From the moment we wake until the moment we go to sleep. Books, Movies, Social media, Podcasts, Music, Other people, Advertisements, The world is constantly trying to get our attention and silence and the embracing of silence is falling away. And just by sitting in silence with a pen and a pad and allowing whatever to come and flow through us is a very clear and easy way to start attaining peace. Now as we come to the end of this session and into the next session, Whether or not you do that straight away or you come back tomorrow, I just want you to keep a hold of the pages that you're using. You might come back to it and look at it. You might not. You might feel compelled to write something new. You might not. But just having what you're writing there as a sort of a journal, As a sort of a little diary, Can also help. We'll touch upon that at the start of the next session. Either way, What we've covered today is the idea of using poetry to, Well, Find peace with the idea or the principles of when you're doing this course, If poetry comes, If writing comes, To pause and just write because that's the goal. And even more so if you find a feeling of peace coming, To sit and be with it in whatever way you feel. We looked at the idea of poetry just being words on a page. However it comes is the expression. Because our goal isn't to win any prizes. It isn't to move anyone else. It's to help ourselves find peace. So if you find yourself rhyming or using alliteration or any other poetic tool, So to speak, That's fine. If you find the words just coming, That is also fine. Our goal is to find peace through poetry. And the practice we looked at today was just embracing silence. We sat for a minute or longer, Just allowed ourselves to settle and whatever to flow, To flow. I invite you to share any experiences or your poetry that you are writing in the classroom if you so wish. And if you have any questions for me or for the classroom, I encourage you to ask it. I'll be there daily to answer your questions and connect with you. Either way, I'll see you in the next session. Catch ya. This track was taken from the course Finding Peace Through Poetry. It's out now and available via my profile on Insight Timer. I encourage you to click through and check it out.