“Oh, this poem is a mess,” I thought to myself.

“Well, it was one of your early ones, you know,” I answered and nodded.

“Yes, the early poems were not as strong,” another voice answered, as if there was a committee all agreeing with each other that this poem had to go into surgery or might even be scrapped.

But then I read it out loud to myself, as is my practice. And I was moved. And then when I got on the mat to feel out the poem, the pose felt different. I felt like I had been through something.

I read it again, saw where the poem felt like it lost its footing and knew what I had to do.

I eliminated some unnecessary words, reshaped the stanzas into arrow-like couplets, got feedback from to my trusted reader/editor , read the poem out loud to myself again, and smiled. The poem felt done.

“Bow Pose” is the eighth poem in my collection, A Poem for Every Pose, which will, one day be

published in the form of a reference book, a teacher’s training manual, a deck of cards, an audiobook, and poster prints. But for now, as I edit them all, they live here on my Substack publication.

I recently completed all 108 poems and am slowly combing through each and every one of them to make sure that they stand on their own, serve the collection, and enhance your home or studio practice.

Before you read this poem, I want to remind you that these shapes are not about looking good, but feeling into your own aliveness.

And these poems are not just about poetry, but about empowering you and reminding you that you yourself are a poem.

Bow Pose

By Corie Feiner


I lay on my belly like a weapon 
of war resting between battles-

the pouch of arrows by my side silently 
dreaming of simpler times 

when they used to be mere kindling 
and sticks. I breathe in, bend my knees,

take each ankle with my hands, lift 
my chest from the ground, pull 

my legs up, then push them back 
into an archer’s bow. 

I could have become a harp today, 
but that is not my song. Today, 

I am here to harness my courage 
and a different sort of strength 

that feels all feelings even 
when they feel like a quivering 

arrow unsure if it will go 
where it needs to go. So many years, 

I was at the whim of the weather
and the needs of everyone 

around me, scared to show
myself. 

I was a brown stick, a loose string, 
a plucked feather that did not know 

it used to be part of flight. But here, 
I practice stretching myself so 

fully that I become the source 
of my own strength with the limitless 

potential to choose my own direction 
and not look back. 



Sanskrit Name: Dhanurasana 
 

Paid subscribers can download their printable PDF and listen to the audio recording of me reading “Bow Pose” here.

To learn more about how to practice Bow Pose, here is

a compassionate and highly informative video tutorial that of Living 50 Yoga and Beyond made for you all!

If you’re a yoga teacher and you feel like “Bow Pose” would support your students, please DM me…

with your studio name and email address, and I’ll send you a free printable PDF. (Complimentary until publication.) I just ask that you gently encourage your students to subscribe to my Substack. I include a QR code to make it easy. It may sound cheesy, but it really does help.

Last chance for this free sample of the Bodylove™ Poetry Writing Workshop

Sunday, August 30, 2026 at 10:00 ET

If you are a woman looking to practice radical self-love and connect with your body in a meaningful way, I encourage you to register for the free sample session of the Bodylove™ Poetry Writing Workshop where we will connect with and write about our hearts.

To register for the free sample this Sunday—

REGISTER FOR FREE SESSION OF BODYLOVE™

To learn more about Bodylove™—

BODYLOVE POETRY WRITING WORKSHOP

To take the leap, follow your heart, and apply for the full 6-week workshop starting in October—

APPLY FOR BODYLOVE HERE

The details:

• What: Free sample session of the Bodylove™ Poetry Writing Workshop, followed by a Q&A, live online via Zoom

• Topic: tuning into and writing about our hearts

• Date: Sunday, August 30, 2026

• Time: 10:00 - 11.30am EST + 15 minute Q&A about the full 6-week workshop

• Limit: 18 soulful women

The rules:

To secure the respectful, safe, intimate, community-building nature of this space: registration required; video on at all times; no recordings; no AI bots or AI notetakers; no reuse of presented materials; and with love and respect for all gendered and non-gendered folks, Bodylove™ is limited to cisgender women ages 21 and older.

Zoom cats and dogs encouraged, tissues not required, but helpful to have on hand.

If this is not for you, please consider sending this along to a woman in your life whom you think could use some bodylove.

Thank you all, as always, for your time and presence. Please leave a comment, as one of the best things about this platform is how we connect with each other in the comments. And I always respond!

With gratitude,

Corie

Give a gift subscription

Short and oh, so sweet today, here is the audio of Bow Pose. I highly encourage you to listen to it, read along with it, take it in, and then, if it is in your practice, to take the shape of a bow and embody your o…

Read more

Bodylove™ is a women’s poetry writing workshop that integrates the literary and mystical traditions of poetry with the somatic intelligence of the body.

Using body-based poems, breathwork, guided movement, intuitive writing prompts, and supported writing time, we give voice to the stories of our bodies. We cultivate self-acceptance and open the door to a transformative relationship with our bodies, ourselves, and our lives.

My goal is that you will leave this 6-week workshop with solid poetry craft skills and at least six new poems. You will have a library of foremother poets to support your Bodylove™ journey, a toolbox of gentle body movements and mudras to help calm your nervous system, and inspiration to keep writing and expressing yourself. You may also choose to join the yearlong Bodylove™ Poetry Circle, where we stay connected through an active WhatsApp group, offer thoughtful responses to one another’s poems and celebrate each other’s lives

If you want to learn more, the best thing to do is to experience Bodylove™ for yourself.

No pressure to sign up for the full 6-week workshop. But if you want to know more about the logistics and the story about how I got here, read on…

Fall 2026 Workshop Dates and Times

Days & Times: Six Sundays from 10:00 am - 11:30 am ET

Dates: October 11, 18, 25; November 8, 15, 22

Space Limit: 12 Soulful Women

Location: Live online via Zoom

Cost: $247 (1 scholarship available)

(Find your local time zone here.)

Sample Themes

• The metaphor of your heart with Dorriane Laux

• The history of your hands with Linda Hogan

• Claiming your thighs with Desiree Dallagiacomo

• Honoring your hips with Lucille Clifton

• Ode to your feet with Laura Foley

• Examining your ears with Cortney Davis

• Hymn to your neck with Amy Gerstler

• Anthem to your belly with Kara Jackson

• Praising menstruation with Lucille Clifton

• Looking through new eyes with Maggie Millner

• Shedding skin with Harryette Mullen

• Eintou for your teeth with Cynthia Manick

• Love letter to your body with Donna Ashworth

  ---

  Join me for a free sample on Sunday, September 20, 2026 at 10:00 am ET.

  The theme will be: attuning to your heart.

  REGISTER HERE

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

• Can I sign up for the six-week workshop without attending a free sample? Yes, absolutely, especially if you were referred by someone who has already done the workshop. You can apply here.

• Do you record workshops? We do not record workshops because they are vulnerable and intimate. They are as live as possible, full of connection and support. If you enroll and something comes up, you will receive all materials covered in the workshop. You can easily pick up the following week because the workshops are connected but self-contained.

• Do you offer discounts? Although the price of the workshop has gone up slightly, it is still as low as possible in respect to the effort it takes to create and cultivate these spaces while remaining accessible to you. I do offer one scholarship per session which is contingent upon full enrollment in the workshop. That being said, please reach out and let me know where you are at.

• When is the last day I can sign up? The last day to sign up is Friday, October 09, 2026, but sooner is better because space is limited.

• What is your withdrawal policy? I offer refunds if, for some reason, it is not working out for you to be part of the workshop. Full refunds are available after Week 1 ends and before Week 2 begins.

• Why women only?Bodylove™ is an intimate, body-centered workshop focused on embodiment, safety, and shared experience. At this time, I am equipped to hold this space for women, based on my own lived experience. In the future, I hope to offer additional workshops for men, teens, and people of all gender identities and expressions.

• If I can’t make one of your samples, but I want to be a part of the workshop, how do I do this? You can apply for the Bodylove™ Poetry Writing Workshop here.

Why poetry?

Poetry is part of all of our programming.

We are made to respond to rhythms, vibrations, and rhymes. This is what makes writing poetry stand out among other literary art forms as one of not just expression, but possible healing. It is what we turn to in times of mourning, loneliness, longing, and celebration. It can be a whisper, a moan, a scream, a song, or a prayer.

Why the theme of the body?

Simply put, we are all born with bodies, but it takes intention and effort to become embodied.

Somatic awareness and tender presence allow us to connect to our bodies, our stories about our bodies, and work towards radical acceptance for what we have been through, where we are at now, and where we want to go.

The intention for this workshop is to create a space for empowerment, healing, community, and a lot of love. We have shed tears, laughed, given each other energy hugs, and on a few occasions have shouted, “Hell, yeah!”

The body, the mind, and the soul all speak in their own ways, but poetry is a place where they can all intersect and become concrete, witnessed, and discharged. After writing even one poem, we can feel a greater sense of aliveness and self-connection.

How I Got Here

There I was, in the early days of the 2020 pandemic shutdown practicing yoga online. In one of my first plank poses, my mind racing, I heard the yoga instructor say, “Now look at your hands… really look at them.”

And when I did, I cried.

There they were—red, chapped, neglected. They were my hands. My hands. So hardworking. They represented a part of me that needed to heal. The silent girl in the room who took care of everyone but herself.

On a whim, I asked my small online women’s empowerment community if anyone wanted a free poetry workshop. When four women showed up on Discord, which I hardly knew how to use, I conducted a poetry workshop about our hands.

And then we all cried.

And then they asked for more.

And so for ten weeks, in the early days of the pandemic shutdown, we moved through as many body parts as I could find solid poems for. We laughed, we cried, we held each other with energy hugs. And through the magic of poetry, writing, sharing, and body awareness, we wrote our hearts out and felt… different. Connected. Heard. Relieved.

And so, after years of birthing, mothering, nursing, homeschooling and caring for my family, I decided to return to my previous work as a professional poet, performer and educator. Sometimes a leap starts with a step forward. And this step was to create the Bodylove™ Poetry Workshop. It is small because I like it this way, but it is growing. And if it calls to you, I want you to be a part of it.

I am also the yoga poet behind A Poem for Every Pose, which is a project that evolved around the same time I started writing about and reconnecting with my body. A Poem for Every Pose is a collection of 108 yoga poems where poetry meets the practice of yoga and each pose becomes an invitation into a more transformative relationship with your body, breath, and inner life. Read some of the most-read yoga poems here and here.

Before Substack

I have written and published a lot of poems in online and print journals, anthologies, newspapers and blogs. I have been a poetry editor for several literary magazines including the Bellevue Literary Review. I was a poetry slam champion in the heyday of competitive performance poetry and started several venues that went on to become New York City poetry open-mic institutions.

I have performed my poems online and “in real life” at yoga studios and festivals, bookstores, universities, churches, synagogues, cultural institutions, community centers, retreats, political rallies, and once on a crowded subway train to a rousing applause.

I have been called “wonderful” by The New York Times and “captivating” by Backstage Magazine for my performances at the Joyce Theatre and other beloved arts venues.

I have worked with arts-in-education programs facilitated by organizations such as Poets House, Poetry Magazine, and Teachers & Writers to teach poetry workshops and teacher trainings in every setting imaginable: inner-city schools serving students with special needs, senior centers working with elders with dementia, community center after-school programs in housing projects, libraries offering free poetry workshops to teens and city-wide staff developments teaching how to integrate poetry into their curriculums. I also had a stint as an adjunct undergrad and graduate creative writing professor.

But really, Bodylove™ is my calling. To share my love of poetry, cultivating community, creating conscious conversations, tapping into body wisdom, healing old stories and wounds, and co-creating a soulful space with women expressing themselves is not just my calling, but it is my part to contribute to the calling of our time.

To learn to love and accept ourselves more and more every day and spread more love and light to ourselves and to the world. We need it.

If something in you has been waiting for a place to be heard, I hope you will join us. You can begin with the free Bodylove sample on Sunday, August 30 at 10:00 am ET. We will be attuning to the heart through poetry, breath, movement and writing.

Or if this is not for you and you know of a woman who might be craving poetry and self-love, please send her this post.

Also, feel free to DM me with any questions.

Nothing was really wrong with it, it’s just

that recently when I reread it, it felt like there were parts of the poem that tasted like those bites of cake with clumps of unmixed baking soda and flour.

Essentially, the poem just didn’t taste right.

Although it was fairly close.

To me, a poem is like an unlimited meal to be eaten every time you read it to yourself or even better, shared out loud with others. It is an act of communion with yourself, with the author, and with anyone else who reads it, hears it, and feels it in their body.

A poem is all at once a literary medium full of figurative language and craft, a visual arts medium with line breaks and spacing, an auditory medium full of music and beats, and a magical and mystical medium that has the potential to connect the tangible world with the divinity that lives inside of us all.

And it just didn’t feel right to trudge ahead with Boat Pose when the poem itself, whose central metaphor is gratitude and resilience, did not feel like it could continue to float.

So with the help of my readers and , I carved out this new draft that feels seaworthy enough to share with you here and to mark as “done” in my manuscript, A Poem for Every Pose.

Boat Pose

By Corie Feiner


I spent most of my life protecting 
myself like a hard stone thrown

into water and somehow hoping 
it would float.

Today, in Boat Pose, I saw how much
I have carried with me, the heavy cargo

of my bloodline, the animals I had loaded 
into my bones, two by two trying to save

what I could of this life as I trudged forward
hoping to withstand the weather

that came my way. I used to hold myself tightly 
together. My teeth clenched, my hips tipped,

my back twisted and compensating for how 
I would not use my core. And now, look at me

floating, my center strong with gratitude, 
as I hold myself above the water

riding even the most treacherous 
of waves.



Sanskrit Name: Navasana

And whether you are a free or paid subscriber, I encourage you to read this poem out loud to yourself so that you can receive it and hear it fully. If it strikes a chord in you, as it does with me, please let me know here in the comments.

To learn more about how to practice Boat Pose, Janine Agoglia has created an excellent foundational video that you can watch here.

Announcement: Free Sample Bodylove™ Poetry Workshop on Sunday, August 9, 2026!

If you’re a woman looking to practice radical self-love and reconnect with your body in a meaningful way—

— I invite you to register for a free sample of the Bodylove™ Poetry Writing Workshop that takes place on Sunday, August 9, 2026 at 10 am ET.

In this workshop, you will practice conscious movement and breath, read and discuss a poem by Dorriane Laux about the heart, explore poetry craft skills, and harness your innate creativity with dedicated writing time and a safe and supportive space to share your poems. My hope is that you’ll leave feeling more connected to your heart, your creativity, and your inner life.

The August 9th workshop is a sample of my full six-week Bodylove™ Workshop starting in October, but you’re welcome to join the workshop whether you just want to come to the free sample or feel a curious tug to learn more.

REGISTER FOR THE FREE WORKSHOP HERE

Please note that because of the intimate nature of this workshop, it is currently limited to people who were born and identify as women. But down the road, I hope to develop workshops for men, nonbinary people, and tweens and teens. Until then, I send you all love, light, and wishes for inner and outer peace.

REGISTER FOR THE FREE WORKSHOP HERE

If this workshop is not for you, please consider sending this along to a woman in your life whom you think could use some bodylove™

Thank you all, as always, for your time and presence. Please leave a comment, as one of the best things about this platform is how we connect with each other here.. And I always respond!

Leave a comment

With gratitude,

Corie

Give a gift subscription

Thank you for being a paid subscriber. Your extra support means the world to me!

Today I would like to share with you how throwing out an old version of a poem can lead you back to its essence.

Although I had read “Boat Pose” at several yoga festivals and have had it in my finals folder for over four years, when I imagined it published in my book and in…

Read more

Whatever it is, I believe we’re all navigating this life and this time with as much grace and as much faith as we can muster. Whatever that looks like for you.

Some days are full of pain and regret. Some are full of worry. And some can be as delightful as the sun shining through a scatter of leaves a…

Read more

It was when I heard a yoga instructor say, “Look at your hands. I mean really look at your hands,” that I had a moment of complete presence with all the things my hands had touched, felt, cooked, written, and held.

They were red and inflamed with winter wind. It hit me how much I had taken them for granted and how grateful I was for them. Good thing I was alone in my basement because I started to kiss my hands and cry.

I decided right there to offer a workshop after having not taught for years. I was a martyr mom and put aside all of my writing, poetry, teaching, slamming, and performing the day we left NYC and moved to a small stone house by Delaware River. I had a stint as the Poet Laureate of Bucks County, but mostly I was—and still am—at service to my family.

It was 2020 so when I put the invitation out there for a body-based poetry workshop in a women’s empowerment group, women signed up instantly. After about an hour and a half of exploring our hands and writing and sharing poetry, I was like, “OK. I’m done. Thank you. Good bye.” But they all asked for more. I was studying non-violent communication and somatic experiencing so I decided to use this to inform how each part of our bodies can hold onto different traumas, patterns and self-limiting beliefs. So each week I taught somatic poetry workshops based on our hips, our thighs, our stomachs, and our blood. And the Bodylove™ Poetry Workshop was born.

After years of floundering and finding my footing, Bodylove™ is finally flourishing, and I am excited to share some of the poems of my recent students who are also some of my greatest teachers.

In this mental time travel of a poem, honors her bloodline and answers the question, Why can’t I love my own curves?

Living in 3D

Why does it take a woman her whole life to love her whole body?

Dear friends…

Read more

4 months ago · 42 likes · 57 comments · Amy Brown

In “tale-free toes” lets her toes teach her to accept and just adore the rest of her body.

𝑀𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 by Megan

Tale-Free Toes

Last month I shared eight Body Love Poems with you, and was subsequently blessed with heartwarming feedback…

Read more

4 months ago · 15 likes · 27 comments · Megan Boegman

’s uplifting poem about her feet serves as a portal to self-liberation.

Wandering Willow

A quiet kind of magic

We gathered again yesterday for Show & Tell for Grown-Ups…

Read more

4 months ago · 12 likes · 7 comments · Sam Messersmith

’s poem grapples with the expectations the world put on the physical body while claiming the goddess that she is!

Angela Bigler, Goddess Poet

Hold Me

My body…

Read more

5 months ago · 11 likes · 8 comments · Angela Bigler, Goddess

’s poem exemplifies a true self-mothering journey in the most tender of ways. (Like, I want this voice as my mother!)

Park Bench Reconstruction

Finding Home within Your Self

This one is for the person who is just now finding a home within themself, uncovering their own agency, learning their own boundaries, and being at peace with who their spirit really is…

Read more

5 months ago · 9 likes · 9 comments · Kendra Henkel

And “Buddha Belly,” by Katharine of loves up her belly and invites you to rub it for good luck and love it, too.

Breath of Freedom Poetry

Buddha belly

I did another round of Corie Feiner’s Bodylove Poetry workshop recently, and this is one of the poems I wrote as part of the workshop series. I hope you like it…

Read more

5 months ago · 7 likes · 9 comments · Breath of Freedom Poetry

If you are a woman writer looking to practice radical self-love and reconnect with your body in a meaningful way…

…I encourage you to fill out an application for the Bodylove™Poetry Workshop, Fall 2026 session. We will be having some free sample workshops in late August/early September, but if you are feeling the tug, I say trust it, fill out the application, and learn more about Bodylove™ In order to maintain an intimate and safe space, I limit workshops to 24 soulful women.

Or if this is not for you, please consider sending this along to a woman in your life whom you think could use some bodylove™

Share

Still curious? Here are some questions I hear often about the Bodylove™ Poetry Workshop. ❤️

What day and time is the workshop?

The workshop meets on Sundays at 10 am EST

When does the Bodylove™ Poetry Workshop start?

The Bodylove™ Poetry Workshop starts on October 11, 2026.

How many weeks is the workshop?

The Bodylove™ Poetry Writing Workshop meets for six weeks.

What are the dates of the workshop?

Check your calendar. The dates are October 11, 18, 25 —break— November 8, 15, 22

Where will we meet?

This is a synchronous workshop and we meet live online via Zoom. In order to maintain the sanctity of the space, we do not record or share the Zoom sessions.

What will we do in the workshop?

I combine my poetry teaching and health coaching backgrounds with my passion for yoga and empowering women to create a full body workshop. As a participant, you will practice breath and bodywork, read inspiring poetry about parts of your body, have thoughtful discussions on craft and the impact the poems have on you, and have sacred writing time to harness your innate poetic skills by writing and sharing your poems in a safe and supportive space.

What about outside the workshop?

Outside the workshop, your poems will be posted in a shared document for others to comment on, you will be assigned a buddy to meet with 1:1 and be part of a robust online chat group where you get to share news, other poems, and connect in a deeper way. Bodylove™ is more than a workshop, it is a community, a movement, a place for empowerment and radical self-love and connection.

Do I need any writing experience?

While you don't need to be a published poet, a comfort with writing and a willingness to play with language will help you get the most out of this workshop. Most participants come with some writing background, whether in poetry or other genres.

Do I have to have been born and still identify as a woman for this workshop?

With all due respect for all of my many gendered and non-gender-specific fellow beings, this workshop was informed by my healing-journey and intimate relationship with my body and deals with specific body parts that need to be explored in the safest of spaces. Please do know that I love you all and have other offerings for you in the works.

How much is the 6-week Bodylove™ Poetry Writing Workshop?

The 6-week workshop is $247. One scholarship is available per session. Returning participants are grandfathered in at their original rate.

Ready to apply?

APPLY FOR BODYLOVE HERE

If you have any other questions you can direct message me or leave a message in the comments and I will be sure to get back to you as soon as I can!

Thank you for reading the Bodylove™ poems by , , , , and . May your days be filled with love, light, poetry, presence, and wellbeing!

From my heart to yours,

Corie

I tried to avoid writing Wheel Pose. Why?

Because when I write poems for my yoga poetry collection, A Poem for Every Pose, I feel respon…

Read more

“Wheel Pose” is yoga poem number 108 for my collection, A Poem for Every Pose.

Thank you so much for all of your support on this project.

But we are not done yet.

After this poem, the task of combing through all 108 poems begins.

I have read through …

Read more

Poems can hold space for presence, for praise, for pain, or for prayer.

My hope for my poem for Dolphin Plank Pose, more commonly known as Forearm Plank, is that it transforms your relationship with this challenging shape into something deeper and more revelatory, and that after reading it, a new part of you awakens and feels, perhaps, just a little more alive.

I can’t think of a better metaphor for this than a dolphin. Until I set out to write this poem, I had never heard this pose referred to as a “Dolphin Plank.”

I know Forearm Plank from my yoga practice and from other forms of exercise—my forearms pressed to the floor, my core lifted and engaged, my spine aligned, my knees hovering and my entire body shaking.

I used to think of the shake as “difficulty,” “ancestral trauma,” part of my stretch marks and tearing. I used to think of it as “weakness,” but now know that this shake is the movement of whatever life force that resides inside of me vibrating with aliveness—like ocean waves, like earthquakes, like honey bees, and like the call of the dolphin urging me to come back home.

I hope this poem for Dolphin Plank Pose can serve as a metaphor for your life journey and that the next time you move into this shape, you embody the spirit of a dolphin smiling, swimming, and feeling happy to be alive.

Dolphin Plank Pose

By Corie Feiner


I call upon the siren that lives inside 
the deep waters of my soul to swim to 
the surface and breathe,

to press the long bones of my forearms to
the firmament of my floor and lift 
my shoulders, my chest, my knees,

my belly, my spine towards the supple center
of the sky, feel every single muscle wake up 
and shake, hear my bones click into place

and echo like a beam of light helping me 
find my way through all this dark. Here, 
I am reminded that I am more than water

and fat and flesh and stone, more than shake 
and sweat and shiver. I am my own guide 
leading the lost ship of my heart safely

back to shore to remind me that I came 
here to set myself free and know 
what it means to feel fully alive. 



Sanskrit Name: Phalakasana II

Paid subscribers can download their printable PDF and listen to me read an audio recording of my poem for “Dolphin Plank Pose” here.

For my dear free subscribers, consider upgrading to become a paid subscriber. But if that is not where you are at right now, no worries, I am grateful for you all!

If you’re a yoga teacher and you think “Dolphin Plank Pose” would be a good tool to inspire your students, please DM me with your studio name and

email address for a free printable PDF. I will be offering this complimentary service until the eventual completion and publication of my entire collection, A Poem for Every Pose. I just ask that you gently encourage people to subscribe to my Substack publication if they feel called to do so. I include a QR code on the prints to make it easy. (It may sound a little cheesy, but it really does help!)

If you want to learn more about how to practice Dolphin Plank Pose you can watch this informative

video by Substack writer and yoga instructor here. She is not only a fantastic yoga instructor, but is also an essential editor for each and every one of these poems!

Thank you all, as always, for your time and presence. Please leave a comment as one of the best things about this platform is how we connect with each other in the comments. And I always respond!

With gratitude,

Corie

PS - Special thanks to and for bravely taking pictures of themselves in this challenging shape. Also, special thanks to of Yoga Living 50 and Beyond for her photo, her instructional video, and all of her editorial feedback!

Give a gift subscription

As you may know, my goal is to complete 108 poems for my collection, A Poem for Every Pose. “Dolphin Plank Pose” is poem number 107.

I have been writing these poems for five years and plan on seeing this pro…

Read more

I used to write, “If you don’t love me, why did you have me” in the back of my coloring book when I was sent to my room.

As part of my healing journey and inner child work, I have revisited this room many times with a technique I now know is called “Mental Time Travel” or MTT. I walk into this room as the mother I am now and stand next to my seven-year-old self hunched at her desk scribbling in crayon with her newly found power of drawing with words.

There were times I took the coloring book away, times I tore the page, times I asked her to speak and tell me how she was feeling, but mostly, I hug the girl and give her what I needed then, and still sometimes need now. A big unconditional mother-love hug.

And I want to give this to you now with my poem for Knees to Chest Pose which is fetal in many ways.

I encourage you, if you can, to take this shape before or after you read this poem and to take it in as more than just a shape, but a journey home to loving yourself and any part of yourself that didn’t believe it was loved. Until now.

Knees to Chest Pose

By Corie Feiner


I return to this shape so often 
you would think I was born this way, 

my knees hugged to my chest, 
my back supported by the soft earth, 

rocking as if I was my own baby 
and I was the moon face of my own 

mother and I needed nothing else except 
for the small exhale of my breath 

and the feeling of skin close to skin. 

When I was a child, I would kiss 
my knees and take in the salty meat 

of my flesh as if I would always know 
that I was born delicious and wanted.

And now, when I need to hold any part 
of me that swears it was never held, 

I come here, my hands clasping
my hardworking legs, my chest greeting 

my knees like a dear old friend, 
and give myself permission 

to let all doubts pass through me
like wind, as I rock back and forth 

back and forth, my sacrum humming 
the origin of its name, sacred, holy, whole. 


Sanskrit Name: Apanasana

(Paid subscribers can download their printable PDF and listen to me read an audio recording of my poem for “Knees to Chest Pose” here.

For my dear free subscribers, consider upgrading to become a paid subscriber. But if that is not in your script right now, no worries, I am grateful for you all!

If you’re a yoga teacher and you think “Knees to Chest Pose” would be a good tool for class. . .

. . . please DM me with your studio name and email for a free printable PDF. I will be offering this service until the eventual completion and publication of the entire collection, A Poem for Every Pose. I just ask that you gently encourage people to subscribe to my Substack publication if they feel called to do so. I include a QR code on the prints to make it easy. (It may sound a little cheesy, but it really does help!)

If you want to learn more about how to practice Knees to Chest Pose you can watch this

informative video by Substack writer and yoga instructor here. She is not only a fantastic yoga instructor, but is also an essential editor for every one of these poems!

Thank you all, as always, for your time and presence. Please leave a comment as one of the most wonderful things about this platform is how we connect and have conscious conversations with each other. I always respond.

With gratitude,

Corie

PS - Special thanks to of Urban Yoga Mama, Pilar V. Guarddon Pueyo of , and of Rainbow Warrior for supporting my work by taking photos of themselves in Knees to Chest Pose. Also, special thanks to of Yoga Living 50 and Beyond for her photo, her instructional video, and editorial feedback!

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As you may know, my goal is to complete 108 poems for my collection, A Poem for Every Pose. “Knees to Chest Pose” is poem number 106.

I have been writ…

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It was the hands held in what looked like a prayer that pulled me into this poem

and what made it more than a shape to me, but an embodiment of yearning, acceptance, faith in being held, and hope.

To write these poems is a journey in itself. Deep research, multiple drafts, and then somatically practicing my version of the poses and asking myself deeply, What does this feel like, really feel like?

And in a time in my life when I am peeling back the layers of my conditioning with rawness, tenderness, silliness, and some old tears coming up here and there, I carve out these poems as a bridge from the physical to the metaphysical layers of my being. As a way to connect my mind, body, and spirit, to forge new relationships with these shapes, and with myself. I hope this is what they do for you (and your students) too.

My poem for High Lunge Prayer Twist is poem number 105 out of 108 poems for my collection, A Poem for Every Pose.

May this poem serve your practice wherever you’re at in your yoga and life journey. And may it arrive at “just the right time” and be what you need to read, hear, and embody today.

I recommend that you to read this poem once silently to yourself, and to then read it out loud in a way that works for you so that you can feel it in your body.

High Lunge Prayer Twist

By Corie Feiner


To know high lunge twist is to know 
that sometimes a prayer can look like this, 
your whole body quivering quietly, 

your gaze not quite towards heaven, 
but sideways, backwards towards the ache 
of your past and the small triumph 

of just being here, right now. Sometimes 
your palms won’t be able to rest against 
your beating heart, but that does not mean
 
that your prayers will not be heard, 
the soles of your feet holding themselves 
in place, your hips hugging the bowl 

of your belly filled with breath, your elbows
like the edges of pointed stars telling you 
what it is like to hold so many wishes, 

to create your own light, and to know 
that you will never truly fall. 



Sanskrit Name: Parivrtta Ashta Chandrasana  

(Paid subscribers can download their printable PDF and listen to me read an audio recording of my poem for “High Lunge Prayer Twist” here.

For my dear free subscribers, consider upgrading to become a paid subscriber. But if that is not in your script right now, no worries, I am grateful for you all!

If you’re a yoga teacher and you think my poem High Lunge Prayer Twist would be a good tool for class. . .

. . .please DM me with your studio name and email for a free printable PDF. I will be offering this service until the eventual completion and publication of the entire collection, A Poem for Every Pose. I just ask that you gently encourage people to subscribe to my Substack publication if they feel called to do so. I include a QR code on the prints to make it easy. (It may sound a little cheesy, but it really does help!)

If you want to learn more about how to practice High Lunge Prayer Twist you can watch this informative

instructional video by Substack writer and yoga instructor here. She is not only a fantastic yoga instructor, but is also an essential editor for every one of these poems!

Please note, in her video, Janine refers to this pose as Revolved Crescent Lunge, which is also common name for this pose.

Bodylove™ Poetry Writing Workshop Update

We are in week three of our Bodylove™ Poetry Writing Workshop and I am blown away by the caliber of somatic poetry being generated in this workshop. This is the strongest group I have had yet, so I wanted to give a shoutout here to these brave women for being a part of it— , , , , , , , Katharine Jaminson of , , , , and Ginette Mohr.

The Bodylove™ Poetry Workshop runs twice a year. If you would like to be on the waiting list for the next workshop (starting October 2026), you may do so here.

Thank you all, as always, for your time and presence. Please leave a comment as one of the most wonderful things about this platform is how we connect and have conscious conversations with each other. I always respond.

With gratitude,

Corie

Give a gift subscription

As you may know, my goal is to complete 108 poems for my collection, A Poem for Every Pose. “High Lunge Prayer Twist” is poem number 105.

I have b…

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To me, the table is symbolic of love, togetherness, communion, but also conflict.

It is where I have broken bread, fallen in love, nourished my family and friends, but also witnessed fights that were like mini explosions where anger overcame the bonds of love.

My first few drafts were focused on the conflict, the table upturned, and how challenging this pose can be for my body.

Until the toast to life started to form. And the rhythm started to emerge, which was quite unfamiliar to me. It was a fast yet slow poem to write because I found myself sitting back from it and asking it to instruct me on how to complete the rhythm of the poem so that it could stand up on its own.

But isn’t this the magic of writing or of pursuing any movement or craft? The struggle in the beginning of not knowing? The clinging to old stories of “I can’t” which can be gently witnessed, held, and then allowed to be put aside as we move forward and give ourselves permission to rewrite the stories of our lives?

I hope my poem for Reverse Tabletop gives you the permission to show up at the table of your life and to celebrate that you are here, now, whatever that looks like for you.

(If you are not a paid subscriber, I encourage you to read this poem aloud to yourself so that you can have fun hearing yourself play with the rhythm. If you are a paid subscriber, you can listen to me read “Reverse Tabletop” here.)

Reverse Tabletop

By Corie Feiner


To the lift, to the knees, to the back,
to the throat, to the head, to the neck,
to the hard wood, to the clang of glass, 
to the knock of knives, to the water, 
to the wine, and the strength it takes 
to hold all my weight like this. 

To the hips, to the core, to the nicks, 
to the scrapes, to the stretch, to the aches, 
to the meals, to the grace, to the long spine,
to the answered prayers, to the shoulders’ shake, 
to lifting the goblet of my heart into the air
and to toasting that I have made it 
to this very moment, this very breath, 
this very day.  




Sanskrit Name: Ardha Purvottanasana 

Paid subscribers can listen to me read an audio recording of my poem for “Reverse Tabletop” here.

If you want to know more about Reverse Tabletop…

…you can watch this accessible and informative instructional video by yoga instructor of the Substack Living Living 50 and Beyond.

Read this poem to yourself, to your friends, and if you are a yoga teacher, to your class.

These poems are meant to take you into and beyond the pose, and have the potential to transform your relationship with your practice and with yourself.

They are inspired by my own self-healing journey and my commitment to self-directed evolution and love.

For years, I was a curriculum integration specialist focusing on how to use poetry as a tool to access and inspire students with special needs. I loved this work which took me to hundreds of classrooms where I gave students what poetry gave to me — connection, expression, and emotional safety.

I have also always loved to perform my poems on stage and to collaborate with dancers and visual artists to create multidisciplinary and transformative experiences.

And my vision now is for these yoga poems to be shared in yoga practices, classes, retreats, conferences, and festivals. To be read by me, by you, to create a massive convergence of harmonized hearts. And it starts right here, with you, reading this now.

Until the eventual completion and publication of A Poem for Every Pose, I am offering yoga teachers free printable PDFs of select poems.

“Reverse Tabletop” can be read at the beginning of your class to set a tone of presence and of toasting oneself, or it can be read during the pose itself since it is (intentionally) short.

If you are a yoga instructor, please DM me with your name, email address, and the name of your studio. I don’t charge for this. I just ask that you gently encourage people to subscribe to my Substack if they are called to do so. I include a QR code on the prints to make it easy. (It may sound cheesy, but it really does help!)

Thank you so much for reading my work and for your support! And please leave a comment on your experience with the pose Reverse Tabletop and how this poem lands for you. Connecting with you is my favorite thing about Substack. For real.

With genuine love & gratitude,

Corie

PS - Special thanks to for her yoga instruction on how to practice this pose safely and for giving me her editorial feedback and guidance on every single one of these poems! And thank you

PPS - Thank you to everyone who came to all my free Bodylove Poetry Writing Workshops! The full 6-week workshop starts this coming Sunday, February 15th, and I am so excited to explore the poetry of the body with these wise and eclectic women!

As you may know, my goal is to complete 108 poems for my collection, A Poem for Every Pose. “Reverse Tabletop” is poem number 104! So . . . I am getting c…

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I was drawn to poetry at a young age because it seemed that magic lived there.

In the metaphors and the music. In how it made me feel like I was having a conversation with another sentient soul who understood not just me, but the vastness of the feelings I felt. That we all feel. And that I belonged.

My poem “Hovering Tabletop Pose” is replacing my poem “Bear Pose” in my manuscript, A Poem for Every Pose. It is the same shape, but Hovering Tabletop honors the magical nature of moving our bodies this way, physically and metaphysically. This poem beckons us to “shoo shoo the naysayers” and to allow ourselves to come home to the magical nature just being here.

If you are a yoga teacher, may this poem serve to create a sense of magic in your classes. And if you are a lover of yoga and/or poetry, may this poem serve to give meaning to your movements and to light up your day.

Hovering Tabletop Pose

By Corie Feiner 


I hold myself steady like a small table
waiting for the wave of a magician’s 
wand and the mystical mumbo jumbo
 
sounding words that will lift me 
with the strength of my very own breath.

Abracadabra, kar do kar do. 

And just like that, I push myself away 
from the earth and feel the unsteady 
power of letting myself hover, 

of reclaiming my core as strong, 
of embracing how my muscles can burn, 
of holding my spine steady 
and luminous. 

I shoo shoo the naysayers who claim 
there is a wire, there is a rod, it is a trick. 

Watch me float. Watch me shake. 
Watch me claim that I am magic, 
that I am surrender, and that I am home. 





Sanskrit Name: Bharmanasana Knees Up

Paid subscribers can listen to me read an audio recording of my poem for “Hovering Tabletop Pose,” and receive their free printable PDF here.

If you want to learn more about Hovering Tabletop Pose…

you can watch this informative instructional video by Substack writer and yoga instructor here. She is not only a fantastic yoga instructor, but is also an essential editor for every one of these poems!

If you’re a yoga teacher and you would like a free printable PDF of this poem so that you can share it

with your students, please DM me with your email address and the name and location of your studio. I will be offering this service free of charge until the eventual publication of my yoga poetry collection, A Poem for Every Pose.

Free sample of my Bodylove™ Poetry Writing Workshop for women this coming Sunday, February 1, 2026 at 10 am ET.

Our bodies hold ancestral memories, celebrations, traumas, and stories longing to be told. In the Bodylove™ Poetry Writing Workshop, we use breath and body work and the sacred craft of poetry to create presence wit our hands, our hearts, our breasts, our stomachs, our thighs, etc.. We share, we shed, we read, we write and we create community and connection.

If this calls to you, I would love for you to join me for a free sample workshop this Sunday, February 01, 2026 at 10 am ET where we will be connecting with and writing about our hearts. Whether you just come for the free sample or decide to sign up for the full six week workshop, I encourage you to come. Why? Because we need more love in the world right now and it starts with you.

REGISTER FOR THE FREE WORKSHOP NOW

In the sample workshop on Sunday, February 1st, you will:

• Connect with your body with gentle movement and breath work.

• Read and discuss poetry about your heart.

• Explore your relationship with your heart.

• Receive generative writing prompts.

• Be given sacred and supportive writing time.

• Share your work out loud in a safe and supportive space.

• Be given the chance to ask questions about my 6-week Bodylove™ Poetry Workshop.

REGISTER FOR THE FREE WORKSHOP NOW

Here is the nitty gritty:

Date: Sunday, February 1, 2026

Time: 10-11:30 am ET + 15 minute Q&A about the full 6-week workshop

Space Limit: 11 soulful women (7 spaces left)

Location: Live online via Zoom

Cost: Free

Register Here

If this calls to you, please join me and other lovely goddess-y women to express yourself in a way you have never done before. Even if you’ve never written a poem before, I know there is a poem or two… or ten…inside of you waiting to be unleashed.

REGISTER FOR THE FREE WORKSHOP NOW

Note: With mad love and respect for all genders and non-genders, due to the sensitive and intimate nature of this workshop, participants are limited to those who were born and identify as women. But for real, know that I love and appreciate you in whatever form you take.

Thank you all, as always, for your time and presence. Please leave a comment as one of the most wonderful things about this platform is how we connect and have conscious conversations with each other. I always respond.

With gratitude,

Corie

Give a gift subscription

Thank you for taking the time to listen to my poem and for taking a moment to really take it in. I am grateful for your patience and support on this…

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What if the front of our bodies represented the east?

And we could wake up to the feeling that the sun was rising and glowing inside of our hearts? That we could, for even a moment, feel inspired, feel possibility, and embrace hope?

I’ll be straight. This is a har…

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