Strike a pose, there's nothing to it...

self-portrait poses.

Get real

So lately I've been feeling kinda bad because last winter I started an amazing yoga teacher training program at InBody and I have not had the ability lately to work on completing my hours to become certified like I want to.

I was home photographing some artwork that I have done in the last year and all of a sudden I stopped "feeling bad". I realized that even though I have not yet completed my hours yet to become a yoga teacher I still received what I had been looking for. And what I was looking for was not necessarily to memorize Sanskrit name for poses or to be able to bend into a pretzel....What I was looking for was something to shake me to the core, wake me up and make me realize what I need in life to feel whole.

As a part of our training we went to a retreat where I made this collage. I don't even remember what directions were given to us...but something snapped in me the moment I sat down in front of all the magazines, papers, scissors and glue sticks . I knew I wasn't going to be judged on if my collage was "good" so I just went for it and created what I felt represented my true self.

The collage hangs in my studio now and I am so grateful for it and the experience of that retreat. It is changing the way I think about art and craft and more importantly it changed the way I think about myself. It is more important to be authentic in everything you do...even if it doesn't make for the prettiest picture.

1st photo taken by Daisy Johnson