Writing the Fire!: Yoga and the Art of Making Your Words Come Alive [Paperback]

Gail Sher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 23, 2006

Writing the Fire! offers writers a new and visionary practice: using yoga to release the body’s inner intelligence and then support, shape, and inform the creative process.

Indeed, “writing is yoga,” declares Gail Sher, introducing the “writing asana”—an invaluable new tool for every writer’s routine. Her insightful and lyrical book, organized around eight thematic “immersions,” plumbs yoga’s wisdom heritage. As Donald Moyer, director of the Yoga Room in Berkeley, comments, “She encourages writers to approach their writing with the clarity and presence of yogis, and teaches yogis how to temper their awareness with the heat of words and images.” Writing the Fire! celebrates the fullest expression of our being.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Writing mentor, psychotherapist and poet Sher (One Continuous Mistake) explores the nexus between yoga and writing in this blend of inspirational wisdom and practical advice. Assuming readers' familiarity with yoga poses and philosophy, Sher guides them to practice the eight tenets of ashtanga yoga (restraints, observances, physical poses, breath control, sense withdrawal, concentration, meditation and bliss) as writers. To help anchor readers to her theme, Sher designs metaphors; some work (creating a writing "temple"; writing "sequences"), while others fit less comfortably ("dancing the body of light" to access intuition). Whereas the concepts Sher plays with (balancing creative energy, engaging the shadow, etc.) deserve deep reflection, readers can dive right into the challenging exercises; for instance, after doing happy baby pose, a reader can try writing a story or poem from a baby's point of view, energizing the words with the feeling experienced in the pose. Although all writers can benefit from Sher's expansive view of writing as a means to develop compassionate awareness, some may be frustrated by statements that resist easy comprehension; Sher's words often sound like koans to be pondered over time. Like every consciously cultivated practice, this volume yields its treasures only after much practice. (May)
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Review

“A book like this one—rich and dense and nourishing—is the perfect ‘food’ for feeding your writing practice. It is packed with things to do, try, play around with, and mull over. And the juxtaposition of writing and yoga reverberates like a gong—with yoga illuminating writing and writing illuminating yoga.” —Nina Zolotow, coauthor with Rodney Yee of Yoga: The Poetry of the Body

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; First Edition edition (May 23, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307209911
• ISBN-13: 978-0307209917
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 0.6 x 5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,685,406 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A stretch. . . (pardon the pun), July 5, 2006

By 

Shay Tighe (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Writing the Fire!: Yoga and the Art of Making Your Words Come Alive (Paperback)

I've enjoyed all of Gail Sher's books on writing for their clarity and truth, but her lastest is just a bit too much. It almost seems as though she has said all that she can possibly say about the way to approach writing so now she writes a book about Yoga and writing. Ugh. Just seems so gimmicky, not real, a bit "out there" for the sake of sounding like a wise guru and possibly just an excuse to write another book. There are so many other books an aspiring writer can read in order to enlighten themselves on how to make words "come alive." This , definitely isn't one of them.