The Shape of Discomfort

✉️ Hey there, friend—

A quick bit of housekeeping before we dive in:

For the next little while, Letters from the Fringe…(ish) will be landing in your inbox every two weeks instead of weekly. I’m making a little more space to rest, write, and recalibrate—because sustainable work is the only kind I’m interested in doing.

You’ll get a Sunday reminder before class each week so you don’t miss out on a chance to show up for your body, your breath, or your blanket nest.

Now, let’s talk about discomfort.

🪷 On the Mat: Sitting With Discomfort

This week’s practice wasn’t about stretching deeper or doing more, it was about noticing. Noticing sensation. Emotion. The places that felt tender or tight. The parts that wanted to be left alone.

We practiced svadhyaya, self-study, not as a way to fix ourselves, but to meet whatever was present with gentleness. Can I stay here? Do I want to? What does this sensation need?

Sometimes discomfort softened. Sometimes it stuck around. But we got curious about what was ours to hold, and what we could release.

If you missed Sunday’s Restorative Practice, you can check it out here anytime you want, or join the Patreon to see it ad free!

🔍 Macro Lens: Discomfort as a Site of Awareness

In yoga, we often meet discomfort in the body. But in life, discomfort is systemic—it’s emotional, political, and shaped by power.

And for those of us in marginalized bodies, we’re not avoiding discomfort. We’re expected to absorb it, to make things easier for others. To stay quiet. To stay gracious. To endure.

This is where svadhyaya expands. Self-study means asking: Whose comfort am I prioritizing? What messages have I internalized about who gets to be at ease?

In practice and in life, noticing discomfort isn’t about building grit for its own sake. It’s about building agency: to discern, to shift, to opt out or stay on your own terms.

💛 Support the Abu Dayer Family

This community-supported fundraiser helps the Abu Dayer family, displaced from their home in Jabalia, Gaza. They’ve lost nearly everything and are now spread across Central Gaza, Egypt, and Ireland, navigating survival, separation, and medical crises.

Your support goes directly to food, rent, evacuation costs, medical care, and basic needs for this beautiful, multigenerational family.

➡️ Donate here
➡️ Read their story

Even $5 or $10 makes a difference. Monthly donations offer them stability in unimaginably unstable times.

🪷 This Sunday’s Practice – July 6, 2025

This week we’re focusing on letting go of tension in the neck and shoulders, those familiar holding zones for stress and vigilance. Expect gentle movement and supported rest as we prepare for deeper ease.

✨ Class is live on YouTube at 9:00 PM ET / 6:00 PM PT
📩 Join here

Thank you for being here: in your breath, in your body, in this messy and beautiful community. May we continue to notice, rest, resist, and return.

In Rest and Resistance,
Shannon (they/them)