“Triangulated Practices Expose the Venn-diagrammed Essence” by Erin Michaela Sweeney

In August of 2023, we released our fourth Open Call: How might we reimagine healing and transformation with cancer through poetry, art, letters, and stories? The following is an art submission we received from this open call.

“In the years leading up to my cancer diagnosis, I practiced, trained, and taught some of the eight limbs of yoga. The three I focused on were asana (yoga postures), pranayama (breath control), and dhyana (meditation). Going into the hospital to start cancer treatments, I thought I was prepared. Once I was tethered to two IV lines along with various monitors, I let the yoga poses slip away. With chemo brain, my concentration ebbed, as did my attempts at meditating. During times of excruciating procedures, I held my breath, but otherwise tried to continue with short bursts of breathwork, when I remembered. After the lost year of diagnosis, treatments, and acute recovery, I was changed. I returned to but realigned my practices. At the center of the healing practices, I discovered self-compassion, which transformed me. Perhaps my creative self-expression will encourage others, including those like me who have evolved with cancer, to seek healing and transformation.”

Erin Michaela Sweeney