A Poem for Standing Forward Fold

+ free poetry workshop this coming week

As someone who works with a body with scoliosis, my back often starts to call to me when I stand upright or sit unmindfully for too long. I am known to get up from dinner conversations and do what may look like mini-yoga practices. But what I am seeking is not acrobatics nor or any sort of showing off—

what I am seeking is relief from discomfort and sometimes all out pain.

Artwork by Tina Peterson

Can you relate to this?

When my boys see me standing in forward fold, they sometimes join me and it quickly becomes a competition of comparing who can get closer to their toes. I remind them that it is not about who can go further, but about taking a moment to take a deep deliberate stretch and to let their present worries drip away.

I invite you to read my poem for forward fold and hope it inspires you to take a moment to practice some doable self-care. (And if you are a yoga instructor, I encourage you to share this poem with your students to help them embody this pose — beyond the pose.)

Artwork by Yoga in Art

Standing Forward Fold

By Corie Feiner


It takes bravery to bend down 
into yourself, to look away 
from the world for a moment

and dive gently towards your toes, 
your spine stretching its bones 
and whispering like a waterfall, shh. 

Even if you don’t make it to the end, 
where your toes bathe with pebbles
and river moss stones, it is the journey 

that matters, your head hanging there
full of hopes and fears that drip, drip, drip 
towards the earth where they swim away 

like freshwater fish that have been well fed
and are happy to go. 




Sanskrit Name: Uttanasana

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Paid subscribers can listen to me reading an audio recording of Standing Forward Fold here—

Standing Forward Fold Audio {for paid subscribers}

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To Learn More About Standing Forward Fold

Here is a wonderful exploration on how to practice Standing Forward Fold with feeling by Jacquie Bullard of Urban Yoga Mama

And I am honored to collaborate with Izzy Martens of Yoga Humans on this one, too. Izzy Martens of Yoga Humans is an author, yoga teacher and facilitator. She posts a weekly Substack, What I Taught in Yoga This Week, featuring real yoga sequences for real yoga teachers. You can follow along at yogahumans.substack.com.  

Here is her teachings on Standing Forward Fold that she created just for you.

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Announcement —

For those of you who missed the free sample of the Bodylove Poetry Writing Workshop, I will be offering another one this coming Wednesday, October 9th.

If you don’t know about my Bodylove Poetry Workshop series, it is a poetry empowerment workshop in which I give you the tools to write well crafted poems and the space to lovingly reconnect and give voice to parts of your body.

On October 9th, we will be exploring our bellies.

Why the belly?

There is so much there inside and out— ancestry, anxiety, love, strength, undigested pain, fire, intuition, muscles, fat, scars, and hope. Oh, and food. Lots and lots of food. What comes to mind for you?

Why Poetry?

When you write poetry, you become a witness to yourself. It is an innate rhythmical act to take what is hidden and make it seen, to take what can be forgotten, and remember it. To write poetry can be a step beyond journaling since it is an attempt to be completely present with all of your senses and restore your “wow” — to use words to take you beyond words.

I try to condense and distill my MFA and years of teaching into doable lessons because I believe that poetry is inside of all of us. Yes, all of us.

And I infuse the workshops with my love of yoga and health coaching background because my goal is to create a more accepting, loving, and positive relationship with my body and help you do the same.

If this sounds intriguing for you, I highly encourage you to go for it and sign up for the free workshop on Oct. 9th. What do you have to lose?

Here are the details —

Bodylove Poetry Writing Workshop
A free sample workshop + Q&A live online via zoom
topic: exploring our bellies with love 

Wednesday, October 9th, 2024
7:30 pm - 9.00 pm EDT/ 6:30-8:00 pm CDT / 5:30 - 7 pm MDT (find your local time HERE) 

This is a taste - pun intended - of my 6-week Bodylove workshop starting on Wednesday, November 6th. You can come for just the free workshop, but I will also be telling you a bit about the full 6-week series, having a brief Q&A and sharing a discount code to everyone who attends.

If you have any questions you can send me a chat or comment on this post. I love hearing from you and promise to always respond.

Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender;

it’s holy ground.

There’s no greater investment.”

– Stephen Covey

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I am so grateful for presence here. The comments are always open and I love to hear from you and see you all connect with each other in our little part of the world.

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