"Coming home is being confronted by the rawness of time, the tension between what remains steady and will outlast us, and our own ever-mutable nature. I am not the same woman that left those shores over a year ago, despite how openly they welcome me back now."
What a beautifully crafted and evocative piece, Vaishali. I resonated with it deeply. Earlier this year, I travelled to Manchester where I had spent half a decade of my life. It was the place where I began my explorations on spirituality, faith, and kincentricism. I returned to the place that housed and fed my soul only to realise that it has changed. And so have I. Change is glorious and heartbreaking at the same time. Your words and writing always ground me in my body, reminding me that I (we) are capable to holding joy and grief in the same breath.
After more than a decade of somatic work, the idea of being alienated from my body now disturbs me more than the idea of never finding a place in the outer world to call home.
And yes as we travel there is an innate trust that we all need to cultivate that we are always in the right place at the right time for whatever learning we are receiving.
Damn this piece hit. The weird bitter sweet feeling of nostalgia, the cross-cultural-never-quite-fitting-in….and tying it all back to body-as-home! 🤌
"Coming home is being confronted by the rawness of time, the tension between what remains steady and will outlast us, and our own ever-mutable nature. I am not the same woman that left those shores over a year ago, despite how openly they welcome me back now."
What a beautifully crafted and evocative piece, Vaishali. I resonated with it deeply. Earlier this year, I travelled to Manchester where I had spent half a decade of my life. It was the place where I began my explorations on spirituality, faith, and kincentricism. I returned to the place that housed and fed my soul only to realise that it has changed. And so have I. Change is glorious and heartbreaking at the same time. Your words and writing always ground me in my body, reminding me that I (we) are capable to holding joy and grief in the same breath.
That was beautifully said and really resonates with me. Thank you!
You have articulated in this piece what so many of us globally mobile families feel, Vaishaili; thank you 🙏
I love this and can so relate to this section:
After more than a decade of somatic work, the idea of being alienated from my body now disturbs me more than the idea of never finding a place in the outer world to call home.
And yes as we travel there is an innate trust that we all need to cultivate that we are always in the right place at the right time for whatever learning we are receiving.