June 2025
A few words from Source Yoga student and Journal Editor, Tamiko Nimura:
Dear Source community,
Erin and I had a wonderful time leading the workshop “Writing Refuge” last Friday. Students moved and meditated, reflected on people, places, and feelings that they associate with refuge, remembered a time when they sought and found refuge, and created their own physical refuge with props from the studio. We hope we’ll be able to offer it again.
In the meantime, we’re hoping that some of you are considering submitting a piece of writing or artwork to the Source Yoga Journal. We have set a deadline of June 15th, which is coming up quickly. The writing can be a poem, a journal entry, a short anecdote, a meditation on the theme of “Refuge.” Artwork can be photographs, paintings or sketches that can be reproduced in black and white. Guidelines are below:
https://sourceyogaonline.com/2025/04/03/refuge/I have realized that “Refuge” can be a difficult topic to write about because it asks us to share spaces where we can be tender and vulnerable. But isn’t that what yoga is about? My hope with this issue is that we can create a space of collective refuge: a sort of hive of connected spaces where we share what helps us feel safe in another space, on or off of our mats.
If you have any questions or are ready to submit an offering, please feel free to reach out to [email protected].
With care,
Tamiko
Source Yoga student and Journal Editor
Submissions guidelines:
REFUGE. For the Fall 2025 issue we are inspired by Octavia Raheem, a Black yoga and meditation teacher and author of Pause, Rest, Be. Chapter 2 of her book is called “In Destruction, Create Refuge.” As we write this call, many members of our community are feeling drained and exhausted by world, national, and local affairs. How can we create a space where our community members are reminded by the power of seeking refuge?
We invite members of the Source community to consider the following questions:
What does refuge look like for you, and why that? (It can be a real or imaginary space.) Take us there with your words.
How can we create refuge for ourselves, for each other, for our communities?
Why might refuge feel like an important space at this moment?
When and how have you found refuge in the past?
Your work need not be limited to these questions, but we do ask that each submission address the theme in some way. Please review past issues of the journal or contact us at [email protected] if you are unsure if your work would fit.
Contributors will receive 3 free copies of the journal, and the opportunity to participate in a community reading at the studio.
Submission guidelines:
•Send your polished work to [email protected] by June 15th, 2025. All submissions will be acknowledged.
•Prose and poetry submissions should be double-spaced.
•Artwork (illustrations and photography) should be reproducible in black-and-white or grayscale.
•Include a brief (50 words maximum) biography with your submission, including a few words your connection to Source Yoga (teacher, staff, student, etc.)
•Work that does not follow these guidelines or address the theme may not be considered for the journal.
**Please note that due to printing, labor, and financial limitations, we may not be able to accept all pieces submitted.
