Ivy: Hunger What is a woman to do when she is a bright growling hunger to dwell where mountains bow to grass swept headlands which run out to the sea then drop down sharp and urgent into waves that do not wait for rock bodies and glowing women bound by love and four walls and a garden peopled with bees and butterflies and rabbits that nibble the lettuce while inside she sleeps and dreams there is no roof, no separation between her bones and the stars as the waves beat rock and continue their chant Come. Come. Home.
~ Melinda Emily Thomas, Elements of Being
Welcome. I’m Melinda, an author, poet, yoga practitioner, and artist living in North Carolina with my son and our cat. I started studying yoga as a spiritual and physical practice in the late 90’s and taught my first class in 2007. Learn more about my training and approach on the Yoga page. I write reflections, poems, and prayers at The Journal of Elements and Seasons.
I hail from a family of dedicated readers. My mother raised me on a steady diet of books to inspire the spirit, empower the sacred feminine, and embrace the artist within. My father introduced me to the Rule of St. Benedict through the Brother Cadfael mystery series by Ellis Peters. These early experiences and my lifelong love of yoga are expressed in my book Sacred Balance: Aligning Body and Spirit Through Yoga and the Benedictine Way.The book invites readers into a conversation between the two wisdom traditions that are the foundation of how I show up in the world.
In 1999, just before the first of several bi-polar depressive episodes, I wrote and illustrated, Pieces of a Pixie, a poetry collection I printed and bound at Kinko’s to give as a Christmas gift to my family.
My most recent work is Elements of Being: A Spiritual Memoir in Verse that explores motherhood, mental illness, and joy. The 108 poems in this collection personify the voices of Earth, Water, Fire, and Air who offer their unique perspectives as they comment on, narrate, and converse with my first person poems crafted under the persona of Ivy. Infused with an earth-centered experience of the sacred, these verses embrace sorrow and joy as essential for harmony and wholeness.
In addition to being a mother, poet, author, and yogi, I also treasure the identity of a householder – a person dedicated to contemplative spiritual practice who lives outside of a cloistered monastery. My day starts with body and soul care through movement and contemplation. In meditation I love to focus on the spaces between the breath, the worlds that exist in the heart center, and prayers of loving kindness (metta meditation). I work with Abbey of the Arts, a virtual monastery and global community dedicated to programs in contemplative practice and creative expression.
Melinda Emily Thomas 