Learning a language opens opportunities for self expression and new cultures. It’s a Lit Therapy that expands my brain and builds my identity. Part of the fun is tailoring my learning style and tacking my progress. The process of creating a relaxing learning hobby enriches my life with mental, physical, and social benefits.

By holding onto the delicious and rich literature of our lives, memorizing poetry can reach another level of engagement, away from the familiar pattern of everyday speech. Memorizing poetry also forms our personality, strengthens neural plasticity, and integrates colorful language to better articulate ourselves.

Forks, WA
With a population of 3,828, Forks, Washington could use a regional airport but designed for its own pace. With a Wabi-Sabi Americana moodboard, I designed a simple warehouse frame and a curvy path for the drop-off experience. The final project is presented in a poem tour with allegorical characters discussing the interior architecture’s potential.

Seattle, WA
Founded in 1995, the Pongo Poetry Project started by helping distressed teens inside jails, homeless shelters, and psychiatric hospitals, to write about their feelings through tough experiences. Pongo has grown to help so many individuals and has cultivated a healing practice through the art of introspection and ongoing research about the therapeutic power of creative expression.

Seattle, WA

Re-barre is an architecture project for the Seattle Waterfront. Its exterior draws graceful arch inspiration from local landmarks and its interior is designed to uplift low-income communities through programs in lit and dance therapy. Inspired by Pongo, the poetry program for at-risk teens, the writing center helps individuals express their emotions. In conjunction, the dance studio stands as a beacon for communities to congregate at the waterfront’s crown jewel that represents Emerald City.

Van Nuys, CA
This little bookstore on a side street in Van Nuys was a spot I was trying to check out for a while but lazy me kept forgetting it’s only open Friday and Saturday from 11 am - 4 pm. I’m glad I made the trip now because I learned that the store is closing this July 2023. Bargain Books has been here since 1958 and with 60+ years in a tiny 2000 sf space, there’s accumulated evidence of organized care.

Manhattan Beach, CA
“Our age is retrospective.” says Emerson in Nature (1836), “The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face, we, through their eyes. Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe?”

Instead of telling myself to meditate more and be in the present, it’s helpful to find a technique that is peaceful, creative, and personalized. In Karla McLaren’s book, Your Auras and Your Chakras: An Owner’s Manual, she explains a really creative way of grounding yourself by creating a peaceful retreat inside your head.

So far I’ve read about miracles from patients who have shifted their mindset to heal terminal diagnoses. Some of the explanations dive into biochemistry such as “The neurons that compose the brain and central nervous system “talk” to one another across gaps called synapses.”

At first, I thought I would read through and summarize “Anatomy of the Spirit” by intuitive energy healer Caroline Myss, Ph.D., but a book about intuition is best understood from reading her vocab, explanations, and anecdotes. Already, I’ve noticed a calmer outlook on my traumas and circumstances and an improvement in my ability to read my gut reactions. 

I read that a simple breathing technique of inhaling a refreshing breath down to your stomach and gently exhaling a little longer than in, signals the brain, heart, lungs, and digestion system to rest and restore. This engages the body’s natural healing capacities to regulate heart rate, reduce inflammation, and produce endorphins.

Research has found that red light therapy has benefits in cellular regeneration, renewing skin from hyperpigmentation and scars, and muscle recovery. It also acts as a sun lamp to treat seasonal effectiveness and promote blood circulation, alleviating depression.

After a busy day of spa research, I read fiction. I enjoy Bradbury’s short slices of alternate realities and historical fiction novels of brave women in WWII. My mind is relaxed, I fall asleep soundly, and my dreams blossom with possibilities.