The Very Beginning

Shall we start at the very beginning? Oscar Hammerstein II once suggested this was "a very good place to start," and I'm inclined to agree with him. Of course, since this is my very first blogpost, anything I write will be the very beginning, right? 

Titles are important to me. Before I could move forward on this new journey as a blogger, my first step was not only to decide what to write about, but also what I was going to call it. One of my favorite professors in grad school once offered this bit of wisdom: "If you're trying to analyze a play, one of the best places to start is with the title." I actually thought about the title of this blog for quite awhile. I'm still not sure if "The Mat and the Stage" is a good title, a great title, or a really bad one. I do know this, though: it's definitely appropriate. 

You see, I spend a lot of time on my yoga mat, both as a practitioner and as a teacher. I teach three yoga classes every week at two different studios, and I attend class at least once a week at another studio. That said, my body and mind are on my yoga mat frequently.

I would like to say I spend a lot of time on the stage, but, right now, I can't make that claim. I do spend a lot of time thinking about the stage, though, and I see a lot of theatre in any given year, locally as well as other places. I also spend a lot of time writing plays that, needless to say, I'm hopeful will find their way onto a stage. I've been lucky enough to have that happen with several of them. 

While I'm likely to write about a number of topics here--and, yes, I'm giving myself permission to do that right from the very beginning--I expect more often than not to write about yoga (aka "the mat") or theatre (aka "the stage"). Of course, these two topics actually have quite a bit in common. Maybe if you don't see that now, you will if you continue to follow this blog. And I hope you will do just that.