How Taylor Swift’s ‘Midnights’ Album IS Yogafeatured

As I age, I realize more and more how much I yearn to find myself over and over again – in different and more profound ways. On my yoga mat… in the work I do… in my family dynamic… in my workouts… in the lyrics I listen to… in the movies that I watch… in the books that I digest.

I have learned to love looking in the mirror on my brightest days and on my darkest days. I am not afraid of wondering what depths of my person I have yet to explore, to discover, to tap into.

I will tell you right now, I recently took up therapy and suddenly find myself asking questions to that person staring back at me in the mirror for the first time in my life – and I absolutely love it. I am hungry for it, I am inviting all the inquiries in.

I am on a mission to learn how to be the very best version of myself not just for me, but for all of the people that I love so deeply, for the people that I want to lead so empathetically. And that is the difference between being 33 and 23. At 23, I wanted to be the best version of me for me and now I realize my impact goes far beyond that. And I want to be better for so many more reasons.

Taylor Swift has always been my girl, my hero, my writing inspiration. I grew up listening to her pining for the boy with the girlfriend because I was that girl. I was going through a wildly toxic relationship when her album RED came out.

I truly have lived the experiences as she turns them into lyrics. Yes, sometimes they are silly, fun, simple, but other times her lyrics speak to universal truths that live within all of us humans. Don’t get me wrong, I love Johnny Cash and Robert Plant. How could I love Taylor if I didn’t?

She came out with her latest album ‘Midnights’ a few weeks ago and at first listen I knew this album was starkly different from her others. Every song tells a story of a beautiful dream or nightmare from the depths of her own mind. Midnight is the moment when you get to stare at your scariest demons and your greatest fantasies. The greatest artists and geniuses uncover greatness or insanity when the clock strikes 12.

And this album is just that – a celebration of our darkness and our light and how those 2 things co-exist within us; neither of them is right or wrong, they are simply what weave the tapestry of our unique human experience.

And that’s exactly how this album is yoga.

It’s at midnight that you meet yourself exactly as you are… not how your family sees you, not how your coworkers see you, not how society sees you… but how you are at your core.

Yoga is about learning to not judge the light or the darkness but to find the equilibrium between both states. Remember how big our problems felt at 16? (Oh yea, Taylor sang about those moments too.)

When I opened my ‘Midnights’ album Taylor wrote a dedication to “…all of us who have tossed and turned and decided to keep the lanterns lit and go searching – hoping that just maybe, when the clock strikes twelve… we’ll meet ourselves.”

Let those words sink in.

Have you kept the lantern lit within your soul? Have you dared to keep searching to meet yourself over and over again?

Every time I look in the mirror I see a different version of myself. I see all the insecurities but also all of the strengths.

I see the scars on my body continue to grow and see that they tell a story…

• I remember hurting so much I questioned why I was here.
• I remember being so lonely at age 6 that I would find comfort in talking to my stuffed animal friends.
• I remember having my heart broken in college.
• I remember reinventing my mind and my body in my early 20s.
• I remember seeing my name in the byline of my first magazine article.
• I remember taking care of my mama when she had cancer.
• I remember seeing him again after all those years sparkling the brightest I had ever.
• I remember driving all night in hopes of driving my anxiety away.

All those parts of me are the parts that have helped mold my character. Whether in moments of building or of brokenness, I have never given up on learning more about who I am in the face of it all.

And Taylor Swift has written a whole album about those moments, her actual moments, her actual feelings as they crept up during different midnights. How blessed we are to have music move our souls and make us feel, reflect, and propel us on our journeys to explore the depths of ourselves.

Thank you T.Swift. Now ‘I’m all for you’ like Janet.

Love,

a true Swiftie.

Love Deeply and Forever,

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