Not Today, Sadie: On Naming the Voices in My Head

Somewhere in that scroll hole, I saw an Instagram meme suggesting you name your brain. The idea is that when a dark thought shows up—like today is going to be awful—you can talk back to it. One woman said she named her brain Becky. So when the spiral starts, she says, Becky, I love you, but we absolutely cannot be doing that today. It helps. It puts a little distance between you and the thought.

Am I Running a Cult?

With words, I am guilty. I say words like asana, prana, and namaste. I sometimes obnoxiously and joyfully show off my knowledge of Sanskrit. My longstanding students now know the Sanskrit names of many poses. According to Montell, this is insider language and the most telling hallmark of a cult.