Taking Care of the Potter’s Body

Hello Friends,

Welcome back to Nick’s News :) . We are dedicating this monthly newsletter to offering words, resources, inspiration, and support for your creative life. Whether it’s within the walls of our studio or elsewhere.  This month we are focusing on the body and how best to support our studio practices physically. We have some really great resources to share with you! 

We are excited to present our first ever guest writer, Jacqui Johnsson. Jacqui is a dear friend and contributes some graphic design for the studio (the better half of our promotional material). She is currently studying massage and body work at School of Integrative Psycho-Structural Body Work. We have asked her to share some insights on how to support the potter's body from the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine. You will find her first edition of “bodytalk” below. 

Many of us are familiar with the aches and pains that come from working long hours in the studio. We often hear people complain about back pain after working on the wheel or hunching over a piece they are decorating tirelessly. We wanted to offer some support, so we also asked our friend Rae Marcos,  a musician and yoga instructor, to design a yoga class called  “Yoga for Ceramics.” This video is designed to help you prepare your body for your time working with clay. 

We are so excited to share this with you! Rae and Meg Aubuchon (our awesome pre-teen teacher and videographer) have been working on this all month and we hope it can help support your body through some of the studio strain. You can find the video link below Jacqui’s text! 

bodytalk — edition 01 · March 2026

Welcome to the first edition of bodytalk, a space we’re carving out in the newsletter to hold conversation with our bodies (or, since we’re in the context of ceramics, our vessels).

In bodytalk, I’ll share insights based on my own experience and learning. I kindly ask you to keep your talisman of salt on hand and take these words with a grain or two, as you’d like. 

In massage school, which I’m currently six months into on a part-time basis, we’re taught that we are not healers. We create space and provide tools for healing because each person is their own healer and no one person is the same. We lead with curiosity — there is no average consumer, there is no one size fits all — and thank goodness for that. 

One of my most profound and confusing moments of learning came when my breathwork instructor told our class day one: I am not the teacher. I don’t know more than you do! In yoga, at least at Kinship Yoga, instructors often share that the practice is for you — take the instruction as an invitation. 

So here I am echoing that sentiment. Take this as an invitation, a conversation. On your journey, I am not here to pre-pave your path but I’ll walk alongside you, with curiosity as we ramble (ramble as in walk, and talk). 

Invitation: Sighhh

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the year moves through five elemental phases: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. We are currently transitioning from Winter (Water) into Spring (Wood). The Lunar New Year marked this energetic shift in February and this season is associated with growth, rebirth, and flexibility.

The organs connected to this season are the Liver and the Gallbladder, the former of which sits just behind the diaphragm, where emotional stress and tension can build and obstruct the free flow of energy. 

As you may know from experience, sighing is one way we release tension in the body. In TCM, it’s also one way the Liver may signal stagnant energy. So if you find yourself sighing this season, don’t hold back. Let it out, to let it go, to let it flow.

Inhale, and exhale sighhh. Maybe add in a sound, be curious about what sounds want to come out. Maybe exaggerate the sigh. Does your whole body want to get in on it? You could lean into the Wood season and like a tree swaying, add a twist or side stretch (along the meridian pathways of these organs). Sighhh…and, what follows? Does your Liver or Gallbladder speak to you in return? What do they have to say? Maybe palpate (feel) the part of your body where these organs sit — upper right quadrant of the abdominal cavity, under the diaphragm and below the lower rib cage — and say hello, to start the conversation.

There are many ways to support the functioning of the Liver and Gallbladder. Bitter and sour foods help stimulate bile flow and detoxification. You might start your day with lemon in your water, or a splash of apple cider vinegar. I like to make room-temperature herbal infusions as a morning drink in the spring, though you can drink it hot as well. If you like tea, here’s a simple recipe you can try:

Infusion: spring support
Ingredients: 2 parts burdock root; 2 parts dandelion root; 1 part milk thistle seed (lightly crushed); 1 part fennel seed (lightly crushed). 1. Add herbs to a glass jar. 2. Pour room-temp water over them. 3. Cover, and let sit for 8-12 hours overnight 4. Strain in the morning and enjoy with the sun. Maybe take it on a walk :-) 

Write Back

bodytalk is meant to be a conversation. If something in this column sparked a thought, question, or observation in your own body, consider this an invitation to respond. You can email me at [email protected] 

Program Highlights

Recommended Reading

The Tao of Exercise and Self-Care 

by Gael Ohlgren & Robert Litman