Practice Ways with Alice Vincent
Spring feels, peace with enough, outside
Practice Ways is a monthly feature on Balance Practice that shares notes from writers, makers, coaches, and creatives, offering perspectives on what balance looks like as real life is happening.
I first came upon writer Alice Vincent’s work at a time when I found myself somewhat surprisingly drawn to the garden in our new home. I’d never been into gardening, still have no idea what I’m doing amid the weeds and mossy pots I’ve inherited, yet have been pulled by an undeniable, innate urge to put my hands into the earth.
In her book, Why Women Grow, Alice explores what inspires women to garden and the stories and histories embedded in the soil. As her suggestion that we might garden “… to regain a balance that had been lost…” landed, I felt the kind of internal connecting of the dots that I often feel after time on my yoga mat. Turns out the natural inclination to nurture our green spaces is not so surprising after all, and that in doing so we tend something within ourselves.
In her weekly newsletter Savour, she writes about the delicious things in life and while sharing her own observations so generously creates entry points into our own attention — new ways of looking at things and savouring our extraordinary, ordinary moments. This is a practice in itself.
I recently connected with Alice for a yoga practice and chat. I’m inspired by her effort to pause and feel the difference after a few shoulder rolls and forward bends, and to consider the ways we might nourish and support ourselves in the moments that are available to us.
What’s feeling really good to you in this season?
I'm writing this right on the cusp of Spring and the longer days are making a huge difference to me; soon I'll be able to grab moments to garden after baby bedtime, which is such a grounding thing in a day. It's also a time of great energy and regeneration right down by and under our feet: the ground is swelling up with new growth, the trees are getting dressed again. Every year Spring feels impossible until it arrives, when it feels new and miraculous and hopeful. A whole new growing year ahead.
What does balance look like for you right now?
It's rare! It's rare and it's precious. I've had a baby in the past 12 months and released a book while writing another. In hindsight, I possibly bit off more than I could chew. It's been hard, if not impossible, to find balance during that time but in the past few weeks I've started to recognise it turning up in my life again, and I'm very grateful for that. Right now balance looks like making peace with getting enough work done, being present enough for my son and keeping up enough with the people I love, and, increasingly, finding some time to nourish myself too - that can be as simple as making a decent lunch and finding the time to eat it.
What practices support that sense of balance?
I've gone fully freelance this year and I've had to begin the hard work of undoing 15 years of 9-5 presenteeism. I'm charting every moment I choose to be away from the desk as a win. Bike rides, open air, seeing friends and early nights are all helpful, on a personal level. More broadly, acknowledging how grateful I am for the very necessary, very fortunate structures in place that enable the life I have.
What’s one gesture toward center you’d invite everyone reading to partake with you today?
Get outside and, even for a few seconds, look and listen to the world around you.
writes Savour, a newsletter that takes a moment to relish the delicious things in life, and is the author of books including Why Women Grow: Stories of Soil Sisterhood and Survival and Rootbound: Rewilding a Life.
We’re dreaming up ways of working together for our members, more soon!
I love to check on my plants first thing in the morning at 6am with a coffee, before everyone wakes up!