1. ​​​Somatic Writing Exercise on trust

    For this exercise, do not write about trust.
    Write from trust.
    Begin with this question:
    What if you trusted the paper? Really?
    The paper. Trust that it can receive what arrives before you understand it. Trust that it can hold disorder before you organize it. Trust that it can carry a sentence that is not ready. Trust that it can keep what you do not want to explain yet.
    Choose one blank page.
    Before writing, make one simple decision: for this exercise, the page is not empty. It is a space that can hold you.
    Write for 10 minutes without correcting.
    Let the writing arrive before judgment. If a sentence is weak, leave it. If a word is wrong, leave it. If something repeats, let it repeat. If the text changes direction, follow it. If nothing comes, write from the nothing until it begins to move.
    Do not perform confidence.
    Do not protect the text too early.
    Do not organize the material before it has touched the page.
    Let the page take the first version.
    The aim is to discover what happens when writing is not forced to prove itself before it exists.

    2. ​​​Somatic Writing Exercise on emotion

    ​Choose two emotions.
    The first emotion begins the text.
    The second emotion slowly takes over.
    Do not write about the emotions.
    Let the emotions write your text.
    This means: the emotion becomes the voice of the text. It decides the rhythm, the words, the speed, the images, the silences, the way the world is perceived.
    Start with Emotion 1.
    Then let Emotion 2 enter gradually. Not as a topic, but as a change in the language. The text should be slowly appropriated by the second emotion.
    By the end, Emotion 2 should have taken control of the voice.
    Do not explain the transformation.
    Make it happen through the writing.

    3. ​​​Somatic Writing Exercise on play

    Play is not the absence of structure.
    Play begins when a rule creates a space where something unexpected can happen.
    For this exercise, do not write about play.
    Make the text play.

    Step 1 — Choose one rule
    Choose one simple rule for your text.
    For example, your text can:
    • change voice every paragraph
    • repeat one sentence until it transforms
    • hide one important word until the end
    • answer every serious sentence with a ridiculous one
    • move only through questions
    • replace every explanation with an image
    • interrupt itself each time it becomes too clear
    • follow the logic of a game, ritual, joke, song, list, or child’s rule
    Choose only one rule.

    Step 2 — Let the rule lead
    Write a text with that rule.
    Do not control the result too much.
    Let the rule create accidents, detours, surprises, failures, pleasure, tension, or strange connections.
    The aim is not to be funny.
    The aim is to discover what writing can do when it is allowed to enter a game.

    Step 3 — Break the rule once
    Near the end, break your own rule one time.
    This break should matter.
    It can create emotion, surprise, relief, violence, silence, tenderness, or a new direction.