Hunch Power

I awoke from an amazing dream this morning, no doubt influenced by reading last night from Joyce Carol Oates’ “Breathe” (NYT: . . .“Breathe” is a fever dream of a novel . . . there is no beginning, no end, and “each hour, each day, passes with excruciating slowness yet it is all happening very quickly". . .)

In my dream I’ve briefly left a workshop and just returned, one of the other women welcoming me back and whispering that the teacher is annoyed with me. The women are sitting in yoga postures, but this gathering seems to be about intuition (see Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, referred to by the New York Times as "Hunch Power").

 

The teacher demonstrates falling headfirst from a ledge about ten feet high and landing on her head in a perfect headstand pose. She describes to the class how her experience and intuition helped her “see” exactly where the cushioned spot would be. She then points to me and says, “Now you do it.” 

 

My friend urges “It's too advanced, please don't do it, she’s challenging you because she’s annoyed with you, please don’t . . .” but I calmly step up to the ledge and fall forward, time slowing down so much that my head reaches the cushioned spot as softly as if laying it down on a bed pillow, landing in a perfect headstand. 

 

As I was falling, with eyes closed, I “saw” exactly where the cushioned spot would be.