: The necessity of undergoing significant internal change to achieve beauty or clarity.
A classic 4-4-4-4 technique (inhale, hold, exhale, hold) to tell your nervous system that you are safe. Physical Grounding: Grabbing the inside butterflies - Masha Yang 2023
By pushing the boundaries of self-expression, Masha Yang invites her audience into a "liberated space" where the typical gendered or social connotations of emotionality are stripped away. The project has become a touchstone for those seeking a —a way to harness inner power and unleash true potential in an increasingly complex world. : The necessity of undergoing significant internal change
The lyrical content accompanying the "Grabbing the Inside Butterflies" theme delves deep into the micro-moments of daily life to explain macro-emotions. Yang has a gift for hyper-specific imagery—a forgotten coat on a chair, the specific shade of streetlights at 3 AM, the hum of a refrigerator in a quiet room. These details anchor the abstract feeling of the "butterflies." The project has become a touchstone for those
But 2023 was her reckoning. Following a very public breakdown during a live reading at the Berlin International Literature Festival—where Yang froze mid-sentence, clutched her stomach, and whispered, "The butterflies are clawing"—she retreated to a ceramic studio in the south of France. For six months, she produced neither poetry nor pottery. Instead, she kept a log: a series of handwritten notes on how it feels to host anxiety inside the body.