It’s a Sunday in August, so there are only four of us at Levitate, a new-ish studio near Times Square for a two-hour workshop, “Yoga for Writers, Artists and All Creative Souls." “I discovered that yoga practice helped my writing practice, and my writing practice helped my yoga practice,” says instructor Barbara Benedict, a creativity coach and former TV commercial producer.

She gives each class a theme; today is “home.” We begin with a two-minute freewrite on “Home is…” We scribble away. Then tells us the one rule: After each person reads her/his writing aloud, we are to say only, “Way cool.” My words feel cramped, yearning; home is especially “up” for me these days. They "Way Cool" for me anyway.

Then we do cat/cows and other warm-ups. She reads a quote from Twyla Tharp: “Art is the only way to run away from home without leaving home.” We write on “What is home to you right now?” Two minutes fly. My words are still tight, pained.

We do standing poses-—Triangle, Tree, Warrior II. “In this pose,” she says of the latter, “your back foot is the past, your torso is the present, and your front hand is the future.” I laugh. My future is aimed at a sign across the street that says, “Latitude.” “Ah,” she says, “Guess you need a to give yourself a little more latitude.” It’s a testament to my stress levels that this interpretation hadn’t occurred to me.

We move into Kapalabhati and alternate-nostril breathing. Then a five-minute freewrite on “I can find home . . .” When we read this time, to my surprise, I cry. It’s as though the yoga and the writing are conspiring to open me. “You’re not the first,” Barbara says gently. She hands out little packets of custom-made M&Ms. “The antidote to your to-do lists,” she says. Each tiny candy is printed with “I GET to do it!”

More asana. And then, blissful Savasana. When we rise, we write again. This time the whine in my pen is gone. I feel clear, like still water. She reads O’Henry’s last words: "Turn up the lights. I don’t want to go home in the dark." It feels like someone's flipped my switch. Way cool, indeed.

Barbara teaches this class all over the NYC area. She also does creativity coaching on the phone in the Kaizen-Muse tradition. For more info: www.barbarabenedictnyc.com/.