TO FEEL MOST ALIVE

Opposite of Nan is Janie Newkirk a.k.a Carry #8. She is comparatively tall with longer legs - not the "compact size" that Armen refers to Nan as. Regardless, Armen is prepared to carry Janie, a writer who says she wants to explore the realm created by the unity of the mind, body, and spirit. "They’re not separate entities. They’re one unit, and you can’t really separate them out, but things in life want to try and pull them apart, or we put too much emphasis on one or the other of those things," she says. "When you can find ways of bringing them all together that feels natural and strengthens those bonds, strengthens that connection, that’s when it all feels like 'yeah,'" she says with a peaceful sigh. "That’s a beautiful place to be and that’s when you feel most alive," Janie asserts with a smile. "It’s in that place of connection that I want to work and explore." Janie has taken an improvisational movement class that Armen teaches at Open HeART Space and was intrigued when she learned about The 100 Carry Project online. "I told Armen I thought it was pretty wacky, but then when I read people’s writings about it after they’d been carried, I thought, okay, well, yeah, that's make sense, and I realized I kind of liked the absurd element of it, too." Before the carry, which rings in the month of March, Janie demonstrates excited anticipation. "I’m trying actually not to think about it too much, not to over intellectualize it, and just sort of see what happens."