The Spiral That Connects It All

Click here to see a fun teaser video I made on this topic

I was sitting in yoga teacher training, notebook open, halfway listening to a lecture about sacred geometry when the instructor sketched the Fibonacci spiral.

I knew that shape. I’d seen it in nature, of course — sunflowers, pinecones, nautilus shells. But more than that, I’d felt it. In the quiet rhythm of spinning yarn. In the nested curves of my fiber batt layers. In the way color moves through a skein without trying too hard. I was already working with the spiral — I just didn’t have the name for it.

That thought sent me down a rabbit hole. Not just about math and geometry, but about how certain patterns seem to govern both the art world and the natural world. And maybe even the internal world, too.

The Fibonacci sequence (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13...) is simple in theory. Each number is the sum of the two before it. But what it produces — a spiral that shows up in everything from galaxies to flower petals — is anything but simple.

In art history, it shows up in composition — paintings, architecture, sculpture. But in fiber arts, it's more visceral. It’s tactile. It’s the twist of fiber, the build of layers, the way certain ratios just feel right when you're laying out a palette or a plan.

When I teach spinning, I often talk about fractal yarn. Spinning in sections — 1 part, then 2, then 3 — creates nested repeats that feel natural. That’s Fibonacci. When I design colorways, I notice the skeins that flow best often follow that same 1:2:3 rhythm. That’s Fibonacci, too.

You don’t have to understand the math to sense the harmony. Our bodies, our eyes, our instincts recognize it because we are part of the same system.

So now, every time I teach or create, I think of the spiral. As a symbol of growth. Of expansion. Of nature’s way of building complexity from simplicity.

Maybe that’s what we’re all doing , in yoga, in craft, in business. Spiraling forward. Layer by layer. Loop by loop.

Curious about how I apply sacred structure in the fiber arts? Explore my handpicked batt subscriptions and fractal spinning guides at feralscene.com.

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