Check out some of these published articles endorsing OUR PRACTICE during this special time:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-web-violence/202004/yoga-in-the-time-coronavirus
Of course in addition to the above for mental and emotional fitness, there’s the physical fitness – to strengthen our core, literally and figuratively, as Baxter Bell, MD, YT would say, Yoga for Strength, flexibility and Balance AND agility.
But got to keep at it on regular basis – it’s not drop-in and drop-out.
We have heard the term, “holding hands” in relationships where friends, partners, family hold hands to go at it together. In this case, not as a hand gester in a romantic stroll but … holding hands to head on into fire and smoke … perhaps tearfully or with adreneline high, and determination, into the challenges of the unkown. Rather than an image of a couple sweetly “holding hands” on a romantic date what I am referring to is more an image from that scene of Princess Leia in the original Star Wars holding hands with Han Solo to jump the abyss. Currently we hold hands in family units or as a community to live through this Covid time. Some have no hands to hold and may be going at it alone – solo – or physicallly that may not be the case but may feel that way, emotionally, spiritually … Do we reach out to hold hands to friends and neighbors virtually? Or?
As I make a phone call to the more isolated, I yearn for the ability to simply Hold Space. What does it mean to hold space? Holding space is to listen and see without judgement. To mindfully and deeply listen and not jumping to impulsively provide … advice. Just listening with empathy while not living vicariously through the suffering and trauma another is suffering from. While we often say, placing ourselves in another’s shoe to really understand, it may not even be about that. One must be well rooted and grounded, stable, strong to the core and yet still … vulnerable and open and enourmously generous in sharing one’s humanity. Ultimately it takes a brave soul to hold space for a fellow human … without judgement, AND without expecting anything in return. Maybe we can actully feel honored that another human being can let go enough to put the guards down enough to allow a peek into another’s soul wrought with pain and suffering.
Sometimes we feel tested …
To always fix, to improve, to problem-solve and provide solutions. But human relationships are complex. There’s no passing grade. Let’s just hold space because in 99.9% of cases, in that moment, that’s enough.
And here is a really good article from Manduka (my go-to-MAT).
Please read and share:) Here !
Do we want a vibrant community filled with happier people? Just add-on support of local yoga studios as one of the ways. Here’s a small business with integrety of the teaching, aka: quality. It’s usually an operation borne out of love for yoga and if the owners are teachers, you are at the right place. It’s kind of like a restaurant where the owner chef comes out to greet you – it’s that same vibe of caring. I’ve taught at gyms, corporate, and studios and … teaching at the studio is usually most challenging because you feel so much more responsible. Especially when you have a brand new student, OH MY GOD, you are so honored. But responsible.
If you are getting take-outs or even getting to restaurant tables, just extend that love for small businesses to include yoga studios. Yoga fuels you, nourishes you and sustains you as much as that morsal you placed in your mouth. If they are gone, the community suffers especially now that I anticipate more need for people to decompress, move their bodies, reconnect with their breath and balance out the nervous system in the fray … to find their inner-strength and calm during this time of extreme anxieties and stress. That – we can all benefit from.
Yoga teaches us that life is BEAUTIFUL no matter what and all the suffering makes us stronger to appreicate the good and even the bad. To be able to find joy in the mundane ordinary little things … it’s what yogis practice. It’s what you practice with us. With no judgement, calibrating our optimal health by boosting our immune system … you need not get into pretzel pose to attain that -feel your breath and feel the NOW. Namaste:)