Before I ever stepped on to a yoga mat, I was practicing the core values and virtues of the practice: ahimsa, do no harm, radical compassion and satya, that which is, absolute truth. Before I ever held my body upside down into a downdog or sang aum with all my heart and spirit, I was practicing. I was practicing what it is to love unconditionally, I was practicing forgiveness, I was practicing how to forgive and use the wounds as well as seeing wide and well beyond them. I was practicing showing up in my body with all the dysfunction and dysregulation, with all the depth and divinity, with all the holes and holiness. I was practicing showing up. I was practicing coming forward, full into life with all its hurt and all its hope, with all its harm and all its healing. I was practicing.
The practice of yoga not only saved my life, it gave me life. And all without any declaration or notoriety, no need of boast or brag. It just met and continued meeting me, especially during a time where it was crucial and critical to know there was a way to peace and that I was not alone. All thanks to my suffering and grieving heart, I knew I needed/we needed (and deserve) compassion. All thanks to my traumas and un-truths, I knew I needed/we needed (and deserve) truth. And that was my footing, as well as my pace, compassion partnered sweetly with truth.
A little over a decade later and I have yet to lose that footing and pace. The practice is present in all that I do, especially when I fall short, especially when I forget who I am, especially when the earth shakes, and my heart shatters. I have learned this practice is way bigger than the mat and the movement we do upon it, it is a lived practice, an embodied practice, a way of being within the world and within our own inner experience with steadiness, ease, authenticity and joy. It is a way of honoring our own inner and personal happenings while also holding - as best we can - all the concurrent and collective happenings in the world - big picture and small - with compassion, with truth, with tenderness, with love. Yoga is the practice of coming home to our wholeness and coming home to the wholeness of one another, regardless of any and all differences and distances between. It reminds us of and is the very core to the entire practice: we are one, we are connected, we are the unity. And as long as there is distance and disconnect between, we will know suffering.
And suffering I know… suffering we know.
For the last 101 days we have witnessed inhumane violence in Gaza evolving into genocidal attempts against the Palestinian people as well as the complicity and silence of many who could speak up and out and change things. Today is also the birth and celebration of a brave and yogic man who gave his very life, breath, and body in hopes of us knowing unity, in hopes of us knowing sovereignty, in hopes of us coming home to the heart and spirit of us all, Martin Luther King Jr. A day where we see a tidal wave of quotes all rejoicing in the practice and possibilities of peace and wondering where those sentiments will be tomorrow, and the next day, and the next happening… Today, I sit on my cushion and see all the ways fear wants to limit my view and keep me stirred while this practice wishes me well, steady, clear, and calm. I feel into the integrity these sits have sown way beyond my bones yet into my very being, my very breath.
Today, I look out and seem to see yoga everywhere, yet I wonder with compassionate curiosity are y'all really doing the work within? Are you looking at your patterns? Are you questioning your conditions? Are you healing your wounds? Because my dear yogis and friends, the world needs us - the world needs you and I to be willing and ready to keep shedding the stuff and stories and systems that prevent us from knowing truly who we are - and who we are to one another.
During a time where “yoga” seems to be everywhere: the practice, the poses, the clothes, the props - well, where’s the unity? Where's the love? Where's the political outcry? Where’s the sadness? sorrow? sacrifices being made? where’s the yoga being practiced?
I was on the phone the other day with a comrade in compassion and someone who uses this practice in a way that expands the horizons as well as the opportunity and access to those who most get forgotten, true yoga and a true yoga teacher. She shares this practice in outreach to the youth and outreach to the community to see into the ways all is bound. She sits on a number of boards for non-profits and is the director and creator of her own.
As we spoke on the phone we laughed and sighed together as we named how yoga is everywhere, yet it is so hard to find… we held space over the inner and outer conflicts of what it means to teach, lead, and live yoga… and how more than ever, this world, our people, our communities, our selves, need and deserve this practice. the one that keeps on meeting us as we are exactly where we are at. the one that calls us in and never calls us out. the one that believes in our ability to keep choosing love, to keep staying integral to the light.
Integrity in the very breath and backbone of this practice. To be authentically true and truthfully authentic to the limbs, the light, the peaceful existence that is ultimately each and all our path. I dream of a world and way of being where this flow is the harmony that holds us all, unfortunately for now, the realities of capitalism, elitism, ableism, and i’m certain probably each and every other ism out there show ups in the yoga spaces, shows up in the yoga teachings, shows up in the marketing and media, shows up in the platforms and posts, shows up in the intentions and impacts… it shows up in so many things, ideals, assumptions, and even the very resources of what it is we are sharing and what it is we are intending to actually do.
From the fear of where we will get our funding to the fear of what so-and-so might think, perceive, or say when we stay true to the breath and back bone of our spirit, our humanity, our core. At this time, not everyone is going to be there, not so much to catch us when we fall, but more likely to find us after we leap and remember we can fly… not everyone is ready and willing to sacrifice and see what’s beyond greed and grasp and gain. not all, yet some, are feeling the current stirring in their belly’s and excitement in their soul. we can trust what we feel and now is the time. a critical and crucial time for us all. To remember we have power, to remember we have impact, to remember we can be the ones who create compassionate and honest change - for the well-being of all.
During the conversation with my friend, she shared how she was hoping for some guidance with what to do for her non-profit. With just a couple months away from her annual trip to Ghana, bringing with her girls from the inner city and giving them an opportunity to expand their yoga practice as well as their knowledge of self, ancestry, and roots, she was up against a hard reality and was both clear as well as uncertain in what to do. As part of funding, her non-profit received a sponsorship from a corporation that shared with them directly an intention of being more consciously and racially aware in their practices and that they upheld and celebrated diversity and inclusion. Well, disappointingly enough, they did not live into their language and have been in the spotlight for racist practices and tendencies. She knew she could not and should not take the donations as previously agreed upon and when she went to her board in hopes of automatic and unanimous agreeance, was surprised at how many were encouraging her to reconsider, solely on the issue of the girls receiving the clothing, totally not seeing at all the bigger picture of their racist tendencies, leadership, and beliefs. It was as though all that could be overlooked when it came to the girls receiving the clothing… but, for my friend, she could not stomach the idea and knew it felt wrong, complicit, harmful, to be okay with placing a logo on a life, a child, a brand may not even see of value.
She experienced right there in the moment the presence of fear and uncertainty. If they don’t go with that sponsor and use the clothing they eagerly want to give to the girls, well, where will they get their resources? Unfortunately for any of us who depend on funding and resources from outside sources know that we may have to dilute our values and dim our vision when it comes to receiving funds, resources, and sponsorship's, and first and foremost that really freakin’ stinks and it also may mean we have to sacrifice our values or the very resources we need to do the mission. The truth of the matter is we need support and we need each other - so dream with me and all the yogic practices and practitioners of having that compassionately - no conditions, no strings, no exemptions.
I feel these are the really hard lived experiences that bring about the opportunity for deep and Sacred change. The kind of change this practice is all about and for. I find it oddly strange as well as interesting that right now many of us are in battle against the inner conflict of witnessing the outer world and its workings and our choices, attitudes, and empathy (or lack of) in this now, and that we may need to break some cycles, cut some cords, and release certain relationships to inspire and spark some true and sustainable change.
We are the ones who can change the stories by hearing and feeling and tending to (compassionately and truthfully) the collective cries and calls beginning us to remember our humanity… calling us into action… calling us into care… and it’s in these moments, big and small, where we have to decide if we stay true to the knowing or perpetuate the very thing you and I and we have been practicing to dismantle - the very idea that violence could ever be a solution and that separation could ever be a way. And that’s in the big waves of oppression as well as the inner workings and weaving of brands, biases, businesses, and more.
It’s everywhere.
And so are we.
My girl ended up being firm and transparent in her no for the sponsorship - so ahimsa. And I offered to share support in any and all ways I can. I also encouraged her to look for support from local yoga studios and students and finding ways to keep extending the web and possibilities of what this practice can create - especially unified and together. Both of us sighing and laughing in sweet synchronicity, this is yoga, this is yoga, this is yoga…
May we do all within our truth - and all with the most radical of compassion - to stay integral and intentional to the practice and unity - no matter the sacrifice. May we trust what is possible when love is the lead and union the destiny. May we never give up and never give in.
This is yoga, ya’ll.
and this is love.
and in the spirit of my great love and respect for MLK and all the way’s he practiced and prioritized love, here are some of my favorite quotes that feel oddly on time, needed, necessary, and integral to this moment. May we make him proud.
all my love and hope,
all my compassion and truth,
keri
Quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr:
“our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter.”
“faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
“I have decided to stick with love. hate is too great a burden to bear.”
“the ultimate measure of a man is not when he stands in moments of convenience and comfort, but when he stands at times of challenge and controversy”
“only through an inner spiritual transformation do we gain the strength to fight vigorously the evils of the world in a humble and loving spirit”
