Yoga is Connection
Yoga is a practice of connection - connecting to ourselves, each other, and all of creation. When practiced ethically, yoga offers an embodied experience that helps us “calm the fluctuations of the mind in order to find unity within” (Susana Barkataki, Embrace Yogas Roots). As we try to make our way through life under intersecting systems of oppression it is easy to be distracted from the unity that yoga offers, and find ourselves disconnected, separated, and out of alignment, rather than connected, interdependent, and aligned.
Susan Raffo reminds us that “Healing and organizing are about repair and reconnection” (Liberated to the Bone, p. 63). But, because “the systems we seek to change outside of our bodies are also carried within our bodies” (Raffo, p. 25) we must find a way home to our bodies in loving and compassionate ways. Yoga offers one incredible path toward our shared liberation.
In my own story, I credit yoga as keeping me in the beautiful messy struggle toward racial equity and transformative justice. Yoga has allowed me to breathe into and through the discomfort of racial justice work as a white person, releasing shame and guilt, while showing up consistently and persistently. It's what taught me how to notice, pause, reflect, and choose with integrity all while staying in my body, connected by breath. When engaged with compassion and curiosity, yoga can help us regulate our individual and collective nervous systems.
Invitation: Find a local yoga class or check out the wonderful practicioners online and begin (or continue) a yoga habit. Practice slowing down, getting curious, and choosing values aligned actions on and off the mat. Enjoy a gentle and nurturing practice with time to connect with each yourself and community, create a bit more space in our bodies, breathe more deeply. Join me in recommitting to a practice of caring for yourself that honors your inherent self worth and supports our somatic abilities to continue the life-long work of advancing equity and justice. As Susanna Barkataki says, “yoga IS social justice." Let’s practice together.