|
Hello, friends, As this newsletter hits your inboxes early Sunday morning, I will be beginning the third and final day of the Advanced Restorative teacher training that I’ve been co-creating with my dear friend and colleague, Claudette Evans. I relish every opportunity where I get to collaborate with Claudette. Incidentally, she was the one who first introduced me to Octavia Raheem’s work. I bought Octavia Raheem’s second book, Pause Rest Be, earlier this year, when last winter was winding down. I just recently picked it up again. Even the second time, I got a little choked up just reading the Acknowledgements. I got a fire in my belly just reading her Introduction. I get excited because Octavia is speaking my language. She is preaching the sermon I believe in, with all my being. I want healing/transformation through rest to blossom and spread all over the world. (It’s why I do what I do, y’all!) So I see Octavia’s book as a gift to the world. In her Introduction, she talks about holding and discomfort. I deeply appreciate her way of expression – she is a poet. Here she shares why rest can be such a radical act: “Many of us are always holding: holding feelings in, holding children and partners up, holding departments and teams together, or holding aging or sick parents in our hearts and with our hands. Restorative yoga invites us to release and be held. Many of us don’t have much practice being held, so this style of yoga that brings us to a place of shapelessness, of being cradled, can lead us to feel some emotional vulnerability and even discomfort. When this happens, feel. Stay with the breath and allow it to pass.”
In Restorative yoga, we create a nest, low to the ground, to make our physical human body supremely comfortable… so that we may settle into physiological ease and rest. Sometimes, the mental and emotional landscape will almost immediately welcome this opportunity to be seen, to relax, to spread out and take up all the space needed. Other times, however, becoming still in the body can create a space for us to witness the (oftentimes profound) discomfort or dis-ease within our own mind, heart, and/or spirit at a given time. We might judge or feel avoidance and aversion to this occurrence. But, in fact, this is a great opportunity! Here’s why: Life is chock full of uncomfortable moments, interactions, happenings, and conversations – brief, prolonged, and all the in between. It’s part of being human. These moments will be mixed in with the positive and joyful ones (as well as the neutral ones). It’s the lovely, messy, sometimes painful journey of being alive. I believe it is our responsibility – to ourselves and each other – to learn to move through this rollercoaster of a journey with as much grace and compassion as possible. This takes resilience. We can literally build resilience into our body and mind. We can do this via a regular practice of managing our nervous system while being aware of and with discomfort in safer brave spaces (such as on our yoga mat, with a therapist, dancing/moving in a way that sparks joy, or in the presence of a supportive friend). This creates deeper capacity for resilience when things either internally or externally take a turn to the awkward or uncomfortable. It’s not a magic potion, but it’s an invaluable tool for Life’s toolbox. As Octavia encourages us: “Stay with the breath…”, my friends. May you be rested & resilient,
|
