Hello friend,

 

How are you?

 

How is your heart?

 

How is your spirit?

 

Last week, my friend shared a story with me of a diver who was in the ocean on a boat with his daughter. A dolphin in distress approached the boat, and the diver knew that something was amiss beneath the water's surface. He dove into the water, and he realized that another dolphin had been caught in a net. She was struggling and at risk of dying in the net that held her captive. The diver freed the dolphin from the net, and what happened next wasn’t what either the diver or his daughter thought would happen. The now freed dolphin made her way up to the surface and gave birth to a calf. After this happened, the dolphin who had originally alerted the diver came up to the boat and placed his forehead on the diver’s head in an expression of gratitude. As my friend shared this story with me, the National Guard was being deployed in the streets of L.A. to intercept people who had taken to the streets to say no more to this madness. No more ICE raids. No more oppression. No more hierarchical structures that steal our humanity away from us. As my friend shared this story with me, more children and families in Gaza were experiencing starvation and death in ways that many of us cannot imagine. The flotilla was making its way to Gaza with twelve activists who had asked themselves what they were willing to risk and organized an effort for humanity and liberation. People planned for #nokings day and PRIDE celebrations across the globe. The man whom I will not name organized a birthday party that cost 45 million dollars to celebrate himself and the self-appointed throne he has placed himself upon. And so much more. 

 

As I sat present to both the beauty of the dolphin story, flotilla, PRIDE, and the building movements of resistance and resilience, and the ugliness of all of the other stories unfolding, the dissonance started to build within me. The wonder of someone knowing to listen to a distressed dolphin and knowing precisely what to do in response so that she could be free and give birth to her baby, and the horror of people deemed as less human and unworthy of freedom being snatched away from their babies and families at graduations, grocery stores, their homes and cars is almost too much to be aware of and hold. The beauty of people taking to the streets en masse to stand up to oligarchies and power hoarding, and the continued genocides that I do not see an end to across the globe, was too much to hold. It’s all too much to hold.

 

This is what I find difficult about this time on earth—those of us who are awake and aware must hold and be present to the polarity of beauty and horror. And not only are we asked to hold and be present to it, but we are also asked to interrupt the horror and see and create beauty. What a big task we have as humans right now. 

 

To meet the task at hand, to hold more than what I think I can hold, I turn to my spiritual practice. Always. As I have said and written many times before, a spiritual practice can hold that which we do not believe we can hold. For me, it is the ancient technology of yoga, working with archetypal energies, and engaging shamanic practices that guide me to the medicine that might serve as a balm now. There is no other place to turn but to practice, a consistent well of resources and technologies designed to bring us back to center so we can build our capacity to hold the too muchness of this time. The well of resources and technologies designed to support us as we continue to face the unimaginable things that are happening right now, both the beauty and the horrors. 

With this in mind and heart, I offer a practice from my second book, Finding Refuge: Heart Work For Healing Collective Grief. It is a meditation focused on the heart.

I hope that it supports you in building your capacity to be present and tend your heart as you and we hold so much. Too much. If you are interested in other practices to tend your soul, spirit, and heart, consider signing up for the Finding Refuge Sadhana. It is a self-paced forty-day practice that includes meditations, mantras, pranayama and asana practices, as well as self-reflection questions.

 

Join Michelle C. Johnson and Amy Burtaine for bee magic to celebrate the turning of seasons.

 

Amy and Michelle, authors of The Wisdom of the Hive, are bee lovers and tenders, activists, and people who are deeply committed to healing work that supports bringing individuals, the collective, and our entire ecosystem back into balance. As each season gives way to another, they want to share wisdom from the honeybees with you.

During these 90-minute sessions, Michelle and Amy will share how the bees relate to each seasonal shift, share rituals aligned with the approaching season, and share medicine and wisdom from the lens of the honeybee hive.

 

Each session will include meditation, wisdom sharing, a ritual, somatic practice, and a mantra.

 

For the 11th annual International Day of Yoga (IDY), Yogis for Palestine and Tejal Yoga have invited yoga teachers across the globe to embody yoga in the service of Palestinian liberation.

 

Over the weekend of June 21st - 22nd, teachers from all over the globe will gather in person and online to host donation-based yoga/meditation classes themed around taking collective action to end the Zionist entity’s 77-year occupation of Palestine and ongoing genocide and siege against Palestinians in Gaza.

 

Join me on Sunday, June 22nd at 12:00 pm ET for an online donation-based yoga and meditation practice to embody the intent of yoga, which is to liberate us, but not in isolation, and instead, in community.