Encouraging Connection

Freedom to Listen

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News of Elon Musk purchasing the Twitter has the world abuzz. One of my favorite podcasts, Your Undivided Attention, did a spotlight feature on what this means, specifically as it pertains to how to create a world where our attention isn’t purchased by the highest bidder.

I’m not a regular tweeter and only rarely tune in, so my feelings on the ordeal are minimal. It’s clear to me that Musk doesn’t have a large family that demands fresh berries in their lunches amid a spike of inflation, or he’d be spending his billions on horticulture and sustainable earth practices. But, no, he wants twitter, in the name of “free speech.”

Armchair Expert had a timely release with a 1st Amendment attorney, where Floyd Abrams highlighted how this amendment doesn’t just protect the individual’s freedom to say what they believe. It also protects the collective to be able to hear information and ideas that people in the position of power may not want you to know, such as the Watergate scandal.

As one who writes, creates, and teaches, this freedom for individuals is something I value. To stifle that 5th chakra is to lead to other energetic challenges. (I’m also a strong proponent that just because you share the opinion, even loudly, it does not make it right, true, or good. Also, exercising your freedom of expression or press does not mean you’re free to avoid the consequences of sharing said information.)

I’m now understanding this freedom as hearing, as in speech.

In The Hidden Order of Intimacy: Reflections on the Book of Leviticus, Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg poses the idea that the sacred teachings put a particular order to the divine act of obedience and listening. Tradition has it that the Hebrew people followed the Golden Calf incident with the utterance of a commitment to their God: We shall do and we shall hear! Zornberg poses that the obedience comes first with a purpose: hearing is the spiritual horizon of doing. Obedience isn’t the final goal.

“When the people desire to return to Egypt, to the condition of slavery, they resist this divine demand [to hear]. To return to Egypt is the easy option, falling back on habit, on the constricted life of the slave for whom obedience is all. Freedom means turning toward the future and its possibilities, its difficult demands.”

Zornberg, p. XVI, emphasis and brackets mine.

This is why, Zornberg explains, a Hebrew slave who returned to his master would have his earlobe pierced against a door lintel. “He has sinned against that passion for hearing more that is to inform spiritual life… to opt for slavery is to betray, to immobilize, one’s ear for the sacred, for freedom and responsibility.”

Here’s where Musk, Abrams, and Zornberg converge: our first amendment right is also the sacred act of choosing to listen to – or for – particular voices. IMHO, Musk didn’t purchase his right to speak, he purchased our freedom to choose the voices we want to hear (presumably so he could elevate his own voice.)

It’s not a distant translation to see our own propensity in our yoga practice. How easy it is to step your right foot forward to the front edge of the mat, anchor your back heel and open to warrior 2, as you are told? Perhaps the first few times we partake in the practice it feels odd and requires more attention, but soon enough mere obedience requires nothing from us. But to listen to the body and her response to a posture: that is the real work.

How often do we short ourselves the true freedom of the practice? Zornberg brings it home for me: A certain quality of attention (tension, desire) is invoked in this listening. Perhaps the na’aseh ve-nishma [we shall do and we shall hear!] response conceals a reservation about the larger aspiration of listening. By putting obedience before listening, one may be reserving the option of making do with mere performance.

We can perform the acts of our yoga. And it might even be beneficial to us, and the world, when we do, much the same way we can perform the yamas and niyamas or the 10 commandments, obeying the precepts of right inner and outer living.

And – and I love this – this is only the initiation. Beyond the doing there is also the listening. Bending our ear to the divine to hear where our obedience can continue to free us. Doing the right thing is only the first invitation. We’re offered to a more relationally-driven way of living on our mat, in our homes, and in our community. This way requires that we pay attention and that we are free to listen.

For the Women

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While in seminary, I was asked to be part of a panel of women for a class to speak to the “women in ministry experience.” I declined, feeling at the time that my experience wasn’t unique to being a woman and that I’d largely been treated with a sense of fairness in the circles with which I worked. I could also, at 24, see that my experience of opportunity was paved by the generations ahead of me who had very different experiences – and they sat on the panel that day.

Then, just a few short years later, I encountered what these predecessors warned me of: I was outright denied the opportunity to serve a group I loved specifically and unapologetically because I wasn’t a man. I came home outraged and terrified for my girls. When I told JJ about it, his exact words were, “Wait. This is still a thing?” We left that organization the next day without regret.

Over the course of several years spent sorting baby socks and filling sippy cups, my commitment to supporting the opportunities for women continued to simmer. While I had chosen to spend the hours of my day in a particular way, centered around my babes and littles, it was easy to recognize that it was the choice in so doing that made it worth it. Rewind just a few generations ago, and endless hours of washing (dishes, clothes, hands, floors) and moving (dishes, clothes, people, toys) wouldn’t be a choice but a mandate, and doing such work would feel more like slavery than servanthood.

And while I can bask in certain freedoms, if only a few years ago I was denied a role solely because of my sex, then we’re not as far as we think we are.

Woven Yoga is a studio owned and run by women – many these women are also owning and running other organizations as well. Then when you peek inside our classes, you’ll see a large population of amazing women. So many of our classes and events center on women celebrating the roles and places we find ourselves today so that we can keep opening doors – and businesses, organizations, platforms – for our daughters, nieces and neighbors. Our work won’t be done “until there are 9” – when our world being run by women feels as normal as the fact that it’s always been run by men. Putting female faces at the helm will someday be commonplace rather than noteworthy, and I’m here for it.

Looking to add some reading about what it might take to support the role of women in society?

Cassandra Speaks (Elizabeth Lessor) – I especially LOVED what she said about providing new and more opportunity to men to fill other roles within the home. Our empowerment shouldn’t come at the expense of others, but rather opening doors for all people.

Untamed (Glennon Doyle) – she has a bit about referring to God as She that has nothing to do with sex or gender but about normalizing the sense of female value. Totes amaze.

The Sun and Her Flowers; home body (Rupi Kaur) – her poetry digs into the generational progress we feel and are making.

home body, rupi kaur

Bourbon Yoga

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bourbon yoga

Some new friends and I celebrated a birthday this past weekend in Lexington, with easy access to bourbon country. The company and the lack of concrete schedule was the primary highlight; however, I can’t resist sharing a bit about the distillary tours.

I know, I know. What in the world would a simple yoga instructor have to say about bourbon? (Or, what does bourbon have to say about my Downward Dog pose?) Ah, my friends: this is why you love me or leave me. Herego!

In once sense, if you’ve been on a distillery tour, you’ve been on them all. We learn about the mash bill with over 51% corn, that’s been around since the company started – just after the prohibition, of course (unless you’re Buffalo Trace). You see the barrels with the level 3 char. The rick houses, the handwritten labels, and you learn to sniff the bourbon with your mouth open.

Bourbon is aged (minimum of 3 years, of course) in charred oak barrels because it flavors and colors the clear liquid that goes into the barrel. Here’s where I go Yoga Nerd on it all: it’s the process of expansion and contraction that allows the alcohol to become a part of the barrel, and then it returns. Changed.

Bourbon takes its flavor from its container, it’s home.

And it does it through changing temperature, humidity, and wind conditions. In essence, through all these uncontrollable variables of living on earth.

The practice of yoga is about bringing connection – often we reference body, mind, spirit, soul, breath as these parts and pieces that can feel like they’re operating in isolation. But it’s not like a lego kit, where you stack a red brick with a yellow brick and a white brick and then, presto, you’ve built a wall.

We’re much more like an aging bourbon. Our properties are being absorbed and distributed based upon their interactions with one another and the environment in which we live. Much like bourbon, we take on the flavor of our surroundings as we navigate living in a world filled with change.

The way we think impacts our mental and physical health. And when we’re hurt, our emotions shift. When our spirit is inspired and revived, our energy lifts and we find new capacity for moving, eating well, and partaking in spiritual practices.

If you’re going to take on the flavor of your surroundings, let’s be intentional about it.

  • Choose friends who show you your best self.
  • Allow your living and working space with beauty
  • Eat foods with properties you want to become (so, maybe not as fake or cheap)
  • Fill your mouth with words that take you in the direction you want to go: gracious, thankful, hopeful, joyous
  • Let your mind rest on ideas that are expansive and inclusive, rather than small and divisive
  • Listen, read and watch that which inspires awe, laughter, and intrigue

She loves you back.

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Thanks to weeks of prep work on our first chakra workshop, I’ve had my attention turned to the ground. This was exacerbated with the plethora of tomatoes ripening and thus my hours spent in the garden or the kitchen, dealing with the bounty. And this was multiplied by my current morning read, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. (Highly recommend!) One of the thoughts/questions that has arisen is: do we belong to a place or does it belong to us?

Of course, for practical and economical reasons, land ownership exists. Deeds, mortgages, all the things. Likely, for most of us, we take pride in our homes, the patch of dirt where we raise(d) families and spend our time, maybe even that grows some of our food and the place where we toss a ball with our kids. We love our spot of earth. More and more, I see the way we tend to it.

Kimmerer raises a question amongst nature-writers: What would happen if people believed this crazy notion that the earth loved them back?

That’s how I’ve been seeing these beautiful golden balls falling from our tomato plants. The earth collected weeks worth of sunshine and rain water and morphed it into the makings of a perfect BLT or pot of sauce. They’re like gifts of love, the same when my kids paint me a picture to hang on the fridge. Tokens of love.

If we use the ancient way of seeing “the microcosm of a macrocosm”, our own bodies are the more immediate dwellings of our homes of the earth. I’ve been prone to remind us to “love your body” and now I need to take a moment and ask: What would happen if people believed this crazy notion that the body loved you back?

As I get older, I tend to notice the way things in my body don’t work they way they used to. But rather than perseverating on the extra poundage, what if I recognized that my body was concerned I might wither away and has been leaving me future meals in the storehouses, much the way we put the jars of salsa on the shelf? You might need this later, she says.

Even the early symptoms of illness – a drip of the nose, a tickle in the throat – could be love notes, reminding me to take it easy. I’m more inclined to eat nourishing foods when I’m under the weather, so maybe those “symptoms” are her way of saying, “more veggies, please!”

Love moves two ways (we’ll learn more about that with the 4th Chakra), and if you’re like me, sometimes it’s harder to receive than to give. That dose of humility required to say “thank you” or “wow, I didn’t even know I needed you in this way” can uncomfortable at first. We are accustomed, especially as women, to being the doer and the giver.

But if it’s true, the earth and your body do love you, then what does that mean? How will you move about in this world a little differently? My hope is that it’s filled with more compassion, generosity, and confidence. Because ultimately, those who feel loved also grow into their worthiness to be loved.

Here’s to it, my friends. Let’s show up. Work hard. Shine bright. Love all.

What is yoga?

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Yuj (sanskrit): To join, yoke, unite.

Entire books and hours of seminars expound on the meaning of yoga. Some see it simply as a physical practice and a form of fitness. Others take it to the far opposite and view yoga as a largely meditative practice of the mind. There are groups who lump it into religion, or at least a system of belief and practice. Any of these definitions can work for particular groups, depending on what you’re looking for it to accomplish. At Woven Yoga, none of these preceding definitions accurately fit the teachings we offer. At it’s heart, yoga is union.

As we practice it at our studio, yoga is the bringing together of body and mind, breath and movement. And because the body resides in the soul, a regular practice will begin to change the way we think and what we believe about ourselves, others, and the world around us. As my teacher says, as the body, so the soul.

So you may find that by coming to class and noticing the breath, perhaps expanding inhales deeper into your belly, that you’re able to take a big breath before other life circumstances. As you practice folding and lengthening certain muscle groups, you could see that you’re able to let go of some of the rigidity that used to confine the way you lived. And as you bear your body weight, this newfound strength could serve you well mentally.

Sir Ken Robinson says in his popular TED talk that we now live and act as if we’re simply “floating heads”, keeping education – and I will add work life, family life, and civic life – all in our heads. While our brains are powerful and important for the flourishing of human life, our bodies, our emotions, and our sense of will also contribute to the human experience. Because the mind gets so much of our attention, giving space in the day or week to give awareness to the body and the breath helps bring a person into a more unified state, aware of all the components of life.

A yoga practice is meant to bring freedom, not burden. One of the most famous of gurus (and my personal favorite) spoke of his own teachings and practices as he shared it with others, saying, “my yoke (yuj) is easy and my burden is light.” While keeping us grounded, the way we integrate our lives should bring lightness, to ourselves and others.

Of course, a quick googling will give you thousands of other answers, as yoga has over 5,000 years of history, beginning long before someone could have a YouTube channel to teach it.

Yoga as an ancient practice, specifically in the ashtanga (“eight limbs”) lineage, from which vinyasa (“to place in a particular way”) yoga emerged – and which Woven teaches – involves more than an hour class, once a week. It includes practices of the breath and elements of meditation, along with aligning your personal and social life with ways of living that keeps you in healthy accord with others and the world around you. You may find that some of these other limbs of yoga work their way into your studio practice and the teachings at Woven Yoga.