Dear Yogis,
This is not your practice life. You’re alive, breathing, here and now. You’re important and worthy. That means a lot of things. If this is not a practice life it means we have to be present in the world to uplift the things we care about, to protect the people we love but, it also means we are worthy of injecting joy into the many intimate and precious moments that build up to our days.
A lot of 2020 has felt like a waiting game for many. When will the restrictions be over? When will this virus go away? When will things go back to normal? When will the election be over? The list goes on and on and in all that waiting we may accidentally disregard what is right in front of us. Our lives. The people in our lives. The work we are meant to do in this world. The daily living. The joy that is a natural (and deserved) benefit of being a human.
So as we near the cooler months and the world continues to present us with unexpected challenges and a myriad of unknowns, can we make joy intentional through ritual? Can we insert joy into our every day as a way to balance, not disregard the going ons in the world…on purpose?
The daily ritual may change from what it used to be but we can still make it beautiful and take time to cherish each moment that we are presented with.
Things we can’t monetize, or hustle, or show off also have value as much as our culture influences us to forget that. The tiny things that are the catalyst for awe, that hold our attention with their beauty, that accidentally cause us to marvel, and gasp and coo, it’s ok to prioritize these things. To let them take up your time. To give them permission to stir up joy in you.
Take the time to make the art you show nobody, to write in the journal that nobody may ever read. Gather the things in nature and arrange them on a table maybe nobody but you will admire. Learn the whole song, not to perform to anyone else but to lose yourself in the rapture of its beauty. Set aside time to read the poetry book or meditate not so you can tell anyone you did so but because the experience of it uplifts you and makes you feel human again. Take the time to move through a yoga practice in your body not for any reason other than you deserve time to feel good right now. You deserve the whole savasana unencumbered by a mental to do list, a mental “what if” list.
We will get through this by feeding our humanity, our humanness as often as possible. Not by disregarding the hunger of the soul for joy. We can participate in the battleground of life only as long as we are inwardly sustained. Creation, observation and joy are the antidote to destruction.
I wish you so much peace, contentedness, abundance and many blessings.
In love,
Amanda and the good folks at Revolution Yoga
Originally shared in our November 2020 newsletter.