The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.
- Henry Miller
I've been thinking a lot about the beginning of the pandemic. How there was no roadmap for how to move through this and how we didn't know what the future held. For me, the not knowing was the most anguishing part of the early days. But eventually, we found our bearings, and we began living a 'new normal.' For some of us, the new normal didn't look so different from before. For others, it was the difference between night and day.
Over the last 18 months, worlds have shattered, families have crumbled, businesses have shut down, entire industries have been wiped out, and millions of lives have been lost.
I feel deeply changed by the last year and a half. Like I've been broken apart and reassembled. It's not good or bad—it's just different—and there is no way I could go back to how things used to be. There is no new normal for me because before was not normal.
I left a toxic work environment and vowed to never burn out again. I promised myself I wouldn't make the same mistake a second time—to give my all to a job and for it never to be enough. I equated my success in work to my success in life, and so I never felt good enough both at work and within myself.
Work is an important part of life, and it should be. It's okay to love your work and to want to be successful at work, but at what cost?
In the early days of the pandemic, I found a glimmer of hope in the conversations being had around a new age of work. We began talking about the benefits of rest, of slowing down and taking time to pause. We started sharing our stories of pre-pandemic burnout and busyness and collectively became more empathetic towards ourselves and each other. It felt like the tides were beginning to change.
I compare that time to now when most people I talk to share their stories of working through lockdowns into the late hours of the night or doing the work as a single employee that a whole team used to do. The pandemic didn't change work. It reinforced and strengthened the values that were burning us out; the values of capitalism.
For me, there's a big difference between work and capitalism, but it's a distinction we so rarely make. Work is passion, determination, and integrity. It's building something and reaching a goal. Work is human.
Capitalism is a machine. Capitalism is productivity, efficiency, and the bottom line. It's squeezing every drop of juice from the lemon and growth at all costs.
The pandemic exposed what we already thought to be true: The bottom line takes precedent over health. We can—and have—put a price tag on human life, and it will take diligence and determination to untangle capitalism from work.
Diligence and determination. Not just liking self-care memes or posting aesthetic quotes that say 'you are more than your productivity.' Change at the cultural and societal level will take time and intention—especially when the system is put in place to keep us overworked and busy.
Busy means distracted. Distracted means you're not paying attention. When you're not paying attention, you're not living—and you deserve to live your life.
The dismantling of busyness and capitalism from work won't happen at the company-wide level. It's not going to come from your CEO or from your government (as much as I'd love to see a burnout bank holiday). It can only come from you.
Everything you have you have said yes to, and you are absolutely, without a doubt, 100% allowed to say no whenever you want—even after you've said yes.
It's not a flex to be busy. It's not a flex to work 7 days a week. And it's definitely not a flex to send emails at midnight just so that your colleagues see how late you're working. You are more than timestamps and emails and busy. You know that, and you owe it to yourself to act on that.
I'm hopeful that change is on its way when I see my friends leaving their own toxic workplaces. When the local bakery decides to close on Mondays and Tuesdays through the summer. When someone decides to stop saying how busy they are all the time.
So the next time you answer 'how are you?' with 'busy,' take a moment to think whether you like that about yourself and whether there's another way to be. Is there a path where you can just be rather than do all the time? Is there a way forward where you might detach your worth from your work? Is there a life where you are more than what you do? ✨
Yoga of movement ✨
I'm teaching online and in-person this week:
Wednesday ✨ Rejuvenate 45 (book) *moved to Wednesday this week only*
Wednesday ✨ Power yoga 60 *in person* (£6 drop-in)
Saturday ✨ Yoga in the fields 60 *in person* (book or drop-in)
Sunday ✨ no class
Please try to sign up at least 3 hours before the start of class, and if you can't make it in real-time, you'll get the recording in your email.
I'm also available for private and corporate classes. I'm offering complimentary corporate classes to nonprofit and not-for-profit organizations. Reply to this email if you're interested!
If you're looking for a few quick fixes of mindfulness + movement this week, try out one or a few of these:
New series 🔥 Beginner-friendly flows
Ground 🔥 Ebb + flow through the spine
Soothe 🔥 Soothe + slow down
Recorded class 🔥🔥 Sweet symmetrical flow 45
Recorded class 🔥🔥🔥 Renew + restore flow 75
Yoga of action ✨
I'm tithing 10% of my income from my online yoga classes to organizations that fight against white supremacy. Every month, I'll pick a new charity and highlight it below. If these charities call to you, please consider contributing (no matter how small).
My August donation will go to Survival International, a global nonprofit and movement decolonizing conservation and supporting tribal peoples’ rights. 80% of Earth’s biodiversity is in tribal territories and when indigenous peoples have secure rights over their land, they protect the land at a fraction of the cost of conventional conservation programs. But governments and NGOs are stealing vast parts of land from indigenous communities under the claim that this is necessary for conservation.
Survival works in partnership with tribes to amplify their voices on the global stage, stop human rights abuses committed in the name of conservation, and put indigenous peoples in control of wildlife protection.
Have a suggested charity? Leave a comment to share.
Yoga of words ✨
Grab a pen, grab your journal. Have a seat somewhere comfortable. Close your eyes, take a breath in, and let it go. Your weekly writing prompt is below.
When someone asks, 'how are you?' what's your go-to response? What other questions can you ask someone other than 'how are you' or 'what do you do'? (10 minutes)
Feel free to share what you've written by clicking the link below. Of course, you’re also welcome to keep this practice as just yours.
Other musings ✨
New yoga playlist: naughties nostalgia 60 (Spotify)
America’s mental health moment is finally here (Vox)
Treat yourself to a wellness retreat (yoga taught by me!) (Eventbrite)
How capitalism invented the care economy (The Nation)
People have been taught to fear the very same thing that will set them free (Instagram)
On repeat: Vintage (Remix) by Blu DeTiger + Flight Facilities (Spotify)
I'm here for you—for class, for advice, for anything that you need or would like to share. Always a phone call/text/DM/reply button away.
LBC ✨
P.S. If you like this newsletter, please share it with your friends! And if someone sent you this newsletter, you can subscribe below!
This one spoke to my soul! Thank you, as always, for your thoughtful and resonant words. I've found that a better way to say "I'm busy" is to say "My life is full!"