(imagery via @platoux)
Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and being alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You have to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes too near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself that you tasted as many as you could.
— Louise Erdrich, The Painted Drum
How did you first find spirituality?
What is your earliest memory of experiencing the sublime? Did you always have a connection to the unknown part or did you discover it during a time of hardship?
I think for many of us, we come to spirituality to heal. To realize that there is so much more beyond this immediate body, life, or feeling can be a perspective-shifting experience that forges a path of healing and homecoming.
But sometimes, we can use spirituality to cover up our pain. If only we meditated more, learned that new mindfulness technique, studied under that wise teacher, booked that retreat, we would be free of the pain.
Spirituality is not hedonism. Spirituality is not love and light.
Spirituality can feel good. Moving your body can be pleasurable. Coming together in community can make us happy. Joy can be healing.
But if we prioritize what feels good with disregard for the rest of the spectrum of the human experience, we can't actually move beyond the pain. If we do nothing other than chase the experience of pleasure, we are not allowing ourselves to feel.
And feeling less will not make this life better.
Spirituality offers a way into the complete experience of being. Yet, parts of modern spirituality and the wellness industry exist to keep you separated from that complete experience. They thrive off of your disconnect from yourself so that they can sell you a fragmented picture of your wellbeing and keep you unyoked.
Your wellbeing does not rely on you being happy all the time. It is of utmost importance that you find a way to hold your joy, your pain, and everything in-between together, in the same hands, without judgment.
There are many ways in. I promise you'll find one that works for you, and chances are, it won't be trendy. If you keep exploring, you'll begin to see that you're more than your suffering. You'll start to love your pain as you love your joy and that urge to avoid the hard stuff will dissipate.
That is spirituality. It's having the strength to look at the hard stuff with the same tenderness and compassion as the easy stuff. It's the decision to meet yourself where you are every second of the day and not rush to change that. It's trusting yourself and your ability to heal by processing, alchemizing, and integrating the whole spectrum of your experience. ✨
✨ yoga etc. is my newsletter on yoga, social justice, collective wellbeing, and healing. Every week, I share a piece of me—a weekly dose of mindfulness—hoping it resonates. The best way to support my work is by sharing this newsletter with those you think might find a piece of them. ✨
Yoga of movement ✨
My class schedule for this week is below. Stay tuned for a new regular in-person class!
Tuesday 1st March ✨ Candlelit Lunar Yoga ✨ a complementary practice to vinyasa, which includes gentle movement, soothing breathwork, and rest (book)
Sunday 27th February ✨ Sunday Soul ✨ an invitation to slow down, rest, and restore through vinyasa flow movement, yin, breathwork, and meditation (book)
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 access to the recording.
I'm also available for private and corporate classes, and I offer complimentary private classes to nonprofit and not-for-profit organizations. Reply to this email if you're interested!
Yoga of action ✨
I'm tithing a portion of my income from my online yoga classes to organizations working towards justice, equity, diversity, and intersectionality. Every month, I'll pick a new organization and highlight it below. If these organizations call to you, please consider contributing (no matter how small).
My March donation will go to Black Girls Code a nonprofit that introduces young girls of color to technology education to increase the number of women of color in the digital technology space.
Black Girls CODE's vision is to increase the number of women of color in the digital space by empowering girls of color ages 6 to 17 to become innovators in STEM fields, leaders in their communities, and builders of their own future through exposure to computer science and technology. The organization offers services in computer programming, coding, as well as website, robot, and mobile application-building, with the goal of providing Black youth with the skills to occupy some of the 1.4 million computing job openings in the U.S.
Have a suggested organization? 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.
How can we act in solidarity across borders and cultures? What moves you to rise up in compassion? (15 minutes)
Feel free to share what you've written by clicking the link below. But, of course, you’re also welcome to keep this practice as just yours.
Other musings ✨
How to help Ukraine (NPR)
Lama Rod Owens UK 2022 tour (lamarod.com)
Trayvon Martin + America's original sin (The New York Times)
Five nights, five incredible women. Carousel x The Female Chef (Carousel)
Russia's last independent TV channel covers the Ukraine invasion (The New Yorker)
Our quest for beauty, our quest for perfection, is actually a quest for goodness (Slate)
Black Ukrainians are expressing their loyalty to the country amid fears they could become special targets for Russian occupiers (Axios)
On repeat: King by Florence + The Machine (Spotify)
I'm here for you—for class, advice, or anything 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!