Around us, life bursts with miracles–a glass of water, a ray of sunshine, a leaf, a caterpillar, a flower, laughter, raindrops. If you live in awareness, it is easy to see miracles everywhere. Each human being is a multiplicity of miracles. Eyes that see thousands of colors, shapes, and forms; ears that hear a bee flying or a thunderclap; a brain that ponders a speck of dust as easily as the entire cosmos; a heart that beats in rhythm with the heartbeat of all beings. When we are tired and feel discouraged by life's daily struggles, we may not notice these miracles, but they are always there.
— Thich Nhat Hanh
There will come a time when your heart breaks, and it will feel like nothing will ever be okay again. (Maybe your heart has already broken.)
There are heartbreaks that completely rearrange the world, heartbreaks that tear everything down, heartbreaks that lift the veil, heartbreaks that happen slowly without warning.
Have the compassion to let your heart break so that you can learn how to live. (Not merely exist.)
Try again (love again) despite this, and you'll find that there is joy in learning how to tend to yourself. There is strength in taking care and compassion in listening to your heart's desire.
Grief hardens the body (hardens the heart). It is a natural response to want to put up walls to keep yourself safe. Hardening will not keep you safe.
Try again (love again) despite this.
It is an act of bravery to continue to love (to continue to love more people who might one day leave you) while intimately knowing the heartbreak of losing someone.
It will get messy, and your heart will break over and over again, but that is the price we pay to live fully (to love fully). Please do not betray your capacity to love.
Life is about becoming (not betraying) what makes you whole. If you can let yourself fall apart, you can learn how to pick up the pieces.
One day (if you haven't already), you'll learn how to make your heart whole again. You'll do it again, and again, and again.
It probably won't get any easier, but it will get more beautiful. ✨
✨ yoga etc. is my newsletter on yoga, social justice, collective wellbeing, and collective 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. Tuesday's class is now in the mornings at 7:30 am GMT for my little morning birds (as always, you can catch the recording later in the day, if you prefer)
Tuesday 11th January ✨ Rejuvenate ✨ a dynamic flow with options for all levels to ignite creativity, fire, and confidence (book)
Sunday 16th January ✨ Sunday Soul ✨ an invitation to slow down, rest, and restore through 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.
And lastly, a few recordings for you to try out on your own time:
15 min ✨ Core + balancing drills
15 min ✨ Arms + abs flow
15 min ✨ Soothing sacrum to crown
75 min ✨ Lower Body Flow
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 10% of my income from my online yoga classes to organizations that fight against white supremacy. 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 December 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. When indigenous peoples have rights over their land, they protect the land at a fraction of the cost of conventional conservation programs. Still, 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 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.
Write about what you love about yourself. Write down 3-5 things and elaborate on them. (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 ✨
Maple vanilla roasted plums (Oddbox)
Mindful minutes with Hala Khouri (Hala Khouri)
Moss is 300 million years old (The CryptoNaturalist)
Not all heroes wear capes. But André Leon Talley did (Refinery29)
Happy continuation dear teacher Thầy, Thích Nhất Hạnh (Instagram)
A bit of joy: Jeff Goldblum reviews impressions of himself (Vanity Fair)
On repeat: CAPRISONGS by FKA twigs (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!