It feels to me that America is painfully stuck in the first two phases of dualistic consciousness. Entitlement emanating from victimhood is rampant, as is taking actions to promote a certain worldview, propping up one specific group, excluding and belittling others − and worse.

How do we get beyond this? Think of the image of a triangle. It’s a non-dualistic shape with three corners, not two, and many points of convergence (circumcenter, orthocenter, etc.). This opens up the possibility of a third force, as Cynthia Bourgeault teaches, that arises with new energy beyond the first two entrenched viewpoints. We truly need this emergent fresh force if we are to move with and not be overwhelmed by the compounding challenges facing us all.

This image and concept of the triangle is recurrent in myth, religion, and life. There are the three Fates, the three Furies, and Poseidon’s trident from Greek mythology; the Holy Trinity from Christianity; the three primary colors in art; body, mind, spirit or animal, mineral, vegetable in natural science; in our daily life there are slices of pie and pizza, and the list goes on. The idea of three was personified by the Celtic Shaman who was believed to be able to see the past, the present, and the future. Standing in three different worlds at the same time, the Shaman’s viewpoint was inclusive.

I try to encourage myself into this third space, and I follow organizations that do the same. One is Braver Angels, which brings together Americans of different political viewpoints. Time and again, research shows that if we can increase our proximity to those we oppose, we move toward that third force viewpoint that expands our awareness and gives us new solutions.
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​If we truly want to make this country great, it will take more than “winning” political battles. Whoever wins those battles, I suspect, will find themselves at the top of a bloodied, wounded, and dysfunctional heap of a nation. We need to find a way to embrace all parts of ourselves and each other, together.

On the Passing of Thich Nhat Hanh 1.22.22

As we mourn the loss of the remarkable Vietnamese Buddhist monk, teacher, peace activist, and ecologist Thich Nhat Hanh (1926-2022), we remember his famous quote as we are certainly in the mud at the moment. We’ve lived through two years of the Covid-19 pandemic resulting in five-and-a-half million deaths worldwide, political divisions in the US beyond what any of us have seen in our lifetimes, skyrocketing rates of wealth disparity, and increasing extreme weather events as climate change creates chaos. We should be growing some great lotuses because these plants bloom their best flowers when they live in the muckiest of muds.

Thich Nhat Hanh, affectionately known as Thay (which means “teacher” in Vietnamese), made the truths of Buddhism accessible to Westerners. The first noble truth of Buddhism is the concept of “Duhkha,” which refers to the inevitable mud of life: suffering, pain, unhappiness, and stress. I imagine if you thought your life was stressful before March 2020, your stress-o-meter has moved up a few notches since then.

​To manage the mud, Thay encouraged awareness of and gratitude for the present moment, his “peace in every step” and “peace in every breath” teaching. I read a tribute by an author who remembered Thay coming to speak to her class when she was a seminary student:

​“Anything he said was crowded out by the sheer magnitude of his presence. He was so tiny, and so magnificent. His truest teaching was how fully present he was with us as he taught,” explained Meggan Watterson.

​To manage the mud, I think Thay would remind us to relax as a way to create. “It’s very important that we re-learn the art of resting and relaxing,” Thay said. “Not only does it help prevent the onset of many illnesses that develop through chronic tension and worrying; it allows us to clear our minds, focus, and find creative solutions to problems.” I can testify that I have done more restorative yoga in the past two years than in all of my past years of yoga to help me manage the mud.

I know Thay would invite us to embrace Mother Earth. “She is not outside of you,” Thay said. “Mother Earth is not just your environment…it is possible to have real communication with the Earth, which is the highest form of prayer.” Hasn’t going outside taken on a new meaning during the last two years?  Haven’t we realized the gifts right outside our doors in a more expansive way because of this crisis?

Thay’s life was full of mud and lotus. Thay worked around the world for peace during the Vietnam War but was banned by Vietnam in 1966 from returning. So in 1967, he created a monastery in Southern France called Plum Village, which has evolved into a thriving community of teachers and seekers. Plum Village has three affiliate monasteries in the US. Thay was also a prolific author who penned close to 50 books.

Thay was able to return to Vietnam and passed in the monastery where he took his first vows at age 16. Like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, also recently lost to us, Thay fully experienced both the great suffering of the mud but embodied the enlightenment and rebirth of the lotus in the regular moments of every day. May we follow his example, step by step.

Peace to each of you,
~ Anne

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Re-entering the World with Fresh Eyes

Sometimes things aren't exactly as they appear. We couldn’t wait for the pandemic to slow so we could return to life as we knew it, right? But now that the virus is (hopefully) receding, how do we re-enter our world? What do we add back into our schedule? Perhaps more importantly, what don’t we bring back? Can we make small talk after a year without any? Who do we want to be as we return to a more outwardly-oriented life?

The balance of the inner and outer worlds is a constant focus in our yogic journey. Yoga always and forever invites us to travel into ourselves and very specifically so with the breath. We draw the breath in and we notice ourselves in that moment; we follow the breath out as it leaves our bodies and the cycle continues.

As we re-enter our world, I for one am hoping to maintain some of my new habits. Long walks in the woods, regular restorative yoga practice, regular movement/asana sessions, meditation and lots and lots of writing. For those of us who have had the privilege of being able to stay home during the pandemic, the time has been an opportunity for exploration. While not always pleasant, hopefully this block of time has created a shift in our awareness so that we can see our world with fresh eyes.

As we take ourselves back out, let’s bring with us some of the clarity that we’ve garnered during this difficult time. Let’s look at what we see with more curiosity and neutrality. Because if we can let go of at least some of our assumptions, we might just find opportunities both individually and collectively that at first glance appeared impossible.

Bonus Tidbit: Join former monk Andy Puddicombe on his podcast Radio Headspace, where current episodes feature ideas for navigating through post-pandemic daily life.

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How to Strap Back Your Shoulders with a Yoga Strap
Start with short increments of time (5 minutes a day) and increase wearing time GRADUALLY! 

How Can We All Win?

Regardless of how you felt about Saturday’s election results, can you remember how the other half of America feels?  In a stunning performance, the fearless and sometimes off-the-rails comedian Dave Chappelle posed this question in his brilliant and edgy monologue on Saturday Night Live.

Chappelle leads by remembering his great-grandfather who was born into slavery in South Carolina. He was freed at age 10 and dedicated his life to three essentials: education, the freedom of Black people, and Jesus Christ. He ended up being the president of Allen University, one of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) as well as the 37th Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. (Another HBCU grad, Kamala Harris, is our Vice President-Elect!)

In his routine, Chappelle doesn’t entertain, he challenges. You can feel the discomfort in the studio audience, which probably leans left and wanted a big feel-good monologue about the Democratic win. Instead, they got provoked and called to their edge.

Chappelle likened President Donald Trump contracting COVID-19 and receiving state-of-the-art treatment to taking a bag of hamburgers into a homeless shelter and eating them in front of the homeless while saying that hunger shouldn’t dictate their life. Chappelle highlighted the pain and anguish for White Americans whose life expectancy for the first time has been on the downturn in recent years fueled by “deaths of despair” from drug overdoses, alcoholism, liver disease, and suicides.  Chappelle asked us to consider the pain and anguish in the White community over these deaths and the feeling that nobody cares. He also asks us to feel what police officers feel putting on their uniforms: “that they have a target on their backs.” 

The key moment is when Chappelle says he knows this anguish of being a target and of feeling no one cares, and he hates the FEELING, but that he doesn’t hate ANYONE. This is a radical and critical distinction. In our world, we currently face fearsome challenges: the unraveling of our ecosystem as it tries to support an expanding population; rapid-fire changes in technology and the expansion of Artificial Intelligence (AI); growing economic disparities with our unequal playing field and more. But if we insist on focusing our trauma onto others instead of working within ourselves to create Ahisma (nonviolence towards ourselves and all beings), we increase our own suffering as well as the suffering of others.

Chappelle can be repugnant, but like all prophets, he is edgy. We talk a lot about “The Edge” in yoga, and mostly it’s been applied to the physical sensations in a pose like a hip opener. But the physical practice is exactly that: practice for sitting with our edge mentally and emotionally. Can we stay on that edge of not knowing – what we call in meditation taking on “Beginner’s Mind” – and be curious and ready to listen to those with opposing views? One tool I’ve been teaching in workshops and that I use in my own life is called Active Love (see more under “Recommended Reading” at end of this email), where you send active love energy from your physical heart space to another person, disengaging from the particulars (you can imagine NOT seeing their face if that helps). It is our love and compassion for all human beings that is critical. We NEED each other. Yoga invites us to awaken from the illusion of separation and be yoked to each other and to all that is throughout time and space.

This heart opening is not about arching our spines; we know we have too much of that in yoga anyway! It’s about offering compassion to ourselves and then to see if we can sit with the difficult emotions that arise when we encounter those who challenge us, but still send them love – or at least a little kindness.

Dave Chappell’s Monologue – You’re Forewarned!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un_VvR_WqNs

Wishing you peace and, as John Lewis would say, a Little Good Trouble!
Anne

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