The Day After

The hardest yoga class I ever taught was on the morning after the 2016 US presidential election. For the first time in over 15 years of teaching, I was at a complete loss for anything meaningful, let alone uplifting, to say to the students streaming into the studio.

As I took my seat at the front of the room, the only reasonable choice was to say what was genuinely true for me. As I did, there was a palpable relief in the room. By showing up authentically and allowing myself to be where I was, I had inadvertently given everyone permission to do the same.

What happened next surprised me. I began to speak about a way forward.

While I’m not at the front of the class this morning, similar feelings arise as I write this post. I am sad, appalled, and terrified at the harm that is likely to come to our planet and fellow human beings. I am allowing myself to be with the despair I’m currently feeling when I consider what might lie ahead.

But this blog isn’t about me, it’s about supporting you.

More than ever, we will need to create inner and outer refuges to restore our energy, nourish our spirits, and gather our courage. There is so much work ahead, and we will need reliable sources of renewal to replenish and bolster us.

That’s what I’m here for, and that’s what your yoga is for – to anchor you in an unchanging, abiding awareness. This awareness doesn’t negate the ugliness of the world or deny our lived reality but subsumes it, helping us remember and live into our shared humanity and fundamental interdependence.

Here’s what else I can offer for today: Go inside, rest in the place beyond knowing, beyond right and wrong, the spacious, loving presence that is always ready to welcome you, to hold you as you grieve the losses – both real and imagined.

Know that no political outcome, no circumstance, can ever take that away.

May we meet this moment with a renewed dedication to what we stand for unconditionally. For me, this includes the conviction that all human beings are worthy of dignity and respect, and a commitment to exalting beauty, goodness, and love.

May you, too, find the solid ground of your most deeply held values as a source of strength and courage.