What do I say? What do I talk about? Yoga? The alignment of the medial arch and the engagement of tibialis anterior inside triangle pose? Some cute happening that I experienced this week? I can’t. I’m sad. It’s 2:40pm on Jan. 6 2021 and I finally just turned off the TV after watching thousands of people descend upon the Capitol building in Washington DC. Pushing by and injuring 14 police officers in an attempt to prevent the resident elect from being certified and sending the senate into hiding for their own safety. People taking selfies inside the senate chambers like they were taking a picture next to “Grave Digger” at a Monster Truck Jam. Few attempting to own a democracy that belongs to many. The Capitol hasn’t been attacked in this way since 1814 during the war of 1812 when it was assaulted by the British. Are you fucking kidding me?
I want to inspire or stir thought and feeling with these pithy musings that I write but today my heart and soul are exhausted. Drained of their radiance. Every creative bone in my body has given it’s energy to witness the devolution of the modern American experiment (and humanity, it seems). And the more I sit and feel sad the more I want to resist it because I don’t like the way it feels. I want to move away from this discomfort. The problem with that method is the more I resist the feeling of sadness, the more that emotional alchemy turns it into anger. Sadness + resistance = anger. Maybe that’s what’s happening in DC right now… a whole bunch of resistance toward sadness, science, education, facts, math, democracy and empathy.
I guess my lesson is I have to authentically feel what is true in every moment regardless of my preference or opinion of it. Feel without resistance. Listen without comment. Allow the energy to move through without attempting to destroy or own it. So… I’m going to have the courage to feel sad right now without turning away from it. Breathe deliberately, feel and listen closely to what it’s saying.
I’ll see you tomorrow ready to BE the change I want to see. Oh yeah, the medial arch is rooted into the mat so the peroneus longus and brevis muscles are engaged. I couldn’t help myself. Ha! I’m feeling better already. Thanks, yoga!
