FROM CHAOS TO CALM

Yesterday morning a thunderstorm rolled through our area.  This is not usual.  We get drizzle, mist, showers, even steady rain sometimes.  But yesterday morning the skies darkened, the temperature dropped, and winds picked up.  Soon, there was distant rumbling.  And a pelting non-stop big drop rain.  By the time I signed on to my weekly Zoom visit with my Sutra Sisters yoga group we all heard the loud cracks of thunder and flinched a bit at the flashes of lightening outside the windows in our respective homes, although some of us lived 20 miles apart.

This deluge, replete with sound effects seemed fitting.  Our world has been storming lately.  We have been living in a whirl of chaos it seems -- where nothing is as it was.  In the Ayruvedic tradition, one would call the energy around us "Vata" -- a swirling chaos of unpredictable movement.

The Covid-19 virus is still amongst us.  We here in Washington are still in a Phase One of a four phase plan for returning to "normal".  It will take awhile at the rate we are going, no thanks to those who want to hurry us along refusing to comply with "Stay Home/Stay Healthy" orders along with not physical distancing, nor wearing masks.  The "mask" debate has become politicized with some wearing them as a statement of compassion and solidarity -- doing what we can to slow the virus.  Others vehemently refuse to wear a mask seeing it as unnecessary and an assault on their rights as citizens to live as they want.  Chaos.

We are experiencing an increased level of civil unrest in response to last week's killing of a suspect in Minneapolis at the hands of a police officer who continued to subdue the handcuffed victim with a knee to his neck until he stopped breathing.  For days, protests have turned to riots and looting in major cities across the U.S. and a few in Britain and Europe.  Chaos.

Some believe there is a lack of leadership from the White House, with their ever shifting directives on the Covid crisis, their downplaying the severity of it, their eagerness to get the economy moving again in spite of rising rates of virus in certain hot spots.  Others stand with the current president, protesting and storming state houses (some with weapons) to protest being told to stay home and demanding businesses reopen.  Chaos. 

What's a yogi to do?  In some people's minds we yoga practitioners take a neutral stand on such issues.  We sit in lotus position, hands at rest, eyes closed, Zenning out and shutting out all the troubles of the world.  I guess it can look like that from the outside.  But there is grit amongst us, and compassion, and a call to action in our practice as well.  

We give ATTENTION to what needs to be done, then act with INTENTION to effect change.  We go inward to find our core being, our oneness with all that is, and come out with greater certainty that all is connected.  Every individual action we take (or fail to take) has impact on the whole.

Just as we link the in breath and the out breath with our asana movement, the in breath and out breath of our lives also moves us along the path of doing what must be done.  For some that may mean marching, writing letters, registering voters.  For others it might mean sewing masks, baking cookies for lonely neighbors, writing letters of gratitude to essential workers.  

Yoga practice is not apart from this world, but a part of it.  Yes, go inside.  Get quiet.  Find Source.  Then return in strength, balance, and breath to join in creating a place where all are welcome, where health and vitality are celebrated, where our individual lives become a model for our elected officials as we show them the way to lead us to a vision of a calmer, more peaceful world for all.

Namaste,  donnajurene