The power of love.
Feel your heart break. And transform it into only more love.
This jam has been on repeat for me this week. Listen all the way to the end, when Lauryn Hill comes in.
It's an important message to remember in these times - the power of love.
The yoga tradition, as well as other traditions and practices, reminds us that this power is within us all. This inextinguishable force for good.
But life happens, and we forget.
And by life, I mean all the things that make us human and specifically "householders" - paying the bills, raising our families, dealing with medical emergencies, you name it. On any given Sunday, we're all dealing with a certain amount of stress that is just part of the deal with modern day living.
Layer on top of that this specific moment in time, and we are all bound to get swept up in the chaos of the moment and the inevitable stress that it brings.
As I said to my class Thursday night, if you are alive right now, I have no doubt that you are experiencing some level of heartbreak.
For a variety of reasons. (I don't have to list them, do I?) And for sure you may be feeling a plethora of other things, as well.
To be human is to feel. To be human is to be in our bodies.
We're each holding tension in a unique way - maybe you clench down through your jaw, maybe you experiencing tension headaches, maybe you're exhausted and angry. Maybe your digestion is royally f'd right now. Just notice what's true for you. No judgement.
Sidebar: I had a convo with someone this week that invited the idea of looking at how your driving behavior can be a litmus test on your current state of being. Like, I might think I'm doing relatively ok but when it takes less than a millisecond to tick me off and subsequently flip someone the bird, I'm probably not really doing ok, know what I mean? Resonate with anyone? (Also, I don't flip people the bird. I do however, say out loud some not -nice things. No judgement.)
Anyway. You get the gist.
Here's the thing though.
Grief - and let's be clear: that's what heartbreak is and what's often underneath all of the other big emotions we're feeling at this time - is not the bottom line. Author Cynthia Bourgeault says it's a catalyst and that if we let it, grief can be the "alchemical fire of the heart."
Grief has the power to transform us. Grief breeds compassion. Grief reminds us how much love we are capable of. And love, ultimately, unites and heals.
We as human beings, though, play an active role in this alchemical process. Because if we let it, grief can also shut us down, leave us embittered and enraged, reactive and disconnected.
So, we make the choice to show up again and again (what courage!) in the name of all that we know to be true in our hearts. To use any and all of our practices to remove all that gets in the way and clouds the vision of the heart, to move the tension out of our bodies so we can remember the love that lives within us and to live from that place. This is, perhaps, the greatest work of our life.
❤️🔥 Yoga, then, is a practice of love in action. Towards ourselves and towards each other. Towards the planet and all beings that reside here. ❤️🔥
What I know to be true is in order for me to access that place within myself, I can not bypass my physical form. I must get into my body, feel what I'm feeling, take all the time and space to process and integrate that, and then move back into the world. Sometimes this is as quick as 3 breaths, sometimes it takes a whole class, sometimes 3 days and a variety of different strategies.
My wish for us all is to have access to practices and people and places that ground us and bring us back to ourselves. When we come back to ourselves, we remember we belong to each other.
Sending love all ways,
x Maura