A friend of mine, a psychotherapist, shared a story with me of an African tribe that solved unhappiness or depression in an individual in an unique way: If someone in the tribe was depressed or sad the whole tribe would take the day off work and they would all gather around the person who was suffering and loved him up. They would sing to her, hug her and tell her how loved she was to restore her natural condition: JOY.
The story truly warmed my heart and it made me see that to focus on my sadness, other than acceptance, has no practical use.
It is not a true perspective in the first place.
To try to solve it would be madness.
There are so many tools that we can use to ease our suffering.
One of the biggest tools for me is consistent gratitude.
Entitlement or comparing myself to others is the thief of joy.
It requires me to stop blaming others or situations and instead bless them.
Wether that is a broken car, a loved one not connecting with me, Corona Virus, the government.
It is all the same invitation: sending out loving kindness and blessings will bring me joy.
Joy expands my awareness and makes me feel creative and loved.
And that way I can be helpful.
That being said, I am not experiencing this lesson as easy.
For me opening my heart to love also uncovers deep rooted pain and insecurity.
And as I receive the gift of love and acceptance, I simultaneously recognize the pain of loss in my past, when it was not available to me.
Allowing those feelings to come up to the surface and be there lifts up the bars so peace and joy can stream in.
It is me who decides to be a bigger container to love and joy.
First this will be an idea, a vision, until my body will take on this new information and integrate it.
This is where my Yoga and meditation practice come in handy.
To allow my cellular structure to take on the new expanded version of myself.
I would like our Yoga Community to express the truth of the African Tribe: we can help each other connect back to our true state of pure joy.
“Separate reeds are weak and easily broken; but bound together they are strong and hard to tear apart.”
The Midrash
In tomorrows class we will work with the Summer organ: The heart.
Fire is the element of summer. It expresses our greatest ‘Yang’, which means a time of heat, outgoingness and moving outward in nature and in our lives.
To balance this element, we will work with the shoulders, the obliques and twist poses.
Much love,
Marielle
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