Awakening to Aliveness in Chaotic Times
These days cruelty seems to be the point.
AND I recognize it doesn’t have to be my starting, traveling or landing point.
So, I practice linking my aliveness to what feels available to me.
- the much anticipated gentle rain pitter pattering on the street, the cars driving swooshing the wetness accumulating on the dry pavement.
- Brisk pockets of breeze stinging my cheeks and numbing my fingers
- Chatter and conversation of kids walking home from school in the neighborhood, laughter, music, and sometimes gleeful yelling punctuating the streets mid afternoons.
- An equal measure of the frailty of old age and the cuteness factor of my 13-year-old Japanese chin as he dances awkwardly, hoping to get a treat.
- The sunlight streaming through the room onto the pages of the book that I read.
- The root system of my Irish ancestors as I delve into language and culture and a mythological view of the world.
- The stack of cards on my desk from friends and family, letting me know they care during my really lengthy, somewhat challenging recovery.
- Video chats with my sisters that always involve laughter and love.
- The ever present rise and fall of my own breath, the indicator of my aliveness, the subtle movement of expansion and contraction that is present in even single celled organisms links me to the larger web of life.
This practice of linking aliveness allows me to contemplate the connection that I am held in whether that be from the elements, the natural world, the surroundings I find myself in, the deeply held connections of friends and family and more.
Connectivity & The Web of Life
This connection, this web of life, honors the planet as a living, breathing organism with self organizing principles of healing and collaboration.
This connection, this web of life, sees no human as illegal or disposable, but as an essential part of the whole.
This connection, this web of life, and the awareness of the connection is where the actions of compassion arise from freely and generously.
This is not a soft place to land, but a fierce place to respond to cruelty, not returning the same, but rooted in connection that disrupts and mitigates the harm caused by cruelty.
This is what we are seeing in folks that are disrupting ICE as well as the Freedom Flotillas that sailed to Gaza. Even if these folks didn’t achieve their entire goal, the acts of compassionate disruption can also be the point.
Just as the Earth has the capacity to engage self organizing principles for healing and reciprocity, so do we.
This connection is a core component to all the worlds, wisdom traditions, including yoga.
Ahimsa, Non-Violence. Applied Teachings of Yoga Off the Mat
The very foundation of Yoga-Ahimsa, often translated as non-harming or non-violence, this idea, certainly in its inception, didn’t mean self focused actions we observe on our mat. This concept, applied in Gandhi’s movement to overthrow colonial rule in India as well as Rev Dr MLK Jr’s application of this in the civil rights movement here in the US is relational.
How are we in right relationship with the planet? Other species? Each other and ourselves?
And these relationships, are they rooted in an understanding not in the mere absence of injury, but a strongly woven fabric that seeks to root out and unravel causes of harm?
Compassion is an action in response to suffering that is rooted in relationship.
I ask myself often, can I be unafraid to love a world full of suffering? Can I cultivate my capacity for awe and wonder AND ALSO not turn away from my own suffering and that of others, particularly those that are not in my personal circle of caring and belonging? Can I recognize the relationship between fear and courage? Grief and love? Rage and passion? And despair and hope?
Compassion in Action on the Frontlines
We are all in our own ways on the frontlines now. What are we each bringing to the front lines and can we create an ecosystem of gifts? Can we bring together a potluck of sorts, co-creating to make magic during these challenging times? Can we commit together to build spaces of mutuality and reciprocity and belonging?
We need to live into the dream of the beloved community so it becomes a shared reality. We also need policies and legislation and support for the most vulnerable among us. I think of my daughter who requires a good deal of support in order to be fully and functionally independent. Ideally, the support would be both from the beloved community and the services and supports that are provided by a government that sees the participation of all people as an essential benefit to society.
In these times, find those who are practicing fiercely loving in these times without spiritual bypass. Find those who are willing to unpack racism, misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia, classism, elitism, ableism and power over structures as a spiritual practice of collective liberation of all beings while tending and nurturing the compassionate, courageous heart of self and community.
This is what beloved Zen Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hahn called Engaged Mindfulness- Compassion in Action.
Pay Attention to Your Aliveness
Find Your Roots
Nourish, Nurture and Tend to Your Eco-system
