This past Saturday, hosting a petition signing for a friend to get on the Democratic ballot for State Rep, our tea kettle remained on the whole day while folks gathered round the table for really good conversation and many laughs. Many people from various parts of the planet have gathered in our kitchen which has been occupied only by our family in the last two years.
It felt awesome….and strange.
The past couple weeks, I visited several friends in their homes. I have become accustomed to meeting people in the forest or in parks so this still feels slightly weird, but welcomed, especially because we can also snack while visiting!
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Tuesday evening. We end our weekly facilitator training with Harris Connections which is like a peeling away of the layers of cultural conditioning to raw, open spaces of grace.
I love people I have only seen in a Zoom Square.
In the spaces and places I teach, learn and engage, I have found folks that allow a deep level of in virtual space.vulnerability. I didn’t know this was possible.
In the Saturday and Tuesday Sanghas I lead, in trainings I have both led and participated in as a student, this is present and powerful.
I spent a year and a half with The Trailblazery and The Hedge Schools of Ireland engaging in really potent conversations about the trajectory of humanity.
There arose an opportunity during Covid I only dreamed of, studying with Joanna Macy https://workthatreconnects.org and lo and behold, amongst hundreds of folks in thirteen time zones in a Zoom square, the image of my friend Dr. Shannon Telenko!
I now offer a weekly yoga class on Insight Timer and practiced this morning with a few folks from my hometown as well as seventy-six folks from the U.K., Portugal, Spain and various places in the U.S.A.
Next week, I will begin teaching as faculty in an online yoga collective mentoring other yoga teachers in other parts of the country and planet.
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In the meantime, I am learning to navigate between virtual and physical reality. After I finish this and other tasks related to my business, I will get my N-95 mask and glasses shield and prep for my consulting work in a long term care facility. My work life in physical reality, teaching at the Cancer Center, therapeutic music at Hospice, and the long term care facility, still involves these precautions.
After the long term care facility, I will travel to my friend Norman’s studio, where various artists have depicted contemporary versions of the Stations of the Cross, I will play my harp. Without a mask.
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This hybrid life.
The ability to connect beyond geography and time zone is amazing. The energetics of the heart can be felt in virtual spaces.
And I am enjoying really long hugs from folks and sleepovers with my grandsons.