Practicing Yoga and Social Justice

Sheesh – things are moving so rapidly in the world around us these days. I started this post on Tuesday but didn’t have time to finish and it already feels a little dated. But I’m posting it anyway. Monday I felt a push/pull about posting something to mark MLK day. On the one hand, what could speak more to social justice? On the other hand, white people have appropriated MLK’s story, diluted it, made it for and about them when his focus and purpose was about the liberation of African Americans. I saw all the beautiful and powerful quotes posted on social media and I decided I didn’t need to add anything to them. The best way we white people can celebrate and appreciate MLK is to fight for his real ideals – not the sanitized, feel good version; the hard-hitting urgency for change version. And to keep making sure there is space for people of color to have access to his vision and the model of his leadership. It’s really not about us, except to the extent it helps us...

Happy January. For me, this is always an auspicious time – when the whirlwind of energy around the holidays gives way (hopefully) to some time for reflection and planning. I’ve been noticing all the cynical and negative messages on my social media feeds about new year’s resolutions. I agree with them, in spirit. Yes, any time is an opportune time to make changes in your life. And we are all guilty, sometimes, of over-investing in an idea of change that is not sustainable. For me, though, there’s something so compelling about having an annual invitation to think about what’s happening around us and within us, and how to make change. And, yes, some new year’s resolutions are rooted in an inability to express self-love (e.g. my annual effort to lose 5 pounds). But I love feeling, with each new year, that there is a new sense of possibility. That I could have a vision for myself and the year that is unstained by compromise and the uncontrollable reality we live in. It...