How We Treat Our Bodies Is Deeply Political

In these troubling times of fear, confusion, frustration and polarization, we are all leaders.

The dust is still thick. As we begin to organize to cultivate clear-seeing and big picture vision, how we treat our bodies serves as the framework for how we treat each other and our country.

With Trump's election, our shadow is being reflected back at its most grotesque. What we most hate is that which we deny in ourselves. Leaders represent the collective consciousness, what's happening 'out there' is a reflection of whats going on inside of each of us. how we treat ourselves is deeply political.

Our presence is our greatest resources. A quiet nervous system is the only way we can begin the hero's journey of creatively imagining the yet unimaginable, the world of our great grandchildren where walls are torn down not built up, where diversity is strength, where the earth is the sovereign and our leaders take their authority from her.

Therefore, we must redouble our efforts towards equality by first starting with ourselves. One way we can care for eachother is by modelling the self care that we'd like to see all beings practice. We must strengthen our vessels for the work ahead.

Get enough sleep, get enough joyful movement,  drink water, eat nourishing food from the earth, take a nap, touch the earth with your feet and hands, ask her for guidance and listen closely through your body and your dreams. Before reaching for the caffeine or the sugar, make sure you're allowing yourself to feel emotion arising in it’s many shades of fear, anger, frustration and breathe deeply as they shift.

We are all leaders now.
We are all leaders now.
We are ALL leaders now.

Go to yoga class with a teacher you trust to hold space. Yoga teachers, as those we look to hold space for us to gather to collectively calm our nervous systems and our bodies, are in a unique and important role during this crisis.

Those in the third world live daily under similar threats to the lives of the most vulnerable in society. They survive by uniting together in community. In our society of individualist isolation, we have much to learn from their storehouse of wisdom. We must look to and attend to those in our communities who are most vulnerable and are now even more vulnerable: woman, sisters and brothers of color, the homeless, the queer community.

We are all the sons and daughters of grandmothers and great great grandmothers who survived. We are all sons and daughters of the earth, we must look to and honor the presence of our ancestors and the earth in and through our own bodies.

A new world is coming. We must strengthen our vessels for the work ahead.