what to do?
“Travel light, live light, be the light, spread the light.” ~ Yogi Bhajan
I taught a yoga class tonight at the Vasanta Institute of Ayurveda outside of Pune, India. I didn’t want to teach. I wanted to hole up and feel all the feelings, and give my fear, anxiety, and unsettledness a prime seat in the living room of my consciousness.
Instead I did my duty. I showed up and held the space for a room of people feeling their own version of what I was experiencing. And you know what? I felt so much better after showing up to do my work; in proceeding on the path. The teaching I shared with these students tonight is what follows.
This question hangs over us, ‘What to do?’ (Dr. Lad often says this in a very cute tone) It’s easy to feel powerless, here half way across the world, hearing the broadcasts of unrest and anxiety that come to us through news, social media, and conversations with loved ones.
But this conversation regarding 'What to do?' is framed by the context of ‘as practitioners’. What to do as practitioners of yoga, of ayurveda, of the healing arts? What to do?
What if we dug deep into our internal steadiness, which is always present even when the external world seems to have spun upside down, and took this as the reaffirmation of our commitment to walk the warriors path?
What if we committed to lighting the way for those who are operating from a space of fear and darkness?
What if we committed to letting love be our language, even with those that spew hate?
What if with each person you encountered (each fellow student, each staff member, each client you received) and held in a space of light - you understood that you did your part in healing the collective psyche.
This was yesterday, and remains today, the work of the warriors path. To do our work to be steady and bright, and show up regardless of whether the sun is shining, or it feels like a s#!t storm. While it may feel that the external world is a different one we woke up to today, our work as practitioners has been, and will be, to do the work of transforming our internal world. To an inner world of more love, and less separation. To foster connection in places that feel impossible. To light the way, especially when it seems particularly dark.
I send my love from Mother India. She is working to rub raw all the places that need transforming. She is delivery tapas as part of my daily experience. She is asking me to do my work. I hold you close no matter the distance. I love you, and the world you create in your likeness. You are divine light.
Hari Om ~ Kara
