Hi lovers,
It is great to be home and back to teaching this morning. I always find one of the best parts of travel is the coming home, a reminder of the what it's like when we leave presence and our own heart, and then find our way back. This happens over and over again. It is not a problem, but recognizing when we have left, we can, in a breath, be back home.
When Tessa and I got invited on this trip, I have to say, France was not top on my list of places to visit, but having an opportunity to travel with loved ones, living on a boat for a week, and touring the hillside villages of Southern France seemed way too cool of an opportunity to miss. But, I have to say, I have always had this belief that the French are snooty and aloof. I know this is not true, but the belief is still there and I wanted to experience something different. Before I left Tahoe, when people asked me what I was most excited about before leaving, this paradigm shift is what I hoped to find.
Sure enough, when I stepped off the plane with an open heart, I saw the French as beautiful, kind, loving, helpful, compassionate people, just like you find in humanity all over this planet. It is so important for each of us to look at the beliefs that are keeping us separate even inside ourselves.
Just this past Friday, I was sitting in Sainte Chapelle Cathedral with Tessa taking in the beauty of all the stained glass. Energetically, something felt "heavy" as I sat there. Tessa and I discussed that we were both feeling some homesickness and how excited we were to be back with our loved ones. As she turned to photos on my phone of our beloveds back home, I closed my eyes and continued to tune in. I would open my eyes and look at all the different panes of glass, each one telling a story. Each pane that I looked at, not one woman was depicted. I closed my eyes again and felt it- how divided we have become and how out-of-balance we are with the divine feminine and divine masculine... Eventually, Tessa and I made the long walk back to our apartment. The heavy feeling was not lifting for me. Was I homesick? I was not sure.
Later on that night Tessa and I were talking about the book I was reading. It is about a mother and daughter relationship that unfolds while the two of them are traveling. I thought it would be an appropriate read for our trip togetheThe day before our sojourn to Sainte Chapelle, my friend Kali asked Tessa what she was reading? Tessa responded, "The Hate You Give". Kali asked, "Why would you read something with a title like that?" and Tessa said, "It's not all unicorns and rainbows, you know."
So, when I was sharing that the mother/daughter characters in my book were both depressed with where they were at in life, Tessa said, "See mom; it's not all unicorns and rainbows." Which opened up a whole conversation about what we read and what we choose to ingest and we even talked a little about rape. Maybe I am crazy to talk to my eleven year old about these things and maybe I am robbing her of her innocence, but she wants to know truth and she asks...
Later that night I was compelled to check in with what's going on in the world that felt so heavy to me and I was surprised, and not surprised at all, to see what was happening with the US Supreme Court nominnee. It's heavy and it's definitley not unicorns and rainbows. Can we be with how we have hurt and raped each other and this earth? We have a lot to be with...
Therefore, offering a yoga series for men (see below), followed by one for men and women together, I find it is so timely. I hope you all see the importance of this work and that you feel compelled to dive in with Ben and I. Neither of us claim to be experts in any of this, but we do have the capacity to hold a safe space for healing and transformation to occur. Let us do this together and walk each other home.
So much love to each one of you.
Hope to see you in class soon.
Namaste,
Shari
