TODAY is my Dad’s 93rd birthday! He told me Monday, he had seen so many presidents come and go that he felt it gave him a lot of perspective. I am celebrating this amazing man and grateful for his quiet wisdom.
Now that the election is over…. What hurts, fears, rages, regrets, blames? Where does it show up in your body? In your life? Or maybe you’re really excited, hopeful, happy…. Or numb, in shock. Just notice where the feelings live.
I shot a sparkly fall teaching video just before the election about being in and with your feelings and allowing them–without trying to change or stuff or ignore or affirm over them. In much the same way as the sparkles on the water at my house move and flow, your path to shifting the feelings is to let them move.. The freeing and even fun exercise below is about actively supporting the feelings and letting them support you!
No matter who you are or where you stand,
Just as I was writing to you about the election, a dear friend whose birthday is ALSO TODAY sent this piece by Raphael Cushnir to a group of us, saying, “NO matter how you feel about the election, I hope you will read this and pass it along.”
So I did! It IS ‘right on.’
STAND UP and do this for your body, for yourself, for your family, for us, for America, for the planet. The best we can do is come home to ourselves, which connects us to this moment and all that is::
IF YOU’RE Experiencing Electoral Distress…..
Take a deep breath.
Sigh it out.
Take another.
Shake it out.
Notice what you feel in your body.
Heart first.
Radiating outward.
If there’s shock, let yourself be in shock.
Don’t bypass it.
The longer you resist it, the longer it will last.
If your heart’s breaking, let it break.
Notice any places of grief, confusion, despair.
Gently embrace those places.
Welcome them tenderly.
Feel your feet on the ground.
Feel your place on the earth.
Take another deep breath.
And another.
Be here. Now.
In this moment.
Notice all the stories your mind is creating about the future.
Notice any fear and disgust that those stories may generate.
Let all that be.
You just can’t know what’s going to happen.
You can’t.
Every time you collapse into a story about what’s to come, you leave yourself.
Don’t leave yourself.
Don’t leave your loved ones.
Reach out.
Comfort.
Remember who we are.
Remember that we are one interconnected organism.
In pain.
Sick.
Having a healing crisis.
Now is the time to take a deep cleansing breath.
Be the immune system of the One.
Take that in again:
Be the immune system of the One.
Bring love where there is hurt.
Bring love where there is discord.
Notice what you feel in your body.
If there is rage – stomp it out.
Roar it out.
Be as angry as you are until that wave has dissolved.
Don’t try rationalize it away.
Don’t try to spiritualize it away.
Don’t seal it off with judgment.
Don’t dump it on others.
Just stay with the raw expression.
Let it pour out of you into the earth and ocean and sky.
Let them filter it into pure potential energy.
For action.
For another day.
If you feel threatened, breathe right into the heart of the threat.
What’s the actual sensation?
Where is its center?
Stretch yourself wide open enough so that the sensation of threat has all the room it needs to crest and clear.
Notice that you’re safe right now.
In this very moment.
No matter what happens next.
Is that true?
Are you safe right now?
You are.
In this very moment.
You’re safe right now.
Let the truth of this soften you.
Stay soft.
Supple.
Vibrating with life.
Let that vibration become a movement.
In your arms.
Legs and torso.
Neck, shoulders, and head.
Let it flow into a dance.
A dance to the beat of your own generous heart.
Dance in gratitude for all the gifts that life has bestowed upon you.
Dance in recognition that you are so much bigger than the smallness and meanness of this moment.
Dance in understanding that the smallness and meanness of this moment comes from pain.
Dance in honor of that pain, in all its expressions, even the bitterest, even the most hateful.
Dance in celebration of your passion, strength, and conviction.
Dance in the knowing that you will soon transmute the tragedy of this moment into treasure.
Dance with me.
With him.
With her.
With every single one of us whose love of justice and kindness is brighter and fiercer than any other force arrayed against it.
Ever.
Together, we get through.
Together, we find patience.
Together, we overcome.
Together, we replenish and renew.
So let the last leaps of the dance shake every shred of this madness right out of you.
All the way.
Now catch your breath.
Keep breathing.
Remember who you are.
Remember where you come from.
Remember your tribe.
Bow to your tribe.
Tune out the noise.
Listen for the signals.
Be ready to heed them.
Be ready to act.
Swiftly.
But not yet.
Right now…
In this very moment…
Rest up
Raphael Cushnir
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