Embracing our Virtual Connection….Because Why Not?

I've just finished a 2 hour seminar with the Mind & Life Institute (thank you Wendy C!) entitled "Finding Connections and Pathways to Embodied Wisdom" and I find myself reflecting on all things Zoom, within the context of embodiment and community connection. Though I've been so grateful to have Zoom as a way to keep teaching and keep feeling connected, I have to admit to a fair amount of subtle "dissing" of the very medium I am so dependent on right now. Listening to leaders in the field of bodymind research and practice, I realize I need to really let that go. As yoga practitioners, we are learning and relearning how to listen to the body, drop into sensations in the body, and simultaneously strengthen our community, our Sangha, through our shared experiences of movement, breath and embodiment. Paradoxically, in the current reality, all I see of you is a little square, all you see of me is a slightly bigger square and what we see of each other as a group is a sort of Hollywood Squares that is a substitution for literal, physical presence. But in truth, connecting is connecting. And in those moments when I've "forgotten" we are joined only by technology, there have been startling moments of intimacy. This, I believe, is the value of these practices—yoga, meditation, movement, stillness—revealing itself. My intention for the forseeable future is to embrace this way of being a teacher, and to keep on sharing and teaching ways that we can individually and collectively keep coming home to the body. To keep immersing in awareness. The body is a kind of community too, and so if we can learn to be in community with each other in a yoga studio, we can learn to be in community with our own bodies at a distance, and share that with one another virtually, merging the two experiences.

And when it is truly safe to practice in person again, without risk or fear, the connection will feel that much sweeter, and hopefully our community, our Sangha, even richer.

Onward! Peace and Love, keep reading ahead to see what's happening over the holidays.
Love,
Leslie