Experience does not give us easy passage through struggle. Experience only grants us a little grace that whispers, “This is a part of the process. Stay the course.”
Brené Brown, Unlocking Us Podcast
This time last year, I had just finished fulfilling two major dreams of mine: teaching for the first European Wanderlust Festival in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and teaching for over 1,000 yogis at Parc de Saint-Cloud for Wanderlust 108 Paris.
Five days after moving into a temporary 6-floor walk-up apartment – and 2 days before I left for the 3-day Germany festival – I woke up smothered in bedbug bites [take a close look at the photo above, or don’t…]. The day before my flight, I awoke with an allergic reaction that made my whole body tremble and caused the receptionist at the doctor’s office to audibly gasp at the site of me.
Not only did I have physical pain and mental stress, I had to coordinate my Wanderlust classes and schedule as I bagged up my freshly unpacked belongings, figured out how and when to disinfect ALL of said belongings, washed whatever clothes I dared to bring to Germany, and coordinated where and how I was going to get everything out of that apartment / into an unknown new place.
With the doctor’s permission and my friend Yasmina as my trusted assistant [who doubled as caretaker, photographer, and therapist for the weekend], I set off to teach with itchy, swollen welts from head to toe. I had fallen down hard and had no idea how I would get back up, but the mission to share this meaningful practice reminded me that I must keep moving.
Thankfully for Yasmina, the distraction of preparing for both Wanderlusts, good ole fresh Alpine air, and my friend Devon who housed me for 7 months after the bugs-that-shall-no-longer-be-named, that crash-and-burn fall ended up rebuilding me – if not at a seemingly glacial pace [all alongside a fall not long beforehand as I exited a long term relationship and home / life in Brooklyn].
The challenging yet inevitable, character-building incident of falling down and getting back up is not unlike taking a spill on the kickball court and skinning a knee as a resilient child: we stumble, we feel the pain, we get back up, we clean up, we heal, we move on.
On and on we go, varying in intensity and frequency and our ability to learn from / work with it all.
Although it is true that this too shall pass, it is also healthy and human to grieve and feel deeply; to occasionally crash and burn.
This does not mean, however, that we get a free pass to remain passive or complacent; to stay down when we eat sh!t [why get up when we’ll inevitably fall again?]; to let things happen to us without taking any action or trying to arrive at a more positive outcome.
One could argue, in fact, that life’s ups and downs offer us an opportunity to recognize and relinquish old ways of thinking and living that no longer serve us; to co-create with one another / Universe / Spirit / Mother Nature / whatever higher power you or don’t believe in.
This is not unlike AOC’s recent inspiring video where she whole-heartedly reminds us that now is not the time to let grief, hopelessness, or fear cause us to give up. On the contrary, this is a massive opportunity to RISE UP and STAND UP for what we believe in – especially for a country currently taking a hard fall in multiple realms.
Is this just the lifelong cycle that we are consistently anticipating and meeting face to face, over and over again? Tumbling down, peeling ourselves up, rinsing and repeating?
With the support of time-tested mindfulness practices, we can cultivate tools to deal with difficulties with as much awareness and grace as possible, whether said awareness and grace come during or after said difficulties.
It is also important to lean in to trusted friends and family; to healers and teachers; to personal practices that make you feel balanced and at ease whenever we feel like we’ve landed in a dark hole without a clue as to how or when we’ll find our way up / out / back into the light.
When we end up face down on the floor, it can sometimes take a while to steady our feet again, and it can be especially helpful to allow others to help us get there.
Just like I was able to climb up out of massive rock bottoms thanks to various holistic practices, selfless friends, and the opportunities to serve students on a larger scale than I had ever done before, so too can individuals and communities encourage and empower one other during times of massive uncertainties / grief on many levels / deep division.
Meditation teacher Jack Kornfield reminds us that “we know how to do this.” We come after generations of those who have overcome extreme circumstances. We are hard-wired not only to weather the storm, but to pick each other up off the floor whenever we fall in the process.
Whether you’ve fallen, feel like you’re still down, or have climbed back onto your legs after toppling over: NOW if ever is the time to RISE UP as an individual and a collective. We have no other choice. No one is exempt from being affected by hardships, COVID, or even the politics of the United States – whether one is a citizen or resident, or a foreigner across the world.
Now is the time to challenge toxic socioeconomic and racist systems; to share pertinent information and influential organizations from legitimate sources; to stay informed; to speak up when we see or hear or feel injustice; to stop settling for what we are told is “normal” when it feels quite the opposite.
It might get messy [hasn’t it already?], we might trip or crash hard, but we must keep going – especially in honor of those who can’t / who might not / who simply [and sadly] won’t recover from the fall.
May we remember our courage, stay the course, and lift each other up to help light up the world.
[VOTE.]
Read the newsletter for Sardinian pizza dough and delicious topping inspo, virtual meditation and mindfulness sessions Sundays in October, a meditation to cultivate ease during stressful times, nourishing fall favorites, an inspiring podcast from one of the greats, and good vibes.
Onward.
Photo: Christina Amarens / Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany / Wanderlust GaPa, September 2019.
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