Suffice it to say shit has gotten real. Pardon my bluntness but we are all adults here and quite frankly there is no room to sugar coat things. The coronavirus, COVID 19 is the virus taking its effect on the entire world. Whether you have a loved one who is sick or devastatingly deceased or you’ve been told to self-isolate, social distance or quarantine your life away we have all been affected by this horrific virus. There is no way around it. And the changes that may come from it could possibly alter life as we know it forever. The anxiety over the unknown state of the future or the fear of infection can be debilitating.
Speaking from experience I myself experienced the rise of anxiety take over during a recent trip to Home Depot. In effort to keep ourselves busy ( like the rest of America) we decided to finally dig up our backyard for a long-desired garden and repot our monster aloe plant. Seriously you guys should have seen it! It was huge with like 6 little aloe plant babies popping out around it. We had put it off for way too long so I was excited for the project. In home depot some people wore gloves, some work masks. I felt likes eyes were blaring heat into me every time I cleared my throat. My fiancé walked seemingly unfazed through the bizarre scene. I felt myself getting smaller and smaller at the sight of every pair of gloves and my anxiety growing bigger and bigger the deeper we got into the store. Finally I couldn’t take it anymore. We were somewhere between looking for the water salt and getting wood for the border of the garden when I broke. I literally couldn’t walk anymore.
He asked if I was okay and I shakily and shortly responded, “ Yes. We can find something for the border at home, I just can’t take be in here anymore, I want to go home.” That’s honestly never happened to me before. The possibility of all the things that could change from a simple act, a simple trip to home depot has never been more real.
That’s when I felt the rise of something else. How yoga teaches us that although nature may be ever changing, after all there is nothing more constant than change. the true self never changes. Its always holding a safe place for us to feel protected and heard and held. It is our peace. And its always available to us whether we are sick or well. Our peace. That warm place at the center of your heart space never leaves. We may forget that its there. We may cover it up with other things that might feel more important but times like these helps to bring us back to what is important.
But we can only get to that place by going inward. Like a body releasing forward fold the state of the union is forcing us to go inward. To fold into the self and take stock of our lives and what is really important. At times like this we need to remember that there is a comfortable place within us. Going inward or folding forward( think Janu Sirsasana or head to knee pose) helps us to dig deep in the self to discover all the sides of us whether pleasant or unpleasant so we can see them in a different light, without all the worldly distractions that regular everyday life might bring and make peace with them.
So if you’ve never done yoga before CONGRATS!!! Because you’re kind’ve doing it right now. I know it doesn’t feel good. Its not any type of yoga you’ve probably ever imagined doing but its so necessary. This might even be the most important yoga technique you ever inadvertently get to experience.
I like to think of going inward as digging deep into my compassion box. In this way, by being forced to go inward to fold into the self to deal with ourselves we find compassion for ourselves and then we can share that compassion with others and who knows maybe even literally cure the world.
Yoga and The Real World 