I’ll never forget the weirdest yoga class I ever taught. It was my 6pm Flow class on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. I don’t remember what I taught or said, I just remember feeling a collective uncertainty, anxiety, and unease so palpable that nothing I did or said cut through it. Everyone in that room somehow knew we were about to walk into an unthinkable unknown. We all knew, deep down, life would never be the same.
Something about our country changed that night. Some will argue it was for the better, some for the worse. National pundits are still trying to parse out what exactly changed. I no longer teach a Tuesday, 6pm Flow class and the studio I taught that class in no longer exists. Yet, here we find ourselves again eight years later. I imagine that same energy will present itself in every yoga classroom across the country at 6pm this Tuesday1
Regardless of what happens, regardless of your political persuasion or beliefs, regardless of whether you think democracy is going down the toilet, we’re barreling straight towards World War III, or we’re about to take back our country from the brink of disaster, there are no clear answers. We live in a world dealing with heavy, existential issues. There is nothing but uncertainty right now.
Most people feel like they need certainty in their life to function despite the fact that change is the only constant. It feels better to be in control, to continue down a familiar path, to know what you’re doing, even though reality always contains curveballs. The human brain can never account for all potential possibilities.
The only true certainty in life, other than death, is your own present moment awareness.
If you’re not in the US anxiously awaiting Election Day there are plenty other world events causing uncertainty. Wars. Natural disasters. The daily changes in your physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing as you move through life’s seasons.
Despite all this uncertainty, you always have the opportunity to choose connection to Self.
Yoga can’t fix the world’s problems. The yoga nidra practice I’m sharing with you today won’t cure your anxiety or help you feel more certain. But it can help you feel more connected.
Connection is the ground from which we all must move forward each day. Connection to something greater than ourselves. Connection to source. Connection to universal wisdom. Connection to the potential for our world to be a space for possibility, potential, growth, learning, and love. Once we are connected to Self, then we can connect with others with more compassion, kindness, and love.
I hope you do take some time for yourself today, this week, this month to connect with yourself. Tune out the noise. Check in. May this yoga nidra practice bring you some present-moment peace in the days, weeks, and months ahead.
It’s going to be okay. We’ll get through the election together.
Reflect before the practice
Before you start the practice, ask yourself this question to help guide your yoga nidra experience:
What are you most afraid of right now? What are you afraid is going to happen? Elaborate. Dig in. Spell it out in words. If your fear materializes, how are you going to feel? How is it going to affect you? Get specific.
Namaste.
The yoga is free…and
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At least every studio in the DMV, our acronym for the D.C., Maryland, Northern Virginia metro area. We feel politics very acutely here.
Relieve election anxiety (or any anxiety) with yoga nidra