Hmm!
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Welcome to our pilgrimage in Prudet
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): for October. I'm so so happy
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to be here with you and for some folks. This might be your last for other folks. You're continuing.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and I wanted to spiral back around, no matter where you are to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): exploring Ahimsa this month.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): so we will.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): We'll begin in a moment with a practice.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): But I wanted to invite you in the chat to drop something that. like an act of kindness that you have done for yourself, or a way that you've cared for yourself.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you can also drop if someone else has done something kind or an act of Ahimsa from someone else towards you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So dropping in
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): care for yourself
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and care that someone has given you, and welcome. And if you're up for having your
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): your videos on. That's amazing. If you prefer not. That's also okay. It just enabled the
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): closed captioning. So if you would like to see that you can.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): hmm
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): went to go see a Chinese herbalist to get some herbal medicine.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): The air finally cleared allergy season, and I took a walk around the water, the water, and she's the same. Yes, I so relate to that, Karen. Same here
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I took a beautiful hike and long bubble bath at the start of the week, which felt very nourishing. Oh, that sounds amazing! And so a reminder that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): our self care can be big things, and it can also be little things like having water keeping yourself nourished and hydrated.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): so for folks just coming in, we're sharing acts of a him set acts of care for ourselves.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and maybe reflecting on acts of care that others have done for us, or that we are doing or have done in the world.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Hmm.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): okay.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): just take a moment while folks drop
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): yes. Arriving in this space is an act of kindness to myself. Thank you for creating it. My partner is helping me on a project this evening. Oh, it's beautiful!
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): My roommate, where my roommate cooked me dinner the other night. Oh, it's beautiful. taking a little rest before coming on this call. It's so beautiful. Hmm.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): okay. So wherever you are invitation, if you'd like to have full of water, and I put I have these big stones that I got, and I put stone in my water, just cause it felt.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and feeling the need for some grounding, so you're welcome to have water in any form. It could also be water in your water bottle doesn't have to be outside of you. Candle in any form fleeing or fire. And also, if you don't have these, that's okay.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And I'll take a moment for you to get those things.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Hmm!
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And as you're getting those things. You also might want to journal.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I'd love to invite you to participate
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): with Ahimsa.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So Ahimsa adds non harm
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): as care for oneself.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): but not just like surface level.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): right? Like what calls us into Yoga is that there's something deeper. There's something more there for us. There's a way that we can express ourselves more fully or way that we can share gifts more with the world that we can help.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you know. And I think maybe not all of us. I don't want to generalize or speak for everyone, but
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I know I have a really deep longing to like, do good to try to help make the world a better place, and if I could, you know II don't have the delusion that I can impact, say like climate change or racial inequity, but to like, try to move things in the right direction.
And I think many of us that are here probably share that wish right in in whatever realm that is the most
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): salient or most close to you. that we're here practicing.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): in part because our own liberation, our own care for ourselves, is bound up
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): with others liberation, and is bound up with making the world a better place. And so
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): we share that. And there's something beautiful about being in a space of folks who, though our pathways might be different and our actions might be different, and even our practices might look really different. We share that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): kind of ground level of values, of care for ourselves, care for the world. With Yoga.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): It is no small thing. It's no small thing to be in a space with other people who share that that path and that passion.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so, just taking a moment to acknowledge that you're here for you, you're also not alone like you're here with other folks.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and there's many folks watching the recordings who are also here with us energetically, and then the ripples out to people in your life, in your world, to your community, to your chosen family,
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): your ancestors, the healed and whole ones that you want to welcome in and bring all of the supporters really for your care
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and your message and your mission
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): into the space with you. So we'll take a moment to practice. and what we see
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): do invite you if you have it.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to light your candle.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and as you're lighting it.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you're connecting to that intention of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Ahimsa, as love
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): has.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): care for yourself, care for the world.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then you can have your bowl of water close, or your glass of water close, if you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): If you have your candle going.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): we'll take a moment and stare into the flame.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and there's a few ways you can do this.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Let me see if I can hold this so you can see it in case you want to use mine.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): One is staring the way normally would, or gazing the way you normally would, while blinking
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): another is not not blinking.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): so staring at the flame and allowing your eyes maybe to water.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): seeing what arises
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): deep breath in
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and deep breath out.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and if you don't have a flame and you don't want to lick in there
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): screen, you can just take in the ambient light in your environment.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): reflecting on the universality of this
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): flame.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): It's symbolism as a light of knowledge.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): a light of insight that exists within each of us
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): as agnee
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): sacred fire.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and if you prefer now, if you'd like, you can let your eyes close
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): your gaze. Go soft.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): visualize that flame within
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the light of Yoga.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): What are
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the threads, the relationship
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): or relationships that you're starting
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): or nurturing or deepening? And how is Yoga supporting you
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): with care for yourself?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Care for others
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): here in the world.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): in some bypassing way that ignores obstacles. There's so many obstacles.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): internal ones ones around us.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): environmental, systemic
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): in a way that practicing Ahimsa can feel quite radical and revolutionary.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): How might you find or create support in spite of. or even because of, those obstacles
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and maybe visualizing now a flame in your mind's eye. the sacred fire, the homa.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and this homa might be in a place in nature that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you visualize.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): connected through its light to the flame of knowledge. is lit by Yoga practitioners thousands of years ago.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and that is still burning
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that same fire.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And there are Yoga
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): adapt
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): masters, practitioners, students
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): around that fire right now, in this very moment, chanting the same
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): mantra that was chanted thousands of years ago.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and that is chanted around that fire
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): 24 HA day without end.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): This is a living practice. one that is
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the deep honor to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): be part of, and to be touched by and to be able to share.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so, taking your place
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): in
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): circle around the fire
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): in your mind's eye, maybe feeling
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the support of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): don't have to do this alone. I have all these other beings, past, present, future.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): holding this practice with me, supporting me.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and whom I'm also supporting
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): from a chance that are chanted vary.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): It's not always when particular mantra. The one that feels called to chant now
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): is the mantra of removing and also engaging with or working with any obstacles that might be there. I know
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that has come up for many of us environmentally lately, and perhaps also personally.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so we'll free chant the
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): ganesh mantra out loud. Let me put it in the chat in case
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you would like to see it. It is home. Gum
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Ganapati, Namaha.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): home, gum Ganapati, Namaha.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you can keep your eyes closed or your gaze soft. can have your arms
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): out. Be moving, or have your hands together at your heart.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and we'll chant it 9 times.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): You can chant aloud, or receive, or in your mind's eye, and I'll do it once, just so you can hear what the chant sounds like.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Chat together.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Oh, gan Ganapati, Namaha!
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Oh, God! Ganapite. Namaha!
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Oh Gaum Ganapati! Namaha! Oh go Ganapati near my heart
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): oh, Gaana Patti! Namaha!
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Knowing the energy of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): stay, full. self-care. removing of obstacles, but also acknowledging the obstacles that help us grow.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And now I'm taking sometime we'll do a little bit of movement. and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I'll invite you into a cobra shape. So your choice, whether you're on the earth or on your tear, can take your hands to the side of your tear and stretch your chest up.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Turn up! We're coming to a time, and Vedic
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and ritual that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): acknowledges the snake, and then curving down, so maybe moving at your own pace, and in your own way, inhaling and arching up.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then exhaling and rolling down, facing down a form of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): forward fold.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): moving in your own way, maybe using chair
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): arms or your chair
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): be on the earth, maybe standing. There's no way to do this wrong
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): stretch to your spine. your chest and throat.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): There's something very
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): magical and lucky about this time. Snakes are considered to be
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): really good luck. and also kind of divinely
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): timed and inspired to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): almost magically help remove or shift them, an obstacle from something challenging into something supportive, or something that benefits that next level of your growth. So
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you don't necessarily need to have anything in mind. But just have that intention of transformation.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then you can begin to move your arms into this, if you'd like, bring your fingertips to your shoulders and bring your shoulder blades back towards one another, and then, rounding, bring the movement from our upper backs more into our mid back
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and heart
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): opening your heart.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): It's protecting. The ultimate act
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): of for ourselves is really just the clarity to know when we want to have those boundaries with love, and when we can, we want to be open hearted and share.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And again, there's no right answer. There's just what's right for you in this moment.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and you can keep your fingers on your shoulders, or some of us might want to move our arms back
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and move our arms forward. making that movement a little bit bigger, or maybe making circles with your arms.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): might hear some cracking yours or mine. It's all welcome.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): One more this way.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): inhale our arms up and twist to one side.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): bringing
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and back behind you. If you're on your chair you can see mine hooked over my chair, or if you don't have a chair, you can place your head on your back.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): but for all of us
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): we're inhaling and twisting from our bellies, then our chest, then our chin, then our eyes twist all the way around.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and if your breath is constricted.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): perhaps coming out a little bit, letting your breath deep in.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and on the next exhale softening back into his wrist.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): One more breath on the side
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): next inhale can bring our arms up and around
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): over to the other side, and really taking your time
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): on each side to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to let yourself twist into
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): this stretch, so inhaling and exhaling, twisting from your guts, from your belly.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Test
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): 10 eyes.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): one more breath on this side
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and on your next. Inhale back up.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then hands come down and listen closely to this. We're gonna take our hands and place them on the top of our ears.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): just pulling your ear back and away, if that feels okay for you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then moving your fingertips down your ears back in a way.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And this can sometimes be done in Malasana. And so, if you'd like, you can find a way to bring your legs into it so that might be like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): bringing your feet onto your chair. If you're sitting on a chair and squatting in between them, bringing your hands back to massage your ears.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): This process increases our awareness and alertness.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and now we've kind of warmed up our ears a bit. You're gonna take your right thumb and forefinger, and slide smile. I don't know if I'm mirroring you, but your thumb and forefinger, and place it on the lobe of the opposite ear, and then switch there and just massage
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the your earlobes with opposites
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): opposite hands.
Let's continue to breathe here.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So modern neuroscience. And like I've done, I used to teach elementary school, and we do these like brain breaks. And a lot of it was about these cross lateral moving across the midline.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Ways of moving to stimulate, wake up the brain.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And these are practices that are ancient. You know that Melasana, the book, Corona. This is a practice has been written about and is used in Ayurvedic and cleansing kreas as well, too. It's almost like flossing our brains.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then, when you're ready, you can release.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): inhale, stretch your arms out, and then option to bring your arms back behind you, clasp your hands
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): once again. Kind of a counter shape.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): For some. You might want to so couple of different choices here, so you can bring your your hands behind your back and lean forward. You could bring your hands behind your neck and lean forward. So we're going into a forward fold. With a little bit of stretching through our shoulders, and you get to titrate and determine how
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): how that is for you. But all that really matters here is that your head and your energy is moving down towards the earth, so receiving that earth based energy of support, of care.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): inhaling my heart is open and free
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): exhaling.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I receive and give love.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): inhaling my heart is open and free.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): exhale. I receive and give love.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): inhale free.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): exhale love.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Few more breaths here.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): inhaling and stretching up towards the sky. saving up as much space as you can.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then exhaling. And we're gonna form a ball. And so your choice as to how you do that. You can bring your legs up into your body and curl up into a ball, or you can bring your arms around you just hug yourself in tight, tight, tight, and then bring your face down, if you would like, towards your body.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): maybe you're crossing your legs. If your legs are under you on a desk, or add a tear.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): parking everything in. If you haven't given yourself the hug, let this be the first and not last hug of the day
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you are number one. It starts with you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then we'll pull in.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): If you would like to hold your breath, you can inhale
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and hold 2, 3,
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): 4, and on your exhale open up and relax, coming into Shavasana.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So your Shivasana can be seated. can be standing sitting lying down in any shape
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): really aiming for maximum possible comfort.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Ahimsa, as care for you
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the places where
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): we might be challenged
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to offer compassion or to offer support or care
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the places where we ourselves are still struggling.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and so, having the self inquiry.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the self understanding to know in those moments I don't need to practice. I need to care for myself. Here
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the pause. the breath.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Oh.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): in a way it's beautiful. those challenges that we might have because they connect us
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): universally to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to the struggle.
to the part of us that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that sometimes is
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): ready to rebel or to yell, or to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): wants to change things.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and the part that everyone shares, that we all have feelings
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): of sadness, of anger. the joy.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so we practice Ahimsa for ourselves, caring for ourselves.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): we practice in our relationships
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and in how we show up in the world
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): around the issues and things that matter the most to us.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Take a few more breaths here
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): feeling how
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the care that you bring yourself matters.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): care that you give to others matters.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Know, my teacher, Sankerji, when I was training with him.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): We're tackling really big issues like past and equity. And you know, very.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): very immediate needs food, water, sustenance, work, purpose
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): for folks.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and what he would have us do
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): when we gathered, you know. Say, we were working on
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): health care need or getting water, you know, building a well.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): The first part of the meeting would be
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): walking, meditation
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): or candle, gazing chute like we started with.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): or chanting. or Asana
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): or Diana forms of meditation. not just for 5 min, but for like 2, 3 h.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then we would start the work from that foundation.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so it's not
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): trivial mints.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): huge part of a theme set as personal collective change.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So these final moments of rest.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): offering yourself gratitude.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): maybe even a little celebration, maybe a wiggle of celebration like I'm doing this.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you know, especially, I'm thinking of folks who are like, I don't even I don't feel like I'm doing it. I don't feel like I've practiced. I've barely shown up to anything or
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): like, yeah, you're doing it. You're here listening.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): even if you're half in, half out.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So celebrating yourself.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): appreciating this practice
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and recommitting recommitting reconnecting
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): as we move from reflection or practice into reflection, invite you to journal or write in the chat.
How is Ahimsa? How is
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): non harm, care, love.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): showing up in your personal life.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): in your relationships and in the world. And I'll write that in the chat
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): we'll take a few minutes, maybe 3. How is Ahimsa Nonharm love showing up in your personal life relationships and in the world
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): are there things that you want to cultivate and then we'll share?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I'd love to invite you into
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): dropping your reflections in the tats. Be taking a minute more, 2 min to right there
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then in a moment, I'll invite folks if you'd like to share out loud.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And I see there's some folks just joining. So just repeating again the reflection question is, how is Ahimsa
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): showing up in your personal life relationships and in the world
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and other things you want to cultivate.
Yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you're about to invite in. And he shares like to share.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): This could include like questions. Right? Like, if you're like, I'm grappling with this
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and also so could be answers to that question. It could also be reflections on the practice today.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): but the floor is open for you all.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Rachel. Hi!
rachel@yogasong.net: Hi! I love this reflection, and I feel like I want to be saturated, and I himself through all the layers of my being and all the layers of life. And
rachel@yogasong.net: II feel like a lot of my life is driven by him. So living a life of service. I work in hospice. I'm a music practitioner, so I play the harp, the Celtic Irish harp. I've done that work for 20 years, but more recently. As a as a 56 year old, I feel much. II feel, Ahimsa, that that
rachel@yogasong.net: connective tissue of Ahimsa is calling me to really uplift younger people in my community and and and really encourage dreams and visions that younger people have.
rachel@yogasong.net: And and that's sort of that sympathetic joy like rejoicing in others, gifts and talents. So I feel like I can always grow in my own. But I'm I'm really noticing in my community a lot of really vibrant
rachel@yogasong.net: younger people that I want to uplift so that feels really like alive and present for me right now with Ahimsa. Thank you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that's beautiful.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Thank you, Rachel. I really resonate with that and I feel like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): when we look at so many different social movements.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): It is part of how we are effective as change makers is lifting up other folks.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): even if their way of making change or acting, you know, is slightly different than ours. That's what I see is, movements are very effective
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): when people are kind of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): lifting others others up. And it becomes like this. you know, collaborative, collective.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): even if it's non-centralized.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So re, really resonating with that as it's like a
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): personal choice.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And it can also be a very strategic movement and political choice. So II love that.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Aaron. Yeah.
Karen McMillan: Did you say my name? I wasn't sure
Karen McMillan: I was busy writing. Yes, Karen.
Karen McMillan: you know, and I've been thinking about this so many times, but now that you've asked to say it out loud.
Karen McMillan: you know the reminder to self-care in a practical way, mental and emotional and spiritual way
Karen McMillan: that comes up, and that it's relatively easy by comparison. I found it most helpful, though, as I'm in a small claims.
Karen McMillan: fight in court with a landlord who decided she wasn't going to return my several $1,000 of security deposit.
Karen McMillan: This has been going on since 2021, and I could be angry about it, or I could give up and just let it go instead.
Karen McMillan: It's about just take the steps.
Karen McMillan: Don't bring me anger. Have the Ahimsa for self.
Karen McMillan: not even towards the other person, whatever their issues are.
Karen McMillan: And even as I had to send in the evidence which I mailed yesterday is like, have kindness for the judge who has to read all of this, put it in a way that it's not angry, but it's organized. Make it easy for everybody, because it already brings
Karen McMillan: so much heaviness, so
Karen McMillan: I won't speak more about it. But it's been a moment for a long time, and
Karen McMillan: and it's just
Karen McMillan: been so helpful to stay in the positive and to even say.
Karen McMillan: I've now mailed it. Whatever happens, happens. we've already had a Germans and mediation. Nothing's worked.
Karen McMillan: but it's like, don't give up, but don't be angry. You have now taken all the steps afforded to you.
Karen McMillan: whatever happens happens, but you know that you've tried.
Karen McMillan: and now you have to let it go, and whatever's supposed to come is to come, and and all that has been the Swaddiya. Yeah, and Ahimsa, and it's been
Karen McMillan: so helpful. It all started happening at the same time from the ytt class till now. I didn't even know how beneficial it would all be, or what I would learn. And it's
Karen McMillan: this is just one of the ways. It's been very helpful.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Thank you, Karen.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and I have to say like, it's so helpful when folks I find it helpful for me when folks share that the actual applications right like the really challenging moments of like.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you know, small claims court, or in this case it's like theft, anti Esteya, right like so, and and it makes me angry on behalf of you, right like I feel angered at someone trying to exploit in that way. Without even knowing the details of the situation. Just the the feeling. And
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and so I think, piece of what I wanted to
ask you is.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): have you had the space to feel.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): or do you? Do you feel like you're him says, now kind of where you've come to after that, or do you feel like you're pushing cause? And the reason I asked this is for me.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So I'm the type of practitioner and person who sometimes moves to the like. Everything's fine, like I'm very peaceful, but I'm not right. I'm hurt, and I'm angry, and I'm suffering. And and so it's sort of like, not quite integrated. And I'm learning I'm in the process of learning that part of Maya who set is to like.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): spend some time, you know, put on the like emo sad song, playlist, and be sad, or put on the like feminist rage, you know, and be mad, and for me it takes sometimes an outside thing to help me allow my feelings.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then I move right to the practice, and if I feel it coming up I go back, and I let myself feel it, and then I come back. So I'm not forcing the piece. I am it because I've had space and I don't. This may not be you. Karen. It may
Karen McMillan: spot on, that's it, and it's
Karen McMillan: I think, part of the now that you say it, I'll add to it because it's ditto everything you've said and made, and it's to remember maybe part of the Ahm system. Remember, I'm human. I'm very human. So I'm going to get pissed. And I'm gonna you know. But I've been. And then I've been through the part where it's angry and cursing and wishing the worst to then the anger gets softer, and then I have moments of whatever, and then I add the gratitude toward.
Karen McMillan: and
Karen McMillan: I'm grateful that
Karen McMillan: her not returning didn't stop me from getting a new home, didn't it? Didn't stop me from having a deposit for something else, because in there have been times in my life
Karen McMillan: I wouldn't have been able to move because I wouldn't have had a deposit for the new home. So I'm blending it all. and it's becoming easier to be in the soft place
Karen McMillan: to even come out of the anger to just feeling righteous like I should do this, and I deserve this. And I,
Karen McMillan: everything just keeps getting softer, and I think I, the way I explain it, as I can be
Karen McMillan: angry without anger. I can be angry without aggression.
he
Karen McMillan: and some days I just have the whatever. This is the last step, and I'm totally living it and loving it.
Karen McMillan: You know, in other days, but it's it's just not. It takes time, and it takes practice. But with that practice with the Sadena. I think even the anger isn't as angry
Karen McMillan: it just. and then I tell myself. you know.
Karen McMillan: so that 3,000, maybe come 10,000, just let it go. It may come back to you if you let it go right. Maybe it'll come back to you in another way.
Karen McMillan: whatever way that is. And I've been very fortunate most of the time. It's come back
Karen McMillan: in a very tangible, visual, sometimes exact way, but bigger.
Karen McMillan: But it's all. Every single thing I've been learning from the YTT. And now, which is why I'm going to stay here. This practice allows me
Karen McMillan: to stay in that place rather than slipping back
Karen McMillan: the Svadaya. The practice is necessary.
Karen McMillan: and then I'll even say it to others, which means I'm practicing it, cause I'm teaching it.
Karen McMillan: Yes, thank you so much, Karen.
Karen McMillan: I've got a transmission. I just wanna say, yeah, from every everything that folks have shared. I'm like, Oh.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): deepening that aims to practice. Thank you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Andrea.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Hi! So good to see you.
Andrea @alovincoven: Yes, so good to see everyone. Thank you. Hi, Karen, thank you for sharing
Andrea @alovincoven: it really resonated with a lot of what you shared, too, and I just love having the space
Andrea @alovincoven: So what has been coming up for me around Ahimsa is also very much
Andrea @alovincoven: based around what I'm reading right now, which I mentioned all about love by bell hooks.
Andrea @alovincoven: But Ahimsa, like love, is a choice right? So, realizing that
Andrea @alovincoven: loving myself isn't just going to come to me, or like loving my partners or my friends. Realizing that I get to make the choice that today I am going to love myself in this way or show myself care in this way.
Andrea @alovincoven: And that's that's really all I wanted all I wanted to share. Is just thinking of it as as a choice that we can make and how we want to put that into action. So thank you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So revolutionary right of like I get to choose this.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): have a choice.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and that for me is is honestly a lot of what the power of Yoga and mindfulness practice has given me is that sense of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): of choice even in the places where I felt really disempowered, I still feel a sense of agency.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And it didn't always feel like that. So, really resonating with you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And I wanna read some stuff in the chat, and then I'll come to Don.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): wow! I don't know if I need glasses, or my, I really hard to read the chat. Why is it so small?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I guess I do need classes.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): okay.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): hmm.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Leave, says Ahimsa. Shows up for me in my life through introspective work I've done to heal inner wounds and past traumas.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yes, allow me to be
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): more fully present in my relationships with clear and open communication and boundaries. Thank you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Don. Love is showing up with loss, with the passing of 2 dear ones in the past few days.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Care for a beloved aunt who has broken her femur oof at 80
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): love Ahimsa is showing up as truth and reconciliation, calling honor for the calling, honor for the gifts and preciousness of children.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): In myself an ever-awakening sense of the sacred deep
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): apple. I think maybe appreciation. You can tell me what word you mean there for those who have come before. Yeah, awesome.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Thank you for your shares
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): friend sharing resources for my mother's move for assistive living next month, my partner cooking dinner for me, since I don't have the energy to do much
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): after work or after helping my mother. Yeah, that's a lot to be holding. Love is showing up through me, focusing on my mother's transition, focusing on addressing healthy work environment for educators really focusing on my mental health
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): as environmental Health and Safety Committee member, really wanting to change the work environment for educators. Yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): it's powerful.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Thank you, Justine
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Katrina, when I consider a him. So the first thing that comes to mind is the practice of self compassion, which has been a struggle of mine for a long time. I also would like to continue cultivating a himself in the ways that I interact with students in my role as a primary school teacher. Yes.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Susan, I'm practicing Ahimsa towards myself, around my challenges and disappointments, with my business processes and results
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): towards clients around their shame, self blame, and community with friends when I notice their actions are words that may be harmful. Yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): resonating with that, too. Like for me. Sometimes that seems to is like moving from the the like. I am a victim to where is my power? Kind of circling back to that empowerment, or like sovereignty?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Because I am a victim
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): doesn't lead me to a very useful, you know, next next steps like but
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): when I'm able to look at things from a place of sovereignty or a place of of like. What can I do? I find that there's more available to me.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So resonating with that Carly that's helpful, I recently realized I've been trying to skip right equanimity without giving myself space to feel the feelings. Yes.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Justine, I appreciate the reminder. It'll come back to us in a bigger way, and being very human, too, means I won't spiritually bypass my feelings. Yeah, there's like,
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you know, the thing that's underneath that it'll come back to us. What Karen was talking about with a very real thing of like security deposit, or if anyone's had money that stolen or lost, or taken, or like made a choice or an investment. They were like.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and I feel like it's a very tangible way to practice
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): reliance on the divine is for our pranayana right reliance on that that trust, and it and money is that weigh in for many of us, I think, because it is so visceral.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): But it could be anything. It could be like something not working out right. Or you know, a a curve ball. And it's like right? I can force. I can try. I can do everything where I can
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): trust. And then from that trust, take the next aligned step.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And okay, when it comes to Ms. Don, you had your hand up
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): right there.
Dawn Lane’s iPhone (2): Thank you. I was loving, listening to everybody's.
Dawn Lane’s iPhone (2): I've had a real like feeling sense of how much I take on.
Dawn Lane’s iPhone (2): So I think one of my my big
Dawn Lane’s iPhone (2): workforce, and in my self care is to know what's mine and what's not mine.
Dawn Lane’s iPhone (2): because I want to get in everybody's business, and I want to be the super mom and the super, you know, at work and do too much. So I'm really thinking, the opposite of playing the victim. I like to play the Savior.
Dawn Lane’s iPhone (2): which can also be a thing because we do want the world to be such a beautiful place sometimes is it
Dawn Lane’s iPhone (2): for me, becomes a a blinder to take on and try to do too much. I don't know if that happens for other people. But I do think that that watching my energy flow and making sure I have enough left for me
Dawn Lane’s iPhone (2): is gonna be something to work on.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yes, thank you so much. I really resonate with that.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And it's kind of that like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): original practice of Ahimsa towards ourselves, so we can actually show up for others the oxygen mask right? Or the breath practice, which for us might be our oxygen mask.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): so thank you so much for your practice today. I'd love to invite folks if there's like a Ha! Or take away that if you wanna drop it in the chat. And then I also wanna say, I had this kind of epiphany connected to some work that I'm doing on. You have a class curator around
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): how to build in a sequence
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that really connects you to your voice, like your kind of authentic
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): roots and voice, and also yoga philosophy, and then takes it through like creating a a yoga sequence, and I wanna share it in our next office hours. So I'll break that down, and then there'll be a master class that you'll see called embodying Anjali Mudra. That's all about like embodying the heart of Yoga. And it is an invitation. It's
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): kind of the beginning of what I'll be doing in the
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): in our office hours
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): next time. But you're welcome to to watch that free webinar, and it comes out. It'll come out, I think, on Friday, Friday or Monday. So just letting you know about some
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): some resources, I want to also share a lot of gratitude, because
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I feel like some of the new Ahas that have come to me have come from the foundation of this community and from the work that we've been doing together, and the practice that we've been doing together. So I'm very, very grateful. And feeling that the benefits of of the Sangha, you know, and having this time.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and for those who are not continuing with us just so much gratitude to you, and congratulations on completing your year long journey in Yoga class curator, and if you would like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): if you would like to continue, we have the re enrollment for folks whose year is ending, you would have gotten an email. You didn't get an email. You're not ending. So don't worry. You'll get it when your year ends and then maybe Julian, may you
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): could you drop the re enrollment?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Think so that way folks have it. We are serious about cutting off like so meaning.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): because on the back end we have to. We have to do quite a few things to either give you access or not. So if you want to re enroll. Please do it before the end of the month, or else it's trickier for our team to to shift you to that because there's going to be some special things for alumni that come out for you. If you're if you're continuing into that second year as a yoga class curator. Satica. Continue practitioner.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): okay? And then we have a page. Right? We can drop the re enrollment page.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So any takeaways?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): a
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): today, I'm just looking up.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the class curator reenrollment.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Not sure if I have
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): it.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): now.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): see 1 s.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And here we go. Yes.
okay.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Hmm.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): There we go. Okay.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): It is such a blessing. It's such a joy to be together. And thank you. Thank you. Thank you. To each of you, wishing you so much depth of practice, so much care and so much joy, you know, and infusion of yoga into your life, into your practice, into your world.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): so we can unmute and say goodbye and I'll see some of you next in a couple weeks.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and others of you wherever we see each other's next. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And you can unmute. And let's say goodbye.
Dawn Lane’s iPhone (2): Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Bye.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Thank you.