Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So as we're coming in just taking a moment to connect to ground. I am
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): in the outskirts of the La area so impacted by the fires that are happening here, but right now still have power which is good and very grateful to have this opportunity to practice together. So we'll we'll practice in a second. But I would just love to invite you if you want to share in the chat maybe 2 words, or how you're doing in this moment.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): My theme for today. I had a few.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): It's both like the beginning and the end of the Yamas and the Nyamas. So both Ahimsa, but also and also Ishvara Panadhana. So those are the the themes that I'll be guiding us with.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and we'll get started in just a moment. But I want to invite
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): folks who are coming in to share how you are in the in the chat.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): hmm!
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Invitation to drop couple words.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yeah, scattered neutral about it, not stressing, just riding the waves totally and Hi, Nicole so happy you're here, and Bonnie so happy you're here, Carly. Oh, it's great dawn.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yeah, so good to see you all, Juliana.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yay! Yes, sending care to folks near the fire
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): logging on from my grandma's house feeling connected to ancestry that's beautiful.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yes, also concern for those in La and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): appreciating everyone's care and sending it and amplifying it out. We'll do some practice with that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): as well today, and just naming. I'm on the outskirts of La. So in Santa Clarita, which is sort of near the evacuation zone for the Somar fire. Right now we're fine. Our home has is fine. We have power, but if for some reason the power goes out, I'll join on my phone as long as we're not being asked to pack our bags. So it's 1 of those moments where.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you know, I'm really like coming back to the practice and doing a lot of coordination to support folks as much as possible.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Bonnie got back from walking. The hyper border collie dog so energized and exhausted. Nice Stella is so so
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): already. Still energetic. Wow!
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And happy New Year to everyone.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So I wanted to ground us in. You know, a context of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): something very sacred that's happening during well, very soon in India, which is the kumela and the kumela is a sacred gathering that's held in 4 different locations in India, in close to rivers that are understood to have, like divinely charged energy and kind of like celestial alignment.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and the kumela. It begins in the middle of January, so January 13, th and runs for in almost a month and a half until February. At the end of February
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): it occurs once every 12 years at each of those different sites, and it's considered a time for like spiritual renewal. So I thought, one of the things we could practice with is both Ahimsa and self-care
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): as well as community care at this time.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and also Ishvara Pranidhana, and that reminder to deep devotion. And so there are people right now preparing, and maybe even already on the pilgrimage, to go to the Kumela. At these different
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): rivers, like the Ganga, the Yamuna, the Saraswati river, and this is a practice that you know. We don't know exactly when it began, but it has happened for thousands of years.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and it's a way to physically
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): manifest, or connect to practices of purification, and let it go and release.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and also to connect, to inner reflection, to yoga and meditation, to reconnect and reinvigorate our practice of like being in community like in Satsang, right in Sangha, and to learning to knowing that we can learn from text, we can learn from practices. We can learn from each other, from other practitioners and from teachers.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And I thought we would begin with a little practice.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that we could do together to kind of embody this for each of us in the space that we're in now. Because, remember, in Yoga you can do a grand gesture. Right like you could actually buy a ticket, pack up and go to the Kumela
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and many, many yogis, you know they're they're those who are very devoted to the external practices. But there's a huge lineage and tradition that said, we don't need to do the outside forms. We Yoga is part of what Yoga is is the internalization of these forms. And so we have everything that we need within us, and we can connect to that depth of devotion within
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): our own like mind, body, spirit, right? So we'll do the symbolic
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): practice, which is no less powerful than the actual pilgrimage. And there are also times when we might say, Okay, I want to take a pilgrimage, you know, for myself, maybe to a body of water, maybe to a river, or a lake, or a stream, or if you live near the ocean, or, you know, even just like running yourself a bath this week, and being in water connecting to the water element, and also sending that energy out for all the places that that need
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the cooling and the the healing of water.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So that's the context that I wanted to bring, and I'll invite us to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): practice now. So and we'll do a little practice, and then I'll open up spaces for reflections and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): sharing. We'll probably journal first, st and like we often do, and then reflect and share.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So you can find an easeful way to be sitting, standing, lying down, maybe wiggling before I invite the bell, I'll invite us to just like wiggle or shake.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): taking some breaths in out whatever is helpful to you for grounding.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Hmm!
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And then I'll invite the bell.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Deep breath in full breath. Out
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): begin with a little bit of movement connecting to the sacred river's flow, so moving like water, moving fluidly.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): inhale, gazing, or letting your face rise up towards the sky, and your back arch
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): exhale, rounding your back, looking or letting your face come down towards the earth.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So engaging and gentle Marjoryasana! Vidtilasana, inhale, exhale.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and letting your breath initiate this movement.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): so, feeling for that top of your inhale, the pause, pausing, and then on the exhale rounding.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and you can stay right here, or, if you would like, begin to circle your spine. So if you're seated, maybe placing your hands desk or on your thighs and letting your spine circle around in one direction, getting your shoulders
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): belly your chest all into this movement, continuing to breathe deeply
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): few more circles in this direction.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and now circling the other way.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): breathing deeply.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): giving yourself the opportunity for practice of care of Ahimsa.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): not judging your body, or, if you notice any judgment, maybe
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): haven't done as much movement these last few weeks.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): springing compassion and care to yourself as you move.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): What a precious vessel this body is, with a gift, even
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): with the aches, the pains, the challenges.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and if it doesn't feel helpful or supportive to think of it as a gift right now, then, just being aware
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): bringing presents.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and if you prefer not to be embodied in your body, maybe focusing on the energy of the river of the waters.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): One more circle in this direction.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and slowly coming
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): back to center and inhaling up and gently folding forward over your desk, your chair, your own body maybe lifting your arms up or walking them forward.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): releasing down
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): from this forward fold. If it feels supportive, gently walking your hands up to a low cobra bhujangasana.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So lifting up arch in your back, gazing up towards the sky.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then exhale, flowing forward and down, and if you would like moving 6 times through this snake-like cycle.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): exhale forward, fold, inhale gentle lift, Bhujangasana.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and it can stay more linear, or, if you like. You can let your snake kind of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): move move your shoulders, moving a little bit side to side.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Sometimes our path isn't
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): clear. It isn't like from point A to Point B, it's like A, JZXP. L. Right? We're all over.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and that's not necessarily wrong. It's just the path
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): path that we're on so acknowledging where you're at.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): If you feel like you're on a path or not even on 1 1 more like this inhale exhale.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and I want to invite us to get into our hips a little bit, hips and legs, and so a couple options here one is just to my camera is kind of high, so I'll just to circle your legs, or you can start with your foot, your knee, your whole thigh.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Another option would be to cradle
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): your leg, so bringing it up, and just giving it a little love and nourishment, rocking it
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): on one side, and then placing that foot
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): whichever side. You're on on your opposite knee for figure 4,
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and exhaling gently, leaning forward, putting a little bit of weight into your hip and thigh. If it feels good
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): letting your energy come down towards the earth.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and if it feels good bringing little circles here, maybe circling through your hips, circling your spine.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): One more breath here, and with that circular energy, bringing your leg and your foot back down.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): finding solidity as you bring that foot towards the earth, placing it down, and then lifting up your other leg and taking care of this side, not expecting it to be the same as the other side. We're not symmetrical. I always like to say. You know, we're not symmetrical beings. We don't have symmetrical sides or symmetrical lives.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So, giving some fluidity, some care there and then, when you're ready, or, if you would like placing
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that foot on your other knee.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): inhale, lengthen, exhale forward, fold a gentle hip, stretch here, figure 4, and circling on this side.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): breathing deeply.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Exhale, now slowly circling your leg, your hip, if it feels supportive, and then bringing that leg down to find a foundation.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and when you find your foundation there, inhale arms, come up
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): above your head, clasping your hands one hand around the other hand or wrist, if that feels supportive, and then exhale, stretching towards one side
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): one form of Ardha, Chandrasana, and feet can be hip distance apart, or, if you want more stability, I'm on the edge of my seat, and my feet are really wide, like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): much wider than than my body for stability and support.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Feeling the pull of the moon as it pulls on the tides and on our lives inhale.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): stretching through the side, exhale up towards center arms, come down, resting your arms for a moment, maybe
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): recalibrating, wiggling, shaking, grounding with your breath.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then inhaling arms. Come up once more, clasping the other side, other arm
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): stretching, adjusting in any way that you need through the other side.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): gazing down towards the earth or up towards the sky.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): What a beautiful practice of caring for our forms, our bodies!
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): We're a part of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): inhale as you're ready. Arms come up, hands meet down through center, and we'll do a few half salutations if you would like an invitation to focus on bringing your forearms as close together as you can, so as close as you can to stretch through the back of your shoulders up, and when it's natural, let them release and come apart. Arms come around, exhale.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and let your hands go as far back behind you as you'd like. So a kind of modified sun. Salutation, arms come together.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): moving with your own breath, maybe bringing your neck and spine into this, letting it be fluid.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Let yourself get lost in your own flow of breath and movement.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): We'll do about 6.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Most of us are probably around halfway through
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): last one or 2 here
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and on your next exhale, letting your arms come down and rest on your body, finding your center
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): an easeful way to be feeling your heart gently slow down your breath ease.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you know, invitation to imagine or visualize, if it feels supportive, that you're at a sacred place
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): where there's a body of water.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and this might be a place that you've been.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): or a place you know of, or that you're making up in your mind's eye.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Maybe you're by a river or stream, by fountain at a hot springs.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): where the water wells up from the earth by the ocean, somewhere where you feel safe and supported.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and I invite you to cast a bubble of energy around the space that you're in.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): so you can feel even more safe, even more supported in this this place.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Can you hear the gentle lapping of the waves, or the lake, or the rushing of the river.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): allowing it to purify and remove
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): anything that needs to flow away with the water.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): feeling a water element within you, be nourished, the fire element within you be cooled.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): If you're in a place where it feels supportive to reach down with one hand or both hands
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and gently touch the water. Imagine yourself touching the water with your right hand, bringing
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): your ring finger to touch the water, and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): gently lifting that up and bringing it as an anointing to yourself to your 3rd eye.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): giving gratitude and sending gratitude to the water.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and if you would like taking a handful of this water now and feeling it run through your fingertips.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and physically or symbolically imagining you bringing it up over your head and sending that purifying
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): water element through your energy field, and if it's supportive to you, you might lift your actual hands up and bring them up and around your body.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and I'll let them rest down
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): mantra that connects us to the sacred waters around the world. Om Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswatiye, Namaha.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the sacred rivers of the Kamela, Om Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswati, Namaha.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): receiving and connecting, sending gratitude, receiving purification.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Ganga Yamuna Saraswati Namaha
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and now in the Sites
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): of sacred purification, knowing that we practice not just for ourselves, but for all beings
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): taking the energy once again, maybe actually scooping down in your mind's eye into the water, and calling to mind all the places where fires are burning
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): right now.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So the communities in Los Angeles, the Eaton fire Palisades, fire.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Some are fire all the places where the fire of war is raging around the world.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the places where fire might be burning in people's hearts.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): where there is suffering and bringing this bomb, lifting it up and sending it to cool, to soothe, to purify.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So, if you would like, you can lift your arms up and send that out, and we'll do that with the mantra
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Om Ganga Yamuna Saraswatiy na maha
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): ganga Yamuna, Sara Swatiy na maha
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): ganga yamuna Sara swati Namaha.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): May the energy of the water soothe and bring ease!
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): May it cool the fires in our world, the fires in our hearts that needs soothing.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then we'll practice lengthening our exhales, so noticing as you breathe in.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): perhaps counting on your fingers, bringing your finger and thumb together.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): If you inhale, say, for 4, allowing your exhale to lengthen to 2 more than that to 6.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): What if your inhale is 5, exhaling? 7, if you would like.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): or you can just do an even breath.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Inhale 1, 2, 3, 4, exhale 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and continue with a few rounds, an extended exhale
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): connecting with the energy of the water, purification, devotion, connection to your highest self feeling, balancing, and peace.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): You can keep breathing like this, or if you're ready.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): keeping a meditative focus. But coming into journaling about anything that you're releasing at this time anything connected to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): your growth, spiritual evolution.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): We'll take a few minutes to journal or to reflect on what we're releasing on the power of water.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the water elements, maybe what's growing within you your spiritual intention, and then we'll share, if you would like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): ping a few breaths as you finish up your
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): thoughts, knowing you can come back to this reflection.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and maybe closing your reflection with a commitment to yourself, you know, knowing something very powerful about knowing that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): thousands, really hundreds of thousands of people over these next few weeks are going to be taking very physical journeys to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): embody their devotion to the divine, and that we are part of that. You know, we're part of this lineage. We're part of this heritage of a connection to the natural elements, to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to commitment to something greater
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): than just the everyday, and that that is truly exceptional. There's something really really powerful
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): about being a part of this community, this worldwide community, whether whatever religion, whatever form, right or not, form it takes.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and that we can both receive the nourishment of that, and also give nourishment and care.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Hmm!
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And I think we'll just take a moment to close our our practice.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Bring your hands together at your heart when you're ready, when you're ready to put your pen or pencil down.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): breathing deeply.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and we'll do a simple, the simplest Shanti mantra om shanti shanti shanti, bringing our voices together aloud if you can, or chanting in your mind, or receiving the chant.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): deep breath in full breath, out and inhale to chance.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Oh, Shanthi, Shuntie Shandi!
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Oh!
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Gently bowing, if you would like to each other to your presence, your practice, we have some time.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): if you would like to share. We didn't have any questions come in and sometimes they think that's just
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): because, you know, there's so much going on.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): But anything that you would like to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to share. Maybe anything that's come up around the practice today. Or
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): also, if there's something in your life that you would like to be held in community with the support of Yogic tools. We are happy to hear
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): time
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and so much love for the guided meditation practice. For the 1st time in my car in a heavy winter coat.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Well, it's beautiful feeling, wrapped in care connected to water committed to transformation. You're so welcome, Don.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And yes, Bonnie, I want to just see if there's anything that emerged from the practice, remembering, too, that sometimes, if especially if you had an experience that was like, Oh, wow! It's for you. But it's also for someone else in the group. And so maybe just first, st before we go to brainstorming, let's see if anyone has anything that's like emergent from the practice right now.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yeah, Nicole, hi, hmm.
Nichole BPN (she/her): Yeah. Happy New Year everyone.
Nichole BPN (she/her): I think one thing that came up for me that I guess I just had forgotten about is how we can take moments and go inside of ourselves, and also transport ourselves to other times and
Nichole BPN (she/her): places. So when you asked us to think about the water like I thought about a time that I completely forgot. And like being, you know, it was maybe a decade ago, and I was able to really remember what it felt like as you were queuing. Just remember what it felt like to be there, and to remember that peace and that joy. And I think that
Nichole BPN (she/her): just. I've held a lot of anxiety of what is to come this year later this month, and things like that. And remembering that we have
Nichole BPN (she/her): that power to tap into the renewal that you felt at other moments, and the times of hope that you felt, and that you can call that in at any moment.
Nichole BPN (she/her): Was just a really powerful and encouraging way to remind myself that you know I do have that power even when the world
Nichole BPN (she/her): literally is on fire. So I appreciated that. Thank you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Thank you. It's so good to see you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And hmm!
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Just receiving this this gift of your little one.
Bonnie@YogaConnexus: I know when I was cradling my leg I was just kind of laughing, seeing Nicole cradling her baby.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Hmm, yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Jeremy, Hi.
Jeremy: Hi! It's nice to see you again. And, Nicole, it's so nice to be here with your little one just sleeping through this. That's so lovely. It kind of gives a reflection of what it was like, too. I've been doing a lot of Nada Yoga lately sound yoga I joined up with the sacred sound lab. So I'm hanging out with Pooja a lot which is awesome. And I was just the call went over so sorry I was late, but I was just on a call. That was
Jeremy: sargam practice, you know, just singing the notes, and of various. We have to learn all these different
Jeremy: tats or scales. And it's really interesting. Because today someone else said on there something that was happening to me. And it was.
Jeremy: Hey, I'm noticing that I'm like the the notes are tuning in a little bit better today, today, somehow, right? And I was feeling that it was like, almost like I was harmonizing with myself as I'm singing over here. And then what Nicole said about how things are, just, you know, here to be. It's not exactly what she said. But what I picked up is like
Jeremy: a thing that works with this, too. A lot of times we talk about the frequencies of those notes being present already, and it's us tuning into it. And so I feel sometimes like there is always a pool of
Jeremy: renewable, constant, full love everywhere, but
Jeremy: sometimes. The way my attitude is, I don't see it. I don't join with it, but especially this month, you know I've been savoring these few weeks before the end of the month. But I think
Jeremy: that's so important to look at, hey? You know what in any moment I can practice yoga in any moment, and that's what Yoga is about. Right? So yeah, just wanted to say that because it was so interesting that you know when you get
Jeremy: I don't know, you know, synchronicities. It's like, I listen to them. I'm like, Oh, wow! Okay, this is really cool, especially when we need some more love in the world. Some more care for all of us, especially.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Thank you, Jeremy, and that's so beautiful that you're practicing sacred sound lab. And there's
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): so much resonance I feel like in the sounds, and in allowing ourselves, you know whether you're you're chanting mantra. You're just singing aloud in the shower. Right? It like you can feel the river of sound right, that lubrication of really all of our chakras, all of the energy centers through chanting. And then there's
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I for me. I also find even more depth and kind of release and transformation with
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): with chanting, sacred sounds. So thank you for bringing that forward, and also just the synchronicities.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I'm really grateful for that as well.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Anyone else.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Take a sip of water.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Hmm.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): bonnie, let's here. You're.
Bonnie@YogaConnexus: Request and brainstorming.
Bonnie@YogaConnexus: or so it it follows on with Jeremy's. I can practice Yoga anywhere anytime. I did another. I led another yoga and social justice practice on the mobilized platform on Sunday, and one of the participants said in the chat, Oh, I wish every meeting could start with Yoga.
Bonnie@YogaConnexus: and I just kind of laughed because I was like, well, I mean, yes, you can practice yoga anywhere anytime. So I was starting to write a blog post about it, and I guess I kind of went down a rabbit hole. And then I realized, Yoga is not to make us more efficient tools in the capitalist system, and I was trying to brainstorm like
Bonnie@YogaConnexus: like how to encourage like grounding exercises and keep it part of self-care community care. That sort of thing. So without like, without like going into any negativity about it, but just kind of keeping
Bonnie@YogaConnexus: focus on practicing Yoga. So.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I love that embody your inviting
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): like brainstorming around, how ideas of how we you can support that, or how you could write about that.
Bonnie@YogaConnexus: Yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Thank you, so we'll open it up.
Nichole BPN (she/her): I think one of the things that I love about practicing with you, Susanna, is that I feel like every moment is a
Nichole BPN (she/her): a moment a moment within a moment. And so you have the present moment, and what's happening? And then, if you kind of put on like a teacher's lens you get to look at like. Oh, well, here's something I could use when I like, teach or practice, or something like that. And so one of the things that I think is really beautiful. And I've taken to incorporating in workshops, and even just in like listening circles and things like that is
Nichole BPN (she/her): just breathwork at the very beginning of anything.
Nichole BPN (she/her): I think we're so often not focused on breathing and sometimes things just hurt and getting that extra oxygen in gives us that moment to ground ourselves. So just
Nichole BPN (she/her): getting people to me like without even saying that it's a Yogic practice I usually start like, hey, let's do some breath work. And this is what this might look like.
Nichole BPN (she/her): And then afterwards I explain, like, okay, what you did you may not have known is that this comes from this lineage because I've found that people sometimes find it
Nichole BPN (she/her): intimidating, or they have, like a certain idea of Yoga. And so if you start off by saying, Oh, we're going to do this yoga thing. Some people will just get turned off. But if I just ask them like, hey? There's this thing you know how to do. You do it all the time. Can you just pay attention to it?
Nichole BPN (she/her): And then tell them here's why we do it. That's been really well received in a way that has made people really curious of like oh, well, what else like can I do that. I didn't know I could do that is helpful to to my life, and like just feels good and so that's 1 of the things that I've done the other thing. That I'll offer, and that I've been
Nichole BPN (she/her): exploring, just as you know our I've had a very long ivf journey to get this little one. And now that he's here, I've been thinking a lot about play
Nichole BPN (she/her): and our relationship to play.
Nichole BPN (she/her): And so that has brought up a lot of like Yogic self study for me. And so that's 1 thing that I would offer that we can invite everyone to think a little bit more about how we can play with our breath, how we can play with sounds, how we can find joy in these little things around us, that we take for granted.
Bonnie@YogaConnexus: Thank you, Nicole. That was awesome. And yeah, I resonate with the play thing a lot, because I came from a very.
Bonnie@YogaConnexus: very structured, very rigid method. And I, when I created my altar for Ycc 2 years ago, when I started like the 1st thing I put on was these little Kitty cat statues, and they're playing with balls, and a couple of them are broken. But I was like, they're going on the altar anyway, because they just we accept everybody, and they're playful. And just to remind me to just kind of let go. And don't worry about the checklist of how to do the pose. So, yeah, totally
Bonnie@YogaConnexus: play. Thank you.
Jeremy: I've got a little something to add.
Jeremy: One thing is that in social justice groups, it's so important to reinforce the community that's there amongst people, because one thing I feel is that isolation is what takes us into the dis-ease, you know. And so sometimes, even though folks who are the folks who tend to show up for social justice stuff
Jeremy: tend to be the same type of folks who can self organize and, you know, stay in community. But at times like this I think a lot of people recede
Jeremy: because it's like, Oh, I don't want to put more on someone else's plate right? But what I know is that if I take a really long.
Jeremy: beautiful, deep breath that is helpful for me, but what's more powerful is to do it in the presence of someone else, because then it's sort of like the sum is more than the total of its parts, you know. And so one thing I might do is suggest to people that they stay in touch, you know, and just have a check in once in a while. Trade numbers, you know. Why not have a text chain which is like self-care text? You know, it just goes around
Jeremy: so that everybody can feel again in community. Because there's just going to be so many little
Jeremy: I don't know how to call it, but like wax from the side of new information coming in, and any one of those could take any of us out into a depressed mode, you know. But the solution for that, I'm pretty sure, is connection, because the moment I've got connection with somebody else. That kind of dissipates, you know.
Jeremy: I wish you luck. That sounds amazing.
Bonnie@YogaConnexus: Thanks. It's been pretty amazing. I have never had this kind of response to my Yoga offerings. I mean 170 people signed up and like 60 actually showed up. So I'm just really
Bonnie@YogaConnexus: really grateful for the opportunity, as bizarre as
Bonnie@YogaConnexus: the source of motivation is just that people are coming together. And yeah, I thank you for the suggestion, because I would like to help everybody stay together, because it's kind of hard, you know. There's the election response. And then they're talking about already breaking that up, even though I feel like I just started finding the people and connecting with them, and kind of bringing them into the practice. And then they're already like, Okay, inauguration. We're done. I'm like Whoa, Whoa! Whoa! Like
Bonnie@YogaConnexus: this is such a long journey. It's such a long arc. It's nowhere near time to start, you know, not connecting again. So.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Bonnie. Can I ask a question about the people of the 60 or so? And then the people who signed up
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): do you have a sense of their
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): context like, are they people who practice Yoga already? Who are coming, or are they people like really motivated by the political moment? And they need something like I'm trying to understand a little bit.
Bonnie@YogaConnexus: There's a little bit of everything. Yeah, there's people who already practice yoga and aren't getting this out of it. And so they are attracted to the idea of getting more
Bonnie@YogaConnexus: and so I really try to do a very short Asana session, and I found I am getting some negative feedback. And I have a feeling it's the people who were in it for the Asana. So
Bonnie@YogaConnexus: so yeah, so it's people who already practice who are looking for something a little bit deeper, because I do get a lot of comments from people who say, and they tend to have Indian sounding names, but I only know that from what I see in the chat. But they are like. This is how I like to practice yoga, and it feels like maybe they're not getting it as much in their other offerings.
Bonnie@YogaConnexus: And then there are people who had no idea that Yoga and social justice are connected, and so they tend to be the more challenging students that are just like, well, what do you mean? Liberation?
Bonnie@YogaConnexus: But yeah, you know, and obviously, like, in the context of offering a yoga and social justice like I can add in all these things I was just, you know, thinking about, if we take it into the world, and and bring this more into our everyday meetings that maybe aren't even about either Yoga or social justice like, how do we keep that connection, and that all of that going while still honoring the roots of yoga. So yeah, because I was like
Bonnie@YogaConnexus: that was the rabbit hole. I fell down. I felt like, Oh, my gosh! Like now we're going down the oh, how to relax and then get right back to work.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yeah, I think I mean, it sounds amazing. And I'm so glad you're doing it, and that you're having the response that you're having for me when I'm in those environments
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): where there's a huge mix right? And like, it's different than a teacher training or Ycc, where, like, we're kind of already bought in right? So we're we get to go deeper. But we're not all bought in.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I come back to kind of like, Nicole was saying like, hey, try this on, you know. Hey? There's there's these practices that might be helpful. Oh, and did you know there's a whole foundation of ethical, you know ethics right? And one of the most important parts of those ethics is Ahimsa, which means non-harm, you know, and whether you use the Sanskrit name or not again, just depends on context. But I do think, coming back to like.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): we can talk about these universal principles, and we all want to find more peace. And we all want more healing for for everyone in the world, right? And then
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): connecting those values to practices that can support the value. So it's like. But in a way of like, let's try this on. And then it's sort of like we meet the resistance with, like.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you know, that that wave that's like, okay, we can just kind of flow. And and you can get what you get
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and laying those seeds down that people know that there's so much more to Yoga than what they might have experienced.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): but not
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): preaching, which is hard for me, because sometimes I want to go into like there's this whole philosophy, you know. And and so instead, just like trusting that if they want to learn more, they'll, you know, maybe even providing like, Hey, if you want to learn more, you can take this workshop with me or this, whatever you know, like giving them the the pathway to go deeper with you. If you want
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): But it's okay, too. If they come, and they just get a little more peace like you don't have to do everything. That's the other piece for me in those moments is like, Okay, let me surrender to. It's gonna be what it is, and the people who are here, and we'll take it further, we'll take it there and then. They're ones that come and bounce with just a little more peace in their week like, that's okay. That's all right.
Bonnie@YogaConnexus: Yeah, that's the idea, because there is so much frenzy to try to fix everything in advance and just taking those moments that
Bonnie@YogaConnexus: yeah, it's. It's strange for me, because, as much as I am dreading
Bonnie@YogaConnexus: what the end of the month and beyond it feels like right now, there is a lot of energy to connect and to get ready and to resist. And I feel like sometimes when we feel like our side won, whatever that may be. We tend to not step up. And
Bonnie@YogaConnexus: I feel like, maybe we need a push to like, not just resist this, but like overcome it entirely. And maybe this is it.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Really been reflecting on that bonnie and and like.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I think, in some ways we're like spiritual warriors in training, you know, and some of us may resonate with that, and some of us may not.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): But like this deep, wise.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): almost like we're being called into being elders, you know, before some of us are ready to like age. Wise, we we're not there, but we're in that moment of like deep wisdom.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And then action based upon that wisdom, and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that feels like the call, you know, so just feels so much more needed, the practices that we have and the perspectives that we each bring everything that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you all have shared, you know, today and and beyond. And I've really been reflecting on that I've been told I'm an elder in training my, by my indigenous bestie, yeah. And so like coming back around to like our ancestors also.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): all of us, our ancestors have gone through really hard things, and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): also had tools and practices to connect them and ground them and resource them, and connecting to our healed and whole ancestors. Right? And I do believe, too, in that, after whoever like, there can be that transformation, even if some of our ancestors that we might have, we're like. Oh, no, I don't want to connect to them. You don't have to right. You can connect to your spiritual ancestors or land ancestors, or hold space for that transformation, for
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): blood ancestors, too, or all of our ancestors, and so.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): coming full circle to what Juliana shared of like the ancestral wisdom, and and knowing that we're not alone right, we have each other. We have these practices to rely on, and then we have
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): a lot more more support than we realize.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Wow! We're almost at time
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): feel like this is a whole world. It's like, I'm just so grateful to each of you. And if anyone's watching, recording, you know, to to being a part of this community, and more to come right like so much more
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to support one another. I do want to share one thing, logistics which is
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): on the 20 second of January, I will be on silent retreat, and so we will not have pilgrimage in Puja that day, and so our next meeting will be on the 12th of February for our next gathering, and so I kind of brought in that pilgrimage practice into today's
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): time, and to invite you if it resonates to keep to continue through the month through this time with maybe it's actually going to bodies of water or just cultivating visualizing that water, as you're, you know, doing your daily tasks, or whatever it is, and feeling the energy of purification of spiritual connection, and letting it nourish you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So thank you so much to each of you, so much gratitude and so much appreciation, and we can unmute and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): speak our voice into the space.
Carly Joelle: Thank you as always.
Bonnie@YogaConnexus: Everyone have a great month.
Bonnie@YogaConnexus: Bye-bye.
Jeremy: Bye, everybody! Thank you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Thank you. Yes, Nicole, yeah, thanks. Y'all.