WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.760 --> 00:00:08.669 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I wanted to explore the theme for May of sacred surrender 2 00:00:08.980 --> 00:00:20.030 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and wise inquiry. So kind of blending yana, Yana Yoga and Ishvara Pranadhana. 3 00:00:20.720 --> 00:00:26.229 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And so I thought we could start by 4 00:00:29.750 --> 00:00:38.109 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): maybe sharing just a word or 2 words or a phrase of somewhere where we've 5 00:00:38.330 --> 00:00:48.380 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): maybe experience some wisdom right? And it could be like anything. Anything can be an invitation to to wisdom. It could be 6 00:00:48.800 --> 00:00:53.550 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): like the wise words of a friend or 7 00:00:53.670 --> 00:00:55.709 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): wisdom that you read in a book. 8 00:00:55.820 --> 00:01:08.299 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): or it could be wisdom that you've come across just through your practice. So if there's been any like invitations into wisdom or into surrender into just like letting go 9 00:01:08.530 --> 00:01:15.120 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): releasing. So experiences recently 10 00:01:16.010 --> 00:01:31.700 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): with the wisdom and surrender. And if you're like, Oh, Susanna, I have had none of this. This is why I come to yoga class character to be like office hours for the courses. And you know all of that. That's great, too. 11 00:01:32.150 --> 00:01:35.199 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): So you're you're more than welcome 12 00:01:35.450 --> 00:01:44.060 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): to just be like Nope. Haven't had it so that so much but invitation to share aloud, or to drop in the chat. 13 00:01:46.160 --> 00:01:47.039 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Hmm! 14 00:02:07.730 --> 00:02:20.020 Caitlin / Rosie she/they (Lenape land): I will jump in if no one else wanted to to start. My name is Caitlin. I use she and they pronouns and my experience recently with 15 00:02:20.140 --> 00:02:22.740 Caitlin / Rosie she/they (Lenape land): surrender and wisdom. 16 00:02:24.182 --> 00:02:32.739 Caitlin / Rosie she/they (Lenape land): Has to do with a job a yoga job that I had. Actually, I missed the last office hours because I was in a meeting 17 00:02:33.650 --> 00:02:47.120 Caitlin / Rosie she/they (Lenape land): having to do with this job and I in learning through this course, I've been bringing up with my colleagues some of these concepts and things that I've come to 18 00:02:47.460 --> 00:02:51.409 Caitlin / Rosie she/they (Lenape land): start to. It feels a little conflicting in my mind, and 19 00:02:51.670 --> 00:03:03.010 Caitlin / Rosie she/they (Lenape land): I think because of my ability to be vocal and to talk about these things. It actually created a dynamic at that job in which that I ended up being let go of. 20 00:03:03.780 --> 00:03:08.669 Caitlin / Rosie she/they (Lenape land): And so I have to surrender. There's a lot of shame 21 00:03:09.190 --> 00:03:25.549 Caitlin / Rosie she/they (Lenape land): about. I've never been like fired or let go of before, so there's a lot of shame that's coming up, so I need to surrender to my feelings, and also just try to step back and let the the wisdom of difficult emotions. 22 00:03:26.480 --> 00:03:36.209 Caitlin / Rosie she/they (Lenape land): lead me to the next choice that that feels right, and that's part of what it was feeling off. And that's why I've been trying to use my voice 23 00:03:36.340 --> 00:03:49.059 Caitlin / Rosie she/they (Lenape land): to be like this doesn't feel right, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. And in that process, yeah. So I've been thinking like doors and windows when a door shuts a window open. So that's been my experience of wisdom. 24 00:03:49.597 --> 00:03:51.799 Caitlin / Rosie she/they (Lenape land): Surrender and wisdom. So thank you. 25 00:03:54.070 --> 00:04:10.430 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Thank you so much for sharing, and I just want to say, like, I feel like getting fired puts us like among the badge of the. Now I see it as like a badge of an accomplishment, you know, almost like a medal. 26 00:04:10.570 --> 00:04:24.669 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): because when we're going in ways that sometimes are counterculture or raised up, you know, raising up critique of normative culture, whether that's heteronormativity or patriarchy or white supremacy. 27 00:04:28.220 --> 00:04:56.000 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I feel like it's like a badge of the fierce wild, you know, being to get fired. So I have also been let go from jobs both Yoga and in my teaching profession. A number of many of my friends have also, and it's almost always around, like we stood up, we voiced something for for equity, for justice, for inclusion. And then I was reflecting on most. 28 00:04:56.160 --> 00:05:22.849 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): This didn't happen recently, but it's like a full circle moment for folks who have privilege like my partner. Right? Who's a white man spoke up around. There was a time in his job a while ago where all the white men were getting promoted, but like the Asian women, because at his job it's a lot of white and Asian folks the Asian women were not, and he brought that up. And then, like 3 weeks later, he was let go 29 00:05:23.550 --> 00:05:29.199 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): come full circle. He just got rehired. So this was a decade ago 30 00:05:29.620 --> 00:05:39.710 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): by one of those Asian women who is now an executive right, and so it doesn't always work out so sweetly. This was a sweet one 31 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:47.990 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): in the decade of being let go. It was not sweet, and it but I also think sometimes like the 32 00:05:48.640 --> 00:06:09.890 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): the getting let go or the sting when we're acting in allyship with communities beyond our own. It's like we're moving into that targeting. So some of those who are targeted can have a little bit more ease right? Even if not in that moment, like big picture. And and so there's a way that, like the suffering can be for a greater cause. 33 00:06:10.162 --> 00:06:20.229 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And obviously it's not always so neat, and it doesn't feel neat, and it doesn't feel like wrapped up in a little bow like the story that I just told, which only wrapped up in its bow. 34 00:06:21.090 --> 00:06:26.290 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Yeah, that was 2015. So a decade later, yeah. 35 00:06:26.550 --> 00:06:31.349 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I don't know if that's helpful, but it just felt felt like important to share. 36 00:06:33.060 --> 00:06:34.630 Caitlin / Rosie she/they (Lenape land): Thank you. It is helpful. 37 00:06:35.100 --> 00:06:35.790 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Yeah. 38 00:06:37.510 --> 00:06:43.839 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And then Juliana, surrendering to grief, related to family members who are going through sickness. Yeah. 39 00:06:44.210 --> 00:06:48.949 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): feeling all of the things big Yoga practices coming into ground and reflect. 40 00:06:49.600 --> 00:06:52.749 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Yeah, thank you for sharing that 41 00:06:53.910 --> 00:07:02.019 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): so hard to when like, someone's going through something, and we want to fix it and change it, but we can't just have to be present with it. 42 00:07:04.820 --> 00:07:06.260 Karen McMillan: That's actually what 43 00:07:06.640 --> 00:07:18.999 Karen McMillan: I was. It's kind of a segue what I was. Gonna say, Karen, she her definitely a devotee of whatever Susanna and the ignite team is doing 44 00:07:19.320 --> 00:07:22.994 Karen McMillan: happy to be here again very timely. 45 00:07:24.700 --> 00:07:30.630 Karen McMillan: I was gonna say that it's surrendering to not doing anything right the Wu way, the 46 00:07:31.130 --> 00:07:39.979 Karen McMillan: not fixing, not having answers. You know I'm the oldest. I'm used to handling things, and then you get into situations where 47 00:07:40.260 --> 00:07:42.330 Karen McMillan: it's true surrender. 48 00:07:43.280 --> 00:07:54.319 Karen McMillan: and you won't have control. You. You have to let go or or trying to control, and he messes things up, but just 49 00:07:55.250 --> 00:08:02.220 Karen McMillan: surrendering to what is, but also knowing how to 50 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:09.339 Karen McMillan: not be strong, because strong tends to feel hard, but not 51 00:08:09.930 --> 00:08:15.830 Karen McMillan: totally break down. So surrender without breaking, maybe, is what I'm feeling and thinking. 52 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:28.089 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Thank you, Karen, and so excited to see you here. Yes. 53 00:08:29.700 --> 00:08:49.299 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): we are launching sort of soft launching, not hard, launching, a little opportunity to do a Yoga social justice certification. So the 2 courses that lead into this office hours are Yoga class curator and embrace Yoga's roots, which some of you might be a part of. And if you're currently enrolled in both. 54 00:08:49.300 --> 00:09:03.520 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): you automatically get to be part of the Yoga Social Justice certification. If you're enrolled in one or the other. You can talk to Juliana or email her at Hello, at Ignite, be? Well, but basically, if, like, you're currently in 55 00:09:03.760 --> 00:09:10.030 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): yoga class curator. Then you automatically just do the additional 56 00:09:10.230 --> 00:09:22.359 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): course, and then you can be part of the certification. So just naming that, and maybe I'll drop the let me see if I can drop the link. Thank you, Juliana. And the reason I mentioned that we'll start like 57 00:09:23.320 --> 00:09:30.230 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): our particular calls for this later in the summer, like kind of with the back to school time. But 58 00:09:30.250 --> 00:09:58.040 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I've been feeling like it's helpful in the way that we have a yin or a trauma informed certification. We don't really have yoga and social justice certifications. So some of the work we do here is foundational, and then we'll go a little deeper into into that. So that's what that's about. And then the other thing. There's so many things right now I feel like I guess I'm in spring, and that's another piece that we'll talk about. 59 00:09:58.534 --> 00:10:20.249 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): But the other thing I didn't want to forget to mention is, we do have an in person event happening an in person retreat besides the tours that I'm on, which is a retreat in La. So if anyone's like, Oh, I really want to come, experience this in person. 60 00:10:20.510 --> 00:10:29.949 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): You're more than welcome to do that. But absolutely no pressure. We will continue to gather live online. And 61 00:10:30.460 --> 00:10:39.249 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): yeah, so just naming those those things, and also naming. I'm on tour. I'm at home for this week, but I was 62 00:10:39.650 --> 00:10:52.030 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): just all the way up through the West Coast home for 5 or 6 days, and then I go to the East Coast next I leave on Friday until I'll be in Portland, Maine, Boston. 63 00:10:52.160 --> 00:11:15.610 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Rhode Island, New York and DC. I believe is, are the places that I'm going to be. So if any of you are there and you don't want to buy a ticket. Just please message me or Juliana. Actually probably be easiest if you message Juliana, and say, I want to come to this tour, stop, or this workshop, happy to get you on the list. For you know, a complimentary ticket, because I'd love to just see you 64 00:11:15.730 --> 00:11:25.609 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and connect. So dates for DC, yeah, we got the dates. The dates are for DC. Are 65 00:11:27.240 --> 00:11:30.980 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): are they not on there? That is weird? Wait. 66 00:11:32.460 --> 00:11:38.799 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): yes. Tuesday, May 27, th with Reggie Hubbard at Bhakti Yoga studio. 67 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:54.300 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and then wellness refresh wellness. Collective. Wednesday, May 28, th so I'll be in 2 places. I believe one is in like maybe they're both in Virginia, because actually, DC, is so close to Virginia. So 68 00:11:54.400 --> 00:12:08.100 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): yeah, those those are happening. And the one with Reggie is totally sliding scale like you can pay whatever. And then the refresh wellness again, there's like sliding scale prices. But there, it's not as cheap. It's like 40, 81, 20. I think 69 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:11.713 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): so. Just message us, if you're like I wanna come. But I don't wanna pay. 70 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:15.580 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And if you can do a ticket, that's great, because 71 00:12:15.950 --> 00:12:27.109 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): touring is expensive, but it's so wonderful, it's so incredible. I just like getting to be with folks in person, knowing, like 72 00:12:27.180 --> 00:12:50.630 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): the one other piece before we get into the practice and the theme and see if anyone else wants to share is, there are people like us all over, and it's really lovely to get to meet and gather and be together with those folks, and then kind of like draw inspiration like it's the the wider Sangha across the United States. And really the world. 73 00:12:50.820 --> 00:13:01.839 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): But at this point I'm not going to travel internationally, because I'm concerned about coming back into the country, given everything going on in our our country right now. 74 00:13:03.510 --> 00:13:07.390 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Anyone else want to share on the theme of 75 00:13:08.800 --> 00:13:13.670 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): yeah, I loved. And I just want to say Karen's phrase, surrender without breaking 76 00:13:13.930 --> 00:13:17.009 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): or on the theme of wisdom and surrender. 77 00:13:39.980 --> 00:13:53.410 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Nice Caitlin Philly might be able to come to one of the Nyc ones. Yeah, I tried to come to Philly, but all the places you know, it's also like it's so much about who's there and what people are willing to do. 78 00:13:53.660 --> 00:14:18.980 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I thought I would have a ton of people in Philly. But all the places I emailed were kind of like, well, maybe we can fit you in. No, we can't, you know. So it just didn't work out. So I it's also interesting to notice like, and I don't take it poorly like, I understand people are busy. Sometimes there's energy for something reciprocal, you know. And then sometimes there's not. But in the future maybe I'll get to Philly and Hello, welcome. 79 00:14:24.310 --> 00:14:27.870 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): okay, yeah. 80 00:14:27.930 --> 00:14:35.300 Karen McMillan: I just wanted to say thank you that it's always to have the. It's always nice to have the in person, saga, but it feels 81 00:14:35.960 --> 00:14:39.029 Karen McMillan: like so necessary now 82 00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:47.900 Karen McMillan: more necessary than ever. So thank you for traveling and doing all of this, and bringing people together. 83 00:14:48.290 --> 00:14:52.429 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Yeah, thank you, Karen, it really does. It feels like 84 00:14:53.140 --> 00:14:59.060 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): moving, you know, with the times and with with the moment. And what we need 85 00:15:03.030 --> 00:15:16.310 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): So we're going to explore a little bit of Ishvara Pranadana and like sacred discernment, right wise, wise thinking. And part of this is because 86 00:15:16.310 --> 00:15:44.289 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): right now. So we just passed, I think, what date? What's the date today? Is it? Yeah, it's the 14.th So it was just Buddha Purnama, the celebration of the Buddha, and that particularly the celebration, is like the waking up right like waking up to our Buddha nature, that wise insight and Buddha is like a prototypical Yogi. He is one of the early. 87 00:15:44.340 --> 00:15:48.860 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): like Shamana practitioners, renunciate practitioners. 88 00:15:49.510 --> 00:16:19.450 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and then coming up, actually starting tomorrow and going through the end of the month through the 26th is Saraswati Pushkaram, which is a time of celebrating Saraswati, the goddess of learning, the goddess of creative arts, the goddess of inspiration, of kind of like the wisdom that comes through creativity, right? So you've got like discernment and creativity, and both of them 89 00:16:19.560 --> 00:16:28.110 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): really invite us into surrender. They really invite us into like surrendering to what is. 90 00:16:28.850 --> 00:16:33.219 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And so I thought we would begin with a little bit of a practice. 91 00:16:33.390 --> 00:16:43.519 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and to do that if you'd like. You can bring your pointer, finger and thumb to touch. So Gyan mudra 92 00:16:43.720 --> 00:16:47.860 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): wisdom, Madra, and as you do that. 93 00:16:49.280 --> 00:16:57.030 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): allowing yourself to just kind of invoke. I am open to wisdom. I am open to wisdom. 94 00:16:57.660 --> 00:17:04.549 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and as you're holding your hands, I'll invite you to lift them up over your head 95 00:17:06.280 --> 00:17:18.180 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and then exhale as you bring it down. I am open to wisdom, I am open to wisdom, I am open to wisdom, and then release, and you can keep the mudra. 96 00:17:18.300 --> 00:17:27.260 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): let it, maybe flipping your hands around and letting them rest on your own body or on the table or on chair. 97 00:17:34.340 --> 00:17:38.490 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): inhaling, rolling your shoulders back and down. 98 00:17:40.410 --> 00:17:45.870 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and then exhale. Drop your right shoulder towards your right ear. 99 00:17:47.710 --> 00:18:00.189 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): So in that tramana rennanciate time there were so many traveling teachers and practitioners many different philosophies. And there's a story. 100 00:18:00.970 --> 00:18:08.119 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): The story goes that the Buddha once visited a village called Kalama. 101 00:18:08.900 --> 00:18:19.419 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and in this village people were really confused. Inhale, lifting your head back up, and then exhale, drop your head towards the other side. 102 00:18:19.870 --> 00:18:31.489 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Many teachers who came through Kalama were preaching and sharing different philosophies, and the villagers didn't know who to trust. 103 00:18:33.140 --> 00:18:37.000 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): inhale and exhale. 104 00:18:40.510 --> 00:18:46.049 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And so they asked the Buddha, how do we know who is telling the truth. 105 00:18:46.720 --> 00:18:50.399 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and maybe even deeper right like 106 00:18:50.590 --> 00:18:55.489 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): not just who is speaking the truth? Because they probably all believed 107 00:18:55.610 --> 00:19:03.470 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): what they were saying. How do we know who to trust? How do we know who to trust? 108 00:19:05.890 --> 00:19:10.580 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Inhale, lifting your head up towards center. 109 00:19:11.590 --> 00:19:16.509 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): exhale, folding your head forward, a gentle 110 00:19:16.820 --> 00:19:34.829 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): forward fold, imagining that it's a forward fold, just with your head, and if this feels like too much pressure pressure on your head or neck, you can allow it to just softly rest forward. If you want to bring a little more intensity, you can bring that mudra up, and then just let it kind of 111 00:19:34.950 --> 00:19:38.759 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): let your hands rest on the back of your head. For a little more traction 112 00:19:41.060 --> 00:19:49.290 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): the Buddha responded to the villagers in what became known as the Kalama Sutta, or Sutra. 113 00:19:50.230 --> 00:19:59.340 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): do not go by hearsay, by tradition, by what is written in Scriptures, or merely by the authority of teachers. 114 00:20:02.340 --> 00:20:14.550 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): instead, when you yourself know what is wholesome, blameless, praised by the wise, and leads to welfare and happiness. 115 00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:23.340 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): then you should accept and live by that inhale, lifting your head up. 116 00:20:23.950 --> 00:20:32.019 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): exhale, if your hands are on your head, bringing them down in front of you, or taking a moment to stretch them out and around. 117 00:20:37.530 --> 00:20:53.879 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): releasing your arms back down and letting the mudra go, or actually, maybe let's inhale it up one more time. And as you bring the mudra up above you, releasing it 118 00:20:54.190 --> 00:21:04.520 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and releasing form, releasing attachment even to practices things outside of yourself, connecting within. 119 00:21:08.650 --> 00:21:19.080 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): knowing that, as the Buddha taught, he was encouraging us not to even follow him or the teachings without question. 120 00:21:19.760 --> 00:21:36.119 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): we'll inhale our hands up and towards the sky, and then gently side, bending towards one side instead. There's the invitation to trust our own experience. Sharpen our own discernment. 121 00:21:36.520 --> 00:21:45.779 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): listening to your own body. That intuition within mind and heart. 122 00:21:49.810 --> 00:21:54.050 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and then inhale up towards center. 123 00:21:54.500 --> 00:21:58.620 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Surrender doesn't have to mean abandoning wisdom. 124 00:21:59.420 --> 00:22:03.840 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): True, Ishvara Pranidhana isn't about blind faith 125 00:22:04.240 --> 00:22:15.520 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): to Yoga itself, to a spiritual path, to a teacher, to a book, but more about humble inquiry, right curious inquiry. 126 00:22:16.400 --> 00:22:21.799 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And as you breathe here allow tension to melt away. 127 00:22:22.510 --> 00:22:33.620 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): trusting your deeper inner knowing, while examining what's really true for you inhale 128 00:22:33.900 --> 00:22:39.849 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and exhale, releasing your arms, body down. 129 00:22:43.400 --> 00:22:46.700 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and now invite us into 130 00:22:47.210 --> 00:23:01.049 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): a forward fold. So now not just your neck and head, but your whole body, any amount coming forward, maybe over itself, resting your hands on your thighs, or resting your arms on your table. 131 00:23:03.850 --> 00:23:08.400 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): deep breath in and full breath out. 132 00:23:14.550 --> 00:23:22.130 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): investing here, releasing with each inhale being open to insight. 133 00:23:22.910 --> 00:23:27.240 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): with each exhale surrendering what's no longer needed. 134 00:23:30.380 --> 00:23:52.830 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): So during the same time that the Buddha was teaching, and even before the stories go, that the gods and goddesses lived among us, and they still do, and the goddess Saraswati flowed through the world as a river of cosmic wisdom. She speaks like a muse, whispers 135 00:23:53.170 --> 00:24:01.200 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): in your ear to create music or song, or dance, or poetry, or any kind of creative expression. 136 00:24:01.910 --> 00:24:05.509 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and she brings music, speech, knowledge. 137 00:24:05.620 --> 00:24:08.140 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): all of these things to our world. 138 00:24:09.150 --> 00:24:34.600 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and inhale gently pushing into your own body or the table, and we'll move into a soft, flowing cat and cow, because we're moving like Saraswati, like the river, so option to inhale and send your face up towards the sky. Exhale round your back, tuck your tailbone. 139 00:24:37.020 --> 00:24:44.540 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And so one day, as Saraswati was flowing, she encountered a sage who was performing a ritual. 140 00:24:44.700 --> 00:24:56.539 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and she, like, came in too powerfully disrupting his ceremony. Right? So like freedom, creativity interacting with form. 141 00:24:58.800 --> 00:25:18.749 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and the sage who was performing the ceremony, was really angry, and said, you need to change your path like don't flow this way. And at 1st she resisted because her flow is part of her right, but she appreciated the 142 00:25:20.070 --> 00:25:23.730 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): the practice that the sage was doing. She didn't want to disrupt it. 143 00:25:23.860 --> 00:25:29.680 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): but rigidity of any kind, even for a good reason, was against her nature. 144 00:25:30.130 --> 00:25:36.599 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): It's like you're not wrong for the ways that you are. 145 00:25:36.870 --> 00:25:48.349 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and you can stay right here, if you'd like, maybe circling around and letting your spine jump, rope around in one direction and we'll do the other in a minute. 146 00:25:52.210 --> 00:25:59.019 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And so in as the story goes, Saraswati surrendered even her form, and she became 147 00:25:59.270 --> 00:26:08.790 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): that much more subtle, like a subtle river flowing underground, unseen, appearing when called by 148 00:26:08.950 --> 00:26:17.860 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): those who wish to create, and when she was called with devotion and humility circling the other way. 149 00:26:21.230 --> 00:26:22.870 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And so the 150 00:26:26.740 --> 00:26:34.400 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): moral of this story is, as we seek to connect with our creativity or Sarswati and muse. 151 00:26:34.620 --> 00:27:00.679 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): doing it not so much with force or control, right, but with surrender, with stillness, with reverence, and really just being present, like we might think, Oh, yeah, I'm going to be a poet. But who knows? Maybe the Saraswati comes through and is like you need to go sculpt right? Or we think I'm going to write this book, but actually becomes a screenplay. Or who knows? Right? Like we can't always control where our 152 00:27:00.810 --> 00:27:09.080 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): power, our creativity, flows gently surrendering to our flow. 153 00:27:10.340 --> 00:27:14.420 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and knowing we have a direct relationship with wisdom. 154 00:27:19.020 --> 00:27:21.669 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): One more circle here. 155 00:27:26.090 --> 00:27:27.310 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and 156 00:27:27.900 --> 00:27:44.560 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): invitation to move your legs in any way you would like so option to like, even know if I can show you. But imagine this is my leg right? So cradling your leg and just doing a gentle circle with your with one leg 157 00:27:46.300 --> 00:27:47.959 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): rocking the baby. 158 00:27:49.760 --> 00:28:06.559 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and then, when you're ready, placing that foot over your knee for figure 4 seated. Figure 4. You can stay right here or inhale, extend, exhale, fold forward over your leg, and allowing 159 00:28:06.840 --> 00:28:16.690 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): a little bit of pressure and tension to melt the stress and the holding away through our thighs 160 00:28:16.840 --> 00:28:23.720 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): as you breathe here, melting away the tension, letting go of the weight that you carry. 161 00:28:24.130 --> 00:28:32.840 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I like to rock a little bit kind of invoking that river energy, because, as I rock, I notice my back gets a little bit more ease 162 00:28:33.110 --> 00:28:38.140 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): my hip. Different parts of my hip are releasing. 163 00:28:41.820 --> 00:28:51.280 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and then, when you're ready, releasing this leg towards the ground, lifting up your other leg, any amounts 164 00:28:51.440 --> 00:29:00.340 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and circling your other leg I'm holding beneath my knee and beneath my foot, circling that leg around. 165 00:29:01.200 --> 00:29:04.600 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I was kind of cradling it like my leg is a little baby. 166 00:29:06.340 --> 00:29:09.820 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and then placing your foot on your other knee. 167 00:29:10.590 --> 00:29:12.430 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I'm leaning forward. 168 00:29:14.580 --> 00:29:21.879 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): This side is a different side. We're not always symmetrical, so not expecting it to be the same as the other side. 169 00:29:22.070 --> 00:29:24.040 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): We're rocking here. 170 00:29:35.590 --> 00:29:43.910 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and as we make space as we surrender, know that wisdom and clarity can come in 171 00:29:44.560 --> 00:29:47.259 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): into that empty space. 172 00:29:52.720 --> 00:29:59.880 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): One more breath here, and then gently releasing 173 00:30:05.580 --> 00:30:12.850 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): back to mountain shape and allowing 174 00:30:15.540 --> 00:30:21.399 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): your right hand the tip of your index finger to roll to the root of your thumb. 175 00:30:21.720 --> 00:30:33.389 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and then your middle and ring fingers rest on your thumb, and your pinky is extended. So this is Ridaya Madras. So pointer finger base of the thumb 176 00:30:34.030 --> 00:30:42.380 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): thumb rests on the pointer finger. So the gesture of surrender little S. Self to the big S self. 177 00:30:42.550 --> 00:30:49.500 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): These fingers come down, and our pinky is extended connection to space, to the divine. 178 00:30:49.940 --> 00:30:52.540 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and then your left hand can just 179 00:30:52.920 --> 00:30:58.390 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): breath down, or, if you would like option to mirror the Madra on the other side. 180 00:30:58.700 --> 00:31:02.020 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and then let your hands rest 181 00:31:02.150 --> 00:31:19.629 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): on the body or on the earth, breathing in breathing out, inhale into your heart, exhale, softening your shoulders. 182 00:31:20.640 --> 00:31:23.810 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): your jaw, your belly. 183 00:31:26.190 --> 00:31:29.829 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): What if you didn't have to hold it all 184 00:31:44.120 --> 00:31:50.300 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): more? Practice the Madrid if you would like, or 185 00:31:52.190 --> 00:31:58.180 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): you can release the Madrid. We'll practice with silence for 2 min. 186 00:31:58.910 --> 00:32:14.460 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): allowing yourself to listen to your own inner wisdom, and to let go inhale. Listen, exhale, echo. 187 00:32:23.780 --> 00:32:27.249 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I'll guide you back with my voice. When it's time 188 00:34:04.320 --> 00:34:10.630 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): holding the Madrid, it's softened, just allowing it to expand again. 189 00:34:12.310 --> 00:34:15.879 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Pointer finger curled to the base of your thumb. 190 00:34:16.290 --> 00:34:20.679 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): small as self, surrendering to the bigger self. 191 00:34:22.550 --> 00:34:33.569 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): middle and ring finger connected to the thumb, and pinky, extended gesture of the heart. 192 00:34:34.790 --> 00:34:42.050 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): used to support emotional release, heart-centered awareness, surrender. 193 00:34:44.150 --> 00:34:48.990 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): healing, grief, and connecting with our inner truth. 194 00:34:53.840 --> 00:35:04.419 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Close our practice with a mantra which you're welcome to say to yourself, if you 195 00:35:05.380 --> 00:35:10.940 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): prefer to use sounds in English. You can. 196 00:35:11.190 --> 00:35:17.079 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): let's say, like I invoke my creativity, or I invoke my wisdom. 197 00:35:18.090 --> 00:35:25.710 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): If you'd like to use the Sanskrit, which I'll share, we're gonna do a mantra to 198 00:35:26.500 --> 00:35:29.020 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Sarah Swati, the creative. 199 00:35:29.810 --> 00:35:32.900 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And then the creative 200 00:35:36.650 --> 00:35:43.630 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): intention and energy that moves through all of us. And I just dropped it in the chat. It's Ohm, I'm 201 00:35:44.340 --> 00:35:47.369 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Sir Swattier, Namaha. 202 00:35:47.900 --> 00:35:55.700 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): So we'll begin with Om, and with Om, and we'll chant 3 times if you would like to chant or receive 203 00:35:56.830 --> 00:36:04.050 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): deep breath in full breath. Out, inhale to chants! 204 00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:16.970 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Oh, I'm sorry. Swati! Namaha! 205 00:36:17.540 --> 00:36:24.529 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Oh, my Swati! Namaha! 206 00:36:25.580 --> 00:36:32.550 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Oh, I'm sorry, Namaha. 207 00:36:47.880 --> 00:36:53.429 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): continue breath in full breath out. 208 00:36:59.560 --> 00:37:08.899 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): connecting to the presence of wise knowing within creative energy and flow. 209 00:37:09.720 --> 00:37:18.160 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And as you're ready you can release the Madra, stretch your fingers out, maybe kind of scrunching them up like you're 210 00:37:18.300 --> 00:37:21.889 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): scrunching a towel. You can do that with your feet, too. 211 00:37:24.280 --> 00:37:37.239 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): rolling your hands around and then bring them to heart center bringing. Actually, let's bring our hands out to about a foot apart, imagining that you've got creative surrender 212 00:37:38.060 --> 00:37:51.020 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and creative insight and flow in one hand. Maybe your left hand, and then why is knowing discernment. 213 00:37:51.640 --> 00:37:56.920 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): bringing together your creativity and your knowledge as your hands meet 214 00:37:59.230 --> 00:38:06.710 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and hold them together at your heart, rubbing your hands. 215 00:38:07.560 --> 00:38:15.300 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): letting those energies merge and intermingle, and then you can place your hands anywhere you would like on your body. 216 00:38:15.480 --> 00:38:19.920 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): your heart, your belly, move your eyes. 217 00:38:21.570 --> 00:38:23.240 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I'm receiving 218 00:38:26.860 --> 00:38:39.609 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): gentle bow, and you feel called to your own and each other's creative and self-trusting wisdom. 219 00:38:42.250 --> 00:38:43.720 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Hmm! 220 00:38:49.780 --> 00:39:00.060 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I'm going to drop in a few questions for us to reflect on, and we'll take a few minutes to reflect, and then option to share out if you would like. 221 00:39:05.310 --> 00:39:17.430 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And oh, I had made a few questions, but I want to just give you 3, 222 00:39:20.573 --> 00:39:21.879 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): maybe 4, 223 00:39:26.740 --> 00:39:32.540 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): so you don't have to answer all of these, but maybe one of them or 2. 224 00:39:32.920 --> 00:39:43.050 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Where in my life am I trying too hard to control the outcome? This kind of brings us into like where we want to practice that. Let go that surrender? 225 00:39:43.640 --> 00:39:48.609 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): What would surrender look like if it honored my wisdom and my trust? 226 00:39:49.370 --> 00:39:55.320 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): What long had held belief or habit am I ready to question with compassion. 227 00:39:56.120 --> 00:40:10.809 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And how might I listen to the creative river within more often, and maybe listen to or like live from right like? Sometimes it's not so much like listening. It's more like, how can I live from that creativity? 228 00:40:11.290 --> 00:40:19.790 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): So we'll take yeah, maybe 4 or 5 min. I'll play some music, and with no words. 229 00:40:21.100 --> 00:40:24.809 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): The then we'll share. 230 00:40:25.070 --> 00:40:30.980 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): You can journal into a chat. Just reflect whatever you would like 231 00:45:40.860 --> 00:45:46.020 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): taking just a minute to finish up your writing and reflection. 232 00:45:47.380 --> 00:45:48.080 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Hmm! 233 00:45:57.900 --> 00:46:00.140 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): As we come back. 234 00:46:01.390 --> 00:46:19.830 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I want to invite you to just a little visualization with your inquiries, maybe imagining yourself sitting under the Bodhi tree, big, wide, trunked, leafy tree that probably right about now is 235 00:46:19.950 --> 00:46:26.130 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): full of lots of green leaves fluttering in the wind. 236 00:46:27.290 --> 00:46:30.860 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and we're by the Saraswati River. 237 00:46:33.070 --> 00:46:42.029 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and imagine that if there are things that you're releasing, or things that get in the way of your creativity, or letting them flow away and down that river. 238 00:46:42.400 --> 00:46:45.730 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): or if there's things that bring in 239 00:46:45.840 --> 00:46:50.069 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): inspiration, inner trust of your wisdom. 240 00:46:50.680 --> 00:46:55.400 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): they're falling like the Bodhi leaves into your lap, kind of a 241 00:46:56.090 --> 00:47:00.860 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): affirmation of your inner knowing and your creative path. 242 00:47:02.860 --> 00:47:18.220 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And then, when you're ready, looking around you, taking in color and form, inhaling that clarity, exhaling surrender. 243 00:47:19.610 --> 00:47:29.719 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And I wanna invite us into sharing if you would like chat or out loud if there was anything that came forward. 244 00:47:30.250 --> 00:47:37.959 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Mine felt very simple, you know, like just really kind of trusting my. 245 00:47:38.330 --> 00:47:51.980 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): my bodily yeses and nos, and then also that creative river. A lot of it for me comes from like new experiences, putting myself in the way of like new things, doing different things 246 00:47:52.300 --> 00:48:14.000 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and rest, being having rest. And that doesn't mean, you know, sometimes for me, I'll be in a period of rest, or even like a time where I'm very active. But creativity will will flow in. But often it's not when I expect it to. So just creating space. Those are some of my 247 00:48:14.120 --> 00:48:23.250 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): my reflections, and really I do feel like creativity is like the ultimate act of surrendering control. 248 00:48:24.800 --> 00:48:29.269 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): So if anyone would like to share. The floor is open. 249 00:48:42.097 --> 00:48:50.892 Eva (she/her): For me. It was very interesting. I again with the work we begun. We began with 250 00:48:52.398 --> 00:49:09.159 Eva (she/her): work. Sorry. So today. Last week I was offered to go work somewhere else in the same company, but to do a bit of a different job. And it's actually the job that I really like that I prefer 251 00:49:09.695 --> 00:49:24.610 Eva (she/her): but I come back from being ill for over almost 3 years, and I was so focused on getting back to work the way it was that it was very difficult for me to actually go like, Oh, yeah, no, this is. 252 00:49:24.860 --> 00:49:27.030 Eva (she/her): I actually would like this? 253 00:49:28.380 --> 00:49:45.070 Eva (she/her): so with the surrendering and and yeah, letting giving that bit more space with this. Yeah, it was. It's okay to be said about leaving a place, even though I'm 254 00:49:45.590 --> 00:49:55.493 Eva (she/her): actually happy that I'm going somewhere else. So yeah, it's it's the combination of both for me. That kind of yeah came out right now. 255 00:50:01.490 --> 00:50:07.590 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Thank you so much for sharing anyone else. 256 00:50:08.870 --> 00:50:15.940 Chevara Orrin (she/her) (shuh-VAH-rah): I? I I wrote something in response to the 3.rd 257 00:50:16.180 --> 00:50:21.420 Chevara Orrin (she/her) (shuh-VAH-rah): Prompt. What long-held belief or habit am I ready to question with compassion 258 00:50:25.250 --> 00:50:35.389 Chevara Orrin (she/her) (shuh-VAH-rah): for most of my life I believed I had to choose in America. The choice was made for me. You are black, and I have carried that truth with pride, with power, with purpose. 259 00:50:35.390 --> 00:51:04.219 Chevara Orrin (she/her) (shuh-VAH-rah): but also, if I'm honest, with a quiet ache and ache for the parts of me left unnamed. As I travel the world. I meet others who live in the Liminal, who speak in 2 tongues, who are both bridge and border. In Vietnam a woman whispers the word Milai, and her eyes tell stories. Her mouth cannot. In Cuba mulatta hangs in the air like both prayer and poison. In Belgium. Matisse walks like memory through the streets, and I begin to wonder not whether I am enough of either, but whether I've been allowed to be both. 260 00:51:04.730 --> 00:51:21.269 Chevara Orrin (she/her) (shuh-VAH-rah): When I was 6, my wise white Jewish mother, a woman shaped by exile and ancestry, told me I could choose, and then, gently, truthfully, But the world will see you as nonwhite. She knew that her love could not undo a country carved by centuries of division. She knew her privilege would never be mine. 261 00:51:21.270 --> 00:51:40.439 Chevara Orrin (she/her) (shuh-VAH-rah): Still, I'm asking softly, bravely, what if choosing isn't the only way to survive. What if naming all of me is the truest way to belong? I'm not abandoning my blackness. I'm expanding the frame. I'm honoring the hyphen. I'm letting my lineage breathe. I am the daughter of complexity. I am the possibility of both. 262 00:51:50.610 --> 00:51:51.890 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Wow! 263 00:51:52.390 --> 00:51:56.060 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I am so moved by that. 264 00:51:56.180 --> 00:51:58.940 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And just like, wanna ask. 265 00:51:59.890 --> 00:52:06.870 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): are you sharing your writing? Is this gonna be like? Is this part of anything that you're yeah. 266 00:52:06.870 --> 00:52:20.750 Chevara Orrin (she/her) (shuh-VAH-rah): I thank you for that question. I'm actually in the process now of writing a memoir. I have a literary agent and some of what we'll be exploring. For the last 4 years I've traveled to different nations every month, and 267 00:52:21.480 --> 00:52:34.099 Chevara Orrin (she/her) (shuh-VAH-rah): what I've discovered, what I've discovered about myself, and I'm I'm I've been raised as a social justice activist with a white Jewish mother and a black father who worked with closely with Dr. King. Is that 268 00:52:34.220 --> 00:52:36.639 Chevara Orrin (she/her) (shuh-VAH-rah): what I am most connected to 269 00:52:36.800 --> 00:52:45.080 Chevara Orrin (she/her) (shuh-VAH-rah): is the humanity between us, and it looks like a wide range of things. The Maori in New Zealand, the Embeda in Panama. 270 00:52:45.360 --> 00:53:06.610 Chevara Orrin (she/her) (shuh-VAH-rah): Afro, Scots in Scotland. And so I've really been deeply exploring, especially now in this nation, where we are called to be more divided, where we are asked to turn in our neighbor right? And so I've been really contemplating what it means, because in the rest of the world. 271 00:53:06.810 --> 00:53:30.470 Chevara Orrin (she/her) (shuh-VAH-rah): being mixed, race, particularly being black and white does not at all hold the same connotation as it does here. There are some similarities, some places, but mostly it's not, and I think a pivotal moment for me. I was in Honduras. I went scuba diving for the 1st time, and my guide, I'm always asking people what are we called here? And he said, I am called Indio. 272 00:53:30.470 --> 00:53:49.069 Chevara Orrin (she/her) (shuh-VAH-rah): I am called Indio, and that means that I am mixed race, he said, but we have people who are called islanders, and they are the ancestors of white British enslavers and African enslaved. And then he asked me, he said, Well, what are you called? I said. I identify as black. 273 00:53:49.200 --> 00:53:50.600 Chevara Orrin (she/her) (shuh-VAH-rah): and he said. 274 00:53:51.330 --> 00:54:02.410 Chevara Orrin (she/her) (shuh-VAH-rah): why and it was it was. It was just the way, and it wasn't. It wasn't biting. He wasn't being caustic. He was genuinely asking why? Just black? Was his question. 275 00:54:02.410 --> 00:54:03.390 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Question. 276 00:54:03.390 --> 00:54:30.980 Chevara Orrin (she/her) (shuh-VAH-rah): Why, just black, he said. Here you would be Indio. I get that a lot like you know, people would say, here you would be, whatever it is, but his questioning, and he said no one had ever asked him about being Indio. But we went all the way up the mountain while he talked about what heritage and culture meant in Honduras, and they have about 6 different words to identify mixed race people there. So it was also so much more expansive 277 00:54:30.980 --> 00:54:34.420 Chevara Orrin (she/her) (shuh-VAH-rah): than what we have here. So thank you. Thank you, Susanna. 278 00:54:34.670 --> 00:54:35.410 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Hmm! 279 00:54:36.600 --> 00:54:45.999 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I love that. Why, like just the why, you know, without without judgment, without pressure, without expectation. 280 00:54:46.990 --> 00:54:50.180 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): No, that's profound. 281 00:54:50.390 --> 00:54:55.190 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Hmm, thank you so much, Samara. 282 00:54:55.660 --> 00:54:57.240 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Anyone else. 283 00:54:57.560 --> 00:55:00.380 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Time for maybe one more share. 284 00:55:07.560 --> 00:55:11.389 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And I just want to say, Shabara, like folks, are resonating in the chat. 285 00:55:11.650 --> 00:55:17.930 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Juliana shared appreciation and motive connection, and Karen 286 00:55:18.080 --> 00:55:25.160 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): says, your story, your voice and book are much needed. They really are. I think there's, I think, about this. A lot like 287 00:55:25.350 --> 00:55:40.850 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): some of us are bridges, you know, between between worlds, and whether or not we're mixed right. I think circumstance, circumstance can make us bridges as well. And folks who are mixed. We're sort of 288 00:55:41.650 --> 00:55:54.249 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): invited to be bridges. A very, very direct invitation, and not everyone, you know, is a bridge in the same way. And that's part of the beauty. 289 00:55:56.930 --> 00:56:05.050 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Yeah, invited exactly anyone else before we close. 290 00:56:05.500 --> 00:56:10.769 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And I have a little closing blessing for us to say if you would like. 291 00:56:15.690 --> 00:56:16.350 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Okay. 292 00:56:17.690 --> 00:56:24.919 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): so this closing blessing is just to say to yourself, and I'll I'll say it out loud. You can repeat it in your mind. 293 00:56:25.110 --> 00:56:29.230 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): May I be guided by inner wisdom? 294 00:56:30.090 --> 00:56:34.259 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): May I surrender what no longer serves? 295 00:56:34.510 --> 00:56:40.580 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): May creative clarity flow through me, so I'll say it again. 296 00:56:41.050 --> 00:56:45.010 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): May I be guided by inner wisdom 297 00:56:48.850 --> 00:56:52.720 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): may I surrender what no longer serves? 298 00:56:56.160 --> 00:57:00.620 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): May creative clarity flow through me? 299 00:57:01.230 --> 00:57:05.020 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): May creative clarity flow through me! 300 00:57:06.660 --> 00:57:14.288 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Thank you to each of you for your presence, for your practice today. If there's anything you're taking out, 301 00:57:14.830 --> 00:57:24.800 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): please do share in the chat. It's always nice to hear. That was Ridaya mudra or heart Mudra. 302 00:57:28.460 --> 00:57:30.870 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I believe. Let me just actually double check. 303 00:57:33.890 --> 00:57:35.450 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Yes, retire. 304 00:57:35.970 --> 00:57:41.590 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): It's like a gesture of connecting to our spiritual heart. 305 00:57:44.030 --> 00:57:49.019 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): So it's the deep surrender of the individual self 306 00:57:49.920 --> 00:57:57.500 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): to the ultimate. And this is sort of like that antenna connecting us out and offering healing. 307 00:58:00.650 --> 00:58:02.856 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Yeah, so 308 00:58:05.550 --> 00:58:15.050 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): a lot of the stories, you know, when you grow up in, like an Indian household which mine, although mixed, was kind of culturally Indian. 309 00:58:15.310 --> 00:58:21.440 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): The stories are just stories that you hear? Right? They're stories that are around, so that those particular ones 310 00:58:21.880 --> 00:58:24.645 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I don't have a bit a source 311 00:58:25.180 --> 00:58:30.270 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): for the stories. There's a few books that I like 312 00:58:30.720 --> 00:58:40.650 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): don't know if these particular stories would be would be in them. But, Raj, let me see if I can type in chat. So Raj 313 00:58:41.110 --> 00:58:47.349 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Valkyran wrote a book called the Stories Behind the Poses. 314 00:58:47.610 --> 00:59:09.690 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and there's a lot of lovely stories there. But one of the other things right kind of connecting back to critical thinking is, the stories are going to be different. Some of the story, like. Sometimes my aunt will tell me a story, and then she'll tell me another story about Saraswati, and they conflict. They're different stories. And so it's part of, I think, being 315 00:59:09.690 --> 00:59:28.050 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): part of an oral tradition. It was just sort of you're going to hear a story here. You're going to hear a story here, and after time they'll just kind of become part of that, like the landscape of the practice. And in Yoga class curator, there's a lot of those stories. I share a lot of those stories in the Dharma talks. 316 00:59:28.170 --> 00:59:32.930 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Those are some of my favorite places to to listen to and to find the stories 317 00:59:33.170 --> 00:59:37.702 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): there. And yeah, it's oral oral tradition. 318 00:59:39.650 --> 00:59:48.269 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and then, you know, trusting that, like the oracular right? Sometimes I pick up a book, and I just turn to a 319 00:59:48.270 --> 01:00:11.220 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): happen to have my book right here, which is the turn to a page right? And then I read, and so maybe you're like, Oh, I'm interested in Saraswati. And so you just go a little bit searching for like stories about Saraswati, and then you find, and maybe it's the same story. Maybe it's a different story. But letting that letting that be like the river of creativity, and like trusting your own intuition. 320 01:00:11.220 --> 01:00:13.529 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): So yeah. 321 01:00:14.000 --> 01:00:29.679 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): enjoy everyone, and thank you again, sending you many, many joys and blessings, and then I will just say, I'll see those of you in Yoga class Curator, or the Yoga Social Justice training on 322 01:00:31.250 --> 01:00:40.290 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): the 28th for our pilgrimage in Puja, and then also also 323 01:00:41.290 --> 01:00:49.049 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): in June. So June 11th is our next office hours. See you there? Everyone have a beautiful day. 324 01:00:49.050 --> 01:00:50.419 Caitlin / Rosie she/they (Lenape land): Thank you so much. 325 01:00:50.860 --> 01:00:51.773 Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Thank you. 326 01:00:52.230 --> 01:00:52.960 Caitlin / Rosie she/they (Lenape land): Take care! 327 01:00:54.490 --> 01:00:55.300 Monica: Thank you. 328 01:00:55.990 --> 01:00:56.950 Eva (she/her): Thank you.