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THERESA BRIGGS YOGA
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August is for: celebrating vulnerability. Allowing the soft frontside of the body open up. Moving into uncertainty. And knowing that you have your own back even if when you’re afraid you might fall.
💚💚💚

Part of the practice of yoga is embracing the unknown. Avidya, often translated as ignorance in the yogic texts, can come across as a negative concept in a world where we place such high importance on being right. On always knowing. Which doesn’t leave a lot of room for mistakes and growth.

We practice our yoga by acknowledging (and then reminding ourselves over and over and over again) that the only guarantee is change. That there is no real “knowing.” That much of what we think we know has been conditioned in us. And we work to recognize how holding on to “knowing” can create rigidity and suffering, both for ourselves and the continued suffering of marginalized groups in our communities.

So here we are! Months into a pandemic where no one really knows what comes next. Centuries into a culture soaked in racism and patriarchy. So thank goodness change is our only guarantee.

Keep practicing. Keep scratching under the surface of what you think you know. In moments of pain and fear and anxiety where it’s nearly impossible to access coping tools, the physical yoga practice (#asana) and breath-work (#pranayama) can remind our nervous systems that we are safe. If those practices feel out of reach because the agitation is too high, try jumping jacks, run around the block, or stomp and shake first. Try yelling! Or singing. These can all stimulate the #vagusnerve & help reset to the nervous system neutral so the quieter practices can become an option again.

#yogapractice #yoga #yogaeverydamnday #yogaeveryday #yogaforanxiety #yogainthetimeofcorona #yogaanywhere #polyvagaltheory #vagusnervestimulation #yogafortrauma #yogaforstress

love is action

6/11/2020

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Reflection on this today. I was experiencing some conflict in one of my friendships a few months back, and had said in therapy, “I know it’s coming from a place of love.” & my brilliant therapist asked, “Does it feel like love? Isn’t that what matters?” 🤯🤯🤯 I have been seeing posts within the yoga community in the vein of “loving all beings” and compassion for “all sides.” I know this is in line with the yogic teachings- we are all the same at the core, we are all one. Non-dualism. The intentions aren’t wrong. 
But how that lands in the midst of the current uprising against systemic racism and oppression? When black and brown people are literally fighting for their lives in the streets? It doesn’t land as love. It lands as a dismissal. It lands as a brush-off of the pain and reality of daily life for so much of our country.

As students of yoga- and as humans- our job is to dig under the surface of things, however messy that may get in the process. To peel back the layers of conditioning- personally and collectively. And our group conditioning- our samskaras, in yoga- includes white supremacy, includes fear of the “other,” specifically black men. This is a white person problem and it’s our job to do the work to fix it. We cannot sit on the sidelines and extol the virtues of ahimsa when our silence lands as harm. When our “love and light” lands as harm. Love is action. 
So what to do? Start with educating yourself. Google is your friend. I highly recommend following @rachel.cargleand @nicoleacardoza to start. Love is an action, and it’s time for us all to act. 💚

I’m still in the early stages of learning. I look back on past actions and cringe. And I have been called to task. I felt the textbook white fragility response. It’s not comfortable but it is necessary. 
#yogapractice #yogaeverydamnday#yogaeveryday#yogainthetimeofcorona#yogaoffthemat #ahimsa #nonharming
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    This blog, together with the occasional newsletter, will be an active space to share thoughts about yoga on and off the mat. Please let me know what you like and what you'd like to see more of. And as always, thank you for the gift of teaching!

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