These words helped me in 2016

I read them again this morning

when this tree was felled by a hurricane, it grew in a new direction

Oh, Cocoon.

The day after the 2016 election I created an email folder called "Election Solace.” The first email that went into that folder was Hillary Clinton's email to her supporters. The second was from my yoga studio in New York.

It's been 8 years, and I have never forgotten these words from that second email:

…Our physical body is the house of our spirit. And if we don't strengthen the physical body and refine it, the spirit diminishes. We need our spirit now like we have never needed it before. So we move to the tool that we have: the shapes. The body. The practice. And we polish the vehicle in order to keep our spirits and our souls alive. 

Remember that's what we are doing when we as teachers are holding space for our students right now and when we as students are showing up in community.  As tough as it is.

That reminder to keep the body strong so that the spirit may also remain strong has kept me going back to the mat through many trials ever since, both personal and public.

I went to bed at 9pm last night, right after Florida's abortion protection measure failed. When I woke up this morning and saw the election results, I put my sneakers on and went for a run along the beach. I thought about that email from 8 years ago. I told myself, over and over, that this is why we get strong and stay strong. For times like this.

When I got home I pulled the email up and read it again. Everything my yoga teachers said then is true today.

You don’t have to go for a run today or go to a yoga class or do anything other than go immediately to bed after dinner tonight because one thing I know for sure is that you cannot get stronger if you do not eat and sleep.

Feed yourself. Rest. Take good care.

Yours in love and resistance,

Rebekah