All Humanity Newsletter | January 2021 |
|
Yikes! Holy Cow! Holy Smoke! Holy Something! Holy Everything! 2020 was rough. 2021 is not off to a great start. The pain, the suffering, the loss, the uncertainty…continues on just about every level. From a year ago to today, where we find ourselves was literally unimaginable. There is much to be healed. The goal is not simply to weather these storms unchanged and resolute. As it has always been, the task is to grow and become because of hardship, not in spite of it.
We need more than resilience. We need the hope and innocence of beginnings, of seeing anew, of knowing in our bones that the beauty of living grows up through the cracks. In the words of the song, "Beautiful Day" by the band U2, “The heart is a bloom, shoots up through the stony ground.”
So what have you learned this past year? I have learned that only together can we defeat the virus-that-shall-not-be-named. I learned that I love the sacredness of our democracy on the ‘inside’ of my being. I learned, for the countless time, that we are all in this crazy life together.
In 2021, I begin again, today and tomorrow. I hope you do, too.
|
|
Matthew Sanford | Founder, Mind Body Solutions |
|
Pose of the month...
Begin Again
|
|
Babies kick-start their lives with a cry and a long exhale. We may want to do the same to start the new year. Emptying ourselves of 2020, pausing, and opening up to a new world of possibilities seems like a perfect plan.
However, the adjustments we need to make cannot be done by just turning the page of a calendar. As this Zen Proverb illustrates, if we are full of thoughts and beliefs already, we have no room to grow. We must open up and begin again with curiosity.
Pema Chodron says to live fully is to be always in no man's land, experiencing each moment completely new and fresh. Of being fired by Apple, Steve Jobs said, “The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again. It freed me to enter into one of the most creative periods of my life.” Buddha observed there are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth: not going all the way, and not starting. Neurosurgeon, medical reporter, and writer Sanjay Gupta explains in his new book that experiencing something new or even doing something in a different way can generate new brain cells and new functional pathways within the brain. He believes a brain’s health is measured by how much happiness and joy it holds. By creating new experiences, we are treating our brains right.
Excitement and eagerness abide when a “first-timer” arrives at an adaptive yoga class. The seasoned students are genuinely excited to share the practice they have come to love. It’s a tender moment as they revisit memories of the expectations of their first class. The joy of welcoming a new yoga buddy is apparent in their eyes and their encouraging voices. Students and teachers have the opportunity to explore yoga asana as if it’s their first time on the mat. By approaching yoga or any of our everyday moments like a beginner, we can experience life without expectations, connecting to our bodies while experiencing emptiness and fullness simultaneously.
Just as a baby trying new foods experiences wonder and awe, yoga students are able to “cleanse their asana palate”. They can fully engage in the distinctive tastes of their yoga practice, advancing individually and as a community.
|
|
Words of Wisdom...
Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
|
|
"Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase."
“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
Regarding the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march and in response to the question of "How long will it take to achieve real change?" Dr.King paraphrased the words of his predecessor Theodore Parker, by saying: “How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Click here to listen to Dr. King’s full speech.
ON NEW BEGINNINGS...
from John O'Donahue
“Beginning precedes us, creates us, and constantly takes us to new levels and places and people.
There is nothing to fear in the act of beginning. More often than not, it knows the journey ahead
better than we ever could."
~ Excerpt from Benedictus. A Book of Blessings
|
|
In Case You Missed It...
"Who Says I Can't Be Free"
|
|
|
|
Last week, more than 70 people from around the world joined MBS Founder, Matthew Sanford for conversation, shared insights about living with a disability, and a brief yoga practice teaching the exploration of freedom and lightness in the body. In case you missed it, here's a recording.
Be sure to join us for the next session on March 10 from 2-3:30 pm CST. / Theme: What to do about Sympathy. Read more on our website.
|
|
2021 Offerings...
Come find us.
|
|
Adaptive students, yoga teachers, caregivers, and all! Grab your calendar and head to our website.
We've got something for everyone this year.
From free online adaptive yoga classes (including a new meditation class) to newly developed Opening Yoga Trainings for teachers, we're poised and ready to reach more people and continue the work of transforming trauma, loss, and disability into hope and potential.
JOIN US!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
