The Case for Yoga….During a Global Pandemic
So, yoga now? During a global pandemic?
PRECISELY. I have truly never, ever been more grateful for my yoga practice.
And no, it’s not because practicing handstand everyday will magically change your life. Although, cool if you want to! There are lots of physical benefits to these poses. I want to make the case that (along with a billion other reasons) yoga helps build empathy. And for real, empathy feels so necessary right now.
In the yogic teachings of loving-kindness (metta) there is the teaching of compassion. Karuna. This can be self-compassion AND compassion for all beings. I would argue, yoga helps us with both! In these times of fear, uncertainty and major struggle, compassion and empathy are quite helpful.
My teacher Noah Mazé recently wrote in his latest newsletter. “By breathing together and moving together, we create collective empathy and collective energy”. I believe this 100%. Early on, I made the mistake of saying “We are in this together”. That is simply not true. Our struggles are different. For some, this pandemic has literally been life or death. Our definitions of what makes this pandemic challenging differs, but that does not make it feel any less difficult for anyone.
Empathy really means understanding/being aware of/being sensitive to what someone else is going through even if it’s wildly different that anything you have ever been faced with. For example, you might be a healthy individual and not too concerned about COVID, but you stay at home to protect those that are more vulnerable. Or, you may not personally be worried about paying the bills, but you know that a friend who owns a small business is, so you find a way to support them. Or even more simply, we may not understand the pain many in the world are going through, so we find ways to better show love and compassion for ourselves—therefore we can show up as the best version of ourselves for the world.
Ding ding! That last one really nails it. So, what is one way to practice more compassion for ourselves and consequently develop more empathy for the greater good? You guessed it. YOGA. Here is the case for yoga now, more than ever. Especially when it feels like we already have too much on our plates.
Shocker, right? Here is Alison, advocating for yoga. I own a yoga studio and have been teaching yoga for over 11 years. Of course I want people to do yoga! But it is more than that. I think in times like these, it is easy to feel helpless. The best advice I have received on how to help? Do and share what you love. What I know, what I love, and what I do is yoga. I believe with every fiber of my being it has the power to heal and transform. It’s been true for me and I see it every single day. It won’t instantly fix your life, but instead is a tool to better navigate and know yourself. A tool to better understand and love yourself. And if we better know and love ourselves, then navigating these unprecedented waters is (hopefully) easier. We might more easily empathize with others and step outside of our comfort zones to see a different experience. But---you must show up and do it. Like anything worth anything, consistency is key.
For anyone who ever told me (or thought) “Gosh, I’d love to do yoga but I can’t/am not flexible/don’t have time/don’t have money”. We got you. Our studio has a YouTube channel with FREE videos and tons of various classes for you. And it’s free because we understand these are hard times. Not because we devalue yoga and what we do. Trust. No one knows more than me the time, energy, dedication and effort that goes into being semi-decent at this and trying to make an actual living. It’s no joke. Very few people understand how challenging it is to run a yoga studio and how low the margins actually are. But I digress....
For those of you that can afford to support a small, female-owned, local business. Awesome! We need it (and appreciate it!) to get through this. Ideally, we will be there teaching great yoga on the other side of this, just like we’ve always been. Many small businesses will not make it through this, and that is heartbreaking. Those of you that have been supporting us this entire time—THANK YOU. The gratitude I feel is hard to describe. For those that want to continue supporting or have not yet supported our studio, we got you. We offer online, live, zoom classes where you can pay drop-in fees or use your pass/membership. Purchasing passes or gift cards and using them later helps more than you know. There has been something really lovely about connecting with each other, even virtually. It’s different. It’s a big change. But welcome to life, am I right?! Nothing is permanent and that is all the more reason to keep doing yoga.
And for those of you who are like “Enough Alison! I’ve got too much to worry about to do yoga.” We got you, too. We will practice for you. I know we are all doing our very best.
Karuna=Compassion. For self and others. Empathy. We can show up better in our world by showing up for ourselves. While our struggles might look very different, I know we can get through this together.