Workshop for the New Year (online)
18h-20h30 Paris time / 9:00-11:30am Pacific time / 12:00-2:30pm Eastern time
2020 has been a most unusual year. The tug-of-war between the old and new paradigms -- our values, beliefs, and ways of living together -- has been blatantly apparent in the political, social and environmental domains. Feeling these shiftings in our own lives, bodies, hearts and minds in one way or another is unavoidable. And at the heart of this massive transition is the question of what it means to be human, how we live together, and what we wish to become.
In the same way that technology holds many of the solutions we seek, our ancient "wisdom traditions" and our bodies themselves also hold critical information, insight and understandings about what it means to be human, and how to live our lives well together. As the past eras have shown us, tools and knowledge, information and technologies are insufficient in and of themselves. They not only call for, but require even greater insight and understanding about ourselves, and greater care in how we treat one another, and our world. In so many instances the problem is not lack of knowledge or technology, but lack of wisdom in its use. Our metaphors override our own embodied intelligence and we forget that we are not machines, or disembodied minds, but living, breathing organisms, that require and thrive in loving social connection. We start to believe our own stories that we can dominate nature -- and perhaps we can, but it would not be worth it if this were at the cost of the most beautiful aspects of our humanness -- our capacity to care about one another.
Our yoga practice, and other mindful, embodied practices, help us to dwell in our wholeness, which is complex and ever-shifting. It also helps us to access our own deepest knowing, compassion, and wisdom.