Days 27 and 28: Power and Dedicate

As expected, today was a vigorous practice, but Adriene focused on internal power. This is nothing new, and I have thought a lot about empowerment these past few weeks. I'm often suspicious of empowerment, as marketing schemes and consumerism can be cleverly disguised as empowerment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6l1OFTo51Q

Internal empowerment, while less dangerous than buying a bunch of lipsticks in the name of girl power, is also no more straightforward. I certainly feel physical power during core strengtheners and vinyasas that build up heat, but I've found far more mental power in grounding postures such as mountain. It's easy to dismiss mountain pose, as you're literally just standing there, but just like life, the pose is what you make of it. You might see mountain as a transition pose, waiting for the next high lunge or forward fold. Or you might claw your feet into the yoga mat, lift your heart, and actively pull your fingers back. By grounding and connecting with your roots, you have the foundation to expand and grow.

The passive can become active. There is strength in stillness.

It's easy to think of power as an aggressive or masculine quality. Softness seems out of reach when we try to be powerful. We associate power with having the highest title, being the loudest voice in the room, or just simply being a white man.

When practicing yoga, it's important to check into its roots: the Hindu tradition. Hindus have long worshipped goddesses as vital sources of power. Shakti is the "mother goddess, fierce warrior, and the dark goddess of destruction" (Chopra). Everyone—men and women alike—has this fierce feminine energy that can protect or destroy. The softness of maternal energy is no less powerful than the force of destruction.

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But also remember that even when you don't feel like leaping into the world with a dagger (which could get you arrested, so don't do that), there is power in showing up and making incremental progress. Day 27 is well into the home stretch, and hundreds of people commented, "I can't believe I made it this far!" I have become far too familiar with the mental chatter of "I can't." When we shift "I can't" to "I haven't," the seemingly impossible becomes an exploration. As Adriene says, the hardest part of yoga is getting onto the mat, but as we power through the mental resistance, we can find strength in discovering new things about your practice, about yourself.

Day 28, dedicate, brought us back to day 1: remembering why we're here. My "why" has changed dramatically since beginning this practice. On day 1, I was just beginning to emerge from destructive stillness (the paralyzing kind, rather than the mindful kind). I was simply trying to feel less shitty and numb. I still have bad days, but my "why" has become to cultivate the strength to move forward, to not just be alive, but to feel alive, and to honor where I am today.

Dedicate also invited us to share our energy with someone outside of ourselves. Much like the medicine buddha practice that we practiced at Shoshoni, in which you dedicate healing energy to someone who is struggling, sick, or needs some extra love, dedicate allowed us to take the self-love that we have cultivated over the past 27 days, and extend it to those around us.

https://mandalas.life/get/medicine-buddha-thangka/

I have found the strongest dedication practices in thinking about someone I am personally close to, and those who are struggling outside of my immediate community. My first dedication was to a friend who is there for me in countless ways, despite having professional and personal strife. The other dedication occurred off the mat, after watching Jon Stewart's moving speech about the 9/11 first responders' bill. These are people who are suffering after putting so much goodness and healing into the world. They have taken compassion and kindness to the extreme and sacrificed their own health for the safety of others. They deserve the same compassion and kindness in return.

That's not to say that everyone needs to start jumping into burning buildings in order to help others. But it is important to move one step past self-care. We care for ourselves to discover our purpose, our joy, our authenticity, but we also care for ourselves in order to have the strength and dedication to make sure our community, both local and global, are cared for and alive.

As is the meaning of "namaste," the light in me honors the light in you.

Namaste.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzqOY_7xiyg&t=1012s

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