When despair
climbs on top of you
and you cannot
see the stars,
wait,
wail,
cough the phlegm.

Remember what it was like to be born?

The collapsing walls
around your not yet breathing lungs,
terror heaving at your throat,
dark helpless thrusting,
and then, new vision floods,
golden light, nothing but
g o l d e n   l i g h t.

You endured a great forgetting to get this life.
Press your ear to the ancient shore.
Do you hear it?
You died to another world to get here.

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These are dark times. No doubt. There is also so much light. But our deep collective wounds of sexism, racism, bigotry, xenophobia, and more are rising to be healed. There is so much work to do, as there always has been. This is light shone on the places where we have said NO to life for all, NO to love for all, NO to peace for all. It hurts when we see the wound that is out there, and also in here. And we are not alone.

Feel it all. Find safe places to do so. Scream. Cry. Do yoga, cry and scream some more. For real. There is a lot to process. We must be kind with ourselves. We must be kind with each other. Emotions are rocket fuel. Emotions show us where the work needs to be done. It’s different for everyone. And we cannot stop there.

These are the moments we have been preparing for. These are the moments to rise, as we always have, as we will continue to do. We lift our cracked open wild hearts like beacons. Steady, strong, tender, fierce. “Come this way”, we say with tears and joy, “come with fierce love”.

This is not a time to isolate, to withdraw, to wait for someone else to do the work. The savior is you. The knight in shining armor is you. You are the one to put down or pick up the sword. You are the one to look at your own biases and privilege. You are the one to listen, to receive another as you wish to be received. You are the one to love as though there is no end to love, because there is not. You are the one to rise into your own POWER (and no, that’s not a dirty word – we need you). You are the one to take imperfect action and keep course correcting with love. You are the one to love yourself with immense grace and tenderness through it all. Your voice is needed. Your heart is needed. Sing us home.

Yes, it’s a lot to ask. And as Clarissa Pinkola Estes says, “When a great ship is in harbor and moored, it is safe, there can be no doubt. But that is not what great ships are built for.”

Great Ships, you know that when the water rises, it lifts all boats. When the evolutionary force surges through to crack old forms, we all feel it. Breathe. Do you feel that sacred core? It is still there. Sit with yourself long enough, you’ll see. It has not gone anywhere. It is indestructible, revolutionary, wild, infinitely loving. This is the sacred thread that connects all hearts. It’s ready to be known in a deeper way.

I’m holding space for us returning to this center. Of resting deeply into our collective sacredness and love. Of saturating ourselves body, mind, soul in that essence. Of taking action (big or small) from that place. Of letting that action rise from the depths of that sacredness and stillness. Because I know this sacred center of collective evolution is fucking powerful. And when we move from that deep place, we can make miracles every day occurrences. We are infinite beings who have much more creative force than we think we do.

In Kundalini Yoga, we have a word: shuniya. Shuniya is state that gives rise to intuition. It is a space cultivated through meditation. A space of feeling what is here now, of emptying out, of stillness, of clarity, of connecting deeply to the soul, to the fiery light within, to your wisdom, and to the love at the center of your being. When we take action, the effects of this action are amplified when they arise from this clear, heart-full space. They are held by Soul, powered by Soul, the indestructible force of the Universe. If we combine this with the power of the 10 yogic bodies, we get royal courage to amplify this deep knowing. My dear ones, this is super-love-spirit-charged activism. Come do some yoga. Fill your tank. The world needs you.