“There are things you do because they feel right, and they make no sense, and they make no money, and it may be the real reason we are here; to love each other, and to eat each others cooking and say it was good.”
Brian Andreas
I’ve been thinking about the body a lot this week. On Wednesday I got to join in on one of the Self Care Project groups, as somatic counselor Sarah Irons got us moving and thinking and talking about the things our bodies know.
And in the last few weeks I’ve been coordinating with a group of folks to host an event called The Privilege of Yoga (this Friday, April 26th, 7-9pm at the Rhizome Cafe). Physical yoga asanas are an important practice in my life, rife as they are with challenges of cultural appropriation, and a reinforcing of messages around beauty and worth that I otherwise try to spend my time dismantling. In a society that is so heady, and that has so much hatred for the body, it’s been a life long journey to reclaim mine. And yoga has been helpful in that. It makes me more grounded, a better activist, a better partner and step-momma, and a better friend. For me, and many others, it has changed the stories our bodies tell.
These stories too I trace back to my upbringing. The faith tradition in which I was raised is an embodied, or ‘incarnate’ tradition. There’s undoubtedly a lot of baggage around bodies in Christianity. But I remember being taught to celebrate and worship the sorts of things you can hold in your hands: seeds for planting, and bread to share, and other people’s hands. I was taught, as Mordecai Horton, the father of Highlander folks school co-founder Miles Horton, said:
“You can hitch your wagon to the stars, but you can’t haul corn or hay in it if its wheels aren’t on the ground.”
Our bodies are how we communicate love, and how we create justice. They are where it all becomes real, day after day after day. And they’ve got stories to tell.
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The Privilege of Yoga
Rhizome Cafe, Vancouver. Friday, April 26th, 7-9pm.
Join us as we talk about: Who gets to practice yoga? What does it mean to be queer practising yoga? To be a person of colour? To be a feminist? To be poor? Is yoga gendered? Are all bodies truly welcome in yoga? What does it mean to practice collectively in corporate spaces? Come dig deep as we ask these questions and many others.
Find out more here or on Facebook here.
Living a life of Spirit in a Corporate World
Dharma Lab, 1814 Pandora St in Vancouver
7pm- 9pm every Friday in June (June 7th, 14, 21,28, July 5)
Just as the seasoned meditator comes to clearly see their thinking mind, we need to see our environment with accuracy and compassion. We will use the Yoga Sutras and other practices including asana, journalling and discussion to frame yoga as a way to both survive and critique the corporation, one of the dominant forms of financial and social organization today.
Find out more and register by emailing Emelia.
Surprising Hope: Doing Justice in a Complex World
May 24th, 10am-4pm
St Andrews-Wesley United Church, Vancouver
Many of us are engaged in justice work in various ways: climate change, truth and reconciliation, refugees, pipelines… come to be re-energized, to meet others engaged in justice work and learn from them. Your story of faithful persistence matters and can give encouragement to others.
For more information and to register, email Marianna Harris.
