Post-Election Breath Space
If you’re like us, you may be feeling some heaviness, even shock and/or a plethora of other emotions since last week. Jamie and I are inviting us to all feel what we feel and to remember that all emotions are natural. There are no right or wrong ways to feel about any of this.
The week’s events have offered us important clarity about our women’s circle, Creative Breath. Of course, we knew prior to this election that facilitating this circle is part of our souls’ vision — a sanctuary for shared stories, resilience, inspiration, empathy, empowerment and belonging during turbulent times. And now, as we see the flavor of turbulence more precisely, it’s become more essential for us to keep our voices alive, our bodies sacred and our communities strong.
We also want to acknowledge that this might not be the time to jump into action or to even find great amounts of personal strength. There will be times ahead for organizing and mobilizing. Right now, it may be enough to simply allow our souls to recover, to heal our existential wounds. To begin to support this healing, we want to offer a few resources here.
First, a quote attributed to Viktor Frankl: “Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” There is great power in that in-between space. In it we can find choice, which ultimately allows us to be the authors of our lives.
For me, this space, this choice, points to a foundational principle of many somatic therapies that I’ve studied and practiced (such as Feldenkrais and Alexander Technique). In somatics, the way we can most easily access that in-between space is by slowing down, even if just for thirty seconds. We invite us all to remember to take some slower moments throughout our day and simply connect to our bodies — through breath and physical sensations. Let’s simply feel what we feel, while staying connected to our bodies in this way. Essentially, this is an invitation for us to practice making room to be generally attentive to our needs, with willingness to support ourselves in the way we most need — noticing feelings, sensations and whatever comes up for each of us.
Next, we can also connect to our larger body, the Earth. It may be a good time to smell some flowers or medicinal plants or sit close to a tree or on the ground — remembering that we are constantly being supported by the earth in immeasurable ways. And remembering that our planet has been holding us, giving us life for eons, which is much longer than the time any political administration has lived or will live.
If you are joining us for Creative Breath this Wednesday, we can’t wait to connect with you there. You’ve been in our hearts all week.
If you aren’t joining our bi-monthly circle, we encourage you to slow down, feel, share feelings with others, even to be witnessed by at least one other person. When we experience disempowerment, separation and fear, it can be so easy to isolate, creating a loop of increased separation and fear which in turn leads to even more separation. We encourage connecting, expressing and empowering each other as antidotes to scarcity and the sense of powerlessness that can arise at times like these. And may we all know we belong simply because we exist.
