Vote + Rest

You have your ballot sent in, or have time on Tuesday set aside to go to your polling place because voting matters. It is one of the ways that we can show up for ourselves and each other in a time when we are constantly confronted with events and messages that separate us, violate our interconnectedness, and threaten our wellbeing. 

This week we will be in the midst and then the aftermath of this upcoming election, whatever the results may be. When it comes to the results of this election, no outcome will destroy us and no outcome will save us. 

We are all living under powers that seek to dehumanize, destroy, and divide no matter how conscious we may or may not be of that reality in our day to day lives. The events of this week—leading up to and after Tuesday—bring those realities to the forefront of our consciousness and make it nearly impossible to do anything but look our shared humanity full in the face and ask ourselves what it means to be human, what are we accountable for, to whom are we accountable, and how to hold and enact our own personal power. 

The Yoga Sutras begin—

Atha Yoga Anushasanam

And now yoga

The Sanskrit word sutra can be translated as thread. And now yoga is the first stitch in the tapestry of this practice. And now yoga again and again and again as we weave and pull each stitch that follows. 

This practice of yoga is an opportunity for us to gather and collectively wonder about what this practice means now, what it has meant in the past, what it has potential to mean in the future. We are not just applying yoga to our personal lives, we are applying our own personal and specific lives to yoga, adding our own patina to this ancient, sacred practice of union. 

The way we gather together in space to move and breathe is only one of the ways we practice yoga. It is the part of yoga that PYP primarily supports and resources. It's just one stitch in the continuous thread of this practice. 

This week we will be offering all of our restorative and yin classes for free to the public. We want to make collective rest as accessible as we can as we all experience this acute moment of consciousness, as we all experience being alive and awake to this life.

Every fact around this year's election is activating. We hope your list of caring practices is robust, whether it's going for walks in the woods, having a cup of tea with a friend, writing letters, making calls, sending money, screaming into a pillow, snuggling your pet, or making a big pot of soup to share with neighbors. We want to offer a little something for your care practices—REST. Grab a bolster, a few blankets, and your beloved friends for some time to be still, to be with your body in gentle sensation, to linger in the subtleties of what it's like to live this life in all of its pain and pleasures. Breathe, cry, tend to all of the feelings.

We are here to support in any way that we can.