We are all being called, can you hear it?
“Conflicts are the midwife of consciousness.”
– Paulo Freire
For over 5 years now, I have been deep in Transformative Leadership Studies - based in the recognition that– we are all leaders, leading consciously or unconsciously through every action, word and thought. Gone is the myth of the lone genius, and the strong man leader, gone is the myth of singular enlightenment– as we know deep in our mineral-based bones that collective healing is the only way we truly thrive, and in many cases survive.
Across these years, I have been reading, dialoguing, communing, building coalitions, and experimenting with leaders engaged in tapping exactly is needed to:
Learn effectively, and create conditions for growth from “more than moderate anxiety”,
Release harmful habits and self-depricating/other-depriciating thoughts which sabotage beautiful co-operative futures,
Truly be doing inner work WITH other humans to build wisdom in a post-truth/post-normalcy era that requires we maintain touch, facial recognition and eye contact for extended periods of time to heal,
How to rewire the brain for connection, in a way that enables use to perceive support where we used to feel exile, loneliness or separation,
And how to priortize deep rituals of care for the body and brain that allow us to resensitize ourselves to suffering and joy in a sustainable way without losing the ground of our true nature, and capacity (Ayurveda has much to teach here in stablizing our quality of consciousness and our overall constitution).
Where this has landed myself and other mischief-making, musically-minded, embodied-based practitioners is– in the fusion work that acknowledges: Yoga is not enough. Mindfulness is not enough. And that earnestly speaking, as researcher Amy Banks points out, “if our brains were truly meant to self-regulate, solitary confinement would be a piece of cake and a pleasure” (2016). The days of daily practice and discipline being the answer to regulation is over.
We need each other more then ever. And we need to start using the conflict we see around us to midwife our own revolution in consciousness, rather then falling back into the victim, pertetraitor, savior triad ad infintum. In order to do this it appears to me that we need to do a few very essential things:
Be willing to show others where we hurt, and grieve together,
Move that grief though ritual, song, dance, and breathwork,
Be willing to receive support from plant spirits, nature and body communication,
Integrate what we have seen in altered states back into the way we see the world, act in the world, and speak in the world (as every share is a prayer).
A wonderful brother summed it up as: Wake Up, Grow Up, Clean Up, Rest Up (NOA:AON). We go into altered states through music, dance, prayer, yoga, qigong, meditation, nature immersion, etc. and then we grow up or own up to the projections and assumptions we have made in the past based on our limited vision. In our programs we use a radical blending of memory reconsolidation, constellation work, inner resourcing, authentic relating, gift-culture practices of seeing-being seen, and mother-honoring, non-dual philosophies.
We then go about cleaning up our lives: we actually do the thing that brings balance, even if it is risky or taboo or scary. We fumble, repair and keep leaning in. We build our tribe, and trusted community to hold us through such transitions and then we rest. We dare to rest.
But have you ever tried resting, without first cleaning up your life? Or owning your part? Or seeing things from a higher perspective? There is no rest in that at all. There are old stories, ancient stories living out through the body mind that require care, holding and movement to release. There is a sequence to peace and serenity and it often includes feeling it, to heal it.
And that is how we lead ourselves right into a brand new future, but doing the very things that actually clear our emotional learnings (the implicit meanings we made from intensive emotional moments in our lives wherein we lacked the resources to clear something energetically, physically or pyschically in the moment).
Now, however we know. We truly do have the body-knowing, the science and the practices to clear intergenerational traumas, implicit memories, and long held beleifs about deserving an apocolyptic future. If we are reverse the crisis we perceive in the world, then– the only way out, is in.
All of this rests in our hands as everyday leaders of our lives, the question is when are we going to prioritize the very things that bring our lives and the world into harmony. How much conflict do you need to birth a new life? How willing are we stop the pain, and prioritize beauty, togetherness to increase our capacity to serve?
I am, we are, choosing a new direction now. For all of humanity. And if you know you are among those unwilling to wait for more conflict at a global or cellular level before stepping into embodied healing at all levels– then I encourage you and invite you to simply begin and remember that:
“Any action is political... when it threatens to disturb the current balance of power.”
- Wergin from Deep Learning in a Disorienting
Deep, sacred container is what we do, and what we invoke at Devoted Yogi & Full Lotus Motherworld as we are holding a vision for humanity. We are in Sadhana, in practice, when we travel. We choose land stewards and projects that give back and honor place. We are mindful of our footprint and bring ceremony into all we share. And we know that laughing means that learning is occurring. The Joy we seek to anchor has purpose, without denying pleasure.
Our next sacred container will be on Maui this December 17-22nd, 2023 and after that I am on sabbatical with my Ph.D. and S:he - Journey into the Garden of Self until April 2024. Let us all pray together!
All those interested in Joining Vera Anja and I in Maui this December, we ask that you align with SERENE Winter Solstice Retreat intentions for:
Clearing Personal Emotional Learnings to increase capacity to serve,
Ability and desire to sit in prayer for Maui, Lahaina, and all peoples and lands of Hawai’i and to give many, many thanks
Interest and desire to explore the body, voice, and movement practices in greater depth (some past Yoga /Meditation Practice suggested)
Interest in facing fears and limiting behaviors that keep you operating in isolation or “staying small” in a time that beckons us all to lead with love…
If you feel called to join us, we encourage attending with a partner or friend for post-retreat integration purposes. Schedule your 20 Minute intake Call here: https://calendly.com/jennadevi/maui-retreat