The Shakti Shine - May 4th, 2020
Shakti Love Notes
We are always growing. I love that! And the more I grow, the more I recognize how important it is for us all to share what we're going through-- even (and especially) me.
So these Love Notes are a space for me to share with you each week-- about the studio, my life, how our community is growing.
What is duality?
In 2015, my friend Kate and I started hosting weekend retreats. A few years later, we decided to make it a 'thing.' So we co-founded the Duality Project.
Duality is something we think about a lot and something Kate always helps me to remember.
You know the 'yes, and' tattoo I've mentioned a few times since I got it in February? That was with Kate.
We didn't know how useful it would really be. It's been very useful.
What we mean by 'yes, and,' is that 'yes, that can be true AND this can be true.'
Can we hold space for two things that are seemingly opposite and can both be true at the same time?
It's like I mentioned last week:
Yes it's ok to feel deep grief, and feel deep gratitude at the same time.
Yes it's ok to enjoy yourself, and worry about the state of the world.
Yes it's ok to get angry, and hold onto hope.
In daily interactions with yourself and others it might look like this:
Yes, I see where you are coming from,
AND have you considered this?
Yes, I see how this has been my experience,
AND could this other thing be available too?
Yes, this is what I’ve always thought to be true,
AND could this other thing be true too?
I've noticed that for me, duality requires me to ask a lot of questions.
And it's especially useful when I think I’ve found *fact* or *right.*
Think you know know know? Ask again, ask again, ask again.
On our tDP website we have written:
We Are Duality
We are light + dark. We are students + teachers. We are strong + soft.
We have fun + are challenged. We are hard workers + masters of flow.
We are feminine + masculine. We are grounded + growing.
We are courageous + doubtful. We are experts + beginners.
We are givers + receivers. We are consistent + spontaneous.
We are open + set clear boundaries.
We are vulnerable + powerful beyond measure.
We are love + fear.
Duality gives us the opportunity to realize the greatness that lies in the notion that “both/and” can exist. We are working towards having the strength to hold both. We are best together.
Our Purpose…
is to create space where courageous
self-work, movement, & connection takes place.
I remember when D U A L I T Y really started to come together in my mind and land in my heart. At first it felt like confusion. There was a cognitive dissonance that felt palpable (and often induced literal headaches).
But then, the clearing.
It's like Glennon Doyle says, "First the pain, then the rising."
There's a part of us that doesn't want to accept that both/and can exist.
There must be only one way, right?
But the key to duality, the piece that we naturally resist, is that someone else's experience might be vastly different than yours, but it's equally real and valid. Or perhaps that your experience might hold vastly differing realities, but how can that be true?
If it's equally real and valid, then there's pain and suffering and joys and realities that I have never and may never experience, and there are pains and sufferings and joys and realities that I feel all at once within my own experience, and the question at hand is this:
Will I believe them?
Will I believe myself?
Duality says yes. Believe them. Believe yourself. Listen. Receive. Hold space for it. Consider it. Give up your right/wrong, good/bad, my way/your way/the way.
This isn't about merging.
It's not about creating a grey area.
It's not about pretending.
We can't pretend anymore.
This is about holding space for all of life.
This is about finally learning how to live.
xx
Ruby
What opens up for you when you accept duality?
What parts of yourself feel like opposites?
What feels challenging about that?
What would happen if you accepted both/and?
What's possible when you live from wholeness?
inquiry corner / IGTV
IC hint: Emily talks about teacher training (why, how, who should do it) and all the doubts and imposter syndrome she had going in to her RYT-200. Tune in!
Speaking of teacher training...
Summer Teacher Training:
Come From You Are Ready Now
July 11-17 & August 1-7
Learn More
Go deeper
Join Ruby for this 10 week, 5 session personal development series -
We're partnering with the Duality Project to make this course accessible--
It's Pay What You Can and extended payment plans are available!
Home Sweet Home
By: Lucy Stelmack
THIS PANDEMIC DIDN’T JUST MAKE ME STAY HOME, IT ALLOWED ME TO REBUILD MY HOME.
I FINALLY HAD TIME AND SPACE TO CLEAR AND RENOVATE THE PARTS OF ME THAT NEEDED ATTENDING AND REMODELING.
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