The Shakti Shine - June 29, 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.
This week I got present to the kind of person I want to be.
I've always been a bit of a dreamer. I have a tendency to idealize. I have a vivid imagination when it comes to what I believe life should and could be like, which means that I tend to *think* that I know what's *best*. This often translates into exceptionally high standards for myself and unreasonable expectations for others.
*Not cute.*
It's something I love about myself, though. While I have a lot of work to do in loosening my grip of expectations, I recognize the way my persistent dreaming keeps me energized, alert, and surprisingly PRESENT.
I put my attention on the pulse of what's right here now, and from there... well, I believe anything can happen.
I believe in possibility.
To believe that something is possible is different than thinking that something is probable.
True possibility lives as infinite potential in the present moment only, right here right now.
There's a possibility that lives in the future, too, lifeless and formless, serving as a procrastinator's tool for comfort now. It relies on 'waiting for probability.' It says, 'when it's probable, that's when it will be possible.' But that's leaving progress in the invisible hands of chance and in the physical hands of 'the way it is now.'
To let probability win is to give up.
It's an illusion to think that if right now we do what we've always done then *someday* things will be different.
The reason I mention that *TRUE POSSIBILITY* lives only in the present moment is because ~NOW~ is the only opportunity for action. Something different is here now. Available now. Present now.
and now.
and now.
and now.
It's awake. Hopeful. And on purpose.
There's a sense of grounded urgency. And yet, an ability to IMAGINE (as a verb!) that is so unshakeable that it cannot be interrupted-- not by in-probability, not by discomfort, not by fatigue.
What I notice about myself (and people in general, and especially white people) is our affinity to drop out, opt out, or ignore things we deem as 'improbable' now. Our complacency allows the systems to run our lives, and you know what happens when we live like that?
Things will never be any different.
We cut ourselves off from imagination and hope.
We give up access to possibility.
People who are possibility-driven know so deep in their bones what feels *right,* on track, and just, that they can never settle for complacency now.
There's a driving force behind possibility that is the present moment.
Stop where you are.
Take a deep breath.
Notice the surface beneath you.
Feel the air on your skin.
Go inside.
Feel that?
The tingling, vibrating, expanding, warm sensation in your hands? Your feet? Your core? Your heart?
That's what the present moment FEELS like.
That's possibility. Here. Now.
Now. What will you do with it?
.....
So what kind of person do I want to be?
I want to be the kind of person who gets present to possibility and takes action from there, that place of imagination, hopeful and on-purpose.
I want to be the kind of person living her fullest, bravest, most divine and aligned realization of life right now, with you, today.
Let's stop letting probability keep us from living our fullest, bravest, most divine and aligned lives together.
xx
Ruby
The Weekly Work
This is where we bring yoga off the mat together
1. Donate to Mutual Aid Athens via Venmo (@mutualaidathens) or CashApp ($mutualaidathens) to support in printing 10,000 prepaid postcards, addressed to City Hall, for community members to write to our local government AND to help support the community members reaching out to Mutual Aid Athens for financial needs as we enter a new month with new bills to pay!
2. Purchase Me & White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad from Avid Bookshop. This New York Times best-seller is a 28 day guided inquiry for white & white-passing/NBPOC folx. Our leadership is reading now and already we know this is going to be a team staple.
3. Listen to this podcast, Seeing White by Scene on Radio for a history of race, whiteness, the founding of the United States & more...
JOIN US FOR TEACHER TRAINING
"My Shakti Yoga University training was exactly everything I wanted and also so much more than I could have imagined. The value of this training is unparalleled. The training fundamentally changed the way that I practice yoga while also equipping me with the tools, resources, and support that I need to teach yoga moving forward."- EMILY N