November 2024
CARING FOR OURSELVES AND FOR EACH OTHER
Well, it’s been quite a week. How are you caring for yourself?
Here is one self-care practice I did yesterday – I removed the social media apps off of my phone. I needed to termporarily tap out of the noise.
I have also been grateful to be teaching and to be holding space for community. It has been relieving to have someplace to direct my energy and helpful for my mental health to have spaces to be in community and to be of service to others.
This week has had me remember that caring for each other, being of service to our community – in small and big ways – is how we move forward, one step at a time. This is always true. How can we care for each other? How can we keep generating a space of love and care, rather than steeping in the hate and division that seems to be reaching a boiling point (especially when you spend any time online).
Sometimes movement outward needs to happen first. When I woke up to (what was for me and many others in this community) dissapointing news on Wednesday morning, my first reaction was despair and heartbreak. My second reaction was remembering that I was teaching that morning and that I needed to be steady to hold space for others. The outward focus of that helped me find my sturdy center.
And sometimes we need to care for ourselves – our hearts – first. We need to steady ourselves with our breath, with grounding, with self-care and self-compassion. Then from a more grounded place, we can move outward and be of greater support for others.
When I think about what I (and Source Yoga) can offer the world in such a difficult and divisive time, it is this. It is a space of caring for ourselves and each other. It is a space to be in community, to not be alone in our fear, in our struggle, in our difficulty.
Your teachers here at Source are here for you. We are specifically trained to help you find steady ground in turbulant waters. We are here to help you stabalize, settle your nervous system, care for your body, find your breath, and support the stability of your mind and heart.
This is what we can offer you.
We need to take care of our well being. We need to take care of our physical health and our mental health. We need to care for ourselves so that we have the strength, fortitude, vitality, and steadiness to be there for each other.
I have an offering next week that may be of support to you. Musician Nick Rogers and I will be offering a workshop with live music Saturday, November 16th. We will move and breathe through a gentle and restorative yoga practice supported by Nick’s beautiful music, and we will work with specific practices to cultivate self-compassion. Join me and bolster your inner resources so that we can move into what’s next from our sturdy center. Learn more here.
May you take many moments of care for yourself and your people.
Erin Joosse | she/her
Source Yoga | studio director
