Alongside the presence of Springtime invigorating my senses, feeding the vitality of my earth body, and inviting engagement with the elements each day, there is continual awareness of the River of Grief moving throughout our world. It flows through our collective consciousness as a constant undercurrent of loss and heartbreak. At times it feels like a subtle ache and at times our feelings torrentially overwhelm us. More people than ever are feeling powerlessness and confused about how to respond consciously to the times we are facing…confused about the process of discerning what to accept and what to take action on… confused about how to bear witness without feeding reactivity and how to stay resourced.
Within the dominant paradigm, there can be a tendency to push away grief, as if we are not equipped with the hearts to hold loss. The fear that our feelings will be too much, alongside a fear and rejection towards anything we label “dark,” together feed a culture of sunshining and spiritual bypassing. But all we’re really bypassing is the opportunity for healing. Healing – personal and collective – begins with turning towards discomfort rather than away and staying in our bodies. It is only through our bodies that we metabolize our love and pain for our world, a necessity for transforming our feelings into compassionate response.
Grief cannot be understood through binary perception. Grief and gratitude are not opposites, but two sides of the same coin.The reality of grief and impermanence feeds our gratitude and willingness to give ourselves wholeheartedly to life and to service. Compassionate awareness of the acceleration of loss, uncertainty, and corruption within our world feeds the courage and spiritual sovereignty in which we choose to show up with each day. It is only when we push away our feelings or enter the cycle of mentalism and intellectualism, thought circling thought, opinions and finger-pointing about the state of our world feeding disconnection, that we lose our ground.
It is more important than ever to have myriad ways to resource ourselves and to maintain the generosity of spirit to help one another stay resourced. From the grief pouring out of our hearts for the people of Gaza, to the tear in the fabric of human relationships that surround the upcoming election, from the conversation I just had with a friend in the Ukraine, to the most recent statistics on climate change…The medicine I know is simple and unrelentingly potent: Presence. Truth-telling. Community. Ritual. Embodiment.
I’ve been engaging in and guiding the Truth Mandala ritual for decades. This ritual for honoring grief, anxiety, anger, love, and hope has been a lifeline for bearing compassionate witness to the corruption of our world. I’ve learned that I personally benefit from dancing before and after this ritual…moving my body in fluidity, flow, receptivity, deep listening, and pleasure. Conscious dance is a meditation in itself and a powerful ally for integrating all that is alive in our bodies-heart-mind. Conscious dance helps us to feel and hear the messages that come through our somas and through the cosmos.
We can spend all the time we choose going in mental circles talking about the issues we face today or find ways to numb out/cope with the state of our world. OR we can go down into our bodies…into the deeper darker undercurrents within and bring presence, honoring, and transmutation to the energy that moves through us in response to the world we’ve inherited. We can honor the life force which animates us, on behalf of our collective.
We can recognize the sacred partnership between joy and grief, between meditation and movement, and between the inner and outer work. Our bodies are shamanic vessels for healing, for metabolizing and integrating our feelings, and transforming our experience into compassionate action.
So on June 9th, let’s get together for this simple purpose. Truthtelling-Community-Embodiment. Turning towards our love and pain together, in the spirit of deep listening, to acknowledge and metabolize our true feelings about what is unfolding within our world. Simultaneously we will affirm and celebrate the support of the earth with which we live in a constant reciprocal relationship.
You don’t have to be a dancer to come…or even a meditator. But you do need to bring a beginner's mind and a sense of curiosity.
Join us for TRUTH MANDALA: A Community Ritual from the Work That Reconnects with Integration Through Meditation & Dance - A 4-Hour Online Journey with Eden Bridging Personal & Collective Healing
