Dearest yogi & yogini,

 
“We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep.”
― William James 

When we feel anxious it can be very easy to go down the road of feeling separate, disconnected, unsupported and all these feelings can start to snowball into even more anxiety.

Very often when we feel anxious we feel invisible, and alone, it can create a sense that I am different from everyone else and I will never fit in. That somehow I will never belong. The truth is, we all have moments when we feel isolated and painfully separate and long to experience our integral unity and sense of interconnection with others and with life.

 As your practice of yoga & mindfulness deepens, your sense of connection will also gradually increase. You will begin to sense how as human beings we each have our own anxious moments, our own painful and difficult moments in life and how each of us tends to think of ourselves as alone in these difficult times.

At times it will be helpful to recall the many ways in which you are connected with other people. As a simple example, you’re part of a network of millions of people right now around the globe who practice yoga & mindfulness to help themselves with stress and anxiety. Whenever you take the time to sit for a mindful meditation you join countless others who are also practicing at the very same time. People who are making the choice to live with more intention.


Here's a simple meditation to establish reconnection and remind us of how we are each one of us alwys connected to the web of life. Begin with finding a comfortable posture and taking a few moments to settle in.

Start to shift your awareness to breathing. There’s no need to manipulate your breath anyway. Try to simply name the breath in and out.

Now begin to feel the connection of your body with the surface supporting you. Then feel how the surface is connected to the floor, which is connected to the building you’re in, which is connected to the city, which is connected to the country, which is connected to the earth.

Sense into this earth that holds you and allow yourself to be supported by it. Reflect on how this earth holds all beings, regardless of gender, color, culture. We are all connected to our planet, nourished by the same water and air. We are all connected to the sun, which supports all life on this planet.

Now let your awareness expand to sense the connection of the earth to the solar system and beyond, to the vast universe. Can you see how we are all interconnected. Our bodies, the earth, and the stars all are composed of the same matter. Just joined in different and ever-changing ways. We are all made up of the same basic particles.

Take a moment to think of the web of life that you are a part off. Think of the food that you eat, all those who are responsible for making that available to you -  from the farmers across the globe to the last person who puts the food that you buy into the grocery shop where you buy your food from.

Thinks of the clothes that you are wearing , how many people did it take to make it possible for you to be wearing what you are wearing. Everything in your life, from the food you eat to the to the clothes you wear, connects you to the lives of others.

Sense how you exist within vibrating patterns of connection. Reflect deeply on the ripples of interconnection that pulse through your life, and experience how you are never isolated or alone.

Now gradually return awareness to your breath and feel how your entire body breaths in and out, from head to toe to fingertip, unified, connected and whole.


All Love,