Today is all about connection.
Today's episode is all about connection,
Unity,
Which is all really at the center of wellness.
Even when we think about yoga,
Yoga is about unity,
Creating unity with yourself and others.
And in the spirit of connection,
I am saying a big hello to you all across Canada,
The US,
The UK,
Costa Rica,
Germany,
Portugal,
South Africa,
Australia,
New Zealand,
Belgium,
Denmark,
Japan,
Guinea,
Italy,
Russia,
Chile.
Wow,
You guys.
So grateful to be connected with all of you.
Thank you for being here.
Where do I start you guys?
Where do I start with this story?
This episode that I have for you today as I sip on some mint and honey tea for my heart.
Speaking of connection,
Speaking of the heart,
I have had quite this feeling of brokenheartedness about friendship,
About soul connection,
About soul connections with people in my life,
Outcomes,
A circumstance I found myself in.
My son,
Super cute,
Actually was asking me before bed the other night as I was putting him to sleep.
He's actually asked me a few times,
Mommy,
Who broke your heart?
Let me see.
And then he tries to,
He tries to look under my shirt so that he can see my heart so that he can,
He can help me mend it.
I don't know anything else more precious than that.
But as I bring this to you,
My heart is not broken.
It feels mended.
It feels strong.
Life circumstances leave scars,
But these are scars that turn into understanding and deep,
Deep wisdom that I cherish.
And as I come to deeper connection,
My connection to something greater,
God,
The universe,
To feel into the life sacrifices that are often made in the highest good for all involved.
This helps me to accept,
To allow,
To detach,
To love even,
To love what is,
What was,
What's to be in a healthy way,
In a way that nourishes the soul,
In a way where there's no anger or hate,
But in a way that brings unity.
And so as we get into this conversation about connection,
We can feel into how we like to be connected.
I like to be connected,
Feel connected.
And Sundays are truly that day that I find that I bring myself back to what is connection?
When do I feel connected?
What can I do today to connect deeper to myself,
Deeper to my emotions,
Deeper to what's going on inside me,
And also to others around me?
So it brings me back from whatever I was doing all week long to reflect,
To remember what connection truly means.
And Sundays are also that day where I like to disconnect more and more from the virtual world,
To be connected to the natural world.
It's the day I call,
I message,
I connect and see my friends and family.
We take our son to a kid's gym.
We go and we play.
We go to a bakery for fresh bread and meats and cheeses and cakes.
We interact with the people who are there.
We try new cheeses.
We go and we look at the cakes.
It's a day to delight in the life we were given.
It's a day for prayer.
It's a day for reflection.
It's a day for connection.
And this past Sunday,
My friend Noah,
Shout outs to Noah.
He's an avid listener of the podcast and also a dear friend,
A friend I met in an unlikely place,
I would say.
Someone who despite our age difference,
I feel connected with.
There's this beautiful innocence and playfulness in our friendship.
So Noah,
I just want to say I am very grateful for you,
To have you in my life as my friend.
And so Noah and I decided to go to church this Sunday.
Noah took me to his church,
His family church.
And as many of you,
As many of you know,
I like to take my spirituality primarily off mats,
Outside of church walls and into life as much as possible.
Because I,
I see how there can be this disconnect,
Right?
This disconnect between people who show up in churches,
People who read the word,
People who study the ancient scriptures of all kinds and who are well versed in them,
But then show up in the world differently.
And I just feel like,
What's the point if we're showing up in church one way or we're showing up to read scripture one way and then in our lives showing up completely different and we're not actually living it.
But I wanted to feel the scriptures in church.
I wanted to feel community.
I wanted to just see what it was all about and be with my friend.
And,
You know,
Even though this,
This podcast truly is built on that premise of conscious living,
Bringing it into life,
Being the change,
I wanted to see what the walls of the church held for me on a Sunday to cultivate spiritual wellness,
Emotional,
Mental,
And physical.
And so I found myself in community on this day.
I found myself in community,
Just completely out of my element,
Really.
But it was new and it was interesting.
And I was just taking it in.
Like,
Noah could probably comment on this.
I wasn't my usual talkative self.
I was just really absorbing what was going on around me.
And after I got home from my morning spent in community,
I fell into a deep reflection about connection,
About how we connect through our daily routines,
About how we connect through our movement in the world.
It's like a dance,
How we connect,
How we interact with people.
And also just how you can be in the walls of a church.
You can be in a relationship.
You can have hundreds of friends.
And you can feel disconnected.
There can be this disconnect that you witness within yourself,
Or you witness happening around you,
Between people.
And I truly felt this reflection that it's not the containers that hold us,
Or the walls of the building that we enter,
Or the ancient books of scriptures and texts that we open,
Or the superficial bonds that hold us together.
The relationship container,
The walls,
The meeting spaces,
The books,
They're important.
I won't discredit that.
And it's truly the depth of the connection,
Though,
That is the glue,
The knowing of a person on a deeper level.
And even on this day,
As Noah introduced me to his friends and family,
The practices,
The rituals of the church,
As we walked around,
I realized it wasn't whether it was for me or not for me,
Or whether I'd be back or wouldn't be back.
That was not really my reason for being there.
It was our connection,
Our friendship,
His knowing of me and my knowing of him in that moment.
No past or future,
Just that moment.
Just the fact that I was there,
That he was there,
That we were there together,
After all we'd been through in the past few months,
We were there in that moment.
And somehow we ended up in that moment,
Right?
In that connected moment.
And it was beautiful to see this continuation of our journey from one phase of life to the next,
From one season of life to the next season.
In our culture these days,
It's so quick to just cancel people,
To act as if certain people don't exist,
Just because we don't agree with them,
Just because we don't understand them,
Because we think they're wrong,
Because we don't want to accept or face our role in a particular dynamic.
Can we be more quick to love?
Can we be more quick to connect,
To be in unity,
To find peace,
To see what we have in common,
And let that be a breeding ground for connection?
But also to see how our differences connect us and teach us things about one another.
In scripture,
There's a lot about being a peacemaker,
But not in the sense of agreeing with everything,
Not in the sense of ignoring pain and suffering and hurt,
But rather about looking upon it all and reaching out a hand in a loving and peaceful way.
And when I feel into that,
I'm so reminded of the people who reached out their hand to me on the journey,
And also those who didn't,
Who couldn't,
For whatever reason.
And regardless of any of it,
I take my hand and I reach it towards you,
Towards all of you,
No matter if you hurt me,
No matter if you hate me,
Like me,
Don't like me,
I still reach out my hand.
That's what I truly think it means to facilitate connection,
To facilitate unity,
To spread peace in the world.
And I'm also reminded of my friends who gifted me peace in moments of unrest or chaos or disease.
And as I share this with you,
I'm looking at artwork given to me by a friend,
Another friend from my journey,
Where we found ourselves in the same healing space space.
They drew me a picture of a cottage that's perched up upon a hill with surrounding trees and the sun,
And then two stones on the path that reminds me of the obstacles that we were there to remove.
And it now hangs in my office,
And it's just such a beautiful reminder of connection.
Even in moments of chaos and disorder.
Another friend drew me a picture of a wasp.
I got stung by a wasp on my middle finger a couple months ago.
Another interesting story behind it,
But we'll leave that for another day.
But all of these pieces of art,
For me,
Just revealing that everything in life is so connected.
We don't always connect the meaning or feel into it in the moment,
Either because we're too busy or too distracted.
Or there's just a lot there to feel into,
And we shy away because it feels uncomfortable.
Sometimes there's truly an infinite source of meaning.
It can feel overwhelming.
Overwhelming.
And perhaps all just relative experience of the moment.
A moment.
A moment of experience.
There one moment,
Gone the next.
Very transient in nature.
But as I reflect on these things I've been gifted on the path,
There's this feeling when I think about connection,
Of needing nothing in return.
Whatever existed then,
Because it was through true connection,
Exists in my reality now,
Even though that moment has passed.
Where can we find this in our relationships day to day?
Where can we connect in this way,
In this eternal way,
In this lasting way,
Where the memory just doesn't die in that kind of way,
Even though the moment has passed?
This feeling of,
This is for you.
I need nothing from you.
I may not agree with everything you say or do,
And I want to share this with you.
This word.
This moment.
This energy.
This true emotional,
Spiritual,
Mental,
And physical connection.
And when I say physical connection,
I don't only mean through sex.
But through our voice,
Through a hug,
Through our physical beingness with somebody in person.
And even when we're not with them physically,
Face to face,
Our voice is powerful in the world.
Have you ever listened to a powerful voice note from somebody?
You can feel the energy through voice.
Energy can connect in ways through voice.
Seems surprising that you could have a physical connection in that way.
Certainly you can have an emotional,
Spiritual,
And mental.
And there is something about being able to speak with someone,
Even all the way across the world,
Like we're doing in this moment.
And the meeting of all at once,
The emotional,
The spiritual,
The mental,
And the physical,
Is what we crave.
Can we reconnect with the beautiful souls that we miss in our lives?
Can we overlook the things that hurt us and find new ways to look at life's circumstance?
Doesn't need to be perfect.
That's where the beauty is.
Can we seek understanding amongst our differences?
Can we breathe more love and connection into the world?
I truly feel my I truly feel my healthiest when I feel connected to myself and when I feel connected to the world around me,
My friends,
My family,
My body through nutrition,
Through movement.
When I feel connected to nature,
When I feel connected to God,
When I feel connected to the universe,
When I feel like I am part of something.
Find connection.
Where can you find deeper,
Healthier connection?
And during this season of life,
If you're craving connection,
The best thing that you can do is to give it.
Don't just sit waiting for it to happen to you.
When you hold back,
When you make yourself exclusive,
You are robbing yourself and others of the connection that could exist in the space.
The space.
Allow yourself to flow through life with an openness to connection,
To truly being with,
To truly seeing,
To truly valuing others,
Not only for what they give to you,
But for who they are.
My friends,
Yes,
They gave me their beautiful artwork,
But I feel their spirit in it.
When I see it,
I feel the love of that moment,
The love they shared with me.
The love that said,
This is for you.
I see you.
I value you.
I want you to have this,
To remember me,
To remember this moment.
You can also volunteer your time in some way,
Shape or form.
Balance between pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.
You can volunteer at shelters,
Deliver food to people who need it.
If you're a teacher,
Teach.
Teach.
I like to volunteer my time to teach yoga meditation in spaces where maybe people cannot afford a membership sometimes.
To women who,
Like any woman,
Like any man,
Has a need to connect to has a need to connect to their body,
Has a need to move their body,
Learn to dance in new ways.
For people who need that hand,
And you can lend that hand if you see someone fall,
Don't just look away.
Reach out your hand.
Look for opportunities within your community.
I cannot express the amount of freedom,
Of connection,
Of joy,
Of harmony,
Of peace,
That can come from these types of experiences.
We're going to be bringing some of these experiences to our son in this season of life,
To share that kind of magic with him,
With him,
So that he grows knowing that connection,
Even to people who are not actively in our lives every day.
And if you aren't volunteering in a community,
You can still find connection.
I have been attending a writing group organized by one of my other beautiful friends who's a writer,
Who's an artist,
Who's a poet.
She is a beautiful soul and has cultivated space where we can come together to write together,
To listen to beautiful harmonious music and write what's on our heart and soul.
And I feel truly connected in this space.
I feel connected when I meet with her and her husband to discuss soul stuff,
Life's curveballs,
The journey.
And you know,
You can also connect with people through movement,
Joining a running or walking group,
Moving your body at a local gym,
Smiling at people when you are sweating it out,
When you are in that pain and discomfort,
Just looking over and seeing that person beside you also sweating profusely,
Also in pain and discomfort,
But also lifting that weight,
Also moving their body to the beat.
Being in this dance together,
There is this feeling of togetherness,
Connection,
Being in it together.
You can go and sit at local coffee shops,
Connect with the baristas,
Bring them joy through your words and your expression,
How you express yourself,
Just how you move,
How you smile,
The things that you say and the tone that you use to express.
And even if you're not in the best mood,
Sometimes I find just expressing yourself in this way can pull you out by the way that you give in the world.
Meetup is another fun place to meet new people.
I haven't checked out too many groups,
But I did use it once to meet new people hiking and it was really cool.
I met some really cool people and we ended up hiking,
Hitting it off,
Then we ended up taking our dogs out for hikes,
Talking about life,
Enjoying each other's company.
I still remember them.
Some of them I think moved like further away from the city,
But I still remember the moments and the connection that I had in those moments.
Importantly,
Reaching out to say hi to the people who you love in your life.
Reaching out to say I'm sorry.
Whatever is getting in the way,
Come to peace with it.
Let it go.
Come to acceptance.
Focus on unity and connection rather than separation.
Love people in your mind,
Love them in your heart,
Love them in your soul,
Whether they are active in your life or not.
And where you can,
Make a point to create unity rather than separation through your actions.
So where can you find more connection in your life?
Where can you find deeper unity?
And importantly,
Where can you be it?
Where can you give it?
And I will leave you with that.
Love you all so much and sending you so much love,
So much peace and joy.
And may the connections you have in your life nourish your heart,
Your mind,
And your soul.
May you find peace with broken connection and in its space,
Unity and knowing the spirit that connects us all.
