Dear Yogis,

Yesterday I sat on a wall with a friend and drank tea in the sunshine (within the required distance of course). She is quite political, and brought to my attention the violence, misery and injustice in the world.  She didn’t need to.   These pictures are brought to us every day.  I become overwhelmed with the immensity of the problem, and I am not sure how I should respond in the moment to people who are talking but are doing little, and really are not listening.

I believe that  although it is unsettling, we should not close our ears to the cries of others and leave these issues to others that relieve us of any responsibility.  What is the world like?  We are split between the fat, prosperous affluent and the weak and hungry poor, and this gap is widening.  Because we yogis understand the central issue in all these problems is spiritual and moral, we have an advantage.  we are not distracted and can speak to the issue of GREED.  When we confront political issues, policy makers or corporate executives, we do so with an inner strength borne of yoga,  yamas, meditation and simplicity.

It would not be helpful to go around reminding our neighbours of the yamas they are flouting.  As much is accomplished in a yoga class or especially a teacher training session,  as we do my pushing our politicians’ heads into the mud.  To know that we are dealing with primarily what is a spiritual reality gives a clue to the strategy we could use.  When we confront evil we do so in a power drawn from a Divine source.

We must approach these issues with humility, because these are issues on which even the most pious among us has differing views.  This should not keep us from addressing the issues in our own special way, but it should keep us from arrogance.

Simplicity frees us from the modern mania to acquire more.  It brings sanity to our compulsive extravagance, and peace to our frantic spirit.  With simplicity we can live lives of integrity in the midst of the terrible realities of this GLOBAL VILLAGE.

We should keep this in mind going forward with COVID.

It has come into our lives for a reason, and we must learn from it.

I miss you and will See you soon.

NAMASTE.  JAHNE