Jivana Heyman 10:18:12
Hi everyone, its Jivana I just want to come on for a moment and thank our sponsor offering tree. They're an all in one easy to use community back business that saves you time, energy and money as a Yoga teacher. Offering tree allows you to create a website in less than 30 minutes. Plus you get a discount to accessible Yoga. Just go to offering tree.com backslash accessible Yoga to get your discount today. Okay, here's our episode.
Anjali Rao 10:18:42
Welcome to the love of Yoga podcast. I'm your host, Anjali Rao. This podcast explores the teachings of Yoga for self and collective transformation. We dive into how spirituality and philosophy can ignite social change. I share conversations with folks who are on the front lines of justice and liberatory movements, thought leaders, change makers, and healers.
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the love of Yoga podcast. I'm your host, Anjali Rao. And today we have with us Michelle Cassandra Johnson, one of my favorite Yoga teachers, and a person who has really influenced and inspired me to do the work that I'm doing today. So I'm really excited to have this particular conversation with Michelle. For those of you who don't know, Michelle's work, she is a anti racism trainer, a social justice activist, Yoga teacher, and author of several several books, one of which has been brutal in my own path. And this last, the last one which is written is the one which I have had the distinct honor to write a foreword. Our true nature is the book and it's out for a pre ordering. So today we were Michelle and I are going to talk about many things, including this book, and her process of writing and her work in the world. So very, very warm. Welcome to you, Michelle. I'm so excited to have you here. Join me today.
Michelle C. Johnson 10:20:31
Thank you so much. Anjali, my throat has been a little scratchy all day. Thank you for inviting me to be here. And thanks for being in community with me and in the conversation and in the practice and the work and especially for writing the foreword for this next book, which comes out on June 4.
Anjali Rao 10:20:54
It's a very interesting take on the glacier as much my I love the way you have written about the glaciers. Could you share your journey into the writing? What made you write about this particular topic? What was your process like?
Michelle C. Johnson 10:21:13
Yeah, so as you mentioned, I've written several books, illuminating our true natures my fifth book. And I named that because writing illuminating our true nature was different than any other book I've written thus far. And I think the seed of the idea to write it was present before my editor Beth Frankel from Shambala publications, sat down and said, I think you should write this book. I think it was already there, mainly because I was teaching in Boston, about skill and action. And I taught a little section about the clay shows in this immersion this weekend immersion. And I talked about them before, but Beth happened to be in this session with me. Where she watched me heard me experienced listening to my perspective on the clashes and just my process and learning about them and looking at the clashes as a way to better understand our suffering as it relates to what's in the way of justice was definitely the lens that I was looking through and working through in that weekend immersion and then Beth, we went out to dinner and she said I think you need to write a book about the cliches and at first. I was like, Okay, let me think about this. The other thing I should name about my writing process is this was the first book that someone suggested, maybe you want to write this the other books. I mean, they were suggested, but it was more from like, spirit or my grandmother, Dorothy or the work I'd been doing for a long time and they derived like they originated from a different place. And so I think when she said it to me, I was like, okay, yeah, maybe and I let it sit for a while. And then I started to write about the clay shows based on what I had been teaching about them and And obviously went through, you know, a book proposal and worked with Beth and Shambala on that. And, and then I had to start writing more intensively about the clashes. And it took me the book is has 15 chapters. I think I was six chapters in before I felt like, okay, it makes sense that you're writing this in this way at this time, which was also a new experience, I had a lot of clarity with finding refuge, which is about personal and collective grief. Right, I had a lot of clarity at the time when the first edition of skill and action came out in 20 2017, that had something to say about justice in Yoga. And it just was very clear. And with illuminating our true nature, I, I went through a process of wondering whether or not I should write it based on my social location and identities. I'm a Black cisgender, middle class, US citizen, many other identities, who learned a lineage of Yoga that was not Kemetic Yoga, but Yoga from India. And so I had a whole process of wondering, Am I the appropriate person to write this. And if I even though it's six chapters in ever, all of those chapters felt like a struggle, the first six. And so I just sat and like deep discernment around it about it. And thought, yeah, I have something connected to what I wrote in skill and action and connected to who I am in the world, and connected to how I teach to to say about suffering, and my own work with the clashes and my samskaras. And my tendencies and patterns and the karma that is unfolding on the planet, I was like, I do actually have something to say about that. I also sat in discernment about how to honor the practice, given how I came to it. And again, that was rooted in Are you the person to write this and what manifested is a book, I think that is accessible, applicable has many stories from my life and path of Yoga and invites contemplation about why we are suffering, individually and collectively. And what are some practices we can engage to investigate, I would say this suffering and also heal at the same time. So it was a journey, this book was a journey in a very all of them have been a journey. But this was a do you need to write this? Are you the right person to write this? How do you move through this process with integrity? And then after chapter six, and talking to the journal, we had a phone conversation, not about the book, but we had a phone conversation about something else, I think we were just connecting and they just said you will have to like move through every Glacia as you're writing about it. Angel's words were very true. I mean, I was in the midst of it anyway. But it landed in quite a different way as that journey through writing these 15 chapters, and, and channeling practices and like which practice here to respond to a Vidya? The first question about separation or a lack of clear sight or the belief that we are separate. So I feel really proud of it. Now, and I'm excited for it to be worked with. And and the energy of it feels like skill and action to me in the sense of how people might engage with it and use it and the consciousness that can be raised through it. But you know, what you said about it, like, it's sort of an interesting take on the clashes. Beth Franklin, my editor at Shamala said the same issues like it's really compelling the way you've written about them, because I've, I've tried to offer story and also invite people into seeing themselves in the stories and how the cliche is applied to them. And what's happening as I sat on our planet, so I feel good about it. I'm so grateful. You said yes to writing the foreword. And I couldn't think of another person to write like, I'm so glad you said yes to it. And for your voice and your work and your inspiration. Yeah, so thank you. Well,
Anjali Rao 10:27:50
I think it was a full body. Yes. When you you when you email me and I just, I'm a normal person 90% of the time. And if you're like me, like Yes. So in Russia last week, I'm like, of course, because like I said, when I first read squid in action, I was looking for some things which I did not know. was out there. And then when I read it, I was like, This is it. This is exactly what I felt it and you articulated that integration that I was looking for about the work in the world and the Yoga practice. How and it's always been integrated, which I we just read sometimes don't know how to put the woods in there. So your words were really pivotal for my path from then on. So it was a true honor. I want to go back to what you were talking about, you know, healing, especially now, given the heartbreak I mean, I feel like I'm saying this for the past. I don't know how many years but particularly now, because I don't think we as a human being, right, whatever family are capable of even processing nervous system wise, what we are witnessing, like in lifetime, the genocides, multiple genocides that are happening in Palestine, Sudan, Congo, and specifically Palestine because of the amount of information that is coming there, right. I mean, I don't know whether we are capable of even processing that. But we have to. So I want to ask your insight into what, what healing can look like at a time like this.
Michelle C. Johnson 10:29:31
This is like, this is the question. Yeah, right. I feel this deeply in my bones, what you're naming about the time we're in and how we process it, because I'm trying to figure out how to process it. And it feels like it's too much. Yeah. The magnitude of what is unfolding, and then the expectation that we are supposed to function? Yeah, it's somewhat like, I mean, I do have my meetings, but I'm supposed to do this meeting, I'm supposed to meet these expectations, as if we can continue to operate in the same way when what our nervous systems are responding to is something, at least in this incarnation of self that I've never experienced before, in this way, coupled with the information and how we receive information now. And the amount of information about the multiple genocides happening on on the heels of a global pandemic, which is still we're trying to recover from and also people are still suffering from it. So. Yeah. And and amid political unrest, like, yeah, it is the question I hold most of the time around. How can how can we expect our nervous systems to settle? How can we expect to attune to one another? How can we engage in healing, when we are experiencing an onslaught of violence and trauma, on top of ancestral trauma that we all carry in some way. And the I've been very present to the grief. I mean, a present to it, I feel like, has been present degree for a long time. But it felt the heaviness I feel in my spirit and the I don't even know if it's my relationship to uncertainty at this time, because I don't know what's going on. But there's something about I have a lot of fear about what is going to happen. I'm not predicting the future. I don't know what's happening. But I have a lot of I've been noticing in the last month, a lot of I wouldn't say anxiety, but maybe that's coming out in some way. Definitely, I'm afraid. I'm afraid for us, and I'm afraid for the planet. And I don't, I don't say that to add to the intensity of what my nervous system or your nervous system or anyone who's listening is trying to process. It's just where I like I'm locating myself in this place of deep grief and intense fear, although it's not debilitating. And so, what I've been curious about in healing, which is what your question is about, is the process that I think we need to go through to acknowledge what is happening, to tune in to the nervous system to understand that our selves are changing in response to the traumas that are unfolding in the world right now and the sorrows that we are experiencing, even though we don't feel as if we are some people are like it's not affecting me. I just think there's no way to be alive without being affected by what's going on what's in the air. The news, we're receiving the information, the helplessness, people may feel because I'm very present to the ways in which I If I did not consent to participate in genocide, I never said yes to that. And yet I am contributing to and participating in multiple genocides. And that my nervous system is unsure of what to do with like, it's like, I don't know what to do with this. And so I feel like acknowledging that acknowledging what's going on acknowledging that we don't know acknowledging we're afraid, acknowledging we're grieving, finding places of joy where we can, mitigating suffering, where we can when we can, these are all practices that are healing practices. And to me, there's a big part of this that that feels like it's about community too. Because even saying to you how I'm feeling and relating to you is healing to me, or having someone say, what's going on with your nervous system or your heart? Or how are you that is healing and I have individual healing practices to but they're not I'm never, I'm always in community. I'm never not in community. So always in community in some way. And I think we need our practices, and I think we need each other. And I've felt this way forever and ever it especially now. Because there's a way that I, I think we're lost, and thinking about a practice, such as Yoga to bring us back to ourselves and one another, like a spiritual practice to bring us back to the truth of who we really are. Amid so much playing out and patterns and samskaras that are related to you know, us moving away from our humanity, US disrupting the natural order us being born into systems and inheriting them instead of consenting. Right, what is happening? So, I don't know if I answered your question. But I'm thinking a lot about healing and and what it looks like given the current context. Yeah,
Anjali Rao 10:35:18
exactly. No, I think I think I totally understand I totally get the value of somebody affirming that, that this is an unprecedented experience for us in the human, you know, to be to be distinct from it physically, geographically, and to witness it, to participate in it, like you said, with. without consent, we are participating. So I think the biggest one of the biggest things that we can do is to really just offer that space for each other, and affirm each other's distress. You know, I think that in itself is such a big part of the healing process. I don't know whether I will use the word healing, but definitely an affirming validating process. And that is really important. Hi,
Jivana Heyman 10:36:07
everyone, I just want to pop in here really quick, and remind you about our sponsor offering. As Yoga teachers, we our own business managers, website, designers and producers, it's a lot. An offering tree offers an all in one platform that makes it easy to succeed while we're doing all the things. And I just like to say that through this partnership with the love of Yoga podcast offering tree has shown that it's committed to supporting accessibility and equity in the Yoga world. Offering tree is a public benefit corporation. And they're driven by a mission of wellness accessibility, which we share with them at accessible Yoga. As an offering tree user, you'll get to join a supportive educational community. And you'll also get free webinars with top experts in wellness and entrepreneurship. And of course, you get a discount. So go to offering tree.com backslash, accessible Yoga to learn more, and to get your discount. Okay, let's go back to the episode.
Anjali Rao 10:37:06
Let's talk. Let's shift gears a little bit. And I've always been interested in asking you this question. What are some of your particular rituals when you start writing is that if it's okay to share? Because I went yeah, I'm an aspiring writer. So I just wanted to ask you that.
Michelle C. Johnson 10:37:21
You are a writer.
Anjali Rao 10:37:24
That, yeah, I mean, you know, like writing a proposal and all of that.
Michelle C. Johnson 10:37:29
I don't know any of that. You're a writer. That's already happened. It's in motion. It is. It is. Speaking of ritual, I mean, part of it took me a long time to claim that part of myself as a writer exactly as I like looked at three books on my bookshelf that had my name, but had been published by but, you know, it's kind of like, what else do you need? You are you are a writer. And now there's more ease. So part of the ritual is affirming, and reclaiming the part of myself that has always been a storyteller. And it's manifesting through writing. I mean, storytelling can happen in many, many ways, many creative ways, but it for me feels like it's coming through in my head. My writing. And there are many rituals. And they've also been specific to different projects, book projects. And the rituals are what's included in them is like the, the time of day, when I'm writing or connecting to ancestors as I'm preparing to write, or praying or pouring libations or meditating and asking this happened a lot with illuminating our true nature. I meditate every day in the morning, typically, but I was meditating and, and sitting and listening for direction and information, especially because I felt a tension in myself about do I need to write this? Let me listen, let me ask, let me listen, that was part of my ritual through meditation for this particular book. But sometimes meditation has been, I'm working on a book about honeybees right now. And my ritual is meditating and listening to the sound of a hive, the hum of a hive for 20 minutes each morning, which is helpful for many reasons, actually, in quite healing. If people want to try that, the frequency of it the vibration, the data waves, the things that are accessed for us if we listen to that kind of a healthy home of a hive, so I've been doing that as a ritual and making offerings to the honeybee. So I have an with finding refuge, which is about grief, I wrote about different people and losses I've experienced, and the losses we are experiencing as a collective, of course, and I had to build altars for like every chapter for every person I was writing about, or the environment or the planet, right, anything I was writing about. So I have a lot of different, different rituals that helped me prepare to write. And that support me as I write, like calling on ancestors, opening myself as a channel to write. And, and recognizing that I'm not, I will even with the first edition of skill of action, I've always been someone who feels like a channel where information is moving through me. So I don't feel I'm responsible in some way. But I don't feel as if Michelle, Cassandra Johnson said these words, I want to be like grandma said these words, and they happen to come through me and land in a book that has my name on it, but really, her name should be on it. You know, it's like, that's how I feel about the the ritual of writing. And that requires me to do certain things like pray, meditate, all the things I named, settle my nervous system, journey, shamanic Lee, to the spirit of the honeybee, or someone else, right? Continue to ask him that, am I the person to write this now? And wait for answers to come? And how do I write or rituals around dreaming even as I prepare to dream and go to sleep, and how that's led into writing the next day. So I have a ton of rituals like that. And then I have rituals that relate as I said, to time of day and structure. So each book has been written at a different time of day, meaning the honey book is in the morning, and then I'm distracted. Skill and action written at nighttime finding refuge was written in often in the middle of the day, actually, after building an altar. I don't remember when I wrote we heal together because I don't remember I don't remember that book. Like I don't remember it moving through me. So it's just been interesting to, to watch. But I have a commitment to writing which feels like a ritual, right, a commitment to to setting myself up and thinking about what supports do I need to make it possible to channel and have that turned into a chapter in this particular book, whatever it might be.
Anjali Rao 10:42:20
Love that love that I'm going to be, I'm going to start thinking about these things too, this way too, because I'm very haphazard. I just like when I get into the mood, I write like, something has come in, and then suddenly, I don't want to see that thing for another two, three days. So it's not very structured, but I think maybe I should get in some structure. So definitely lean into some of those practices. Thank you for sharing those. I was also wondering to ask one another question about your writing which is for especially for Black and brown people who and i know i I'm experiencing that a lot. And I don't want to use the words you know, the imposter syndrome and all of that. But I think that that definitely plays in and it's a system that has sort of not only cultivated it in a very intentional way too. But it has conditioned us in so many ways as some scar as our own eye with the eye on that, right? So what would you? What would you tell someone who is especially from the Black and brown community who is wanting to share their voice in any way, like you said, you don't have to write to share your story, but you can do so many other things. What are some of the things that you can share for people who want to be who want to write want to express? And yet feeling not ready? Or maybe this is not the time?
Michelle C. Johnson 10:43:45
Yeah, I appreciate this question. Because I think there is, as you said, so much conditioning around what is possible for us as Black and brown folks, or really any group who's marginalized, but you specifically asked about Black and brown folks, which resonates with me, I'm a Black person who has definitely been conditioned to believe that I'm limited in some way. Or that I can't access certain parts of myself and offer them like writing and story as a gift in the world and have them be received, and have them be appreciated, and have them move people and inspire people. I mean, this is it's making me think of, you know, positioning myself in a way that leans into what is possible. When I believe in myself so much, I don't mean from an egoic place. I mean, when operating out of the constraints that white supremacy has placed on me what is possible. That's what I'm speaking to. And I and I recognize impostor syndrome and have experienced it in many different spaces. And in particular, with writing as we've been talking about, and claiming myself as a writer, and I've experienced this with other folks, I've worked with Black and brown folks who are wanting to write and have to work through all of the messaging that often they received from other people about their ability to write or from the educational system, right, these messages didn't derive like derived from them, they came from systems which want us to stay silent, stay small, stay in place, and not center our narratives. And that for me, I think it it fuels a fire for me about them the importance of sharing our narratives and centering them anyway, right, because the system as it is structured is really never going to make space for our stories. So we have to make space for our stories. And there are so many models of people who have done this that we can look to, even as they have received messages about their smallness or messages that they are invalid, or that no one will want to hear their stories. I mean, we have, there are so many inspirations. So I would invite people to think about who inspires you who has modeled, offering story writing anyway, even though they may have experienced impostor syndrome, or may still be experiencing it, and yet they're sharing their story in a way like that, to me is that tension is really interesting and and also inspiring for me. So I would invite people to that and to really interrogate Where did these messages come from? And why are they in place. And often, as I said, there to keep us in place. So that we don't uplift or our truths, or even the creative way, a creative offering, the creative way we want to write and I also think it's have a US about ritual earlier. And it's coming back to me now with impostor syndrome. It's also coming back to me when I think about Yoga and some of the teachings. This wise person when skill and action came out in 2017, this wise person said, release it and let it do what it's going to do. And I thought, I can do that. I don't know what it's going to do. I have an intention, but I don't know what it's going to do. And I at the time, when she said it to me, I was like, Okay, this makes sense. Let go of your attachment to what happens with this. Because really, you wanted to write a story and share your perspective. And you do want it to inspire others and people to learn from it. Of course we want that and let it do what it's going to do its own thing when you create something it becomes its own thing. Right when it is I mean we know like whatever we're birthing becomes its own thing. People who are parents know this, you Children become their, their own people. Yeah, you can influence them, you can shape them, they are socialized by the world. And yet they will become who they become. I mean, this is true of creative projects, I think too. And just so many things we're generating, and I share this with in relationship to impostor syndrome, because there was something very liberating about that. Like, I don't know what's gonna happen. But I trusted myself enough to write this down. And to go through the process of for that edition, self publishing, when I knew nothing about it. Like, that's not my world. And I believe in myself enough to have created this at the time, the book I could hold in my hand. To me, that means something. And, and at the time was enough to be like, I'm putting it out there, and it will do what it's going to do. And so I would offer that like, what is that for people who may be experiencing impostor syndrome, if you trust yourself enough, to begin to create it, right, and you trust your voice enough to talk about it. There's something there, there's an offering, there is what I would share about it and, and then trust it to become what it needs to become. Hmm.
Anjali Rao 10:49:31
Beautiful. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. I love that I think a lot of people who will listen hopefully get inspired to share their voice. Recently, you were part of affinity space, which I held talking about caste and religion. And it just felt so nourishing to be in that space. And I love the book that you wrote about affinity spaces as well. So I want to kind of uplift that, because I think having people off of mass, especially marginalized communities together is, is so affirming and so nourishing, given the world that we're living in and always. So could you share a little bit about that book, also? Because I think that is a really, really powerful book.
Michelle C. Johnson 10:50:23
Yeah, I appreciate you asking about it. It's actually sitting on my desk, right? Yeah, a space, a space for us. I had it here, because I lead i co lead a course about it. But it's a space for us a guide for leading Black Indigenous and People of Color affinity groups. And it was published by Beacon and came out in August of 2023. And I love it. Because to your point in the space we were in most recently, it is a book just for people of the global majority Black, indigenous and People of Color. And it is a book about really reclaiming space for ourselves in the way we were just talking about connected to impostor syndrome. And coming back to ourselves, and also it is about being in community, specifically affinity space, and the healing that can happen. When we have space, separate from the white gaze more, a little bit, I'm saying a little bit removed from white supremacy, because white nests can still show up in a BIPOC affinity space. But there is a there is a there's a certain amount of distance from that. And we can explore how whiteness is affecting our space and how we've been shaped by it and then contemplate how do we want to be in relationship and heal with one another. Given that we have a shared experience of systemic racism, even though our individual experiences may have been different, but there's the shared experience of it based on the racial hierarchy. So this book, is I think, for anyone who is interested in a learning more about identity and how they relate to themselves as it's connected to race, specifically, although there are other applications of affinity groups for sure, based on points of privilege or points of oppression and how we experience marginalization. And it is also a book for anyone wanting to create an affinity space or participate in an affinity space. And it has a lot of information about frameworks that that we might want to understand that will help us more deeply understand ourselves. And also we're going to facilitate an affinity space. But it also has, how do we come into group process? And what rituals do we want to call in and what is the role of ritual within these spaces? And what might emerge in a space within the context of an institution versus in community? Those are different contexts. When we think about our work, and justice and also affinity spaces, specifically an institution might create some challenges that in community would be different, right the way we would experience challenges and it has a lot of as all of my books do journaling prompts for deeper self reflection. It has an entire chapter about internalization and our shaping and socialization, about healing about collective liberation. So I am really grateful for it. And it actually was, if I think about it, I'm not comparing it really, there was a contrast between writing space for us and illuminating our true nature that that makes sense. Based on what I've shared, thus far about how I had to ask myself Do I need to write this, although I think asked myself that with each book, but in a different way, the space for us just came out, I've been an anti racism educator for over two decades it like it was waiting to come out of me. And I realized that as I started to write it, and there are a ton of contributors to a space for us to that I've been in relationship with and work with, from different racial identities and ethnicities, to share some about their experience of affinity groups. So yeah, people can, if they're interested in any of what I just shared about it, check it out. Great,
Anjali Rao 10:54:24
thank you. I really personally like that book a lot, because I thought it was really needed. And I love the way you have laid out the frameworks. So well to kind of share about that. And all the information for all these books are on your website. So for folks to go and take a look at it. closing question. I know, we can talk forever. But closing question would be probably to talk about what are some of your thoughts about our own practices on an everyday basis? I know you, I'm inspired from what you're sharing about what you do every day to write your book. And you know, what inspires you I think that's so lovely to hear, actually, what are some of the things that you do every day, to take care of yourself, especially when you when there is so much grief going on? I ask this for everyone, but particularly you also, what are some of your practices, rituals, things like that.
Michelle C. Johnson 10:55:24
Yeah, I love this question. For many reasons. One reason why is what I've learned throughout time is that my practice has deepened and also has had to shift in some ways based on the world and how I'm responding to it and relating to it reacting. And I just named this and I haven't named it before in different ways, when I name it, because sometimes, I think we need a practice and, and sometimes I just know in myself, the practice has to be different for what I'm moving through. So I would invite people to have a practice and also have some flexibility about what's speaking to you are what you feel like you need based on what you're feeling, how you're feeling. And so some ways I take care of myself. And I know there's a way to think about like me and how I take care of myself. But I think about care as many people do and been talking about, especially in, in the circles we're in or activist spaces or spaces for transformation that care. Our individual care is connected to collective care, which is actually the book we began talking about the subtitle is yogic practices for Personal and collective healing, right, that there's this relationship. So whenever I engage in, in what one might call self care, it's not I don't, it's not really that it's, it's, it is how do I attend myself in connection with others, because so much of what I do is rooted in connection and service, right? It's something bigger than me for something bigger than me. And so I as I mentioned, I was sharing some rituals about writing, but I also am going to have water. Yeah, speaking of care, he's doing all sorts of things today. I even had a spoonful of honey before this, but you know, maybe it's working its way through me and yeah, my voice that's probably what's happening. But I, I meditate every morning, I pray. I write gratitude statements. 10 Each day, I light a candle. And sometimes I pull a divination, a card from a divination deck, or do some other kind of divination. And that's kind of like the every day maintenance. Yeah, those are the practices. But I also care for mice. Self by. Right before we came on to this call in for this conversation, I have three honeybee hives. And so I went out to see them. And I watched them for a little while and they needed some water. And so I gave them some water. And I tuned in to their home and just watch them, observe them going in and out of the hive. So that's something that can do in my yard or sit next to the oak tree, which is near the beehives or look at the chickens and talk to them or give them a treat. And then there's the larger ecosystem and natural world, which I find a lot of solace in. And so as much as I can, I'm trying to relate to the world around me the more than human world around me, and connect with it. So it can remind me of my my true nature, right? So I can come back to myself, that is a huge resource. And I don't mean that in an extractive way. But it's like a resource that fills me up is the you know, I was noticing the sun earlier as it was shining through tree and the geese, there's a lake in my neighborhood, the geese that were on the lake. And as the morning was waking up this was earlier, when I was walking Jasper, my dog was just trying to be with the aliveness around me, and move slow enough to notice. Who was around me the sounds, the sensations. The breeze, it was a little breezy this morning. So nature is a way I care for myself. And then there are many other ways, but the one I'll mention is being in community, because I mentioned it before. Yeah. The thing that has the practice that has been making me feel better. At a moment, I was like, kind of surprised by it. And I don't even know why I was surprised by it. But is that with this deep grief that I think I'm moving through every time I'm in community with others, I feel better. Now I read a whole book about being in community. But for some reason this is landing differently in my body, where I'm like, Oh, I don't feel the heaviness as much not that that's the goal or objective. But I noticed feeling a little lighter or more connected or just gratitude for being in community. And so that is a huge care practice. Especially because I'm in community with people who, like you, right, where we can talk about heartache or grief or joy, or whatever it might be like, when you asked me how I am, you really want to know. So when I'm around people like that, that gives me the space to say I'm great. And also this is going on or I'm feeling discombobulated or disconnected or, you know, to like uplift, all of what is moving through in my human experience. And they're those spaces are really sacred and special. And I am lucky and then I get to be in many of them and cultivate and CO create those spaces. So that's a big care practice community and being seen and seeing others and witnessing.
Anjali Rao 11:01:33
Beautiful, I cannot think of a better way to close this, because I'm so grateful to be in community with you and continue to learn from you and just uplift your work. And everyone please go and take a look at the offerings of Michelle Cassandra Johnson, thank you so much for joining me and the listeners who are listening to this particular conversation. Thank
Michelle C. Johnson 11:01:58
you Anjali for being and for all that you create and offer and for your many gifts and thanks for being in community and conversation with me in this way.
Anjali Rao 11:02:20
Thank you for listening to the love of Yoga podcast, and offering from accessible Yoga Association. Please support our work by becoming an ambassador or by visiting our online studio at accessible yoga.org
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
