Podmasana Preview | The Refuge of Practice and Teaching: Yoga, Trauma, and Self-Compassion

[00:00:00] Speaker A: As someone who came to yoga through depression and has spent years studying trauma informed practice, what wisdom would you share with people who are listening and maybe struggling right now? And how could yoga practice serve them when life feels particularly difficult? [00:00:20] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a hard question because we are in a time where there is so much demand for our attention and there's so much suffering in the world right now. And it is really hard to hold all of that. And it's hard to sit still, right? It's hard to sit still because there's so much happening and we. I feel I shouldn't speak for all of humans. I feel myself like I need to find the solution and also be the answer. But also I don't have that much power, right? I'm just like a, I'm just a human. The, the, the most power I have is what I choose to give my attention to. So what I would tell people who are really struggling right now is like, I know it's going to be hard, I know it sounds hard to do this, but like carve out 20 minutes a day to sit down and breathe. Shut off your phone, make your space as quiet as you possibly can. Or if that's like triggering to you, put on some like calming music and just sit down and just feel your breath in your body. Close your eyes for a minute, give yourself 20 minutes of silence or, you know, gentle music. And if you have to repeat to yourself during that timeframe that you are a good human, repeat that to yourself. You know, I mean, that, that feels really difficult right now when we are so in touch with the 24 hour news cycle and the suffering across the planet. Like we are global citizens now. And you, you, you cannot a, know everything that's happening horrible in the world and hold that in your nervous system and still be a healthy human. You cannot. Our systems weren't set up for that. But also B, knowing those things and knowing that you can't change that directly is really destabilizing to the system as well to the nervous system because it's so much disharmony. And so, and not that we need to be, you know, love and light all the time. That is not reality. I am not Good vibes only. But you need space. You need to create a little bit of a bubble around yourself so that you can get through the day and show up for yourself and show up for your, your family, your friends, your community in a kind, compassionate way. But we got to start with ourselves, right? Like, I can't hold space for someone else if I'M not holding that space for myself. And that might be five minutes a day. It might be 10 or 20. It might be. It might be your one hour yoga class that you go to every week.