THE SAME SOUP

A couple months ago I attended a special kundalini class.  The teacher, a friend said something that really struck me, “We are all in the same soup.”  Little did I know how much this sentence would mean later.  At the time it inflected a strong sense of community.  She spoke of one feeling good while another not feeling good.  One being abused in space and time somewhere while another grows up emotionally & physically well tended.

If one of us hurts does all of us hurt?

A week ago I received a phone call from my cousin.  We don’t talk or see each other often, but she is like my close friends who live in California, as soon as we talk it’s like we can pick up where we left off.

“You can’t go to your AA meeting,” she told me.  “You can’t.”

At that point I had a crack of acceptance that I wasn’t going to be teaching yoga in public places anymore.  I realized that sushi track with friends was probably out too.  But AA?  Never.

Never, until last Monday at least.  She made some points I just couldn’t argue with.  My household contains a 6 year old and two adults over 60.

So I began to delve into the world of Zoom meetings, something I definitely would have scoffed at a mere month ago.  A week later it’s like I live in a completely different world.  I was able to set up some meetings and able to join quite a few here in Oregon and California.  I’ve never been to so many AA meetings.

I set up a Zoom for some of my yoga teacher friends.  We had been texting back & forth last week, much of it being:

Are you doing classes?  Uh I hate technology (red face emoji), or:

Are you okay?  I’m okay for right now (rolling eyes emoji), or:

I cried for an hour yesterday (tear emoji), or:

I ate a bunch of ice cream last night & binge watched Tiger King.  It was the best part of my day (tiger emoji)

Have your texts/calls been the same?  Is it enough for you?  On the Zoom yogi call most of us were on the edge of tears.  People living alone have their whole list of cons to deal with, but when you’re existing almost 24 hours in a household with other people in your face, it can be difficult to feel safe to feel your feelings.

I’ve been texting people Zoom links all day every day.  People have been sending them to me.  Some days I have two meetings a day.  I can’t even describe how relieving it feels to see people’s faces, to see & hear that they feel the same way I feel.  It’s been a life saver for me.

I’m writing this because I think there’s a darkness with this isolation.  Community will dissipate this darkness.  Get on or start those Zoom calls.  Better together.  It’s okay if you forget to mute yourself, aren’t wearing any makeup, or don’t want the world to see you right now.  I promise it’ll help.

Love & light.

~Namaste