Voting for Wellness
Yoga, meditation, and mindfulness are contemplative pursuits. We enter these practices with quiet humility, peaceful affect, and an inner gaze Meanwhile, like a distorted reflection in a fun house mirror, the political arena couldn’t look more different. Noise, antagonism, and at times even violence in words and action reign. And yet, despite the vast difference between these two milieus, they are, like all things, connected.
Think about it. People come to yoga and meditation for a variety of reasons, most of which fall under the heading wellness: to take care of their body, ease their stress, heal something, maintain good health, age gracefully, connect with others, awaken compassion, etc. No matter the aspiration, I can't think of a single one that can be realized alone. In order to be well – truly well – we need each other. We need vibrant communities, local infrastructure, access to health care, responsible public health policy, and legislation that protects our civil rights and our planet.
Ever since the agricultural revolution rooted us into a new definition of home, humans learned to survive by connecting those roots into organized systems of communal cooperation and mutual aid. In this way, individual wellness is inextricable from collective wellness, and collective wellness depends on a system of government that ensures each individual is valued, cared for, and given a voice. Democracy is our system, and it needs our engagement more than ever.
Just as you commit to your own wellness, commit to the wellness of democracy by casting a vote on or before this Tuesday Nov 8, remembering that we only get truly well together.
~ Annie Moyer