Election stress is in the air, and we've got a practice for that
As a young child, I was timid and fearful of the big grownup world, and my mother had to cajole me to accompany her for any activity. Compared to my dad's big personality and my three rambunctious older brothers, my mom and I were the gentle quiet ones in the family. I did everything in the protective wake of her skirt, and the 1972 presidential election – my first – was no different. But on that day, her skirt was a few steps ahead of my tiny legs, because on the first Tuesday in November, my mom roared to life, marching into the polling booth to do her duty as a first-generation American-born citizen, proud to exercise the grand privilege of voting.
Another activity she cajoled me into was yoga. While we didn't exactly have yoga pants back then, there was no skirt to hide behind as she toted me along to her weekly class at the community center. I didn't participate in postures, but no doubt what I breathed in then is paying off now, as I consider all the ways yoga can help us through the uncertainty and discomfort of a contentious, high stakes election.
The 8-limbed path of Patanjali's classical yoga system offers a "voter's guide" of sorts for navigating election worry. From (1) ethical principles of non-harm and honesty; (2) self-aware practices of discipline and faith; (3) physical posture and (4) conscious breathing; (5) non-reactivity to sensory stimuli; to (6) concentration, (7) meditation, and (8) absorption in boundless, divine presence, this path starts and ends with the loving awareness of connection.
To be aware that we are not ultimately separate is to see that harm to one is harm to all, and the opposite of harm is love. To fall into the trap of what Martin Luther King Jr. called the "drum major instinct" of desire for dominance is to neglect our common ground of humanity. This is how I plan to keep my seat for whatever arises in the coming days. If I sink into fear, disillusionment, or indignation, I will return to love. And if I find myself in wild celebration, gloating righteously, I will also return to love. Part of walking this 8-limbed path of yoga is understanding what we leave in our interconnected wake.
May our country be free from suffering, may we care deeply for each other in these tender days, and may we be at peace.
~ Annie Moyer