The news in the past few weeks has been downright scary. Many of us feel helpless and/or angry.
One of my friends recently shared a YouTube video called Run, Hide, Fight or something like that. It is a public service video put together by the Carmel Police Department and gives advice on what to do in the event of a shooting in a public place. The video aims at helpfulness, but I found it deeply disturbing. It reminded me of the Duck-and-Cover civil defense films from the Cold War. Shown in elementary schools and in the theatre in the 1950s, Duck-and-Cover advised our parents (then children) to hide under their school desks in the event of a nuclear strike.
We later learned that taking cover under your school desk is completely absurd. Running and hiding is probably good advice in the event of a public shooting. But the need for such an instructional video is contrary to everything I believe in. I believe that people are fundamentally good.
If you’re reading this blog post, you probably feel the same way. This is why we need more yoga – and especially right now. In the face of frightening world events, we need to love globally and act locally. Very locally. As locally as possible: within our own hearts, minds, and bodies.
To use “Do more yoga” as a rallying cry might raise as much ire as the recent “God isn’t fixing this” Daily News cover. But seriously, do more yoga! Think of it as your oxygen mask. When you fly on an airplane, the flight attendant instructs you to put your oxygen mask on first, before helping anyone else. It makes sense. If you run out of oxygen, you wont be able to help anyone else with their oxygen mask.
Practice more yoga in order to gain more and better access to your heart. If yoga was to have a goal, that goal in the Tantric view is gaining a direct experience of the goodness (or the divine, or God, or Allah, or the Universe) that resides within you. Once you tap into that good oxygen within yourself, you’ll be better equipped to help those you care about and those you don’t even know do the same.