Worrying About World Problems
Can Yoga Nidra solve world problems?
Roe V. Wade (OMG, are we still arguing about women’s rights in 2022?!)
Climate change is real (holy sh*t, that’s scary)
Political situation in the world (it’s all broken. Do over!)
Black Lives Matter (Yeah, they do!)
Do you worry? I do— like existential worry. I worry about the environment. I worry about human rights. I worry about racial equality, and women's rights. I worry about our broken political system in the US and around the world. I worry about the massive wealth discrepancy in the world economy.
My kid is 7 and I wonder how long as parents that we can shield him from just how mean and cruel the world can be. He’ll learn soon enough but I want to keep him naive to some of the world’s serious problems until he’s mature enough to understand them. It makes me afraid for our kids, for our future.
Do you ever feel like this?
I’m sure you know as well as I do that worrying isn’t going to make the world’s problems any better. Plus, I don’t know about you but for me when I worry I tend to get all deer-in-the-headlights about it all and get paralyzed to do anything useful about it.
So what do we do?
We take small steps then large steps to become the best person we can become, inside and out—that’s what we do. We learn to respond to this world’s fear and scarcity and inequality with a limitless source of compassion—that’s what we do. We practice simple acts of kindness—that’s what we do.
We can’t meditate the world’s problems away, sure, but through meditation we can find the super hero inside of us that has the power to truly respond to the world’s problems in a way that does make a difference, from the ground up. This kind of strength is stronger than the Hulk.
These quiet moments of mindfulness give us the chance to practice being the kind of person that this world needs us to be and gives us a footing to start a grass-roots revolution— one of love and compassionate responsiveness rather than fearful reactivity.
Meditation has the power to change us from wasting our energy on pushing away what we don’t want to reaching out for what we do.
As mindfulness practitioners, we may still worry but at least we can balance out that worry with the knowledge that we are also compassionately responding to our world’s problems and doing what we can. This feels better because it is better.
Yoga Nidra Training
Now, tomorrow starts my next Yoga Nidra training and this is my hard sell for this thing, why it’s so important that you come along:
Because the world desperately needs you to step up to be the best person you can be, that’s how we are going to make lasting change, and it needs you to help as many other people along the way as you can. You have a unique voice, talent, and skillset that will impact certain people better than anyone else. Yoga Nidra is perhaps the most potent, available, and transformative practice I know for lasting change and I would love to help you learn how to help others by facilitating this incredible practice.
I’m not exaggerating when I say that Yoga Nidra can change the world.
We all have gifts and humbly speaking, teaching Yoga Nidra is one of mine. I want it to become one of yours as well. Please join me.
We kick off the training on Monday, August 15th with a live, 60-minute Zoom meeting (9 am MDT; 5 pm CET) to discuss, ask questions, and get to know each other. If you’re undecided on whether or not you’d like to do this training, let me know and I’ll send you the Zoom link anyway so you can join the live welcome session for free to ask questions, look at the program, and see if it’s something you’d be into. I hope you will.
May we all contribute to a global difference by simply being the person we are destined to be. May we all stretch a little further to be a little kinder— less quick to judge and quicker to lend a helping hand.
Thank you for who you are.
Namaste,
