~ musings on feeling, sensing, breathing, moving & being ~
Spiritual Bypassing in the times of Black Lives Matters.
Let’s collectively own up to the fact that we have incorrectly used our spiritual toolkit to avoid accountability.
"Let’s collectively own up to the fact that we have incorrectly used our spiritual toolkit to avoid accountability.
It’s a tough pill to swallow. But think about it: Are loving-kindness and compassion complete if they don’t extend out to others? If we choose to only move through the world with ethically sourced rose-coloured glasses, are we truly living? Are we healing? Are we healers?
This is the essence of Spiritual Bypassing.
“Spiritual bypassing is a very persistent shadow of spirituality, manifesting in many ways, often without being acknowledged as such. Aspects of spiritual bypassing include exaggerated detachment, emotional numbing and repression, overemphasis on the positive, anger-phobia, blind or overly tolerant compassion, weak or too porous boundaries, lopsided development (cognitive intelligence often being far ahead of emotional and moral intelligence), debilitating judgment about one’s negativity or shadow elements, devaluation of the personal relative to the spiritual, and delusions of having arrived at a higher level of being.” — Robert Augustus Masters, PhD
In simpler terms, spiritual bypassing is characterized by an active avoidance of pain and reality. It is deliberately deciding to cut out the discomforts of life, backed by a privileged perspective of spirituality and life. The notion that spiritual healers and leaders were never involved in politics and took a passive stance on the political issues of their time is not just an unfounded assumption, it goes against the very examples they lived."
Read the full article here
- Tai Salih, 500hr CTY, @namas_tai21 for MEDIUM.
In loving memory: Nancy Milner.
This post is in loving memory of a bright light who was deeply loved by so so many of us - and a beloved celebrity everywhere she went.
For those of you that attended my yoga classes in Portland regularly, you will remember Nancy Milner - she had the power to expand the joy of every single person in the room, EVERY SINGLE TIME.
Nancy expanded joy everywhere she went. Please join me in sending love and blessings to Nancy on her next adventure.
Nancy's powerful life force left her body last Sunday at 3am. Pam, her beloved wife, shares with us the following poem that they have found in Nancy's room, written by Nancy:
A WALK WITH ME
One day while talking with my friend Maureen, She told me that every day when she first awakes in the morning, that she thanks the people.
The people that have lived and died. The guinea pigs of yesterday’s trials who have given their lives so we might live.
She thanks the people that have gone before us so that we can live to watch our children and grandchildren grow.
Please let them know their lives were not in vain, that the people of yesterday who have died in research projects.
That the cancer survivors thank you for your lives.
Please let them know I thank them too, for my days, for my birthdays.
Please let them know we thank them for their sacrifices.
Please thank them for their lives.
Thank them for the moments that I can spend growing.
Watching the humming birds out of my window, feeding on the butterfly plants.
Spending time with Truman working on projects.
Watching Margaret grow into a fine woman.
Fishing with my grandson Casey.
Feeling the breath of air on my naked body come through the window at the break of dawn.
Thank them for the time that I have, and to help my children grow, to help my grandchildren grow.
Thank them for the time that I can spend with my partner Pam.
Thank them for my moments.
Thank them for my time before I must go.
Because I know I’m only here on a visit.
- Nancy J Milner
BLACK YOGA MATTERS
It is my great honor to highlight some of many gifted women of color in yoga that you need to know about.
Black ART Matters, Black Joy Matters, Black Health Matters, Black Education Matters, Black Resources Matter, Black Authors Matter. BLACK LIVES MATTER.
BLACK YOGA MATTERS:
Signal boosting outstanding yoga, by dedicated, wise and gifted women of color.
Yoga and Yoga Nidra with Tracee Stanley // and even more offerings from this wise one here.
Skill In Action with Michelle Cassandra Johnson // Audiobook Here.
Yoga and Writings by Octavia Raheem
Acupressure and Yoga with Chantelle Broomers, by donation, via ZOOM.
Ashtanga Yoga with Laruga Glaser on YouTube. and on instagram.
Yoga Foster, yoga for kids and teens on YouTube
#BlackLivesMatter
Performance Artist in front of the Beverly Hills Hotel on June 1, 2020. Photo by James Sweigert
Performance Artist in front of the Beverly Hills Hotel on June 1, 2020. Photo by James Sweigert