What’s Next?

My daughter and I are participating in a Yoga Detox Retreat on Zoom this week. This may sound odd given my one-handedness and hip replacement limitations. I have not actually done a yoga practice for more than 4 years. However, I am doing what I can with modification. It is also reassuring that I am in the privacy of my home so no one is watching me – except the teacher on the computer screen – and I am not creating a distraction for anyone else in the class. In addition to re-engaging in a yoga practice, the “detox” requirement for this retreat is that I get to decide what I need/want to detoxify from my life for these next 7 days. I did not choose wine, refind sugar or white flour. That may, in fact, have been easier. Instead, I have chosen to curb my year-long voracious appetite for taking in information and to spend time in reflection.

For the last year, I have been earnestly engaged in educating myself about the realities of unconscious bias, the nature of cultural racialization and the realities of American History that I do not recall learning in school. I have read books; listened to podcasts; participated in book studies, workshops and seminars; taken the IDI (Intercultural Development Inventory); volunteered on a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee; and had a few meaningful – and some difficult – conversations. Almost all of this has taken place virtually, of course. We have been experiencing a pandemic, after all! News about Covid-19 and politics have not been off the year-long table of information gathering either – so they are part of the detox intention, too.

So what is happening in my Yoga Detox Retreat? I am spending 3 hours each day in practice – 2 hours each morning and 1 hour each evening. In between, I am reflecting on what I have actually absorbed from my information gathering, replenishing my energy free of the need to be “up-to-date”. Upon reflection, I hope to find my way to use what I have learned to make a difference.

Here is another quote from Steven Charleston: Our lives are entrusted to us for a purpose. It is not always an easy or glamorous job, but it is the vital work of restoration, reconciliation and renewal that must be done…

What next? I do not know – but here is another quote for you:
I think it’s much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. ~ Richard P. Feynman.

Be well. Live in the present moment.