Humility, tending the land, yoga practice and finding hope in this moment
Several years ago, when I decided that part of what I wanted to do with my life is to create and hold space for adventurers wanting to go to the Sacred Valley on spiritual retreat, I had no expectations. I was simply finding my way to a dream, to create and to call people in who felt called to take the plunge.
This year, as I returned from the space Miki Poy and I created, I felt something had shifted. You could call it an epiphany. A realization about why I continue to explore indigenous practices in Peru, part of my familial heritage and lineage. What about the learnings that I do in Peru are so relevant to what I find myself navigating in the US?
When we sit in a circle upon arrival in our practices in Peru, we focus and place attention to two things in particular: reverence for mother earth and humility. These aspects of our opening prayers are at the core of what we learn in our week together. I have carried this in my center since my return in early April.
Just yesterday when I was gardening- planting seedlings, creating space for wildflowers, transplanting the medicine to make room for what will become food, I noticed the bowing of my head as my hands were in the soil. When we place the head below the heart we open up an entire world.
I am not just talking about headstands or handstands. I am referring to the placement in our bodies with head below the heart (think child's pose- balasana or downdog- Adho Mukha Svanasana). There is a shift in perspective, a humility when we place our forehead towards or on the earth . Perhaps in that moment we whisper a prayer, an invocation, an affirmation– that we don’t know it all. That there is a higher power. This allows us to lead with curiosity and ultimately surrender to the great mystery.
The divine feminine retreat in the Sacred Valley taught me so much about community, love, connection, laughter, tears, joy and vulnerability. Most of all it taught me that the ultimate lesson for me in this moment is in the power of humility and honoring the sacred earth.
What can we continue to learn about our roles and the ways we show up for our communities by centering humility?
Time to recharge and adapt- Exploring nature's lessons
It all begins with an idea.
As I sat in a room with movement leaders in the fall of 2024, I noticed that the complexities of the problems in communities were not creating a sense of dread. As a matter of fact, these leaders were clear on their role as an organization at that time and the organization they wanted to become.
Using Deepa Iyer’s Social Change Ecosystem map, my colleague, friend and co-facilitator, Shilpa Alimchandani and I were able to create a container in which the organizational leaders were clear on their role- Builder. They were at their best as builders in this moment. What did they aspire to become? Storyteller, visionaries and weavers. What a clarifying way to spend time with a group of committed leaders. As we continue to see the attempt to devastate civic infrastructure by the current political leaders, I am grateful for these tools and resources as they will help organizations and leaders continue their focus on what their role is in their ecosystem.
During the discussion of ecosystems, I recalled my lessons on biomimicry. Biomimicry for Social Innovation connects to the way that nature teaches us about our ways of building, adapting, pausing, resting, organizing, embodying resilience and incorporating diversity.
For me, there are three ways that as a weaver, guide and healer (from the Ecosystem map) I find myself moving and pausing at this time:
Integrate the unexpected: how do we weave or integrate unexpected events in our lives? What about our organizations? The adaptive strategies often shift the look and feel of the weave. Can we make the weave stronger by figuring out the ways that we can weave the unexpected?
Leveraging cyclical processes: These times feel like they are quickly moving and yet all living things undergo seasonal changes- temperature, light moisture. What happens if in our healing practices we learn to connect and leverage the natural cycles? Biomimicry asks us to consider: what if leadership could leverage predictable cyclical processes to optimize effort? Can we connect to natural cycles to attune us to energy resources for guidance?
Maintaining integrity through self renewal: Metamorphosis is a deep transformation that allows a butterfly to fulfill essential functions of their life cycle. As a guide and healer, my coaching and facilitation approaches invite leaders to this potential transformation. In shamanic ceremonies, healers often call in the visualization of the wings that can emerge once a person steps into a new self, unencumbered by old patterns. What are ways that you move through change? Through transition? (I am currently reading Transitions and connecting to the change according to Bridges) How about transformations that call you to release old patterns that no longer serve you?
Our times are calling for clarity and courage. The questions we seek will get us to this clarity about our roles, unlearnings and new beginnings for ourselves and the benefit of our communities.