Election + Connections
By Theresa Shay
Election Day in the USA comes two days after this message arrives in your inbox. Listening to students, glancing at headlines, scrolling through Instagram, I am aware that this election has consumed large quantities of mental space, most of it throbbing with anxiety, worry, and anger.
As someone who has encountered yoga's wisdom, you have a responsibility to yourself and your society to live connected to presence beyond these vibrations. No matter which candidate you support, when the results are determined (perhaps long after polling booths close) many people will be disappointed. How do you want to be with that reality?
You live in a time and in a place steeped in duality. Your peace and comfort cannot depend on the tilt toward one side of this election choice, just as you cannot choose either the inhale or the exhale and stay alive. The mind’s preferences, longings, and positions rise from desires and attachments of the mind. They result in attraction and aversion, and pursuing these will wear you out.
Your mind generates many thoughts that are not helpful. Some of those thoughts are not even true. Most of those thoughts are ones you have already had - old news, maybe even bad news or worst case scenarios, over and over. The place to rest is in the Now, smack-dab here, willing to receive what the moment is offering.
Elections do not bring people together. They are built on the model of duality. The connecting you long for, the unification you imagine, begins with connection to Self. To give that presence fuel to shine, stay aligned and stay connected. Remember that your life encompasses more than temporal conditions. Accept that you are bigger than your preference for president and there is more to your life than government. Remember that meaning, purpose, and right action are beyond anything worry, anxiety, or anger can generate.
Participate fully, vote, and remain detached. You may be called to big action or little action. Either way, if you listen beyond all that fluctuates, your steps will be supported, you will have the energy to carry those steps out, and you will experience contentment.
Maintaining connection to the energy and consciousness of your being allows you to connect with Source, Self, and others. Eventually, even a connection to “The Other” is possible. You are alive in a world of elections and connections.
Theresa Shay is the founding director of TriYoga of Central Pennsylvania, where she teaches weekly yoga and meditation online and trains others to teach TriYoga®. Each week, she shares wisdom cultivated from decades of TriYoga study and practice.
Learn more about her here. Theresa can be reached at Theresa@PennsylvaniaYoga.com. Find her on Instagram @theresa_of_triyoga for more inspiration and light.