What have you been practicing for?
Catherine Cook-Cottone
The Yoga Bag
This is the question of the week,
“If you wonder what you would have done to help the Underground Railroad, the tireless mission of the suffragettes, during the early years of the civil rights movement, or during the rise of the Nazi régime—
know this-
you are doing it now."
Consider, that you have been practicing for today.
Consider, that yoga practice is not a practice of getting
really good at being really good on your mat.
I guess it can be. Not for me. I am practicing to be the person I hope for
myself. To be silent now is to condone what is happening. To be in inaction now,
is to yield to those who are in action.
I grew up in the 1970s and 80s. As a military child, I lived
all over this beautiful United States of America.
From coast-to-coast, I was raised to love and respect each
of my neighbors as fellow Americans worthy of every human right.
The daughter of an English teacher, I was raised to admire scholars
and poets for their ability to make art of their unmatchable paths in life-
never wanting any one of us to be too like another as it would dull the magic,
the beauty, the surprise inherent in our art and risk the vibrancy, the
source-threads that make up the glorious tapestry that is the narrative of the
United States of America.
I was raised to believe that the United States of America is
the safe place for people who weren’t safe other places. That we are that great
father and mother that hold out our arms for those who might be hurt or go
hungry somewhere else.
I was raised to see the wonder that comes from this kind of
open-hearted, open-armed love and acceptance that makes us all so much richer.
What I saw and heard yesterday was not the United States of
America that I was raised to know and love. And I knew, in my heart, THIS is what I have been practicing for.
I am practicing to support my commitment to our work in
Yogis in Service that connects all of us, from across this beautiful city of
Buffalo and over oceans from the Middle East to Africa- in service of something
bigger than anyone of us-- our love of and service in support of each other.
I practice to be the change I want to see in this world and
so that I will be strong enough to do it with grace.
I practice so that I don’t get tired, because I have a
feeling this is going to take some time.
I practice because you can’t give what you don’t have. Only
inner peace can support world peace.
I practice so that I am aware. So I can feel and see each
and every thing that is happening.
I practice so that I have the courage to say, “No, this is
not okay. This can’t happen. Not here. Not now.”
I practice because I believe in me and us.
Why do I practice?
So I can keep working on love no matter what.
What are you practicing for?
Catherine Cook-Cottone
The Yoga Bag
