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Mindfulness in the Making
CONNECTED WITH LOVE
By: Jocelyn Kay Levy | February 2, 2023
Ah…February—the Hallmark holiday month of ‘love’. This month I find myself remembering again that one of the best ways to provide love is to surround myself with community. I’m feeling this now especially because my work focus is shifting a little bit. I’ve decided that this year, in 2023, I would really love to have a Wee Yogis brick-and-mortar space right here in Marin!
I’ve been on the difficult search for the past couple of months for ‘the perfect space’. This is a new venture for me because, for many years, what had me thriving was teaching kids yoga at events, doing classes, and offering teacher training in various locations, which also gave me the flexibility to travel. But, this year, I’m really feeling the call to ground, to have a home base, and to, in turn, provide love to the community and to myself.
Even though I’m a Bay Area native, and I’ve been living here in Marin for 10 years, it’s just crazy to think how hard it was for me to finally find my tribe—especially as a mother. No one ever talks about how difficult and lonely motherhood can be. Especially in the first few months after our little ones are born and as we step into our full-on Mom Role. Life with young ones is a tunnel-visioned blur trying to keep our wee ones alive, the house functioning, and our work lives afloat. It’s a lot to do on our own!
And then one day we suddenly wake up from the blur only to realize, ‘Wow, I actually need to carve out time and energy to make friends, real friends. And we try to enter into the world of trying to make Mom Friends, which is the biggest battle—finding people we actually relate to, people who maybe have some similar values or hobbies or simply finding people who are nice and open to having new friends that are not already part of their Mom Clique.
They say: “It takes a village…” but what if there isn’t one?
What does one do with the feelings of separation and loneliness that raising young kids without a solid community can bring on? I believe we hold a deep ancestral knowing that it’s not supposed to be this way. That in another lifetime we lived in tribes…we lived every moment with other women cooking, cleaning, crying, and laughing—all while raising our young ones together.
Hence, my 2023 goal, starting with my February month of love intention, is to spread the love and manifest a loving community that shares similar values of togetherness with me . It’s true, I want to find the right location, my perfect space for Wee Yogis to have a home base, but I also know that I have to create that loving, ‘homey’ space inside myself and to remind myself that with or without the physical, brick-and-mortar space I desire, I am not alone. We all are truly interconnected.
For Parents:
Let’s dive into the following loving-kindness practice. As renowned author and meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg says, “This practice can help you to awaken to how connected we all are. You don’t have to like everybody, or agree with everything they do—but you can open up to the possibility of caring for them, because our lives are inextricably linked.”
Let’s begin the loving-kindness practice by thinking of a friend or of someone who has helped you or of someone you love. And repeat these four phrases for a few minutes:
May You be happy
May You be safe
May You be well
May You be peaceful and at ease
Afterwards, try repeating these same four phrases while thinking about someone who feels neutral to you, maybe an acquaintance or someone you only know in passing.
Then (and this is the hard part) repeat these same four phrases while thinking of someone with whom you have a difficult connection or someone who has hurt you or someone towards whom you feel anger.
Trying this practice will help you to soften your judgment and awaken compassion and, in turn, this will help you move out of the feeling of separateness and remind you just how closely connected we all are to one another.
For Kids:
You can totally do this loving-kindness practice with your kiddos. First, find the “Loving Kindness” song on my “Wee Yogis Grow” album. Play it with your kiddos and talk about the lyrics. You can gently guide them to think about someone in their lives that they might want to wish loving-kindness upon.
For Community:
Wee Yogis’ Music & Yoga:
Wednesdays at 10am (Babies-3yrs) & Parent & Me: Thursdays at 4:30pm (1-4yrs)
Location: Energy Flow Studio- 412 Red Hill. www.weeyogis.com
Mindfulness for Mamas Group:
Meets every other Thursday from 11am-12:30pm PT on Zoom.
Email sasha.p.patterson@gmail.com for details.
Jocelyn Kay Levy is a mama, musician, yogi and social innovator. She has been performing music and leading yoga and barre fitness workshops for over 15 years. Jocelyn is the founder of Wee Yogis Organization whose mission is to bring yoga and mindfulness to children through music, videos, podcasts, and teacher training. Wee Yogis is also the kids yoga program for Ram Dass’ Nonprofit Love serve remember. Learn more at weeyogis.com