Today, as I entered into work, into Sweet Pea’s Studio, the sound of mothers and children gathering greeted me at the door. I entered to find a collection of families (yes, a Dad was there too!) who had all had home births with the Gentle Birth Care midwives who are part of Sweet Pea’s Studio’s collection of Partner Providers. I was delighted to turn my brain away from the NPR story I had just been listening to in the car ride to work about the man our current president had just nominated for the open seat on the Supreme Court. A man who is ready and eager to block women’s rights for safe, legal, and accessible reproductive health care. A man who aligns himself with the black heartedness of this newly elected president whom has driven fear, anger, pain and suffering into so many hearts, including mine. This mixture of disbelief, anger and downright fear has been clouding so many of us since the results of the election in November and it was with gratitude that I opened the door of my little Studio to find this light filled scene. Community!
I then was treated to more uplifting distractions as 12 mamas and babies arrived for the morning Baby and Me Yoga class. We stretched, breathed, massaged the babies, danced, sang and connected. I looked at the future in the eyes of all these little ones and remembered my own new mother self, full of hope and optimism, but also newly rattled by the BIG BAD WORLD. How are we to contain it all? How can we continue to provide safe and positive lives for our children when so many seem to want to do only damage and create fear and divide? BREATH IN, BREATH OUT.Then I received this amazing link from a friend. As I listened to Valarie Kaur’s speech on New Year’s Eve at the “Moral Revival Poor People’s Campaign Watch Night Service” I surrendered even more into the sense of connection to the biggest source of all…LOVE. Please watch, it’s so worth it!
This gathering of faith leaders and social justice advocates gathered to resist extremism and join the movement to advance state-based moral public policy agendas. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, “America needs a radical revolution of values.” The Rev. Dr. James Forbes said, “Our moral revival seeks to reveal the actual values beneath the current anti-democratic policies, practices, and attitudes so blatantly displayed during the recent election campaign, and also to call the nation to a higher moral and spiritual plane to a set of values just and wise enough to enable us to sustain the rich heritage upon which our nation was founded.” Ms. Kaur ‘s moving speech captures this energy and speaks in terms that many women, mothers, grandmothers, are all feeling right now.“The mother in me asks, what if this darkness is not the darkness of the tomb, but the darkness of the womb. What if our America is not dead, but a country that is waiting to be born?…”
This point of view in this very dark and scary time helps me immensely. It helps me remember the powerful and yet calm energy I felt at the Women’s March in Washington D.C. just less then 2 weeks ago. How being there with my 13 year old daughter, surrounded by half a million people, felt like a very large support group, a COMMUNITY! It did not feel frightening or dangerous. The energy felt like those moments that I have when I come to the Studio on days like today. This time in our history also feels very much like those moments I have witnessed as a woman labors. Intensel, scary but also calm power. A deep dark well of all that is. That moment of transition when her eyes ask if she should struggle and become overwhelmed or if she should surrender and let go to the amazing forces in her own body. With comfort, calm and loving support, she can ride through those dark moments, with the breath, with grace. It is so hard to remain balanced when there is so much work to do to push through darkness into light, but together, we will endure this. We will work together, in loving community, to overcome these dark times. To work hard, YES, but also to do so with the grace and loving wisdom of Mother’s Love.
Please join us this Friday night for another Divine Mothering Circle. We will circle together at this time of the Lunar calendar, Imbolc and St Bridget’s Day, to find the light together. The Imbolc festival falls midway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox at a time, which is traditionally the coldest and darkest time of the year. St. Brigid is the patronsaint of Ireland, poets, healers, fugitives, (refugees), midwives, and new-born babies. Such an important time to gather and light the path beneath our feet. Friday Feb. 3rd, 6:30-8 pm.
We also invite you to join us for our weekly pre and post natal Yoga classes, NEW weekly Gentle Hatha and “regular people” Yoga classes with Jenny, Carina and Christy, as well as upcoming workshops like Infant Massage, Family Baby and Me Yoga, and Understanding Birth Childbirth Classes. Also, I am very excited to host an amazing workshop in March with Yoli Maya Yeh, “Tantra for Women,” as well as a DONA Doula training with Rachel Wickersham in April!! All of our offerings can be found online at www.sweetpeasstudio.com. So many opportunities to join together in Community!“The womb draws up notions of warmth, safety, love, and potential. As we know, the womb is where we, as beings, begin to grow, develop, and equip ourselves with the tools we need to enter into the unknown world. What if every experience of darkness in our lives offered this same opportunity: to re-enter a safe and nurturing space for the sole purpose of dedicating time to our evolution – what a gift!” – ValarieKaur is a seasoned activist, civil rights lawyer, award-winning filmmaker, media commentator, educator, entrepreneur, and Sikh interfaith leader.
Peace, Blessings and light!
Jenny and the Sweet Pea’s Community
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