The Power of Community

Mar 31
3 min read

It may sound cliche – but I sure was struck, the other night, by the power of our collective – 15 women zooming in from around and beyond the country – Cali, PA, Jersey, Texas, coastal VA, FreeDC, Minneapolis (we love you!), one señorita from (Viva!) Mexico. Many of us strangers.

We gathered for Root to Rise – a workshop led by fellow coach, Marlene, and I to celebrate the Equinox – this prescient time between winter and spring when the days begin to lengthen and the earth awakens. How do we make the most of this precious transition season – and the astrological year ahead?

Well, Marlene and I had ulterior motives. Friends for 20 years – we met on Dia International de La Mujer – International Women’s Day – in Brazil – in 2006. Through this workshop – our first joint professional venture – we would celebrate our anniversary. What might we learn, discover, create together?

As I debrief with myself – and prepare to do so with Marlene – I find myself brimming with ah-has – each one of them fighting for space on the page. But one elbows to the fore – the sense I got in the Zoom room – even virtually – our faces lite-up in electronic Hollywood squares –voices sharing truths: the power of coming together.

As the chaos swirls out there – wars rage, the planet rebels, lies fill the airwaves – here we are doing something about it – quietly, collaboratively. The antithesis of destruction – we women are IN creation.

Spring blooms – Mother Earth awakens – and we feel the blooming within.

Marlene opens our session by guiding us through a meditation, inviting us to recall this long hard winter – prompting us to honor that time and leave behind what does not serve – bring along what does – and step over the threshold.

We share what comes up – some of us envision more freedom, others more peace, another self care, another courage to fight the powers that be. We give each other the greatest gift – our listening. We hear and see you. We send thumbs-up and heart emojis that float across the screen.

We are mothers, survivors, empty-nesters, caregivers, between jobs, budding artists and activists and entrepreneurs – grappling, facing, not turning away.

As the yoga lead, I invite us up on our feet and cue mountain pose – root down through the soles of the feet to rise-up through the legs, spine, all the way up and out the crown of the head. We stand in our squares – tall, sturdy mountains – as I instruct them to clasp hands behind their backs and make a fist – resting it against the sacrum – the plate of bone at the base of the spine.

This is the sacral chakra – Swadisthana – energy center of creativity, flow and feeling – the energy center of choice. Managing the power of choice,” says intuitive healer Carolyn Myss (Anatomy of the Spirit), with all its creative and spiritual implications, is the essence of human experience. Choice is the process of creation itself.”

As Spring arrives, as you flower with possibility, tune into the sacrum. Give it care. What actions do you choose? Which bring freedom? Which foster peace?