June 2021

Happy June everyone!

The sun is shining through and we’re just weeks away from the Summer Solstice! As we move further down the road toward a new balance, I hope you feel a sense of relief and are enjoying some much anticipated time with friends and loved ones.

This month’s mantra features a collection of our teachers' thoughts on love, solidarity, and honoring our BIPOC and LGBTQIA2s communities. Along with our collective exhale as we move away from the last 18 months of pandemic life, we are sitting with - and honoring - the mantra of liberation.

“I am honoring liberation and commemorating Junteenth,” says Haley.

“I have personally been working with the liberation mudra and also feel it as a positive mantra in alignment with Pride as well as Junteenth” Kristin.

“I like liberation as our mantra in how it can apply to the self (like breaking free of our mental restraints, dissolving resistance to change) and also collectively like Kristin said. It will be cool to see each of our takes on this.” Kayla. 

“Feeling connected to the word Pride these days… and the two connotations of it. Love or Ego?” Marleen 

“June is also a time to recognize PTSD Awareness Month as many of us are working toward liberation from the struggles of mental health, especially as we have endured recent hardships and are now rising up from pandemic fear, anxiety and isolation.” Jen 

Freedom is an intrinsic human right and yet in this world, and in this country, access to freedom has not been equally shared; particularly among our Black and Brown brothers and sisters as well as members of the LGBTQIA2S community. The practice of yoga asks that we become aware of inequities, acknowledge judgment and the attachments that we carry within ourselves, and that we work to liberate ourselves from the binds of systematic and individualized oppression. True liberation for all cannot be accomplished without ultimate awareness and action. 

This month, I encourage us all to explore the mantra of liberation. Together, let’s sit with how we as individuals can positively contribute toward liberation of ourselves and also liberation of those impacted by oppression and struggling to know freedom. On a personal, internal level, I encourage you to question what will best serve you in your journey toward liberation. I also encourage you to stand in solidarity and celebrate Pride and Junteenth while we also forge forward knowing the hard work  - and beauty of true liberation - that has the potential to unfold. 

I Love you all! 

Margot

You can watch the full Mantra video here