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When I first received Jen Yaros' workshop proposal for this Sunday's event, The Empowered Woman, I was excited to see this concept explicitly drawn from for a class at our studio. It addresses a key dynamic in our society, disempowerment, at the personal level, at a place where we can all take action.
One meaning of the word empowerment is "to invest with power." The World Bank calls it "the process of increasing the capacity of individuals or groups to make choices and to transform those choices into desired choices or outcomes.
As a teacher and business owner, to me empowerment is about helping people answer their own questions, stand in their own inner knowing, and claim power rather than transferring it to others that seem more knowledgeable. I want the practitioners of yoga to experience the power of yoga, more than of the pedestal-claiming power of their yoga teacher. I want the emerging teachers in our Teacher Trainings to cultivate a confidence in their own experience of yoga, not become a carbon copy of their instructors. I want the staff at 8 Limbs to feel that they have power and agency in the business decisions at 8 Limbs.
As an individual, empowerment means investigating what I am REALLY here to do during this lifetime, my dharma, and putting my attention and energy, my power, in that direction.
Today, and this month, really, includes many celebtrations that have a lot to do with empowerment, and power itself, called Shakti in Sanskrit:
May Day (today) is International Worker's Day, a holiday in 66 countries, but only recently being celebrated in our own country, it's place of origination. This year we are witnessing the groundbreaking change of increasing the minimum wage, empowering low-wage workers (but I'll go on the record hoping this important change can come with time for smaller businesses to give them the time to increase wages sustainably).
Mother's Day (May 11) honors the women who brought all of us (all of us) into the world. Talk about power.
Bike Month promotes using your own power to get around town, not just to school or work this year!
And surely there are many more powers to celebrate this month!
Join Jen this Sunday, or any of our teachers any day of the week, to increase your capacity, your Shakti, and your ability to fulfill your purpose, your dharma.
And while I have your attention...This and next month I will be reading a piece I wrote for the anthology Three Minus One: Stories of Parents' Love and Loss with other local contributors. PWNA hosts us on May 9 at 1pm, Third Place Books Ravenna on May 22 at 7pm and Elliott Bay Book Co on June 15 at 3pm.
Dharma unfolding.
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