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Qu’est-ce qui est si génial à propos d’une pratique régulière ?

 

Parfois, la vie semble être une course sans ligne d’arrivée. Dans ce cas, développer une pratique régulière peut être un baume pour ton corps, ton esprit et ton âme.

J’ai toujours été de type A. Une pratique régulière de yoga m’a soulagé de douleurs chroniques, mais elle m’a également procuré un profond répit par rapport à la pression que je me mettais moi-même pour performer, atteindre, et toujours avancer. Je n’ai pas sacrifié la performance dans la vie en allégeant cette pression – la pratique m’a simplement conduit à une nouvelle façon de vivre (du moins les bons jours 🙂

Qu’est-ce qu’une pratique régulière ou consistante signifie et comment Modo peut-il aider?

La séquence fondamentale de Modo est conçue pour être pratiquée en toute sécurité chaque jour (pas de pression !). Comment ? Pour expliquer brièvement… il n’y a pas beaucoup de poids porté sur les petites articulations, et chaque articulation et groupe musculaire principal a l’occasion de bouger. De plus, la répétition dans cette séquence crée une facilité et une variété pour la santé à long terme des articulations et des muscles. La séquence fondamentale de Modo peut être pratiquée à l’âge de 20 ans ou à 75 ans – et partout entre les deux. Après des années de pratique, le Modo 60 ou 75 donne l’impression d’être une base pour le corps, une réinitialisation méditative. Il est donc agréable de revenir à cette base entre les cours de Flow, Yin, Restorative ou autres.

La constance est définie par chacun et doit être adaptée à ta vie et à ton emploi du temps. La répétition fait partie de la conception de la pratique du yoga Modo, mais pour soutenir la vie moderne, la plupart des professeurs de Modo suggèrent de pratiquer 3 à 4 fois par semaine au studio, et une forme de pratique quotidienne les autres jours – même si cela se résume simplement à 15 minutes de marche consciente, de travail sur la respiration ou de méditation. Modo Yoga Online, notre plateforme en ligne robuste, est un excellent moyen de maintenir une pratique régulière les jours où tu ne peux pas te rendre au studio. Bonus : si tu es membre dans l’une de nos locations de studio, Modo Yoga Online est inclus dans ton abonnement ! Si tu ne l’es pas, essaie-le GRATUITEMENT pendant 14 jours.

Le yoga est une science de la pratique tout au long de la vie. Ce que tu donnes à ta pratique – temps, force, concentration, calme – ta pratique te le rendra en retour, au centuple. Cette entrée de journal vise à t’inspirer à investir du temps en toi-même en explorant la raison derrière le fait de créer une pratique régulière.

Leçons tirées de la pratique quotidienne

J’ai appris le pouvoir de la pratique quotidienne de mon professeur, Baba Hari Das (1). De l’âge de 17 ans à 25 ans, je me rendais une fois par an à un retraite de 4 jours pour ses étudiants en Ontario. Il nous assignait une séquence de travail sur la respiration et nous invitait à la pratiquer chaque jour de l’année à venir. L’année suivante, il écrivait sur un tableau (parce qu’il pratiquait le mauna – ou silence – pendant la majeure partie de sa vie) : “si tu as pratiqué chaque jour, pratique la respiration dans cette tente ; sinon, reste ici avec les débutants.” Pour Babaji, si tu n’avais pas de pratique quotidienne, tu recommençais toujours au début. Pendant des années, je maintenais cette pratique pendant 3 à 6 mois, mais ce n’est que 4 ans après ces retraites que je me suis enfin engagé envers moi-même et que j’ai dit : “c’est bon, je le FAIS !” Maintenant, 23 ans plus tard, je n’ai pas manqué un jour.

En tant que mère active de deux enfants, ma pratique quotidienne a beaucoup évolué au fil des années, mais la constance reste la même. Ma vie a changé lorsque chaque jour signifiait littéralement chaque jour – qu’il pleuve ou qu’il fasse beau, que je dorme bien ou mal, que je sorte tard pour voir ou jouer de la musique, que je sois à une fête ou non, que je veille tard avec un bébé, que je sois de bonne humeur ou non. Ma vie a changé pour le mieux avec la pratique quotidienne, de trop nombreuses façons pour les énumérer ici. Mais je vais essayer de partager ce que j’ai remarqué dans ma propre vie et en enseignant dans la communauté ces 20 dernières années.

Résilience

Je pense que le plus grand avantage de pratiquer régulièrement est la résilience intérieure. Nous ne sommes pas vaincus lorsque nous sommes jetés dans la boue de la vie. Nous sommes vaincus lorsque, après la chute, nous ne nous relevons pas. Se relever demande de la résilience. Avec une pratique constante, la résilience intérieure se construit non pas en ayant un meilleur chien tête en bas que notre voisin de tapis, ou en faisant un handstand, mais elle se construit en revenant à nous-mêmes sur le tapis de manière constante, avec dévouement à notre propre bien-être, et une ouverture à évoluer et à écouter intérieurement.

Qu’en est-il de la perte de poids ?

Je sais, ce sujet peut être moins inspirant. Alors, enveloppons cette question d’amour et d’une bonne dose de conscience. Tu es magnifique et ton corps est parfait. Je mentionne cela parce que les gens posent souvent des questions sur la perte de poids, et c’est normal. La réponse courte est oui – une pratique régulière soutient une perte de poids constante et durable.

Mais parlons-en. Même si la dernière décennie a apporté plus de conscience à la positivité corporelle, nous sommes toujours bombardés d’images du “corps parfait”. Une partie d’une pratique de yoga régulière à long terme est une expérience de ce qui est connu dans les textes de philosophie du yoga comme la ‘vidya’ ou la conscience de la vérité profonde. En d’autres termes, lorsque notre pratique va au-delà de simplement transpirer et faire de l’exercice, nous savons intuitivement que se faire dire à quoi notre corps devrait ressembler est, eh bien, totalement absurde. Cela étant dit, de nombreuses personnes viennent dans les studios avec pour objectif de perdre du poids, et c’est également acceptable. Il y a beaucoup de bonnes raisons de vouloir perdre du poids, et personne dans les studios ne jugera cet objectif.

Une pratique régulière favorise la perte de poids comme une pratique corps-esprit, et non pas en comptant les calories de votre nourriture ou en calculant les calories que vous brûlez. Lorsqu’elle est pratiquée avec constance et pleinement (c’est-à-dire, doit inclure AU MOINS un Sivasana complet de 5 minutes à la fin de la classe), une pratique régulière vous amène à une conscience intérieure profonde. Cela conduit souvent à des changements naturels dans le mode de vie, notamment une alimentation moins émotionnelle, des choix alimentaires sains qui vous conviennent mieux, une hydratation adéquate, moins d’alcool, des nuits de sommeil plus profondes et réparatrices, et surtout, moins de stress, impactant significativement. Des changements physiologiques profonds peuvent se produire avec la réduction du stress et la régulation du système nerveux, comme des changements de métabolisme, de meilleures selles, et une amélioration de la flore intestinale. Avec une pratique constante vient un changement constant dans la sensation de se sentir bien dans sa peau.

Connais-toi toi-même

Et en parlant d’écoute intérieure, une pratique régulière suivie pendant des années nous mène également à une interoception accrue. Alors que la perception est une compréhension de où se trouve notre corps physique dans l’espace, l’interoception est la conscience du fonctionnement interne de notre corps. L’interoception a été démontrée pour diminuer le stress, augmenter la pleine conscience et mener à une connaissance plus profonde de nous-mêmes. Lorsque nous pratiquons l’interoception, nous faisons connaissance avec qui nous sommes sans scripts hérités ou attentes, nous nous rappelons ce que nous tenons vraiment comme valeurs fondamentales, ce qui nous fait du bien et ce qui ne nous fait pas du bien, et nous dirigeons notre vie en conséquence. Nous ressentons avec plus de précision ce qui nous sert et, en contraste, quelles parties de nous-mêmes sont des vestiges d’un passé prêt à être abandonnés pour exposer notre être tout entier au soleil.

Lorsque je traversais un traumatisme, la pratique quotidienne était ma bouée de sauvetage. Un petit retour quotidien qui chuchotait : “tu es là, tout ira bien”.

Lorsque nous pratiquons régulièrement, nous nous souvenons que nous ne pouvons pas bien diriger les autres si nous ne sommes pas à la barre de notre propre leadership.

Une pratique régulière pour toi peut signifier une fois ou deux par semaine dans ton studio local, et 5 minutes de méditation par jour. La dernière chose que je voudrais faire est de précipiter un jugement de soi ici ! Tu es parfait(e) et entier(e) – sans rien ajouter ni rien enlever. Juste comme ça.

J’espère te voir bientôt dans une salle bien chaude un jour !

Avec amour, Jess

 

(1) Voici une liste des nombreux livres merveilleux de mon professeur, Baba Hari Das. Mes préférés sont Silence Speaks et Yoga Primer.

(2) “Interoception et stress” par A. Schulz et C. Vögele (2015).

(3) “Pleine conscience, interoception et le corps : une perspective contemporaine” par J. Gibson (2019).

 


 


Jess Robertson Jess est la co-fondatrice de Modo Yoga, conseillère principale et documentariste communautaire. Elle est également écrivaine, musicienne, professeure de yoga et co-fondatrice de la New Leaf Foundation. Elle vit à Montréal, Canada, avec ses deux enfants.

What’s So Great About a Regular Practice?

 

Sometimes life feels like a race without a finish line.  When this is the case, developing consistency in your practice can be a balm for your body-mind and spirit.

I’ve always been Type A.  A consistent yoga practice eased me out of chronic pain, but it also gave me deep reprieve from my self-generated pressure to perform, achieve, and go go go.  I didn’t sacrifice life-performance by alleviating the pressure – practice simply led to a new way of living (on the good days at least 🙂 ).

What does a regular or consistent practice mean and how can Modo help?

The Modo foundational sequence is designed to be safely practiced every day (no pressure!).  How?  To briefly explain… there’s not a lot of weight bearing on the small joints, and every joint and major muscle group is given the chance to move.  Plus, the repetition in this sequence creates ease and variation for long term joint and muscle health.  The Modo foundational sequence can be practiced at age 20 or 75 – and anywhere in between.  After years of practice, the Modo 60 or 75 feels like a home base for the body, a meditative reset.  So, it’s nice to return to this foundation between Flow, Yin, Restorative, or other classes.

Consistency is self defined and has to be right for your life and your schedule.  Repetition is part of the design of the Modo Yoga practice, but to support modern day life, most Modo teachers suggest 3-4 times a week in the studio, and some form of daily practice on the other days – even if that’s simply 15 minutes of mindful walking, breathwork, or meditation. 

Yoga is a science of lifelong practice.  What you give to your practice – time, strength, focus, stillness –  your practice will give back to you in return, ten fold.  This journal entry aims to act as inspiration for you to invest time in yourself through exploring the why behind curating a regular practice.

Lessons from Practicing Daily

I learned about the power of daily practice from my teacher Baba Hari Das (1).  From age 17 to 25 I would study with him once a year at a 4 day retreat for his Ontario students.  He would assign a breathwork sequence and invite us to do it every day of the forthcoming year.  The next year he would say (on a chalkboard, because he practiced mauna – or silence – for most of his life): “if you’ve done the practice every day, practice Breathwork in this tent; and, if not stay here with the beginners.”  For Babaji, if you didn’t have a daily practice, you were always beginning.  For years I would keep it up for 3-6 months, but it wasn’t until 4 years into these retreats that I finally committed to myself and said, “that’s it – I’m DOING it!”  Now, 23 years later,  it’s been every day since. 

As a working mom of 2, my daily practice has shifted A LOT through the years, but the consistency remains.  My life changed when every day literally meant every day – rain or shine, good sleep or bad, out late seeing or performing music, at a party or not, up late with a baby, good mood or bad.  My life changed for the better with daily practice, in too many ways to enumerate here.  But I’ll try to share what I’ve noticed from my own life and from teaching in Community these past 20 years.

Resilience

I think the greatest benefit to practicing regularly is inner resilience.  We aren’t defeated when we’re knocked down into the muddy dirt of life.  We’re defeated when, after the fall, we don’t get back up again.  Getting up requires resilience. With consistent practice, inner resilience is built not through having a better downward dog than our mat-neighbor, or by doing a handstand, but it is constructed by returning to ourselves on the mat consistently, with dedication to our self care, and an openness to evolve and listen inwardly.

How about Weight Loss?

Yes I know, this can be a less inspiring subject.  So, let’s wrap this question in love and a whole lot of awareness.  You’re beautiful and your body is perfect.  I’m including this because people ask about weight loss all the time, and that’s ok.  The short answer is yes – consistent practice supports consistent and enduring weight loss.

But let’s talk about it.  Even with the last decade bringing more awareness to body positivity, we’re still bombarded with images of the “right body.”   Part of a consistent long term yoga practice is an experience of what is known in Yoga Philosophy texts as ‘vidya’ or awareness of deep truth.  In other words, when our practice deepens beyond just getting sweaty and working out, we know intuitively that having someone tell us what our body should look like is, well, total BS.  That being said, many people come to the studios with a goal of losing weight, and that’s ok too.  There are lots of healthy reasons to want to lose weight, and no one in the studios will judge that goal.  

A regular practice promotes weight loss as a mind-body practice, and not through calorie counting your food or counting the calories you burn.  When practiced with consistency and fully (read: must include AT LEAST a FULL 5 minute savasana at the end of class), a consistent practice brings you to deep inner awareness.  This often leads to natural lifestyle changes that include less emotional eating, healthy food choices that feel better for you, drinking more water, less alcohol, having deeper more restorative sleeps, and most notably and impactful less stress.  Deep physiological shifts can occur with stress reduction and nervous system regulation, like changes in metabolism, better bowel movements, and an improved gut microbiome.  With consistent practice comes consistent change in feeling healthy in your own skin.

Know Thyself

And speaking of listening inwardly, a consistent practice that is followed for years also leads us to increased interoception.  Where perception is an understanding of where our physical body is in space, interoception is the awareness of our bodies’ inner workings.  Interoception has been shown to decrease stress (2) increase mindfulness (3)  and lead to a deeper sense of knowing ourselves.  When we practice interoception we become acquainted with who we are without inherited scripts or expectations, we remember what we truly hold as core values, what feels good and what doesn’t, and direct our life accordingly.  We feel with more precision what is serving us and, in contrast, which parts of ourselves are remnants of a past chrysalis ready to be sloughed off to expose our whole selves to the sun.  

When moving through trauma, daily practice was my lifeline. A small daily return that whispered, “you are here, all will be ok.”

When we practice regularly we remember that we can’t lead others well if we aren’t at the helm of leading ourselves.

A regular practice for you may mean once or twice a week at your home studio, and 5 minutes of meditation a day.  The last thing I’d want is to precipitate any self judgment around here!  You are perfect and whole – without adding anything or taking anything away. Just sayin’.

Hope to see you soon in a sweaty room one day! 

With love, Jess

 

(1) Here is a list of my teacher, Baba Hari Das’, many wonderful books. My favourites are Silence Speaks and Yoga Primer.

(2)  Interoception and stress” by A. Schulz and C. Vögele (2015).

(3)  “Mindfulness, interoception, and the body: A contemporary perspective” by J. Gibson (2019).

 


 


Jess Robertson is Modo Yoga’s Co Founder, Senior Advisor, and Community Documentarian.  She is also a writer, musician, yoga teacher and Co Founder of the New Leaf Foundation. She lives in Montreal, Canada with her 2 kids.

Modo Voices: Milena makes peace with her mother after a lifetime of pain

 

* TRIGGER WARNING: domestic violence

We are all touched by life’s trials and tribulations in different ways. While completing her Modo Yoga teacher training in Montreal, Canada, Milena takes some time to share her triumphs after a lifetime of physical and emotional abuse. We share her story with the hopes that anyone suffering from trauma can reach out for support — from professionals, friends and family, on their mats and, most of all, from the place of bravery, peace and strength that lives within each and every one of us.

I was a child with a very normal life. At least that’s what it looked like to the people around me. I had a lot of good friends, good grades, always smiling and laughing, seemingly enjoying and loving life. Nobody knew about the great fear I had every day as I approached my front door after school. I used to pray as I would finally open the door.

I would pray that she would be sober. And every day I would find my mother still drunk. The same face, those same horrible words.

She would turn into a monster –– not the same beautiful person whom I admired so much. She blamed me for all of the problems in her life. I felt like she hated me. The nights were the worst — that’s when she beat me up. But yet, every morning I would wake up and be so happy to see her again. This went on for years.

Then, I discovered Modo Yoga in Paris in June 2017 and it started to help me navigate all of the trouble I was having at home.

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“I was a child with a very normal life. At least that’s what it looked like to the people around me. I had a lot of good friends, good grades, always smiling and laughing, seemingly enjoying and loving life. But nobody knew about the great fear I had every day as I approached my front door after school. I used to pray as I would finally open the door. I would pray that she would be sober. And every day I would find my mother still drunk. The same face, those same horrible words. She would turn into a monster –– not the same beautiful person who I admired so much. She blamed me for all of the problems in her life. I felt like she hated me. The nights were the worst — that’s when she beat me up. But yet every morning I would wake up and be so happy to see her again. This went on for years. But then I discovered Modo Yoga in Paris in June 2017 and it started to help me navigate all of the trouble I was having at home. One day, during class, I had this idea that maybe I could try to befriend my mom’s second personality. I wasn’t giving up on her. It was not easy, but I was persistent, and came back to my mat to find my sense of calm and my strength. Slowly but surely the relationship started to change. Day by day she became less and less violent until it diminished entirely. I accepted her two personalities because I know that she loves me so much and I believe that when people are suffering they can hurt the ones they love the most. Modo completely changed my relationship with myself and with my mother. And for that, I am so so so grateful to this beautiful community.” —@milenahvsk, @modoyogaparis #ModoVoices

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One day, during class, I had this idea that maybe I could try to befriend my mom’s second personality. I wasn’t giving up on her. It was not easy, but I was persistent and came back to my mat to find my sense of calm and my strength.

Slowly but surely, the relationship started to change. Day by day, she became less and less violent until it diminished entirely. I accepted her two personalities, because I know that she loves me so much and I believe that when people are suffering they can hurt the ones they love the most.

Modo completely changed my relationship with myself and with my mother and for that, I am so, so, so grateful to this beautiful community.


Modo Voices shares the personal stories of students and teachers from across the Modo community.  

Modo Voices: After a hockey injury, Brent discovers yoga

 

For Brent, the benefits of yoga have been endless in his body, mind and soul. As a former hockey player, he’s suffered numerous injuries, but one in particular took him off the ice. He stepped onto his mat for the first time ever in an effort to rehabilitate — and he’s not the only one. In recent years, yoga has become one of the most popular exercises for professional athletes to improve strength training and build mental resilience. Fresh from his Modo Yoga teacher training in Montreal, Canada, Brent took some time to reflect on how life has changed from his days lacing up to doing sun salutations at his home studio of Modo Yoga St. John’s, Newfoundland.

“I played hockey for 17 years. After that long, the sport becomes like a home to you. Competing in a high caliber environment made me feel like I was succeeding at something, but I had to stop playing because of a back injury.

As an electrician, I physically couldn’t do my work while being in pain from the games. So, that’s what led me to yoga. The goal was just to get my back healthy again. I had no idea that I needed to work on my mind too. I forgot how important that was. I forgot to keep growing as a person.

I have to say there is a huge misconception that yoga isn’t hard — it’s a helluva workout! Hands down one of the hardest workouts, both physically and mentally.

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“I played hockey for 17 years. After that long, the sport becomes like a home to you. Competing in a high caliber environment made me feel like I was succeeding at something. But I had to stop playing because of a back injury. As an electrician, I physically couldn’t do my work while being in pain from the games. So that's what lead me to yoga. The goal was just to get my back healthy again. I had no idea that I needed to work on my mind too. I forgot how important that was. I forgot to keep growing as a person. I have to say there is a huge misconception that yoga isn’t hard––it’s a helluva workout! Hands down one of the hardest workouts, both physically and mentally. It not only makes you work your body weight to support your muscles but it strengthens your ligaments and tendons too. And in doing the movements, it affects your nervous system. It calms you. I just love it. Yoga gave me the opportunity to explore my authentic self in a way that hockey didn’t. Every day that I step on my mat, it helps me be who I am. It’s like your mat is your soul and that’s where you go to connect with who you are. I remember feeling nervous that I wouldn’t be accepted by the yoga community but I experienced the opposite! Modo Yoga defines what supportive community means. As an athlete, young or old, you can benefit by just being here, accepted for who you truly are. You can drop the facade that we often put on for our teammates. You can grow here. The benefits are endless. Yoga helps prevent injuries, it heals injuries and it strengthens your core, which is so important for any sport. We spend so much time destroying our bodies and yoga allows our bodies to stay healthy so that we can enjoy our sport for longer. So if you like playing hockey, go to yoga. If you like swimming, go to yoga. If you like tennis, go to yoga. Whatever you do, whoever you are, just go to yoga!” —@brent_betts, @mokshahotyogastjohns #ModoVoices

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It not only makes you work your body weight to support your muscles, but it strengthens your ligaments and tendons too.  In doing the movements, it affects your nervous system. It calms you. I just love it.

Yoga gave me the opportunity to explore my authentic self in a way that hockey didn’t. Every day that I step on my mat, it helps me be who I am. It’s like your mat is your soul and that’s where you go to connect with who you are.

I remember feeling nervous that I wouldn’t be accepted by the yoga community, but I experienced the opposite. Modo Yoga defines what ‘supportive community’ means. As an athlete, young or old, you can benefit by just being here, accepted for who you truly are.  You can drop the facade that we often put on for our teammates. You can grow here. The benefits are endless. Yoga helps prevent injuries, it heals injuries and it strengthens your core, which is so important for any sport. We spend so much time destroying our bodies and yoga allows our bodies to stay healthy so that we can enjoy our sport for longer.

So, if you like playing hockey, go to yoga. If you like swimming, go to yoga. If you like tennis, go to yoga. Whatever you do, whoever you are, just go to yoga!”


Modo Voices shares the personal stories of students and teachers from across the Modo community.  

Modo Voices: Karl learns to love all his colours

No matter your sexual identity — or how you define or see yourself in general — just know that there is a place for you at Modo Yoga.

I knew I was different when I was five. I had this feeling on the inside, but had no words to express it. Growing up in the 80s, there was no example of homosexuality in the media or in my surroundings. So, when I started realizing that I liked boys, I knew it had to be hidden. As I grew, the level of shame within me grew too. It stayed with me for a really long time. I always felt inferior to everybody else.

I remember crying my eyes out as I came out to my friend at 14. I didn’t want to be gay. I felt so alone. And then, ‘My So Called Life’ came out on TV and there was the first-ever gay character, and it gave me a glimpse of hope. I thought, ‘finally, something I can relate to.’

I think shame diminishes who we are and so, we find other ways of creating value in ourselves, of filling our void, and those ways aren’t always healthy — sexual behaviours, drug abuse and addictions. These quick fixes turn into destructive habits and they don’t work. But we can nourish those vulnerable parts of ourselves through yoga, meditation, being in nature, connecting to good people and doing what we love.

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“I knew I was different when I was 5. I had this feeling on the inside but had no words to express it. Growing up in the 80s, there was no example of homosexuality in the media or in my surroundings. So when I started realizing that I liked boys, I knew it had to be hidden. As I grew, the level of shame within me grew too. It stayed with me for a really long time. I always felt inferior to everybody else. I remember crying my eyes out as I came out to my friend at 14. I didn’t want to be gay. I felt so alone. And then ‘My So Called Life’ came out on TV and there was the 1st ever gay character and it gave me a glimpse of hope. I thought, “finally, something I can relate to!” I think shame diminishes who we are and so we find other ways of creating value in our selves, of filling our voids… and those ways aren’t always healthy––sexual behaviours, drug abuse, addictions. These quick fixes turn into destructive habits. And they don’t work. But we can nourish those vulnerable parts of our selves through yoga, meditation, being in nature, connecting to good people, and doing what we love. When I started dancing in college, it was a way for me to express myself in a way I was never able to in words. Dance was the first thing that made me feel the most accepted and free. Yoga and meditation allowed me to liberate my body and my mind from the shame. The more I practiced, the more I was able to own my voice and find my truest self. Being in an open and accepting environment like Modo Yoga made me feel more comfortable in my own being. It really is #APlaceForAll and it’s something that I’m so proud to be a part of today. What I know for sure is that it’s so important to have pride in who you are. Sexuality is only a small part of who you are––it’s not everything. Keep reaching for the stars!” —@mrkarlitolove, @modoyogagriffintown #ModoVoices

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When I started dancing in college, it was a way for me to express myself in a way I was never able to in words. Dance was the first thing that made me feel the most accepted and free. Yoga and meditation allowed me to liberate my body and my mind from the shame. The more I practiced, the more I was able to own my voice and find my truest self.

Being in an open and accepting environment like Modo Yoga made me feel more comfortable in my own being. It really is a place for all, and it’s something that I’m so proud to be part of today.

What I know for sure is that it’s so important to have pride in who you are. Sexuality is only a small part of who you are — it’s not everything. Keep reaching for the stars.”


Modo Voices shares the personal stories of students and teachers from across the Modo community. 

Why is waiting so hard? This is what happens when we rewire our brains to slow down

As yogis, we have a reputation for being cool, calm and collected, but how realistic is this when everyone around us is rushing around, ears glued to their cell phones?

Before the internet, we used to write letters. Letters are so different than IMs or texts. They take time to write. They take time to send.

Then there’s the envelope, a stamp, finding a mailbox and remembering to bring the letter with you when you leave the house.

And once it’s sent, your words wait in undelivered limbo. They land at an unknown time and mystery encases the arrival of a response.

Letter writing is so rich in romance and deep connection — maybe because the waiting invites learning and challenge.

I’ve always been hyper-efficient with lots on the go. So by extension, I kind of sucked at waiting.

I realized this living in Spain in my early 20s, when I worked as an English teacher. I wanted to travel after university, but couldn’t afford it, so my solution was finding a host of travel jobs.

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At first, working in Salamanca, Esp. was a huge struggle because my students would show up late — every single time.

If I was meeting them at their home, I would arrive to find them in no way ready. I would awkwardly wait while they brushed their teeth (at 11 a.m.!), or ate their breakfast or lunch.

One day, I waited 90 minutes in a cafe for one of my students — Laura.

After one hour I started to get mad.

“So disrespectful,” I thought to myself.

Thinking back, it was so ethnocentric to judge “early” as “better.”

This was a time before cell phones, so despite being annoyed, I kept waiting. I couldn’t risk losing the future classes.

When Laura finally arrived, she had a big smile on her face.

“Hola! Que tal?”

“Hi, how are you?” she asked, sitting down like it was nothing!

I was flabbergasted, and that’s when I realized this impatience was mine to hold — not Laura’s or any of my “disrespectful” students.

Myobsession with timelinesswas cultural and I had something to learn.

I realized on that day that I needed to refresh the meaning of the word “wait” entirely. I had to start seeing it as time won, instead of time lost.

Rather than worrying about losing time waiting for the subway, or a late train, I had the power to consciously view the wait, as bonus time — a chance to read a book, write in my journal or even practice on-board airplane chair yoga.

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The lesson I learned in that Spanish cafe was such a hugely potent one for me. To this day, I still can’t shake my Canadian punctuality, but instead of being annoyed, I try my best to approach waiting as a bonus.

Once I started being able to see “waiting” for what it is, I felt empowered.

Picture yourself lying in savasana, knowing that the day awaits, ready to start the moment you hear that “namaste.”

As teachers, we see it in the bodies — all tight, wound up and waiting for a sound that signifies someone else is moving, so they can too leap off their mat.

We try to help by reminding people of the beauty of savasana — a chance to let go and let live.

Nowadays, doing nothing is a challenge, but once we become OK with it, we can allow that emptiness into our life in a positive way — wee may even have time to practice the long lost Socratic practice of…thinking.

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What deeper learning is there really?

Is there anything better than getting in-tuned with your body, mind and spirit?

That moment you realize you’re not waiting for savasana to end; you’re letting yourself fall back into the shimmering glow of undefined mystery.

Jimmy Cliff wrote a song that was covered by Jerry Garcia, Willie Nelson and countless others:

“Sitting here in limbo
Waiting for the tide to flow…
Well, they’re putting up resistance
But I know that my faith will lead me on.”

Then there’s Tom Petty:

:The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you get one more yard
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part.”

Why are we, humans, writing songs about waiting?

Well, maybe it’s because waiting is like love — filled with undeniable curiosity about the unknown.

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So, the next time you find yourself waiting, consider asking yourself this: Could I be letting go right now? How can I better take in the wholeness of life?

I feel so motivated to explore the obligatory wait times in life, and I’d love to work alongside anyone willing to ride the highs, the lows, and the in-betweens with me.

When we embrace “the wait” as a chance to be still, as the bright light behind the setting sun, we can then face the next challenge head-on with a readiness to forge forward with solutions.

— be peace, Jess

10 tips to ace your New Year’s Resolutions

 

I’m guessing that statistically we’re more likely to be hit by lightning than we are to stick to our New Year’s resolution, yet the ritual of reviewing and renewing our resolve is so great.

I started a new tradition for my own resolutions. I’m renaming them practices.

We can’t fail at practicing, right? But we can fail at a resolution.

Basically, I’m hoping to increase the odds. But for real, framing a resolution as something we have to do is always a disastrous set up.

Practice is something we can pick up any time without threading it through self-judgement or the limited pinhole dichotomy of accomplished or unaccomplished.

My practice in 2018 is asking questions about things I care about deeply. By asking questions to myself, and others, I hope to open new dialogue and learn.

My first question is: How can I practice community?

There are unlimited articles on how to improve our practice of yoga postures, or asanas.

Why not magnify our focus on community? I’ve seen over the years in my own asana practice that learning is more rich and meaningful when I am actively engaged in community.

Here are 10 ways to practice community support this year:

1. Receiving

Oh, we sure know how to give, right? We’re givers. We’re yoga lovers and we’re chasing peace.

We’re the first to call “back middle” instead of “shotgun” just to, you know, be a giver.

I’m wondering why it’s easier to give so freely and yet so hard to receive.

Can we practice humility and recognize that all good teachers and students, ask for help.

2. Listen carefully

Author Tim Ferris developed his interview technique by watching his favourite journalists conduct interviews.

He noticed that all of the best, Oprah included I noticed, waited a seemingly unbearable time after a question was answered.

Three or four full seconds would lapse, and then miraculously a gem seemed to emerge.

After hearing this I tried it and watched it work while teaching philosophy at the teacher trainings, or even in conversations with friends.

When we give the speaker a little more space, the thesis arrives, brainstormed at the source, edited internally.

Wisdom is polished by silence.

3. Commitment

New York Times writer and author Anand Giridharadas once said:

“I think what’s happened to us is that we’re not committed to each other as a people, so it’s almost like we are in this kind of situation where any disappointment that we encounter in our fellow citizens is like a reason to break up, and any deviation from deeply fulfilling each other as fellow citizens is like a tragedy.

“And part of commitment as a citizen is embracing other people’s dysfunction, and embracing other people’s incompleteness, because you know you have your own.”

Community isn’t only developed in our yoga families, we cultivate it in our school groups, at the water cooler at work, in relationships — anywhere we want to say “‘F’ you, I’m, out of here” if something doesn’t go our way.

I’d like to practice community support unceasingly, and weed my assumptions about others before they take seed and overpower the growth of the good stuff.

4. Forgiveness

I’m Canadian so I wait for a sorry when I feel a sorry is due. But it is so empowering to claim the processing that we need to do on our own instead of waiting for an external pardon.

It’s so damn liberating I wish I had figured it out earlier, and wish I could remember it more readily.

I’m still a fan of “I’m sorry,” but I’m not going to wait for it for a change in my own mental or emotional well being.

And I will always — and only when it is safe of course — give a second and third chance.

Also, the more I see anger or stubbornness arise in myself or students, friends, or family, the more I see that anger traces a straight line back to hurt, usually, especially when anger is habitual, it’s old hurt.

Remembering unseen wounds from mothers, fathers or whomever sure does make it easier to forgive.

5. Believe in magic

Sometimes we practice yoga in its wholeness. Yoga has eight limbs: yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, aamadhi.

Sometimes we practice its parts, like breathing consciously (pranayama), sitting in meditation (dharana) or exploring in postures (asana).

In yoga’s wholeness or in its parts, we bear witness to healing, a feeling of deep union, magnificent positive change, vulnerability and other such magic.

Glimpses of understanding our connection with all things, samadhi, arises as an exhausted single mother walks out of the studio renewed knowing she is not alone.

Cultivating magic means cultivating a don’t-know mind, knowing that mystery abounds and magic is happening around us.

When I’m doubting magic or mystery I’ll schedule myself for a walk in the densest forest I can find, with a quiet mind, and notifications off.

6. Groundedness

Community, especially in a highly caffeinated, overworked, digital age, requires grounding. Full stop.

As you become popular or successful in any somewhat public way, we become vulnerable to projection.

Projection starts with great love but can darken at the speed of light if the slightest misstep or unintentionally hurtful word is offered directly or in passing; a completely innocent email/Facebook comment can turn into viral vitriol.

We were called out publicly on social media on a very well “liked” post for using the word “Moksha,” a sacred concept and turning it into a “corporate giant business.”

It threw Ted and I for a huge loop. First, for having potentially hurt anyone with our choice of the name “Moksha” (our name before Modo) as it came from a place of deep honouring and respect, and second for being called a corporate giant.

It would be easy to get defensive. Instead we sat quietly and took it all in. We are still taking it in.

We grounded down rather than acting out.

I want to do that more.

In community, something you say will be misinterpreted at some point, and if this misunderstanding happens publicly and/or in the digital realm, it can be incredibly destabilizing if you let it be.

But, if you know who you are, and you are grounded in your ideals, and you are living in truth your roots will hold you.

In the yoga tradition living in truth is called satya.

When was I was growing up learning from my teacher Baba Hari Das I always thought of satya as “telling the truth” or listening for the truth. It is this as well.

But Satya is also living in truth. It is a very grounding practice. Let’s support each other in finding our roots and nourishing them.

7. Compassion

Trauma is multifaceted, complex and for the most part invisible.

I tell a story at the Modo Yoga teacher trainings to illustrate that “you never know.”

I share a poignant moment when I was teaching a class and a student seemed to roll his eyes at everything I’d say.

I kept thinking, “Man, why does he hate me so much?” At the end of the class I took a breath, conjured up compassion and asked him if I could give him a hug.

He said yes.

After the hug he said, “Thanks. Right before this class I cremated my mother.”

Yes, he looked bitter and angry. Yes, he wasn’t “nice” at the sign-in. He was so very sad. And his lack of friendliness sure had nothing to do with me.

Making assumptions is so human, so easy, and so dangerous.

There is no better place to source our habitual illusory assumptions than in community.

Knowing that hurt is hidden and appears in unlimited ways seems to help me find compassion.

8. Change

Every Wednesday for the past six years or so, I’ve met with our Modo International team.

We’re a group of eight 500-hour certified yoga teachers who all wear about 10 hat a week.

Last month, Angela, our communications leader, wisely suggested that we change the colours that represent our personal agenda cells in our team meeting spreadsheet.

I found the change so hard, even though I loved the idea of change.

I was used to my old colour, and for the record it wasn’t even a colour I liked all that much. And yet, after another week, poof, change forgotten.

For some, all change is difficult, and for others change is just plain fun.

Change is hard, and yet it is constant. And in community we get to practice change.

We get to witness change as we practice it in every aspect of the yoga. We see change as the start of every transformation.

9. Take action

If you’re pissed off about something, one great place to take action is here, in community.

If you don’t like something about your work community, this community, the global community, then take action to make it change.

If I don’t like the way people plant trees in most carbon offset communities, then it’s my responsibility to find or create something better.

Any time I hinge into blame I see an opportunity to claim, take a breath, act, and change.

The best news is that we’re all here to support each other. We are only activists if we act, and there are unlimited ways to act.

Unlimited ways to call for justice, speak for peace, and act for the health of the earth.

10. Make the circle bigger

We can always be more inclusive. I attend a bi-weekly women’s circle with my neighbours.

When a mom who was putting her kids to bed at the start time, arrived late last week, the circle just naturally opened.

When I witnessed this a couple nights ago, while thinking about you all, this big sweaty community, and this list letter, I thought, “this is what we get to practice in community: making the circle bigger.”

I recall the first studio that created a gender neutral washroom and change space.

I remember the student that first arrived to a class with a prosthetic foot, or speaking American Sign Language.

Welcome we say as we lean in, adjust, learn and shift to engender access.

Diversity arrives, and we shift left, shift right to make the circle bigger.

I hope to practice into the best year we’ve had as a community. Want to do that together?

Let’s practice community support as a way to remember that there is no change too large when support arrives from all directions in sangha.

Let’s rock 2018 for the earth and those whose voices remain on the margins.

Let’s practice and learn and share support in every community we inhabit and share.

Let’s take it all back onto our mats with love and respect for our bodies, our minds, and our spirits.

— so grateful to share this practice, Jess

4 ways to let go of stress during the holidays

Well, it’s the holidays: chill time, e-mail inbox zero’d, to-dos checked, dishes done.

It’s pretty much 100 per cent pure yoga bliss over here.

The holiday season is a full-on pressure time and a poignant reminder that pressure can arrive in myriad forms – family, work, community, cultural, societal, political.

I’m reading a book called The Zen Leader.

The central thesis is that pressure will always be part of any leadership position.

The key is feeling the pressure and using it as fuel rather than as an inhibitor.

These days we’re all leaders as our work environments demand us to take ownership and act as our own entrepreneurial islands.

We’re leaders as students, as parents. We’re even leaders at the helm of our own social media outlets.

And we all feel the stress and pressure of leadership.

Feeling stress in any form reflects the Buddha’s 1st noble truth, Dukha. Dukha, a Buddhist concept that instructs us to embrace, rather than deny, that life involves hardships.

It would be easy to see the teaching as a Debbie-Downer statement on the reality of a crappy life.

Life is suffering, deal with it. But the teaching is very much to the contrary.

Dukha is a lesson in opening our eyes to hardships and living the freedom that accompanies a life with eyes open to all.

Being Zen about stress means that we see that worrying is not helpful.

It increases the pressure rather than deflates it.

It’s so important to allow ourselves to feel. It helps us sleep well.

Feeling into pressure prevents an implosion or explosion of unpredictable anger/reactivity or passive-aggressive communication that surfaces as a result of repressing our feelings.

When I heard from a Modo Yoga studio owner about an incredible teacher in our community that finally came out to her fellow teachers and students that she is struggling with Stage 4 cancer, I hang up the phone, take a breath, and let the tears fall.

Then, from within that feeling, I contributed to her fundraising page, and sent her a guided meditation to use in the hospital.

But, I have learned from serious burn-out to set clear boundaries around worrying.

I do not allow myself to worry about her at night. It won’t help her at all.

Worrying at night is not allowed, never useful, and not helpful for anything or anybody. Crying, yes. Getting mad, yes. Worrying, no. Feeling is one path to letting go.

So, how can we feel the pressure without worrying?

To feel, we have to create a big container, one that holds the good and bad — the pressure, the stress, the financial fears. To do that we need a little more space.

Here are four things I find effective for creating the space to feel:

These are all pretty simple, but isn’t it amazing how it’s easy to miss the small easy things and let the pressure build?

1. Minimize multitasking

There’s lots of research on how multitasking makes us less intelligent.

We need all the brain power we can get in order to be efficient, and to create the space to allow all the good and the challenging to see the light.

2. Don’t sweat the small stuff.

It seems obvious but somehow it’s easy to miss, and so key. There are really big things to worry about in the world.

Sweating-the-small-stuff stops us from addressing this ever long list of big things. Examining our time on FB/Insta/Twitter can help.

For work and life, social media can be necessary, but is all the social media time serving our greater mission, or could a walk or a yoga practice serve us more?

Also we can ask ourselves if we need to solve a little thing that is bugging us in a relationship, in community, or a work space.

Can we just let it go? And most importantly, is worrying or engaging with the small stuff taking you away from the big stuff that really takes the pressure off and allows you to solve for greater holistic success (financial, health, joy, fun etc.)?

3. Don’t worry about things you can’t control.

There is freedom in naming the things that are beyond our control, and as my best friends’ Italian dad would tell us growing up: “fahgetaboutit!”

4. Take three steps back and create time to name your own vision and mission.

One of the ways we practice our community support at Modo Yoga International is chatting with every studio owner annually and asking them six questions about their year as a community facilitator/studio owner.

We then share the results cherished pieces and repeat patterns with the rest of the community to make sure we’re learning both the wins and the mistakes from each other.

We call them best practices calls.

I just had one of these calls with Phil and Ryann, co-owners and co-founders of both Modo Yoga Winnipeg studios and Modo Yoga Minneapolis.

They’re running three studios in two different cities, starting a vegan café, being parents and community leaders, and yet they were as cool as a lake at dawn on our call.

Their demeanor reminded me of a meditation practice Frank Jude Boccio leads at our Modo Yoga level 1 teacher training.

We picture our consciousness like a lake and repeat the phrase “calm waters, reflecting.”

Choosing calm, being peace, allows us to reflect.

Reflection allows us to choose powerfully, to make choices from a place of personal power, rather than from the whim of overwhelm.

When I asked them what was the best thing they’d done at the studio this year, Phil said, “We took the time to take three steps back.”

Envisioning always seems to come last on the to do list, they told me, but it should always be first.

Naming your mission/vision, or your why, takes you away from the tasks, but it allows you to function more clearly so that tackling the tasks is easier and more efficient.

After my call with Ryann and Phil I thought about our first annual four-day vision meeting this past November.

At Modo Yoga International, we’re always thinking about our 83 studios and over 1,200 teachers.

It’s a big family and we care about every community, every individual.

With this care, there’s always a lot on the go. Two days before our meeting began, I was reticent, doubting that I’d be able to rock it with so much on the go.

After the meeting however, there was a marked difference in efficiency.

Things flowed, decisions and communication were easier. I felt clear at the end of the day.

Taking three steps back is a catapult to jumping 20 steps forward. It zooms us out and leads us to asking and answering the big questions.

I find these big questions come to me on walks in nature, during chats with friends over vegan eggnog, shortbread cookies, hot chocolate.

Well, chocolate makes anything good. Big answers also reflect back at me clearly when I invest in myself by taking a long, more than 10 minute, savasana at the end of class, or after forgetting about it all and staying up way later than usual with friends and family.

This is why being busy at the holidays is worth it.

The busiest times often collide with the best and most brilliant of times.

I hope your brilliance is shining this holiday. I hope it’s shining out on your own mission, from your own vision, because this is how we do it together — as individuals, and as a family.

I’m thankful that you read this little blog of ours, I’m thankful that you take the time to reflect here together and in community.

We’re a whole bunch of goofy, smart, wise, and ultra different yogis.

I love our pieces, and I love our whole, and I am grateful to grow together as yogis.

— Love, Jess

Michael Stone’s passing: A letter to our community

I just finished teaching a class at the 2008 Toronto Modo Yoga teacher training and was almost brought to tears a few times.

Once was during bridge pose as I was remembering Michael Stone, a long time lecturer who recently passed away. He had taught us the cue I was saying.

Then, I was talking about relaxing the roof of the mouth, another Michael cue.

Finally, I was talking about following the exhale all the way to the end (and further), another Michael Stone gem.

And to think that I never really thought of him foremost as an asana teacher.

The last week has been spent revisiting lots of great memories of Michael, and through doing that I have deeply felt the influence he had on my life and this community.

I remember at the first Modo Yoga teacher training, walking through the park with him while he spoke about the various psychological traps that many teachers fall into.

I remember having dinner with him and we spoke of the massive potential to affect political discourse through our community.

I remember him staying at our place in Saltspring, B.C., talking about how his suffering had grown and how he was having a tough time with it.

His awareness was deep and skillful and that is a rare and special thing, but what was profoundly special about him was his ability to synthesize old stories and themes in Buddhism and yoga and make them relatable and relevant in the modern world.

He did so in a way that brought to life environmental and social justice themes, and made us all want to try a little harder to see how intimately we are connected to all things.

The truth is that I can’t really grasp the totality of this loss.

It doesn’t make sense that a figure like that is now gone, and his existence only remains in memories, his children, his family, and in the influence that he had on many of us — and by extension, an impact on many more.

But such is life.

It passes quickly, and then it transforms into something else. I mourn the man that I knew and loved, and I simultaneously hold dear to what he shared with me and so many others.

This is not to say that I think he was a saint or anything. The last thing he would want is for people to deify him and see him as something different than what he was — human, fragile, intuitive, flawed and gifted.

He was a comet that burned bright and lit up a lot of people’s hearts and minds, but he was also someone that burned internally, and it could — at times — burn him and the people around him.

I suspect that is part of his legacy and what his family is trying to illustrate in the beautiful and achingly transparent messages that they have sent out publicly and personally.

Michael suffered greatly and we need to be OK with that being the person as opposed to the figure.

We also need to see that that is not unique and that mental illness is a very real thing in the world and is wildly pervasive in the lives of many of our teachers and students.

Just the other day I was out to dinner with my wife, Tara, in Prince Edward Island.

The waitress asked me if I was “Ted Grand from Modo Yoga.” I said, “yes.”

She teared up and told me that Modo Yoga had saved her life. She was ready to give up after years of suffering with bipolar disorder.

She had gone to the Charlottetown Modo Yoga studio and, through the tools she learned in there, found a sense of relative stability and adaptability in the world.

She is still using medication and can now maintain relationships, hold a job, and see things in context, when before it was all out of control most of the time.

I say this not to make any bold claim that anyone suffering with mental illness just needs to practice yoga with us, but rather to remind you all that you are helping people on a much more profound level than you might know.

We all spend a lot of time dancing with this idea of what success is.

We see other studios that have packed classes, and we might feel like there is something wrong with our own.

We see studios that have great social media, and we feel like we can’t even remember our password.

We see studio owners with steady gazes and relaxed temperaments, and we might feel like we are a yoga impostor.

We see other studios have great relationships with their teachers and contemporaries, while we may feel like we are in constant conflict.

It is a tough ride being a studio owner, and sometimes it is hard to see the healthy forest through the clearcut.

I do hope however, that you can see that the story of the woman above is being played out in your studio every single day.

You are creating space for people that are struggling with mental illness, with addiction, with behavioural problems, and with the general anxiety that comes with living in the modern world.

Have you noticed that much of social media these days seems to be a series of impassioned rants about what is wrong with the world?

Many people are struggling, and it is the salve of simple breath awareness, body awareness, and community awareness that is providing some relief against so much suffering.

Perhaps some of your students even feel a sense of gratitude or reverence for things that they took for granted by living in the rat race. How wonderful.

So, thank you, Modo Yoga studio owners.

Thank you for reflecting the teachings of a truly gifted friend and mentor in this community, who we will miss greatly.

Thank you for creating space for people who are struggling. Thank you for taking the time to care for yourself and be more of a light in the world.

I am not going to say that the world is a dark place and it needs your light, but I will say that there are a lot of people suffering that need your strength, your vulnerability and your caring.

You do good work in the world and are making a difference. You are a success in the deepest meaning of the word.

— Deep bows, Ted

Modo Yoga fighting for access to clean water for everyone

Modo Yoga’s ninth annual “Grow Your Yoga” campaign is happening April 1-30, 2017.

This year, we’re raising funds and awareness for those who lack access to clean water, something we believe should be a basic human right for all.

One of the organizations we’re working with is 350.org who work around the world to prevent disastrous climate change.

This is what they had to say:

Our name signifies the safe level of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, 350 parts per million, but we are now over 400 ppm.

350.org has helped build a global movement behind the goal of transitioning the world beyond fossil fuels and embracing a renewable energy future.

At heart of so much of our work is the need to protect our valuable water resources.

2016 was the hottest year on record, and in 2017 we’ve already seen disastrous impacts around the world because of climate change — mudslides in Peru, sea level rise in the Pacific islands, droughts throughout eastern and southern Africa and in Saudi Arabia, three months worth of rain fell in 24 hours.

Everywhere we look people’s communities are at risk because their water is threatened by increasing climate change.

Extreme energy projects, like the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines in North America, also threaten to poison our climate, air, water, land, and violate Indigenous rights.

That’s why 350.org has partnered with Indigenous allies and water protectors to stop these pipelines, because we know water is life.

We’ve supported the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline on the ground and across the country.

Our team members went to North Dakota to support actions against the Dakota Access Pipeline throughout the fight.

On Sept. 13, we held a national day of action to stand with Standing Rock.

Thousands around the world stood in solidarity with Standing Rock in over 200 actions, with 3,000 people mobilized in Washington, D.C. alone.

On Nov. 15, we helped organize tens of thousands to join over 300 rallies across all 50 states to urge U.S. President Barack Obama and the Army Corps of Engineers to permanently reject the Dakota Access Pipeline.

While we succeeded in halting the pipeline under President Obama, our work continues under Donald Trump’s administration.

We can’t thank Modo Yoga and their “Grow Your Yoga” campaign enough for supporting 350.org’s work, pushing back against the fossil fuel industry and helping keep our water clean.

Together, we can build a renewable energy future for all.

— Matt Hillsberg and Thelma Young, 350.org

(Photo credit: Eman Mohammed: “Water protectors march in Washington D.C. on Nov. 11, 2016 during the #NODAPL day of action.”)