Leave It In the Ocean
Friends as guardian angels, and a short yoga nidra for the sacral chakra
In March, well into the changes in the federal workforce brought about by the new administration, my friend called me and staged a rescue.
“I’m going home to Belize for my sister’s birthday” she said. “You should come.”
This wasn’t a casual “hey, it would be nice to hang out for a few days.” It felt more like a “look, if you don’t get your sad backside down to the land of sunshine, I will not be held responsible for your mental health crisis.”
There was no point in arguing. Work was getting weird and awful, just about every part of what I loved about my job being systematically disassembled. I was feeling burnt out and hopeless; I had enough leave accrued, and no excuses. I packed the essentials, turned on my out-of-office, and got on the plane.
That first morning, I got up early and snuck some coffee from the not-yet-open breakfast area (if there are Belizean early risers, I didn’t meet any during my trip.) I settled into a lounge chair to take in a glorious ocean sunrise. A friendly little dock cat presented itself for skritches. And then, for the next five days, I didn’t make a single decision - I just got in the car and let myself be shown around an array of beauty spots. Tobacco Caye. St. Herman’s Blue Hole. Altun Ha. Just as memorably, some low-key meals in tucked-away corners, some “secret” swim spots. My friend also sent me home with useful, if unexpected, advice: “never primal scream in your car”, she said, “it just keeps all that energy in there with you. Find the biggest body of water you can, stick your head in it, and scream there. The water can handle it.”
By the time I got back to West Virginia my perspective had shifted completely. The world was bigger, sunnier, more fluid and generous than the current US political situation. Although I’d still like to talk to someone about that strange coffee situation.
Sometimes, when things aren’t going all that well, we absolutely require someone else to check in and make sure we’re ok (there’s even a Beatles song about that, if I recall.) This is the wisdom of sacral chakra work - recognizing the art of receiving, of leaning deeply into the support of others, as essential, perhaps even a precursor, to our ability to experience pleasure, have meaningful experiences, make new things. It’s not an accident that this is the chakra connected to the water element, the waters within us just as able to move, to flow, and to hold big emotion, as the waters around us.
The little dock cat remembered for me: there’s very little in the world that can’t be made better by sitting in the company of a friend, listening to the water and looking at the sunshine.
Audio version of this post:
10-minute yoga nidra: