I have been at a loss for words for many months now – the thought of writing something hopefully helpful to thousands of you when I don’t have the privilege of knowing how each of you are right now has been daunting and difficult.

So, I have remained silent on a larger scale, being with those with whom I am teaching and mentoring directly one on one and in small groups and leading workshops and retreats online.

For me as for so many of us, COVID has been terrifically devastating. We have lost jobs, homes, loved ones and our own health. Many of us are still risking our lives working outside of our own homes. I have been personally feeling times of fear around this virus as I’m one of those ‘at-risk’ due to what my body especially heart after surgery, could survive if infected. My heart is good, I appreciate how hard it works for me and what it’s been through, but it is indeed vulnerable to illness.

Additionally, there’s a second previously unseen for a while virus that we have all been infected with for too many years especially in the US. Many of us especially of a dominant culture, unknowingly carry this disease around, infecting our children, our politics, our partners and many we never even meet. This pandemic is unconscious bias and racism. George, Breona, Sandra, Ahmaud and way too many others have lost their lives to this insidious and hideous disease. In terms of protection of our health, our political system in the US is not taking care of us very well at all and especially folks of black and brown body. It’s beyond apparent now. 

Even with all of this extreme unrest, unease and re-arranging time we are in we are also offered some magnificent displays of generosity, human dignity, hope, and small and large acts of kindness and compassion.

There is always light and dark concurrently occurring, it’s important to let both in and when we can, choose to turn towards goodness where and when available. With that in mind, I offer some resources below:

Recently uploaded new talks and guided practices

a 3 hour workshop sponsored by NY Insight this Sunday the 14th: Resting into the Body of Awareness.

A weekly guided embodied meditation and mindfulness practice freely offered each Thursday 9-9:30 am PDT/12-12:30 pm EST. Contact me for the link.

Monday’s at 5- 6:30 pm PDT/8- 9:30 pm EST : Embodied Meditation and Dharma Group for all Self-Identified Women. 

And soon, I’ll be offering a weekly class of accessible practices and ways to be with chronic pain and illness, and then another for working with anxiety. Connect with me if you would like the information on either of those as size will be limited. 

Let’s wake up and show up, speak up and have difficult conversations and help each other with our personal and collective pain. Let’s vote, and continue to find ways to help each other in creating the world that we wish to be a part of. Envision, imagine, have the earth as your witness as the Buddha did with Mara 2500 + years ago. From a calmer mind, feeling heart and rooted body we can do many things. 

In kindness, Jill

PS: The photo was captured from Michelle Obama’s documentary Becoming on Netflix. The Obama Foundation has some great resources and stories if you are yearning for hope and guidance. For more resources go to Black Lives Matters