I found myself feeling isolated, separate and alone. Had I done this? Did I withdraw as a reaction to the betrayals? How had I become so disconnected? More importantly, how could I reconnect?
Interesting trivia: in 1950, less than 10% of American households contained only one person. By 2010, nearly 27% of households had just one person.
There is an epidemic of loneliness.
“We found that loneliness somehow penetrated the deepest recesses of the cell to alter the way genes were being expressed.” – Stephen Marche
Loneliness affects not only the brain, then, but the basic process of DNA transcription. When you are lonely, your whole body is lonely. Nothing can replace human connection besides spending time with real people, not just the virtual kind.
The truth is I started going to yoga as part of my recovery from a hit-and-run accident that resulted in me spending way too much time in bed by myself. I was lonely.
I wanted to reconnect with other human beings and it didn’t matter what age they were, where they lived, what they did for a living, or what they looked like.
Yoga and Community
From the very beginning of my dedication to yoga, my favorite part is community — the coming together of humans of all shapes, sizes, backgrounds, ages, interests to share the same experience.
That's why I go back to yoga everyday as a student and as a teacher.
Science tells us that being in a healthy community is good for us. The vibration of positive-minded people raises our vibrational frequency. This shared joy elevates our spirits and is talked about in Yoga Sutra Chapter 2.33 Pratipaksha Bhavana.
Essentially, the sutras spell out that if we are imbalanced mentally, physically, or emotionally then we are not living our true nature, which is joy. Therefore, engaging with others and trying to think happy thoughts helps us create happy thoughts as well.
Positive energy creates and attracts more positive energy!
How do we reconnect?
First, you have to accept that we are all continuously connected already, you just have to open back up to this energy. Scientists know it as The ZERO POINT FIELD, which shows there is this web of energy connecting all matter.
Second, the easiest means to quiet the static that prevents us from feeling this knowing is meditation. Meditation creates a non-dualistic understanding of the world. That means meditation promotes the science that all things are in harmony, supporting one another (instead of dualistic where there is a win/lose mentality).
In other words, no one is out to get us so we do not need to separate from the world. And as Dr. Dean Schrock says, this is the reason why meditation is good: "Meditation allows you to access the quantum field of energy which is essentially of a field of love. And meditation heals by leading you to love."
Wishing you all the courage to open to greater community and love one another because love matters. Love yourself, love your day, love your life!