Welcome to another installment of The Sunday Slow-Down, my weekly(ish) newsletter where I share stories, tips, and unconventional tools to help you tap into joy, even when times are tough.

You are invited to a special Community Circle virtual call (FREE!) with me this Tuesday, November 7 from 12 PM - 12:45 PM CT (find your time here).

I was talking with a colleague recently, after feeling gutted about what’s happening in the world and what we can do (we both share a friend who does trauma healing work in Gaza). She reminded me, “we do what we do - lead circles, lead groups, keep doing the work.”

So I decided to change the monthly laughter yoga class this week to a community circle instead.

What’s a virtual community circle, you ask?

It’s a space where we come together with a common goal of touching into our humanity. It’s a place where we can come together, messy as we are, and have conversations about what’s coming up for us as we witness the horrific things happening to our neighbors in the middle east.

As messy humans, we will make mistakes and we might stumble over our words. We use our mistakes to help us grow and evolve. This is a space to have grace for each other as we witness each other and our humanity. We don’t know everything and we aren’t expected to.

It’s a space where we practice deep presence, listening to understand, and opening our hearts.

It’s a place to touch into community when we might be feeling isolated. To remember that we are all connected, and what happens to one person happens to all of us. It’s a place to touch into our own tenderness, and the tenderness we can offer others.

We may practice mind-body tools, or we may just share time together listening and noticing what’s arising within us.

What this circle is NOT:

A place to judge, debate, or tell people how to act. This is not a place to condemn or argue about what is right and what is wrong. Hate and hate speech are not welcome (if you’re on my email list, I’m pretty sure you’re on board with this, but it still needs to be said).

If you’d like to join me on this special call, please make sure you agree to these intentions and parameters:

• We will assume best intentions - if someone stumbles over their words, we will assume that they are doing the best they can and no one is intentionally trying to hurt someone.
• We respect that everyone has different emotional capacity regarding what’s happening, and we will have grace for the capacity they (and we) have at this moment in time. Some people may share and others may choose to stay silent on the call. However people show up, and the extent to which they share, is completely up to them.
• We will practice a mindset of cultural humility. If we are not part of the groups that are in conflict right now, we are going to do our best. We will probably make mistakes, and we will use those mistakes to grow and do better next time. We don’t know everything, but we will do what we can to help our fellow humans.

Thank you to Rashida Bonds for helping to inspire these allyship parameters.

I also ask you to consider if it would be helpful or hurtful to join in this conversation/circle. If it’s helpful, I look forward to sharing space with you. If it’s not, I’ll continue to lead the virtual laughter yoga class in December and would love to see you there.

Sending so much love to all right now,

Abby

🌊 Have you downloaded your free guide, Unconventional Support for the Waves of Grief? It's full of somatic goodies to help you nourish your nervous system. 🌊

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