I recently read that after Stacy Abrams narrowly lost the gubernatorial election in Georgia she was quoted as saying "I sat shiva for 10 days and got to plotting". In the Jewish tradition sitting shiva happens after the passing of a loved one. It is a time spent indoors, in prayer. It is a time for both mourning and comfort. It is a time to integrate the grief of loss. It is not a time to power through and move urgently to the next thing. Sitting shiva as a regular practice opens space for clarity to move through us, so we can entrust ourselves to proceed from a wiser place. Stacy Abrams did just that, and in a community centered effort, helped to register up to 800,000 new voters in a state notorious for racialized voter suppression. When we return to our contemplative practices, again and again, we make space for all that is alive in us, we sit shiva. It is within space that our heartbreak, grief, fear, uncertainty, joy and imagination are all held. Yoga asks us to bear loving witness to it all.
sitting shiva