Good day, Steemians!

The longest distance between two people is misunderstanding. -- Anonymous

I've told you before and I'll likely tell you many more times because it's very relevant for me: I live in an ecovillage called the @gardenofeden with a dozen+ other people. Life is totally awesome...unless it's not. 😉

The tens of thousands of free meals we feed a year is easy; saving hundreds of thousands of pounds of trash from the landfill is easy. Cooking over fire and using composting toilets is easy. What is difficult about my lifestyle is dealing with a dozen+ people and their dysfunctional programming from decades of trauma and abuse on a daily basis--and no matter how you look at it, life in the matrix is traumatic and abusive. Almost everyone comes with baggage.

Clear communication is of utmost importance, yet almost everyone sucks at it. So how do we build a responsible community given this reality? Well...we keep practicing. We come together to love and support each other daily. Built on that foundation, we trust that we have one another's best interest in mind, so we practice radical honesty without fear of repercussions. We ask questions when we don't understand, and we turn the other cheek when we get offended. We fuck up, we forgive, we try again. It's gorgeous to witness people heal and thrive in this kind of space; I stay here because it makes me feel good to witness such depths of humanity.  

Community is a big deal to me, so I am especially drawn to Steemit. It is incredible that the revolutionaries continue to gather here every day to relate to each other and hone our communication skills. Misunderstandings arise, but when we don't understand a concept, we find a resource and ask for clarification. We form networks and associations, and we use visuals and language as best we can to find common ground. It is true that we have our share of assholes, but we continue to evolve and shape this game to be something more and more and more people can understand, play, and win. 

It's great to be in a place where your voice matters! 💞

On with the yoga!

Speaking of misunderstandings 😜, 

this pose is often called Chair Pose in Western yoga classes, but it's Sanskrit name Utkatasana means "fierce, proud, high, haughty, superior, immense, large, difficult" pose. 

This is not a pose that I like to hang out in. This is an elemental posture during Sun Salutation B; I like to take my exhalation into Chair/Fierce Pose and be right along my merry way with the next inhale.

If you do hold this pose, you get an intense full body workout. The heels root into the Earth, the thighs engage, the core activates, spine lengthens, and the extended arms and shoulders pull the heart and diaphragm open.

It is a mental challenge to hold something "difficult" for a few moments or more; breathing through that challenge can shift your perspective of the pose, and miraculously the difficulty eases.  

I love that yoga works deep on the mind and soul and opens up spaces and possibilities that didn't exist before, even if all you wanted was a physical workout. 

How to Chair/Fierce Pose:

• From mountain pose, exhale and lower the tail towards the heels as if you are sitting in a chair.
• I lower my fingertips to the ground then do a grand sweep to extend arms over head, palms facing each other.
• Root through the heels. 
• Thighs stay strong, inner thighs parallel, to maintain the knee caps straight ahead rather than turning inwards. Can squeeze a block between the knees to practice proper alignment.
• Torso will lean slightly forward. Draw the navel towards the spine.
• Shoulder blades draw together.
• Extend through the spine & reach right up through the fingertips.
• Gaze can be forward or up at the hands.

💛 Sara!