Recently, Linda-Sama threatened to quit contributing to her established and widely respected blog, Linda’s Yoga Journey. At first I reacted with ambivalence akin to an unvoiced, “Oh well…” But I want her to keep blogging. …Not because I always agree with what she has to say, because I don’t.
I want her to keep going on Linda’s Yoga Journey because she is very generous in sharing her viewpoint. She doesn’t seem to attempt to homogenize her personal writing into mainstream yoga speak, and I like that. What she actually writes sometimes affects me like a drink of vinegar—not how I would say it! But, that’s the point: she is saying her truth the way she sees it. And I am glad that I have had the good fortune to read it. There are also times where I do resonate with what she shares. I remember some really good book reviews she did once… I thought I might like to read those books one day.
What provoked me to write about this is a comment she received about her announcement. It starts out like this: “would that you could go quietly into the night, but that would be too much for you to manage, wouldn't it? at least you're GOING.”
I am so saddened and shocked by this comment. Using a metaphor for dying quietly is just so hurtful and wrong to receive. I know personally (not from my blog but from somewhere else), so I’m admittedly triggered into a reaction here.
The last part of the comment is also a problem for me: “one less chunk of bitchiness in the virtual yoga world; for that many of us are extremely grateful.”
I am not grateful for that thought that Linda-Sama could stop writing on her blog. I want her to keep doing it. I want to know how it goes from here.
My path of yoga right now is about accepting all the aspects of my mind. And in some ways this yoga blogging is a grand experiment, and a way to integrate and heal spiritually. So if I meet some words on Linda’s Yoga Journey that remind me of my own bitchiness… Well, I think that it’s a good reminder to acknowledge that part of myself that is a bitch and wants to squish those who don’t agree with me into the ground like bugs. And while I’ve done a good job of directing those energies into parts of myself that I value and want to cultivate, I recognize bitchiness because I have it somewhere inside myself.
And Linda-Sama, I read your blog regularly. I hope you will keep writing because you want to, not because someone sent you some hurtful words.
3 comments:
do you remember that song, "it's my party and i'll cry if i want to"?
my blogging motto is "it's my blog, if i wanna bitch, i will. if you don't wanna read it, don't!"
shocked that someone could have so much hate they would post such hurtful comments. if i give a dog a bone, i don't want to know what it tastes like.
One thing that concerned me when I started really getting into the yoga thing, and again when I started my blog, was that I'd get the kind of response Linda's gotten (I know she's gotten similar nasty comments before, which may have been from the same person)--that very ironic kind of "positive attitude" that heaps judgement, ridicule, and scorn on anybody deemed not-positive-enough--kind of like killing for peace or shredding the Bill of Rights to protect freedom. As it's turned out, I've hardly gotten that kind of response at all, either in the off- or on-line yoga communities I know (not even when I've thrown my trademark "namasmotherfuckingte" out there), but instead what I think is the true kind of positive attitude that does its best to be understanding and empathetic, as well as at least trying to be open and accepting to differing points of view (though I confess I sometimes have trouble with that, myself). As such, though I think it's pretty clear to anybody ready both my blog and hers that that Linda and I don't always see eye-to-eye, she's never been anything but kind and friendly to me. But, alas, the yoga world is still the world, so perhaps its good to be reminded that we're not immune.
By the way, Brooks, you do agree with everything I say, don't you?
*...just kidding...*
thanks for this post, Brooks, I appreciate it! of course you wouldn't say things like I would say them because you're not me (and vice versa!)
don't know if I will keep the yoga blog going, but I would hate for it to end with that last post. think I will post your post....
and don' cha know?....I'm an acquired taste....;)
shanti
Post a Comment