36. Honor your self-consent
empower your yes’s and no’s.
The shit we need to talk about today when it comes to caring for yourself is self-consent, the process of tuning in, listening in to yourself for a yes or a no, and then the most important step - honoring that.
Period. Without judgment, without second-guessing, nothing.
If you, like me, are a master spiritual bypasser, it’s not our fault. Thanks to white supremacy culture, we have had no choice based on the sheer speed and expectation of capitalism. And when it comes to the oppression of folks with marginalized identities, we are not afforded the time, space, or resources to easily or completely tend to ourselves.
Furthermore, in America, health and success looks one way and we are taught and pushed towards doing things that one way at any cost. We are taught differences in personality, likes/dislikes, and any other traits are bad.
What’s worse, we are taught from a young age to bypass ourselves and look outside of ourselves for validation and information ABOUT OURSELVES. And often, when we tune in, the message we’re receiving from our being is not in line with what we see and hear in society so we ignore ourselves or worse, GASLIGHT ourselves, telling ourselves we should be different, less of this, and more of that. And because of this disconnect, eventually, some of us end up not tuning in at all.
As a result, many of us do not know how to tune into ourselves, really listen, or meet our needs and desires without guilt or shame until literally we have no choice because sickness or disease or something awful happens that forces us to face ourselves. Friend, It’s bullshit. I don’t want that for you anymore.
But the thing is - since these systems are not stopping or slowing down anytime soon, we’ve got to break that cycle so that we can live with more ease, thrive, and have the capability to continue the work of disrupting and dismantling oppressive systems in our lives, including in our well-being.
This week’s episode is offering you support in honoring your self-consent through yoga philosophy’s practice of pratyahara - turning inward away from the outside world with the goal of creating a more balanced mind so you can quiet the noise of society’s bullshit and cultivate silence, peace, rest, and ease within.
Jump in for all the goodness!
Enroll in the Fall Back to Yourself Series!
Additional resources from this episode: Get the episode transcript here.
