Joyful Defiance in the Call for Courageous Action with the Upaya Zen Center Election Series – 18 October 2020 @ 11A MT/1P ET
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Joyful Defiance In the Call For Courageous Action With the Upaya Zen Center Election Series – 18 October 2020 @ 11a MT/1p ET On the heels of the New Moon in Libra, on the heels of the celebration of my 46th birthday almost two weeks ago and in the midst of this transformative time in our individual and collective human experience, it is an honor, blessing and treasure to be with you all this day. Last year, at the moment of my solar return I made a commitment to myself, my ancestors/guides and to the Divine, declaring that I wanted to be the best teacher that I could be. At that point I had no regular teaching practice beyond the occasional substitute asana class, was in the midst of finishing my 300 hour yoga teacher training AND was in the middle of helping implement strategy of impeaching President Trump on Capitol Hill. And to be honest, I may have set that intention, but I did not know what I was getting myself into. When the pandemic initially shifted our collective consciousness I was with my dear 90 Monkeys kula in Boulder, Colorado for an intensive training on Sanskrit Language and the Upanishads. Anxiety was ubiquitous, not just among our group, but nationwide. Several people left Colorado to go home and do our training virtually. That Friday was the day when stores nationwide were sold out of toilet paper and other items. And I knew something was different not only about the moment, but about my grounding b/c not once did I get upset or allow myself to absorb the anxiety in the collective zeitgeist. In a room full of senior teachers and advanced practitioners, I was calm and focused on serving my kula – lighting insense…. Buying flowers for the puja. Doing my best to offer a vibe that was rooted in the deep peace I felt then, and still feel more so now. I knew then that this was the time I was called to step into the role of a teacher. And while I still resisted the call to offer any sort of classes for a few weeks, but April 2020 I surrendered to the call internally and externally and began offering weekly classes online, initially intending to end in a few weeks…. It has been 30 weeks since. Those weekend classes have become the Active Peace Yoga teaching practice, which I will talk a bit more about later in the talk. But by continuing to heed the call to serve the moment and those who cross my path, I have found myself before you today. This seems to be a natural unfolding of the sankalpa I put forth last year, a stepping forward into greater service – something that I am humbled by, exhilarated about and reverent toward. And it’s in that spirit of reverence that I offer: Gratitude to Roshi Joan Halifax for extending the invitation to me to be a part of this important event in these interesting times. Deep bow of humility, respect and grace for the opportunity to serve you and the Upaya community, I would like to offer gratitude to all of the teachers who helped me along the way to humbly accept this invitation to be with you today. With special mention to Faith Hunter, Patrick Harrington/Cameron Dabney, Jeremy Wolfe, YogaRupa Rod Stryker and the ParaYoga community, and the Sri Vidya Lineage, Peter Ferko, Alan Finger/Sarah Platt-Finger and the ISHTA Yoga community; Kevin Waldorf-Cruz, Dana Trixie Flynn, Viveka Om and Sri Dharma Mittra. Each of you has served as a lamp unto my path toward the seat of the teacher Gratitude to all of the adversity I have experienced for teaching me the precious gifts of humility, faith and resilience, without which I would not be here before you. To my family, my ancestors known in this plane and not know here, but felt and appreciated. It is upon your prayers and sacrifices that anything I can claim to as success is built upon as foundation. Peace of mind, ease of spirit, love, grace, health and justice to you. **************************************** Meditation, Grounding and Centering May the words of my mouth, the meditations of my heart and the practices offered today be worthy and acceptable in the sight of my teachers and my ancestors and for the collective benefit of humanity – serving as inspiration for each of us to begin more authentically and in so doing alleviate suffering and oppression in the world – whether it be systemic or self-imposed. Namaste/Ashe….. Before I get going, I will preface my remarks by offering one announcement and one presupposition: 1. The opinions offered here are mine, and if I show any preferences, please know that differences of opinion are welcome. Per the sage advice of Roshi Joan, if you disagree with something I say, consider what the heart mind may be asking you to consider. 2. A willingness to consider what action to take, not question whether you should be taking action now. Given the proximity to election day, my sole focus is mobilizing actions and practices to meet the moment at hand AND to foster resilience for the work that remains. This is beyond political, not about right versus left, but right versus wrong. By means of brief introduction, my name is Reggie Hubbard and I wear many hats in this life, as we all do. I am an activist by vocation. I am a teacher by calling and by designation. I am a son, brother, friend, citizen. In this life I have been given the character designation of being a black man in a system designed to devalue, destroy and depress people who look like me. Through ancestral favor and divine blessing I have been able to achieve more than could have reasonably been expected of me. I am the Congressional Liaison and Senior Political Strategist for MoveOn, having served in the middle of the resistance against Donald Trump since September 2017. At the same time I undertook over 700 hours of yoga and meditation teacher training, essentially forging my teaching practice while fighting the injustice and xenophobic policies of this Administration. I am the founder and Chief Serving Officer of Active Peace Yoga, a global community devoted to creating community for our collective healing and embodied practice. One of my earliest memories as a teenager is visiting with my guidance counselor in my 9th grade year, to discuss what my college plans were. At the time I was an avid college basketball fan, especially of Georgetown and John Thompson (may he rest in power) for his unapologetic stance as a strong black man in a majority white profession. That year, Georgetown almost lost to Princeton University in the NCAA Tournament and it sparked an interest in me to attend Princeton. As a bit of background, I have been in gifted and talented classes for as long as I can remember. I am sure I could have shown more promise in mathematics if I tried harder, but I have always been enamored with words, thought and language. I had a solid GPA, extracurricular activities and the like. So when my guidance counselor asked me where I wanted to go to college, I answered Princeton. Her response, though well-intentioned, ended up being a spark that lit an internal fire that is still aflame today. She responded by saying, “Statistically speaking, if you go to college, perhaps you will end up at a community college…”. In an example of poise that was well beyond my years, I responded by saying something like, “Well thank you and I have a question for you? How do I get a new counselor because I have dreams you clearly have no interest in helping me achieve.” I switched counselors, became class President for the remaining three years of my high school career and then went on to attend Yale University. I also grew up in the golden age of hip hop – the height of social consciousness in rap music. I listened to the following cassette tapes on constant loop – “By any means necessary – Boogie Down Productions, “It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back and Fear of a Black Planet” by Public Enemy. Song like “My Philosophy”, “Don’t Believe The Hype”, and “Fight the Power” shaped my nascent social consciousness in my formative years, balancing out the solid, yet somewhat bland public education in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Eric B & Rakim and NWA came of age in the art of story tellers Tribe Called Quest, OutKast, Wu-Tang, Tupac, Dead Prez. The essence of hip hop culture is defiance against bleak circumstances, radical honesty about current circumstance and using innate creativity, community and alchemy to transform circumstance to something positive, celebratory and transformational. Through radical honesty in story telling and relentless creative drive what was once a fringe culture has become as mainstream as rock and roll One anecdote about defiance as class President. My junior year, Spike Lee’s Malcolm X was released and our principal and the Administration had mentioned something about levying suspensions on anyone who wore Malcolm X merchandise. I thought that was ridiculous and of course came in shortly thereafter wearing a Malcolm X cap, essentially daring to be suspended and saying if you are going to suspend anyone, it has to start here. And since this is how my life works, at graduation my counselor came up to me and said, “Reggie, I always knew you had it in you. And with all gratitude to my Christian faith and Southern upbringing, I calmly and directly told her, “Ma’am, with all due respect, the only credit you can take for this is telling me that I could not do it, thereby a sleeping giant.