The poster for our action project event, which, due to various restrictions, never made it into circulation.
The group action project, encouraging us to embrace agency in the Anthropocene, demanded we engage the greater community in some fashion. While free to shape the project as we pleased, we were asked to incorporate contemplative practices into our work. In groups of about four people, we had nearly a month to complete our projects.
For the assignment, I worked alongside Grace and Luciano to organize an eco-themed yoga/dance party. With several eye-opening displays, a Gaia Theory inspired yoga practice, and a kinetic celebration of vitality, we set out to engender both positivity and efficacy in the UW community.
My experience was marked by adversity; as with a chemical reaction, our project required an immense amount of work to overcome the activation energy. First hampered by the seemingly impossible task of reserving a cost-free venue, I was acquainted with the reality of a capitalistic society: nothing is free. Indeed, even if one manages to escape a fee (as we eventually did), it is inevitable that there will be strings attached. Our promotional efforts were confined by strict policies, and in the end, we were confronted with our ultimate shortcoming: only two people attended our event. Because we are so firmly rooted in the system, politics, I learned, will be essential for progress in the coming years.
Additionally, the two people who, in addition to our benevolent yoga instructor and generous vendors, eagerly participated in our event reminded me that there are willing agents of change amidst the turmoil and contention of today. I was inspired by those around me, for they emanated a passion for life. I learned that quantity does not directly correspond to quality and that we best look to each other for solutions. While it may have been easy to deem our event a failure, I reckon it was a success. Indeed, there are no winners or losers in yoga.
Looking to the future, I hope to maintain my community involvement, for agency is most potent as a continuous, collective process. With that said, complacency is an inevitable consequence of living in an affluent country insulated from the suffering of the rest of the planet. As mentioned in Active Hope, “distance does dulls us,” so remaining in touch with the crises of the Anthropocene will be paramount (Macy 132). As with all aspects of the Anthropocene, a change in consciousness is needed. Action is not inevitable, so we must be willing to facilitate the change ourselves. We must find it from within.
Work Cited
Macy, Joanna, and Chris Johnstone. Active Hope: How to face the Mess We’re in
Without Going Crazy. New World Library, 2012.