to sydney. and a reminder from a yoga teacher. (Patreon)

a super quick one on my way to the airport. the second little pub gig at the gasometer last night was divine - new music is taking shape - and yesterday i got a LOOPING PEDAL LESSON from my friend otto from otto and astrid (die roten punlet). slowly, new sounds are emerging from my stuck soul. it's going to be a good few coming years for music and high time. a few quickies:

REGARDING THE "FIX SHIT" SHIRTS - a handful of you asked if you could change your orders if we added a women's cut tee. YES!!!! if you previously ordered a men's tee and would like to change this to a women's size, please email the merch team at customercare@amandapalmer.net to cancel your original order and receive a refund. from there you’ll need to make a new purchase for the women’s fit. YOURE WELCOME AND THANK YOU FOR ASKING.  the order link for shirts and posters is HERE  and we are trying to add stickers by popular demand.

http://shop.amandapalmer.net/collections/featured

i'm about to fly to sydney. from the looks of the FB event page there's about 70 of you coming. i can't wait to see you. i wrote a song. i'll be PERFORMING and speaking at the end of the march so stick around. .

......

i opened my email this morning to an alert from a blog by a yoga teacher i love. wisdom came. she said:

"In an offhand comment before class the other night, a student shared this insight. (Thanks, Marina!) Roughly paraphrased, she said:

There is a particular anxiety gripping most of us right now that has to do with anticipating the inauguration this weekend, and the uncertainty of what will follow. After it’s over, we might actually feel less stressed, not because things are going to get better, but because we will be in the difficulty, as opposed to just waiting for the difficulty to begin.

My therapist says that anxiety is an anticipatory condition. Its potency lies in the vast unknown of the future. When we don’t know what the future holds, but we expect it to be good, that’s called excitement. When we expect that it will be bad, that’s anxiety. Lately anxiety has been the constant thrum underneath each thought, each conversation, and each breath of many of us.

RIGHT NOW, WE ARE BRACING FOR IMPACT.

I keep thinking of the metaphor of a car crash with a drunk driver, in which the sober victims are badly injured because they braced for impact, tense with awareness, while the inebriated driver walks away unscathed because they were loose with ignorance.

All signs point to the fact that a Trump presidency, coupled with a conservative-dominant House and Senate, is going to be a trainwreck for many of us. For poor people, Black people, queer and trans people, Muslims, immigrants, women, we are all at risk of harassment, financial loss, bodily harm, or even death. This is a terrifying prospect, and I don’t mean to imply that we should minimize it.

I’m not advocating for a lack of awareness. If anything, we must maintain and even increase our resistance. Vigilance is required. My question for us now is: can we find a way to be aware but still loose? Can we anticipate without anxiety?

If we are to survive in the long term, I believe that our strategy must also involve softness. Chronic bracing for impact is a surefire way to drain your energy, tax your nervous system, and deplete your strength. Softness, spaciousness, looseness must all be part of our practice, otherwise we run the risk of burnout...

read the entire post on bear's website:

http://bearteachesyoga.org/blog

i love you all. 

stay soft 

stay strong. 

xxx afp