Are We on Common Ground?
Earth, our living metaphor
Q:Are We On Common Ground?
A: There is nothing like waking up with vitality, feeling the inspired pull toward these keys to flush out some ruminating heart thoughts about a provocative inquiry. At least, for me, getting to share my enthusiasm, curiosities, and future memories or visions with you in this journal is quite a distinguished gem in the treasure chest of my life. And when an evening such as last night rolls through my life experience, I am all the more up and at ‘em, even after only a few hours of rest.
Ok, sure I am a bit bleary-eyed…and if you’ve been reading these journals, you know I’m enduring a “healing” crisis of sorts and it hasn’t been pretty. Not much sleep over these last nearly 4 months has given me a newfound appreciation for circadian cycles and the intelligence of nature taught to us by the sun and the moon. But maybe, just maybe, I turned a corner last night, and let me tell you why I think so.
You know when you see an old friend and suddenly everything makes sense? I’ve been fortunate to see two of my dearest brothers this past week whose very reflection reminded me that everything is going to be ok, deep down in the crevasses of my nervous system. Both just happen to be advocates for the planet, both enamored with soil and the glory of lifeforce that comes from dark, rich, and fortified nutrient-dense earth. Both are farmers, fathers, and brothers to others and have missions to help humanity come into harmony with the very gift we stand on.
COMMON GROUND DOCUMENTARY AT THE TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL
Last night, one of them, let’s call him Ryland : ), my brother through and through, invited me to the world premiere of his and many other brilliant hearts and minds’ latest documentary called Common Ground. Their first exploration into the topic, Kiss the Ground, was meant to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2020…and that did not happen. Timing is everything as they say and I am honored to have witnessed the culmination of years and years of work that have sprouted from a seed that has grown from within the heart of my dear brother Ryland Engelhart. As I shared with him last night at an after-party in Nolita, on the eve of his birthday, and absorbing the celebration of hard-won true grit and grace, “These [moments] are the fruits of where you have been, and the seeds of where you are going”.
Go see this film. Please share it with everyone you know. It is profound, undeniably and visually honest, heartfelt, and educationally smart in a very engaging and dynamic way. I was brought to tears and hope and reminded of wisdom that my body knows to be true. There are keys to unlocking a new future in this film. Please. Watch. Common Ground.
Inside a small theater in the East Village, during the opening week of the Tribeca Film Festival, with a star-studded cast and audience surrounding me, Ryland in the seat next to me, his beloved wife Sarah, and their two boys close in heart cheering from back home, and many new friends I would meet in the next several hours, a miracle occurred. Truly. I am still reflecting on this as I write to you this morning and even though I am so tired I can’t help but type this out to help me process my experience.
As I watched this very important documentary, told from the vantage point of a spectrum of humans, and philosophies, I fell into complete solidarity with Earth in a new way. The Earth, the very source of our bodies, nourishment, and capacity to thrive and be alive…I sensed both the harmonious passages of time where humans lived in sync with her and also felt the hard cold juxtaposition of the consequences we are living now, so far out of sync in so many ways. There is a real possibility to replenish and work with her to heal and still, I couldn’t escape the ways in which she has been ravaged by greed and corruption, exposed, poisoned, and left out in the dust.
A REGENERATION PROCESS
At one point in the film, as a regenerative rancher was teaching us how to return to new forms of reciprocity through our actions to restore nature while working the land, I began to feel my body intelligence remember…or rather nudging me to remember the same from within my own body. A small digression, this week has been rough! I’ve been brought to tears at moments, having to face the stresses of every day while in near agony on a physical level and showing up regardless, “acting” as if everything is fine just to get through it. After three days of feeling my body being “not ok” and I would say in a state of emergency internally, I felt desperation seep into my psyche, and the tempting allure of dark, painful thoughts.
Thankfully my faith and my inner work keep me from identifying too much but I also clearly saw into some of the more harrowing elements that live in the shadows of our minds. Where am I going with this? Up, I promise : ). So, back to the movie, as I watched the fecund grasslands, birds, fish, and beavers populate areas that were previously considered “wastelands” through the human/Earth collaboration that is the possible through love, care, and deep mutual respect, I could feel myself begin to shed some of the emergent and heightened alarms that have been sounding through my body. I felt into the living metaphor that was being reflected before me through this film. It was as if I was both myself and the Earth, experiencing climate change and storms, droughts, fires, tsunamis, earthquakes, and all the incoming messages signaling “We are not ok, we are not in sync, something has to change…” And how these messages are speaking to us, me, and our nervous systems as our nervous systems, as me, as us. There is no separation.
As nature, the wild beasts, and humans expressed vivid harmony across the screen, I felt my body, my mind, and my emotional capacity find each other beyond the internal and external sirens and rest into my breath. This was my miracle. So simple. So obvious…just breathe, Ciela lol. But truly, I heard my body in a new way, I came to understand the language of this heightened internal wildfire that has been prolific both in peril and perspective with new insight. I rested as it burned through me without my mind resisting in fear, I let go and let God.
In that theater, my body began to breathe. Now, as a yoga teacher for over 20 years, you might think I should know how to do this. And in some ways, I do know how to breathe, and in others, I am still very much learning the majesty that lives inside my breath. The power, the healing, the light within the prana, the fire within the light, the coursing and pulsing nature of life inside that fire that sparks existence into being. Behold the infinite possibilities to heal and be healed, behold the Creator of all that is…and all of this occurring day in and day out, moment to moment, with every inhale and exhale, there within lies the possibility of life itself.
I found myself accompanied by everyone in the theater in a symphonic-worthy standing ovation. Though the room was shining with known celebrities, my focus was fully on Gabe Brown, the most special guest of all, a true bodhisattva incarnate, farmer, educator, and example. I feel honored to have shaken his hand. Then…the after-party, and one conversation after the next, I serendipitously planted my own seeds of vision for what is possible with hearts that nourished the words I spoke into reality. It was such a gift. Co-nourishment. Co-operation. Co-llaboration. I met new friends and relished in my nearest and dearest.
THE GIFT OF BREATH
Last night was the first night I used only my breath before bed and I made it through the night. I won’t go into details but I have tried everything and explored all kinds of witches brews to help me navigate the often very long nights that come after 9 pm in these last few months. I rested into her intelligence, one that is deeply familiar and also new to me as I emerge from this rugged rebirth chapter of my life. I don’t know what comes next, but I do feel sisterhood with Earth in such a new way, the solidarity of being, a resonance so profound as we share the same [hi]story from harmony, to pillage and plunder, to restoration and regeneration. I am ready for Act Three.
Thank you to Ryland, Rebecca, Josh, Finian, Gabe, Rosario, Chris, Tenzin, Anderson, Misha, Amber, and others who brought last night into a new view for me and for the rest of my life. Watch Common Ground and see what unlocks from within you.
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We cannot change the world until we accept we are the world. This is the new conversation.