In the frenzy of responses to our changing world, I felt the need to pause and be still. Like all of us, I am experiencing a torrent of emotions, but the overwhelmingly present one is mourning. 

The life I had before coronavirus was the one that I actually wanted. It wasn’t a superfluous mess of obligations: it was a strategic approach to achieving some deeply personal and affirming goals. It was a life that included all of you, one that allowed for windows of opportunity to study and write, and one that nurtured friendships old and new.

In the shuffle from “in real life” to 24-7 screen time, the crush of my own embodiment came to a screeching halt. I am physically aching and mentally grasping. I wonder what I can offer in this hour of need that is uplifting but doesn’t require me to abandon the act of processing my own grief? 

So I decided, last week, not to do, but to listen. 

It is hard to wait when the urgency of a changing world swirls around me, but what has started to emerge are heartfelt requests for distance sessions. This is a platform I've been resisting, but I am mobilized by the very real situation in which we find ourselves and am doing my best to adapt.

Change is coming faster than we can metabolize it. The illness and death, financial consequences, collapse of careers, the vulnerabilities of our loved ones and our communities--these are but a few of the nuances of our collective loss, and until I could begin to process that, I couldn’t reorient myself to a larger sense of purpose.

With your prompting, I have decided to put my energy behind excelling at remote sessions--not because I can but because I must. Now, more than ever, it is my commitment to be able to improve what can be improved and support what must be supported for us all to regain our equilibrium. 

So I come to you with a request.

I am working to find my rhythm with online sessions. There is a different vibration when we connect through a screen, which requires a new way of relating. I am starting to find the nuance of how to make it effective and I really need people to practice with. I want the remote work to be as powerful as the work we do in person.  

If this sounds like something you’d like to try, I’ve set up a special session called Beta in MINDBODY. There will be no charge for these experiences at least through April 4. You just select your time and I’ll confirm it. Together we will press on. (You may also email me directly, jennifer.sokolov@gmail.com.)

In the meanwhile, I hope that if you are also experiencing mourning that you, too, can name it and let it pass through. Let deep abiding guide you toward your own waves of recovery so that moments of resilience can arise. 

With folded palms, 

Jennifer

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