So, I posted the following status update on Facebook yesterday, and it’s been gnawing at my brain ever since:
OK, friends– I just can’t do another “normal” seder next year. So here’s the vision for Passover 2015 that just came to me in the shower: I want to collaborate with some like-minded folks on a “Yoggadah” Haggadah– wherein we explore a Judeo-Yogic approach to “emancipate (ourselves) from mental slavery” (to quote the Prophet). And instead of all that sitting, we’ll do a full vinyasa practice before the meal. Let My People Flow!
And then I commented below it:
Seriously. This is happening. Where should we host it?
Now, this sparked a nice little dialogue amongst a few interested individuals, but it occurred to me that the difference between pre-Seattle Evan and post-Seattle Evan is action.
Pre-Seattle Evan would sit alone in his room and brainstorm this idea… forever.
The Yoga Seder would not happen in 2015, or 2016, or really in any year in which the responsibility lay upon him to manifest such a peculiar (yet oddly compelling) vision, without someone else doing all the work.
Post-Seattle Evan, however, is on it.
When Post-Seattle Evan says: “Yoga Seder 2015 is happening!”– you can be sure that Yoga Seder 2015 is happening.
Not only is Yoga Seder 2015 happening, but Post-Seattle Evan is not afraid to ask Seane Corn to help lead it. (She happens to be Jewish, and fiercely committed to Tikkun Olam in the form of yoga and social justice activism.)
This is not to say that Seane Corn will accept such an invitation; after all, she is a world-famous teacher with an international workshop schedule that brings her to more locations in a year than most people travel to in a decade.
Nevertheless, if Seane cannot make it, Post-Seattle Evan (PS Evan? PS7? Nevermind) will attempt to host Yoga Seder 2015 in the spirit of (and, perhaps, as a representative of) Off the Mat, Into the World.
Perhaps Post-Seattle Evan will start planning now– right here in the middle of Passover 2014– so that anyone and everyone who is even the slightest bit interested in the concept can either witness or participate in the emergence of this vision.
Dig it: Even if the entire Seder party consists of no one but Post-Seattle Evan, he will gladly flow through his asanas, meditate on the vexing injustice of modern-day slavery and human trafficking, and eat his organic, farm-to-table meal by himself, if need be.
Because Post-Seattle Evan is not doing a regular Seder in 2015.
And that’s that.
* * *
So, if you’re interested in collaborating with Post-Seattle Evan and/or attending Yoga Seder 2015 (or hosting or participating in a satellite version in your own town), please give a shout out now.
(The official dates of Passover 2015 are April 3 – 11, but there are all sorts of opportunities to bring Yoga Seder to life all season long.)
Also– it doesn’t matter (to me) if you’re Jewish or not– Yoga Seder 2015 is for conscientious humans who share far more in common as human beings than that which divides us.
In fact, the world needs Yoga Seder 2015.
Post-Seattle Evan is confident that not only is it happening– it’s going to become a thing, all over the Jewish world (and hopefully beyond).
Indeed.
Yoga Seder 2015 will blow people’s minds and open their hearts.
It will provide an opportunity for tangible transformation of body, mind, and spirit.
It will remind us what the point of Passover is, in the first place:
The personal, communal, and planetary journey from constriction and oppression to self-expression and freedom.
Tell you what:
That journey starts now.
