Day 29
BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE
“I consider myself a yogi, but of a totally different kind; not a physical yoga person, the yoke that I have chosen that’s led me through show business, it didn’t originate there and that’s not its final destination. It’s the idea, the mystic idea of joining with the creator. Even the Christian Bible says that we were made in the image of the creator. For me, that’s the green light for creativity.”
One of my hero’s is Buffy St Marie. I admire her for her creativity, resilience, honesty, humour, humbly, positivity among other things. She had a very difficult upbringing, was blacklisted by the FBI and never stopped creating and serving the Creator. Instead of attacking another person's beliefs, Buffy says that she tries to model something else they could fall in love with and believe in. I have fallen in love...
While she does call people out, she calls people in, which is something I believe yoga communities could do a much better job of doing. Buffy believes that we are constantly evolving, ripening, becoming - and that idea is the foundation of her 'forgiving' approach.
"As each of us learns and ripens, we affect everything around ourselves. I believe it's true even for the guys we love to hate. Pick someone you don't like... even that person is ripening.”
“Instead of attacking my friends atheists and the greedy I find ways to model other things that they fall in love with. Not enough of us model what we truly believe... I don't like to despair. It's uncomfortable. It kind of hurts to despair. So instead of despairing, I try to do things about it.” Buffy is practical and passionate, “ And I believe in nonviolence. It doesn’t do us any good to just hate on the oil people—we have to find ways to settle things, like convincing them to reinvest in clean energy. Aboriginal people are practical—that’s how we survived.”
Her Cree heritage and ties to the Baha'i faith have created a charming take on spirituality. She believes there is a strong link between the sublime and creativity.
"If we're made in the image of the Creator, what that means to me is that we're creative. That's our green light for creativity. And the purpose and the sum total of our lives has to do with our creativity. Spirituality is really connected to my own personal creativity in the arts.. Everybody's creative. We create our songs and our paintings, our families and our children. Every one of us is on the cutting edge of the future...”
Thank you Buffy St. Marie!
“I look in any direction and take heart. I manage to keep my nose on the joy trail. Follow your heart. Have courage...”
Artwork by Buffy Sainte-Marie
See more of Buffy’s artwork here:
For those who want to experience more Buffy, here are my top 5 songs:
It’s My Way
We Are Circling
Universal Soldier
Circle Game
Carry It On
You can find Buffy on Spotify here:
Here is my favourite interview with Buffy and what she believes:
Here is a great blog post on her courageousness:
THE DIGITAL STUDIO CLASS SCHEDULE
Today, Friday January 29th
10-11am PST Vinyasa with Peter Elmas
4-6pm PST Vinyasa + Talk with Ryan Leier
Tomorrow, Saturday January 30th
8-9am PST Vinyasa with Guest Teacher Natasha Perkins
12-1pm PST Spa Flow with Vanessa Bourget
4-5pm PST Vinyasa with Risto Duggan
6-7:15pm PST Yin with Malina Dawn