31 Practice: Heart Over Head with Teo Drake

Join Teo Drake in this incredibly simple embodied exercise to practice privileging your heart above your head.

The questions Teo asks in this practice are:

To whom do I belong?

Who holds me?

Who am I in love with?

Who do I carry with me at my heart center?

What can my heart come home to?

There are lots of reasons that different versions of the yoga pose Balasana (Child’s Pose) that Teo offers might not work in your body. Here’s one option of an instructional video offering various options: https://bodypositiveyoga.com/modifications-for-childs-pose-balasana/ And please, be empowered to find any position that does work for your body to connect with a sensation of privileging your heart above your head -- either literally or energetically. Your practice is all yours!

Download the corresponding conversation (31 Intention & Impact: Showing Up Right-Sized) to hear Teo talk about the relationship between intention and impact, what it means to be right-sized, the rage of coming of age during the AIDS epidemic,  Being Trans and HIV+ poster child, having a quiet nature AND fighting white supremacy, and risk as a devotional act.

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ABOUT OUR GUEST

Teo Drake is a spiritual activist, an educator, a practicing Buddhist and yogi, and an artisan who works in wood and steel. Teo says that as a blue collar queer-identified trans man living with AIDS, he has 101 reasons to not want to be present in his own skin. The physical and spiritual practice of yoga and Buddhist traditions made it possible to begin to heal and feel at home in his own body. When he isn’t helping spiritual spaces be more welcoming and inclusive of queer and transgender people or helping queer and trans folks find authentic spiritual paths, he can be found teaching martial arts, yoga, and woodworking to children. His writing can be found in the anthology Yoga and Body Image and at the blog Roots Grow the Tree.

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THANK YOU to all our production volunteers:

Content editing by Katie McCutcheonMixing and production by Zach Meyer at the COALROOMIntro and Closing music gifted by Danny O’BrienAll visuals contributed by Josiah Werning