A few days ago, I saw a post in a facebook group for Yoga Teachers, checking in with how we were all feeling post-election.

The comments were a mix. Some folks were expressing grief and fear and rage. Others were enthusiastically supportive of the orange abomination and the havoc he will wreak upon our country.

But there was also a large group of folks who posted some utterly bonkers “we are the peacemakers and light workers” nonsense.

This kind of toxic positivity is the absolute last thing we need right now.

Yoga teachers tend to avoid politics.

Sometimes because they teach in places, like the deep south or the bible belt, where anything non-christian is treated like the work of the devil and they are worried about losing their jobs.

I’ve actually taught in towns like this, so I do get it.

Sometimes it’s just because they are worried that they will alienate their students “who don’t come to yoga for politics but to disengage from it.” That is variation of something I’ve heard lots of yoga teachers and students alike say to me directly, even if they are very political otherwise.

But pretending that spreading love and light will solve the very real problems we face in our country is the equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears and singing, “lalalalalala” at the top of your lungs. Something my kids do when they don’t want to hear what I have to say.

Love and light are not the answer right now friends.

Cultivating inner peace will not help when it comes to the loss of basic human rights.

You cannot spiritually bypass your way out of authoritarianism.