Play It Again, Uncle Sam

A talk about the pain and folly of trying to communicate with people who genuinely lack empathy, the frustration of feeling gaslit by people who claim to love you, and why it was so triggering for so many of us to watch a good man be double-teamed by two narcissists in the Oval Office … and walk away dealing with the most victim-blaming question of them all. What was he wearing? Get full access to Come As You Are at allyhamilton.yogisanonymous.com/subscribe

A talk about what it’s like existing as a girl or woman in this world, and particularly in this country if you’re in the United States. And when I say “woman” I am including women who have babies, women who decide they don’t want to have children, women who deal with infertility, women who have lost babies, women who have raised babies on their own, Queer women, Black women, Brown women, Indigenous women, Transgender women. How hard it is just to exist in a complicated body, made more complicated by the way the world (the government, the state you live in, your governor, your culture, your family) deals with your body, feels it can pass legislation about your body, teaches you to feel shame about your body, and also normalizes the behavior of some men who feel they have a right to your body. It is exhausting and enraging, and more so all the time. Get full access to Come As You Are at allyhamilton.yogisanonymous.com/subscribe

A talk about what we’re living through in the United States right now, and how dizzying it is for so many of us who are devastated, outraged and heartbroken, to see people in this country who are still on board with what is occurring in real time. It is hard to exist, to have a “normal” day going about your business when your government is in upheaval, democracy is on the line, and you’re scared for your friends, your neighbors, your daughter, yourself. It’s also a talk about empathy, and what a meaningful spiritual practice looks like. If you can see people in harms’ way and shrug your shoulders thinking you are practicing non-attachment, or because you’ve decided some people fall outside the circle of compassion - I’d argue your spiritual practice needs a serious tweak. Get full access to Come As You Are at allyhamilton.yogisanonymous.com/subscribe

A talk about why it can take Herculean effort to advocate for yourself, to speak up when you’re hurting (or when you’re happy, sometimes), to put a value on the work you do - and why it’s worth it to push through, even though it can be so uncomfortable. Get full access to Come As You Are at allyhamilton.yogisanonymous.com/subscribe

Thank you Cabot O'Callaghan, Danny Hoback, Prof's Progress, Rosie O'Regan, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. Get full access to Come As You Are at allyhamilton.yogisanonymous.com/subscribe

You know those disaster movies when a group of six people knows a cataclysmic disaster is coming, and they have hours to warn humanity? And everyone is at a picnic, laughing, or in a movie theater, or park, or just going about their business, and somehow these six people are racing around trying to save the world - and no one is really understanding what’s about to happen? That’s a little bit how it feels to be in America right now for a lot of us. Not all of us, of course, because I guess that would make it too damn easy to save the world. But it’s been pretty strange for those of us who care about things like the Constitution and democracy and basic human empathy. If you’ve been struggling, I hope this will help. Get full access to Come As You Are at allyhamilton.yogisanonymous.com/subscribe

Years ago, I was volunteering in my daughter’s kindergarten classroom and I found myself sitting next to a five-year-old girl who understood more about empathy and compassion than any spiritual teacher I’ve met before or since. This is a talk about where we are in this country and this world - it’s a conversation about DEI and a whirlwind of other issues some of us are working hard to defend in the United States, but underneath all of that, it’s a conversation about basic human decency. There continues to be a lot of gaslighting out there, and sometimes it helps to call things what they are, so I did that. And I also talked about ways to take care of your nervous system, be mindful about your online consumption, protect your sanity, and stoke your joy. Those are all forms of resistance, too. Sending you love, friends. Get full access to Come As You Are at allyhamilton.yogisanonymous.com/subscribe

Keeping us enraged online is a way of distracting us from being engaged on the ground. Dominating the daily news cycle is the way to win, keeping people spinning about the latest outrageous and reprehensible thing is the mission. Rage is a product, and it’s being manufactured by people who profit when we spend our time clicking on links and screaming at each other over the internet. We are playing their game, we are consuming their product, but we are also being consumed by it - and so is the planet we live on. There are better ways to spend our time and energy, and better ways to save the world. There are also a lot of reasons to have faith in your neighbors, and I say this to you from Los Angeles, where small acts of kindness every day are saving lives. If you’re feeling hopeless, I hope this episode will help. Get full access to Come As You Are at allyhamilton.yogisanonymous.com/subscribe

This is a talk about compassion, and how it doesn’t come with conditions. In an ideal world, if we see someone suffering, we want to help. We all understand this is not an ideal world, one has only to look at how many people on this planet are without shelter or food, or how much violence there is. We are becoming numb to the suffering of others. As the wildfires have raged throughout Los Angeles, as close friends have had their homes burn to the ground and their entire communities destroyed, as we’ve all watched an app to see if we have to evacuate, and as everyone I know is in a state of shock and grief to some extent or another - the thing that has worried me the most are some of the heartless, vitriolic comments online. The judgements, assumptions, and smug assertions. The threats to withhold disaster relief funds unless California bends a knee, and the idea that a natural disaster and human suffering would be used as leverage. There has also been a tremendous outpouring of love and support, we are all rallying around our friends out here, people are taking care of one another and showing up in every way imaginable, but some of the things I’ve seen and heard as all of this has happened (and continues to happen) have broken my heart, tested my faith, and genuinely scared me for all of us. We seem to be reaching a new and terrifying low, and that isn’t good for any of us. Get full access to Come As You Are at allyhamilton.yogisanonymous.com/subscribe

A talk about what it’s like in Los Angeles right now as the wildfires rip through our communities leaving a wake of shock, loss, and devastation to a degree that is hard to fathom. A talk about the nervous system and the brain and what happens when you can’t make sense of a thing, even when you’re looking directly at it. A talk about grief, panic, and the importance of kindness. And an opportunity to think about what you would take with you if all you could take were the things that would fit in the trunk of your car. Get full access to Come As You Are at allyhamilton.yogisanonymous.com/subscribe