I don’t like capitalism.

Yesterday, one of my fellow yogis challenged my blanket statement that I don’t really like capitalism. In the five minutes before class, we each tried to explain what we meant with our relatively simple and generalized statements about political institutions, health insurance, and human nature: not issues that can easily be summarized.

I was thankful this conversation happened before class, because it gave me a focus to breathe into: what do I actually mean, when I say that?

I don’t like capitalism, because it incentivizes greed. I don’t like it, because those who do the work are valued less than those who had the capital to buy the means of production. I don’t like it, because capital is likely to have come not from a person’s own work, but from generational wealth in some form, whether inheritance or privileged access to credit, work, and education. I don’t like it because access to capital has never been based on merit, so it doesn’t even work on its own premises. This is not abstract or limited to industrial settings: think of legacy placements in universities, school segregation, the inability of specific parts of the population to accumulate wealth or even get a simple mortgage.

My fellow yogi made the point that this is the best system there is, that there is no alternative anyway.

And it is true that we certainly are in it, all across the globe. It is also true that it is hard to see something truly ubiquitous - fish can’t see the water, kind of thing.

But the issue I am sitting with this morning is our discomfort with pain. The majority of us have opted to be together in capitalist societies, and capitalism creates, perpetuates, and exacerbates gross inequality. I know this because inequality is growing everywhere. Inequality is painful because it is unjust.

I believe we have a hard time sitting in that pain, because whether we have too much or too little, we want to believe it is somehow merited, that we could do something to change our situation. It is hard for anyone to constantly hold the knowledge that our lack of fortune (literally and figuratively) is systemic, that inequality is a feature and not a bug.

As I breathe, I hold that pain. I believe we are individuals with a tremendous capacity for change and transformation. And I believe some transformation requires collective action to even be able to feel that something is deeply, deeply wrong.

Next up: online vinyasa practice Saturday May 14 at 13:00 UTC (9am in Brooklyn).

Also, if you are interested, I’ll be teaching morning mindfulness next week, May 16-20 at 7am at YogaSole. Each morning we will start with 15 minutes of guided mindfulness meditation, then move into a 30 minute all-round asana flow to gently wake up the body, and finish with 5 minutes in silent savasana or seated meditation. While every day's practice will build on the day before, every session is stand-alone and can be taken as such. No prior experience of meditation or asana practice is needed. If you are in Brooklyn, come wake up with me!