Lately, I’ve been sitting with the quiet tug to retreat. Maybe you’ve felt it too—that urge to pull away, shut the door, and disappear for a while. In this messy, chaotic world, it can feel like the only way to protect your energy.
But there’s a difference between insulating and isolating.
And the distinction just might be the key to staying whole.
Asana is perfect firmness of body, steadiness of intelligence, and benevolence of spirit.1
Asana is the firm stance and seat you take when you anchor your body and align your consciousness with the spanda-pulsation of the feminine and masculine within and without. 2
Isolation or Insulation?
In a recent conversation with a friend, we explored the slippery slope of isolation.
There are weeks when I don’t want to leave my house. I realize it’s been two, three, maybe even four days since I’ve seen anyone other than my husband—and only stepped outside my back door. While I’m an introvert at heart, it’s more than that. With a brain on overdrive and the constant bombardment of the perils we face daily—not to mention the news and actions coming out of the White House—taking refuge inside my home seems reasonable.
Until it’s not.
Years ago, during a particularly challenging time in my life, a teacher I respected offered a single word of advice: insulate.
I had to stop and sit with that. What’s the difference? I asked myself. How do I distinguish between isolation and insulation?
Isolation
It’s tempting to separate ourselves from a world that feels upside down, tilted on its axis. A world that feels threatening, chaotic, and difficult at best.
During the pandemic, on a global level, we indeed isolated. And data continues to reveal that, for many, enforced isolation has been detrimental. Cutting oneself off from family, friends, community, and resources often results in loneliness and depression.
The slippery part is this: for those of us who need alone time, quiet, and a chance to turn down the incessant noise, we might not recognize when solitude has slipped into sadness. The shift can be subtle. And by the time we feel the weight of it, we may already be spiraling.
So how do we reclaim balance?
Insulation
What about self-care? What about the sacred practice of pulling back to rebuild resilience, fortify your energy, and nourish your nervous system?
In the yoga I taught for decades, one of the foundational alignment principles is called Muscle Energy. It’s the second principle—the first being Open to Grace and Set the Foundation.
Though these are physical principles used in (asana) yoga poses, they’re also deeply energetic and entirely applicable to how we live.
Open to Grace
To open to grace is to soften your body, mind, and heart to the vast power that surrounds you. It aligns you with what’s often called your Optimal Blueprint—your highest potential.
Opening to grace and setting a foundation invites you to breathe, soften your edges, and root down and ground yourself—physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually. You connect with the earth while cultivating a solid foundation in your true essence. (The place that is unaffected by your ego, your personality traits, or the circumstances of life.)
From there, you draw in. You gather your energy from the periphery to the core—that’s—Muscle Energy—a kind of self-embrace, self-acknowledgment, self-love. You integrate, you insulate, and in doing so, you build resilience, strength, power, and balanced action.
The Outer World
This time in history calls for us to be both steady and soft—firm and flexible, bold and confident, joyful and sensitive, fearless and generous.
The way we walk upon this earth—the way we carry ourselves in a world that often triggers and promotes division—defines whether we live in harmony with our inner knowing and the greater cosmos or in opposition to it.
So when you feel yourself withdrawing, ask:
Am I isolating out of fear?
Or insulating to restore?
For the Comments: I’d love to know—how do you recognize when solitude nourishes you and when it starts to wear you down? What helps you stay grounded and connected in these upside-down times?
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Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, translation by BKS Iyengar, Sutra II.46
My rendition of Sutra II.46
I too find this distinction helpful. It was during the pandemic, living alone, that I learned that even the very introverted get lonely. I went outside and walked as much as I could. A local botanical garden stayed open for walkers too. I was still encountering people at a distance and it helped.
Right now I am feeling the same tugs you describe, but I think I am also feeling grief at the loss of traditions (like rule of law, public service, civil rights) that I thought were 'enshrined'. I'm not so much afraid as sad and unmoored. I'm trying to find new stability. Again it is outside in the garden(s) and natural spaces that I can feel anchored and grounded. I'm not a practitioner of yoga, but I find exercises of pointedly feeling the ground under my feet helps.
I'm making a point of observing what is going around me in my immediate space, being very present also grounds me. I have aa tendency to 'be in my head' rather than aware of my surroundings, so it is a good practice for me. I think that this grounding may be my insulation. I don't take on the world, just the one right here around me and the people too.
I love the concept of insulating - thank you for introducing that! I am comfortable in isolation, but it is something I had to learn. Silences were intolerable for decades until I decided to make peace with it and embrace it. There was a point before I moved to NYC in which I questioned if I was too comfortable being alone - even for an introvert. (Not an issue. 😏) At the moment, it is a heat wave that is isolating me in the comfort of air conditioning. As soon as we have a respite, I’ll be out walking and interacting with people - and I greatly look forward to that!
This is such a wonderful post, Paulette - as always!