December Update - What COP?! - Serenity - 2026

Welcome to December - Wow what a year! It’s time to recuperate, and our theme in the online classes this month is Serenity, which according to the Mirriam-Webster dictionary can be defined as: “a state of utter calm and unruffled repose or quietude” Certainly for most of us, most of the time, an aspiration! But why not attempt to bring this quality into every aspect of the practice as an experiment!?

December Online Yoga continues throughout the month on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday ams + a Restorative practice on 12/5 - Special session on Sirsasana included on 12/6 - see below.
Note for Current Online Subscribers - Saturday 11/29 class is moved to Sunday 11/30.

Below COP article, worshop info, news re 2026, free meditation and a poem…..

FREE Thanksgiving Class

Continuing decades long tradition, we - meaning anyone and everyone! - meet on Thanksgiving Day 11/27 for an hour of yoga 9-10am PST.
Whether you are fasting or feasting, alone or bringing the entire family with you, experienced or basically a beginner, you are welcome to join us.

Essential to pre-register to receive the specific 11/27 zoom link. More info here
No fee but if you wish to make a donation to support post hurricane Cuban yoga students, go to the bottom of this newsletter/end of article.

Sirsasana - A Forum for Discovery
12/6, Online 10.30am-12pm PST

This pose is often not included in regular classes for obvious reasons - it’s challenging! But if you would like to bring your questions and practice to this online session with a small group of dedicated practitioners, you are welcome.
Free for Online Auto Subscribers.

Celebrating Winter Solstice
12/21, 12-4pm at SoBo, Boonville

Time to celebrate the ending of the year, the changing of the light and drop into a deep quiet exploration and letting go, through yoga poses - gentle and restorative - pranayama, meditation, reflection, and silence. All levels welcome.
Early Bird Fee ends 12/1 Discount for Locals.

2026 News!

In Person:
1/3 + 1/10, Start Again! - Ukiah
4/8-12, Outdoor Meditation & Yoga Retreat - CA
5/1-8, Gray Bear Presence + Advanced Retreat - TN
7/2-7 Summer Retreat - CA - 4 spots left!

Online:
1/23-5 Nature as Guru - Weekend of Yoga
2/1 YOGA SALON begins - 6 month program - Taking Flight! Bird Power…..

from AP News - Indigenous groups prepare for protest at Belem

COP WHAT?!

So it would not be surprising that the current climate talks in Belem Brazil, COP 30 had passed by unnoticed. It’s decidedly unsexy talking about climate or environment these days in this country and the regular press has a hard time being bothered to check in at all except when there is a minor fire or a protest. At least Starmer the UK prime minister was in attendance, (briefly) but no-one from the current US government was there. Interestingly enough, the US comprised the 2nd largest group of participants after Brazil. Besides the outliers like Gavin Newsom, who clearly went as representative of the 4th biggest economy to say that despite all the blather we are IN!, there were other representatives of states and cities there - along with I am sure a large group of fossil fuel lobbyists.
On just a purely economic basis what an opportunity missed. Belem isn’t stopping to waste time wondering why, as the urgency of the issues compel intense and heated debate, protests on the street and engagement from a wide variety of voices and governments from North and South. As easy as it is to dismiss these kind of international meetings, I am in awe of the fact that they even happen at all. And as we come to the end of this particular COP, I wonder what will be the threads that help support positive change in the future, and how much is the cloud of one of the greatest emitters being absent impacting the probably tepid declarations.

This is certainly a reflection in the mind of the current minister for the environment from Colombia, Irene Vélez. Vélez disappointed about the lack of a COP30 road map to bring an end to fossil fuels, which are responsible for 80% of our global emissions issues, is arranging another conference in Holland in April 2026 specifically to tackle this issue. In an interview, she said that there is a shadow over the COP conference with the absence of the official US government and many countries probably feel if the US is not bound to some agreement, why should they be? I realise - with some shame - that I have become somewhat immune to the president’s long denial diatribes. A premiere of an island state does not have that privileged immunity. His country is literally sinking and he talked about his heart breaking and weeping when Mr T went on a long rant in front of the UN about climate; many of these island states are the ones most insistent that the rest of us need to clean up our act. A sad tale from an arctic island important to the Inuit peoples - Qikiqtaruk is seeing chunks of land just fall into the sea.

I have just finished a Buddhist climate program that was in some part inspiring, but I left one session early because the gloom and doom and fear language had a similar effect to Mr T’s rants. No matter how dire the situation, you only paralyze people or push them towards denial or nihilism if you don’t offer some sense of possibility and agency. So here are some aspects of this COP endeavor that inspired my relatively ignorant climate being and perhaps the links may be helpful to you.

Although challenging to get to, Belem appears to be an important site for these discussions. So many more indigenous leaders and representatives of the Amazon are there and for some, like this journalist, creativity arose in the journey there. Listen to his journey of traveling down the Amazon on a boat with artists, scientists, activists, indigenous leaders and the creative flurry of their interactions prior to the actual COP.

If you want a short overview you might watch this What A Day section Newsom and others from the US see the opportunities missed by our absence and the movement of alternate energy dependence to countries like China. City Mayors from all over the world gather in a group called C40 as they inspire each other and take action more efficiently and quickly than those actions based on government/state approval. In the Outrage and Optimism climate podcasts, they have done some interesting interviews with those leading climate and alternative energy successes in places like India and China, and their upbeat informed podcasts give people like me, glimmers of hope. It is quite extraordinary how China is taking over the alternative energy world and how it consistently over achieves on its own estimates.

Recently a large poll by in the UK of Reform voters ( the more extreme right wing group ) discovered something fascinating about climate opinions. Even though leaders of Reform spout climate denial and anti environmentalism (eg all our problems will be solved if “woke” Net Zero is abolished), 100% of reform voters said that they were concerned about the impact of climate change on their families and communities. So I hope in the future, journalists will find ways to make climate issues more understandable and intriguing to us all. There is certainly fodder to interest many and bringing forward the success stories - of which there are many - would help us move from a more nihilistic, dismissive framework. Lula, Brazil’s president, has been promoting an investment fund to protect forestries and this could be a perfect substitute for some major pension investments (tho’ Starmer didnt think so…). Can you imagine being offered free electricity by your government? That’s happening in Australia right now where customers are receiving 4 hours of free solar generated electricity a day. The Danish minister of Energy put forward the most ambitious of climate targets reducing emissions by 85% by 2035 and is urging others to take up the gauntlet.

Many voices, many different priorities, many achievements, and yet many battles to resolve but at the same time, inevitably some directions will arise out of this gathering even if the expression of core intentions are muddied by corporate interests and lobbyists. As we learned from the recent democratic victories in the US, we can inhabit a large house with many rooms of differing priorities but a common goal. This TED talk describes an interesting possibility - What if the Climate movement felt like a house party? What a concept!

Some of our Cuban friends after a retreat that friends of Yoga Va helped sponsor - Before folks got sick….

Finally, we have heard from our Cuban friends recently post Hurricane Melissa which devastated areas of the Caribbean. Did you hear much about what happened in Cuba? Probably not. Once again the embargo is functioning on many levels as efficiently as climate denial/disinterest. We know that the hurricane caused a great deal of damage and flooding and although the government managed evacuations and dealing with the immediate situation, there has been a huge amount of viral sickness exacerbated by the hurricane and the ongoing lack of medical and anti viral supplies. Almost all of our friends have been sick with dengue, zika, chicuguna or variations of covid. I am happy to say that we are gathering a fund that one of our colleagues, Malia from Altruvistas, will take down to our yoga friends there and this will help find food and basic supplies that are increasingly challenging to obtain.

If you would like to participate, please send any amount to our Yoga Va treasurer, send a check to:

Kurt Feichtmeir

6915 SE 18th Ave.

Portland, OR 97202

or send an electronic transfer to:

PayPal or Zelle : kurt@reisdesign.com

Venmo: @Kurt-Feichtmeir-1

FREE Tonglen Meditation for these times - Audio 27mins

And a poem passed onto me by Climate friends….

The wind, one brilliant day, called
to my soul with an odor of jasmine.

'In return for the odor of my jasmine,
I'd like all the odor of your roses.'

'I have no roses; all the flowers
in my garden are dead.'

'Well then, I'll take the withered petals
and the yellow leaves and the waters of the fountain.'

the wind left.  And I wept.  And I said to myself:
'What have you done with the garden that was entrusted to you?'

Antonio Machado

Take care of your inner and outer, local and global, gardens
and hope to see you on Thanksgiving!

M