“swap: to exchange one thing for another”
Sol is a place for exchange of many kinds. A place to give your gifts, a place to receive what you need. And often its a combo of both with a dash of surprise. The magic of manifesting what you didn’t even know you needed, might happen.
Sunday March 29th is a special day of clothing swapping, gardening, pot lucking, live music and connecting. Meet some of our radical friends that inspire goodwill and communal care around here:
Sam Neier, a long time friend of Sol is known in our circles for putting together some pretty amazing clothing swaps in the past few decades. The spirit of gathering together to trade or swap feels so warm and meaningful and downright fun! Pieces of clothing have story behind them we get to share. We get to be connected to the source of the exchange. “That was mine,” is echoed, or “I’m so glad you are taking that!” We snack and shop and swap and leave connected and richer for the things we collected. Some years, Sam would stack it with a fundraiser for a good cause, further deepening the connection to community. She is a special soul all on here own, but together she is amplified and so are we. Thank you Sam.
Join us Sunday March 29th from 9-11 for our Spring Swap @ Sol. We are not nearly as on point as Sam, but she’ll be there giving us pointers. See link above for details.
In our fast paced, consumer driven world, these types of events are rare and refreshing. We all long for meaningful connection and the deep values of relational living that our past generations were bound by.
“relational lifestyle: centered on people, connection, long-term bonds - values trust, loyalty & emotional connection - focuses on community, family & friendships.”
Transactional living is a blessing in so many ways - easier to come by and gives us much quicker ‘fixes.’ But it can sometimes begin to feel empty and can encourage self-reliance over turning to community for support.
“transactional lifestyle: focused on exchange, efficiency and outcomes - values results, benefits, measurable returns - often relationships are short term or conditional”
A community garden is another gorgeous example of swapping & relational living! Sol’s beloved resident and friend Kathy Q tends to our backyard and gardens all year - even tending the beds for our neighboring Advocates for the Homeless. It’s a labor of love for Kathy and a way of life - eating whole, nutritious foods and making meals is her jam. For our Sunday evening community dinners, she usually whips something up for the garden for us to share. For a educational & eating experience, she and Lara Lattman, functional nutritionist /yogi have teamed up to offer an amazing - Root to Rise on April 18th. And Lara is making us a meal and lecturing while we eat it on April 1st for Eating Together Matters - a Sol Lunch & Learn. Lara & Kathy are so passionate about real food and family style eating. Come eat with us.
We don’t usually have difficulty finding people to eat, but we need help in the gardening! Come help Kathy, play outside and get your hands dirty with us - we’ll be happy to share the yield with you when it comes! Join us for our gardening day on Sunday March 29th from 10-2pm.
But beyond the gardening, Kathy Q is no stranger to relational living. When I moved back from living abroad in 2019 with three little kids and no husband, I literally prayed to the universe, to God, to mother nature, to my kitchen sink, to whatever would listen, for someone to help me tend to these children and our suddenly changed lives. I said this prayer on the floor of the empty apartment above where Kathy lived that would soon become our home. I scribbled in my journal a note - the only thing i could image that would work would be some sort of free au-pair type of thing. Little did I know what the powers-that-be would have in store. It was a Kathy. A warm-hearted wonderful woman who loves people, pets, children, flowers, plants, connection and is just the best most patient and tolerant person we could have asked for to LIVE IN OUR HOUSE, essentially with us. (its an old house divided into a 2 unit apartment building).
She was a sister of another close friend (Annie Q) who was already like a sister. So Kathy became family almost at hello. We needed her and she needed us. COVID was right around the corner. To make a long story short, Kathy was like a second mom to the little kids, the best kind of Auntie, a good friend, the most tolerant roommate and a built in amazing cook on top of it all. She listens beautifully, gives loving advice, and is always a soft place to land. We joked that we became platonic Boston-wives like they had in the late 19th century and it turns out I had indeed swapped a wife-husband-children unit for intentional community without even the idea of it. And so it began - a new kind of chosen blended family of support - that has blossomed into what is now a 12-18 residents across a few co-housing units - all of us living better, together. Thank you Kathy, for being a catalyst for all this goodness.
“barter: exchanging goods or services directly for other goods or services without using money - one of the oldest forms of trade.”
At Sol, we do quite a bit of barter as well - resources comes in many shapes and sizes and we do our best to be open minded to a reciprocal exchange. Many people have contributed good & services over the years. For example, we have a new work-exchange team member who is a seamstress and working up new removable fabric covers for our bolsters - how awesome is that?! And Nyiah has contributed all sorts of ‘things’ to beautify our properties. We love this new ‘hello’ sign that greets you when you enter the garage! Have you seen it?
It’s relatively rare and radical, but we do aim to swap, exchange and barter as much as we can! All that said, we totally accept money as a donation to our non-profit or a transaction for goods or services. In fact, we generally run at a deficit, so if you have an abundance of money and would like to share, we promise to put it to good use. At present we have an amazing lifetime membership to Sol Yoga inclusive of lifetime access to yoga teacher training - its a steal if you are around for a few years - you’ll be paying pennies per practice.
Maybe you don’t practice yoga, but you are a philanthropist and looking for a good place to contribute - if you would like to learn more about the ways we serve - boots on the ground style - I’ll take you on a tour and introduce you to people that benefit from connections received here. Just give me a call 301.788.5154.
Oh, one more beautiful thing this weekend! An incredible live music collaborative event between some of Sol’s OG’s - Kristina Molinari on live flute, Christine & Guisseppe Dimonte on live DJ ambient tunes paired with Rest & Resonance. What?!!! How amazing is that?! This is clearly a project of creative passion, close bonds cultivated over years of yoga and friendship and a level of co-teaching that is rare. Reserve your space for the unique experience on Saturday night.
I hope to see you this weekend for some swapping :-)
Warmly,
Dorcas