Why We Keep Going ... Together
The Extraordinary Power of Gathering & Moving In Person
When COVID lock down landed in March 2020, I’d been teaching body-centered movement for two decades. I’d taught thousands of classes and every single one was in person.
Since lock down was going to last just a couple weeks (right? of course!), I thought why not teach online classes every day to help folks get through it? It felt like a way to keep people connected to their bodies, each other and their sanity in a situation of isolation. With the help of my IT Department (aka husband), I offered online classes … for more than 5 years.
Online classes are effective in reaching a wide range of people with different physical capabilities and locations. Online classes offer movement and connection — especially essential when in person options disappear.
In 2022, after two years of teaching exclusively online, I rented a studio to see if people even wanted to get in the car, drive across town, find parking and move together in person. Maybe live classes were a throwback at this point. Who knew?
About a dozen movers showed up, some masked. It was good to see each other and somehow awkward to maneuver the space with other bodies. Half way through that first class back, my body zinging with energy, I paused for a moment. Why did this feel so different from being on line?
First, I could see everybody – my screen isn’t big enough nor my eyes good enough to be able to see people on the screen.
Second, they could see each other – not just flat and 2D but dynamic and in proximity.
Third, well, third is that it just feels different to be moving together. It feels amazing.
“This,” I thought, “THIS is why we make the effort to come together. This is why I teach in person.”
I’ve written about the feeling of collective effervescence many times because it is a powerful social force that is often overlooked and undervalued. In an April 2023 essay, I wrote:
In 1912, French sociologist Émile Durkheim coined the term ‘collective effervescence’ for the euphoric unity generated when humans move together.
In their 2016 Exercising Together Boosts Performance and Forges Friendships, Jacob Taylor, Emma Cohen, and Arran Davis explain that “coordinated group movement – what we call social motion – sets the stage for the changes in brain chemistry often associated with altered perceptions and beliefs.”
The social connection that happens in social motion can provide us with what the researchers call “the buzz necessary to reverse cycles of social and physical inactivity, bringing us closer to one another, and closer to the physical and mental health we require to thrive.”
So yes, moving on line feels good when circumstances prevent us from being together in the same space. But there is nothing like the euphoric feeling of moving together while actually being … together.
Every day for the past many months, I set aside time to do some activist work. Not read the news or listen to political podcasts. Not bitching with a friend about how everything is a mess and not watching Jon Stewart or Steven Colbert (love them tho, I do). I set aside time every day to take actual action.
Like physical movement, it can be hard to get started. Once I do, though, I always feel better (even a little better) when I do something. So I write my Congress Critters or leave them long voicemails in which I try not to swear. I go to a local government or school board meeting. I connect with other organizers about their events and share them. I go to trainings and I suggest actions others can take.
Hope is a verb; so when I feel hopeless, I do something. Even a small thing that supports my values and takes us one tiny step toward the world I want to live in.
Sometimes it feels like this is just the way we resist now: at our desks, on our screens, taking in and sharing information. Speaking up on websites and voicemails. I wondered after so many months at my computer if this is just the way resistance is done in the 21st Century. Maybe protesting in person is a throwback.
On Saturday, I arrived early at the No Kings 2.0 Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. I set up my music and laid out my banner (it was too big for me to hold alone and there was literally no one else there). I turned on some upbeat music and said hello to the other early arrivers. I stood on that corner and watched as dozens, then hundreds, then thousands of people poured across the street to be part of the rally. Countless clever hand-made signs, genius t-shirts and so many flipping delightful inflatables.
The next two hours were a blur of conversation, dance, honks, hugs and hell yesses. More than one person said, “I needed this so much. Every morning is a fresh hell but this? This is so great.” About half way through, I paused to take it in.
“This,” I thought. “This is why we rally together.”
Every day, even if I’m alone, I still make time to do some kind of activist work just like I make time to move my body. Some day soon, I’m likely to feel discouraged, disgusted, despairing. When I do, I’ll remember that others are doing their own hope actions wherever they are and make a plan to be with them, live, in person, together.
For more about the Charlottesville No Kings 2.0 Rally:
Cville Right Now, Thousands Gather Along Seminole Trail For No Kings Rally, Oct 18, 2025
NBC29 News, No Kings Day 2.0 Rally Brings Out Thousands, Oct 18 2025
April 2023 essay on Collective Effervescence
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Thank you, friend... how is it that I wasn't subscribed to your Substack until now?! I appreciate the reminders to take action, as I tend to overthink rather than do. 🥴 Honored to be in this movement/fight liberation/resistance with you!
Love this reminder - together IS better (especially in person :) )