Silence as Practice

This entry, seems to very perfectly follow in the footsteps of yesterday's posting...In fact, I almost titled it, "Life as Practice, Practice as Life Part 2!"

I finish the first phase of organizing my books, a feat that has consumed several weeks in stops and starts - many arms filled with them, and boxes carried down to the basement - others juggled and redistributed from one room to another, but now the organization and rearrangement is much more logical and methodical, and volumes will be easier to find. All my theology and spirituality books from many decades of teaching and study, occupy one wall - with one shelf for example, exclusively dedicated to my massive collection of Thomas Merton writings, and multiple offerings by other authors, now all gathered together. Everything now feels right...

I find that I have two copes of Inviting Silence: Universal Principles of Meditation by Gunilla Norris, and though I have read this brief volume many times before, I curl up with it once again, and imbibe its nourishment for the soul, vowing to gift the second copy to a treasured soul friend...

And so, I share some of its insights, for silence - is perhaps the most important spiritual practice - and it permeates all the others. While I have meditated continuously in silence for twice a day for over six years, after practicing on and off for decades, I now crave it throughout my days at home, and during my yoga practice as well, and so miss it when life gets too busy...

Yes, as Mother Teresa of Calcutta once noted,

"God speaks in the silence of the heart, and we listen..."

Or, as Meister Eckhart, once wrote,

"Nothing in all creation is so like God as silence..."

And from Gunilla Norris, these beautiful excerpts, which are nothing more and nothing less than a meditation in themselves. I invite you to consider reading the whole book:

"Within each of us there is a silence
--a silence as vast as the universe.
We are afraid of it...and we long for it.

Silence is our deepest nature,
our home, our common ground, our peace.

Silence reveals. Silence heals.
Silence is where God dwells.
We yearn to be there.

One of the hardest lessons of any inner journey
is to understand that our ideal sense
of how things should be and the actual experience
are miles apart.

To be with our being...
is the most simple, direct, truly human capacity,
and it is the most difficult to sustain...

Pausing often helps us remember
and value our ability to choose.
Doing so with awareness, remembering to ask
What's enough here and now?
takes us deeper. We will find ourselves
ripening into another way of being...

Asking the simple question:
What will serve my life today?
is a penetrating practice...

Whatever circumstances we find ourselves in,
this question can help us focus our intentions.
It is so fundamental it should lie within
every small choice we make, not just the big ones..
What will serve life today?

Each of us can make a difference.
Politicians and visionaries will not return us
to the sacredness of life...
'Remember to breathe, remember to feel,
remember to care...
Let us practice for life's sake...'

When we make a place for silence, we make room
for ourselves. This is simple. And it is radical.
A room set apart for silence becomes a sanctuary
--a place for breath, for refreshment...for healing...

Silent spaces invite us to go to the inner room
--the room within ourselves.
By making room for silence, we resist
the forces of the world which tell us to live
an advertised life of surface appearance,
instead of a discovered life - a life lived in contact
with our senses, our feelings,
our deepest thoughts and values.

When a space is reserved
solely for mindfulness practice
the silence seems to deepen. A room devoted to silence
honors and invites the unknown, the untamed,
the wild, the shy, the unfathomable
--that which rarely has a chance to surface
within us...

In silence we discover ourselves, our actual presence
to the life in us and around us. When we are present,
deeply attentive, we cannot be busy controlling.
Instead we become beholders - giving ourselves up
to the mystery of things. We become more willing
to let things be. And as a consequence
we can also let ourselves be...

Many of us have become uncomfortable with silence.
We do not regard it as friend...

Through silence our days are illumined - like rooms
filled with light - so we may inhabit our lives...

Walking, eating a meal, dancing, breathing, chanting -
anything can be a practice so long as we are mindful,
so long as we are fully present...

To bring silence into our bodies and minds,
we must learn to be quiet. We begin by being still.
If a period of physical stillness is all we can muster,
that is enough. We have begun to practice...

If we can simply learn to follow our breath
in a steady way - we have grown in practice.

The point of practice is not to perform,
but to participate...
Practice reveals that we are immersed in joy.
Practice also reveals what is blocking the flow...

The lessons of silence are myriad...

When we sit in silence we are profoundly active.
Keeping silent, we can hear the roar of existence...

We become present..."

"Silence is the friend,
that never betrays."
~ Confucius

"Every soul innately yearns for stillness,
for a space, a garden where we can till,
sow, reap, and rest, and by doing so
come to a deeper sense of self
and our place in the universe.
Silence is not an absence,
but a presence.
Not an emptiness
but a repletion. A filling up."
~ Anne LeClair

Life as Practice, Practice as Life

We can live - or simply exist...

We can live simply - embodying the extraordinary in the ordinary - or not at all...

We can live deeply, transformatively, and well, and when we do - our life itself becomes our practice...

I've been reflecting on the broader meaning and implications of practice. For those of us who practice yoga, we dedicate much of our time and focus on the practice of doing asana - or poses - setting ourselves the goal of achieving certain postures, or deepening in them.

But, what happens when you cannot do asana the way you once did? Or, what happens if all of a sudden, for one reason or another - you are unable to sustain a physical practice at all?

If you have cultivated a broader perspective of practice as one that is fundamentally a spiritual path, then asana is merely just one aspect of what constitutes your practice.

What then, is practice? What does it mean to you? What does it look like now? How will it evolve in 20, 30 or 50 years from now?

I picked up a book from my bookshelf today, Living Deeply: The Art and Science of Transformation in Everyday Life, published by the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and opened to a chapter titled, "Life as Practice, and Practice as Life." And I thought to myself, yes, I relate to this - it is my experience at the moment...

"If you are really awake, conscious, and aware,
then your life is a practice.
Then everything you do is a practice."
~ Wink Franklin

We must truly integrate our lives and our practice, and there are many tools available for us to do this. We can engage in something as solitary and individual as meditation, or, we can reach out and be of service to others...

There are practices that enable us to cultivate greater insight, and thus, are transformative. Other practices are conducive to greater purification, like pranayama, or, the yoga or practice of the breath, which can also be cleansing and healing. All practices enable us to be more present in the moment and invite us to let go and to surrender. For each one of us, our practice dances and flows into a unique expression which changes and evolves throughout our various life stages.

Rachel Naomi Remen, a respected and published physician who has worked extensively with cancer patients, says this about her practice:

"Service is my practice. Service is one of the most powerful of the practices."

Gerald Jampolsky, another physician, defined service in this very meaningful way:

"Service defined broadly, can be seen as how you interact with each person and in each situation, no matter what the circumstances are."

So, life is practice, and practice is life...

The more we practice, the more easily we dance through life's circumstances and challenges...

Your practice becomes your own, when you stop doing someone else's practice, and do what works for you - it becomes yours when you make it your own.

Today, whether you step on to your mat, and do a modified practice because of injury or illness - or you decide to sit longer in meditation, or take a moment to slow down, be more mindful or conscious of your breath, or you simply open your heart to someone in need - know that you are serving. Your life is practice, if you choose to make it so. Only then, will practice become your life...

The Gift of the Present Moment

While I wait in line to gas up my car this morning, the insight comes, that to be, and live truly in the present moment is a gift...

The gift of the present moment, is that it keeps us here - not in the past, and not in the future...

The gift of the present moment, is that it makes us feel vibrantly alive...

The gift of the present moment, is that we are able to enter deeply into every emotion, and feel everything so fully...

The gift of the present moment, is that it clothes us in the freedom to dance through every challenge, and difficulty and phase of our lives...

The gift of the present moment, is that it enables us to realize and experience, that now is the only time there is...

The gift of the present moment, is that it teaches us that every second and experience discloses the Divine and is inherently sacred...

The gift of the present moment, is that there are gifts, lessons, and invaluable treasures surrounding us, if we have the eyes to see them...

The gift of the present moment, is that it enables us to accept things as they are, and not as we may want them to be...

And yet, most of the time, we are not in the present moment. We dwell in our pasts, wrapped up in our hurts, and every day we recycle the same thoughts over and over again - so it keeps us anchored in a moment that is no more...

I admire the people who can easily let go of the past, move on, and simply be in the present. Some can do this without a lot of work, but the truth is, we can all do it. We may just have to work at it a little harder...

When we are fully present, every detail is richer. Colors are more vibrant, sounds are exquisite, feelings are ecstatic in nature, and our sense of taste is overwhelmed by so many delicious choices!

When we are in the present moment, time is infinite - there is no past - and there is no future - there is only NOW! And it goes on, from one infinite moment to the next!

When we are fully present, every moment and every experience is a gift and a blessing on some level. We can see and understand - and imbibe in ways we could not do so if we were still mired in the past, or preoccupied with the future...

As often happens, so much of what I came across and posted this week, arrived to support these reflections...

"Miracles lie not in the past or the future,
but in your complete acceptance
and embrace of this moment.
It offers everything you want,
in that it offers you an opportunity
to expand fully into the totality of your real self.
That experience - the experience of being truly who we are -
is the peace we long for
and from which all miracles flow."
~ Marianne Williamson

"The whole universe is inside of you;
ask all from yourself!"
~ Rumi

"You are a microcosm
of the macrocosm."

"Do not seek to have events happen
as you would want them to.
But instead, want them to happen
as they happen,
and your life will go well."
~ Epictetus

I fill up my gas tank, and drive off, and though unrest and uprisings are spreading from one Middle Eastern country to the next, and there are demonstrations in several state capitals - despite chaos and all that seeks to pull us all out of balance, I affirm to myself, as a quiet prayer, words uttered by Julian of Norwich, who in the 14th century, amidst so much calamity, was able to exclaim, and believe, that:

"All shall be well,
and all shall be well,
and all manner of things
shall be well!"

Happiness is a Choice

This afternoon, I finished teaching my six week short course, "The Art and Yoga of Happiness." It was a grace-filled journey to share and experience with wonderful students.

We teach, of course, to learn what we must know and embody, and that is why I designed this course in the first place.

Over and over again, every book and every source I consulted suggested that happiness is a choice. As I wrote a dear friend yesterday - happiness and living in the present moment - both go together, and they are a choice we make every day - over and over again!

The Dalai Lama, in The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living, states that we are all capable of happiness. But, we must learn to train our minds in order to achieve and experience it. He also states that we must widen our circle and understanding of intimacy, and seek to make deeper connections with others. A key ingredient undergirding all of this, is the cultivation of compassion.

In learning how to train our minds, we need to more specifically learn how to train our thoughts and choose which thoughts we give our energy and time to - and which ones we allow to dissolve. As I shared with the group that assembled together for the duration of these six weeks, each morning we must begin our days by affirming: "I choose happiness."

Each week of our journey together, we practiced meditation techniques and did a yoga practice designed to help us cultivate greater happiness in our lives. We practiced Lovingkindness and Tonglen, we did a back bending practice to open our hearts, and a forward bending practice to enable us to surrender and let go of what no longer served us or what impeded our experience and embodiment of happiness.

We also did hip openers to widen our perceptual lens, coupled with Inner Spiral - of the Anusara Yoga Universal Principle of Alignment - to create more space within our bodies for the experience of happiness. Today, we concluded with a practice of Yoga Nidra - or "yogic sleep" - which involves the rotation of consciousness coupled with a "sankulpa" - or setting an intention. Doing so, powerfully enables us to shift our consciousness, our perspective, and to begin to solidify an embodiment of happiness.

Yesterday and today, I posted on both Facebook and Twitter, quotes and a selection from the Tao Te Ching, related to this topic, that might be insightful, and so I share them...

"Empty your mind of all thoughts.
Let your heart be at peace.
Watch the turmoil of all beings,
but contemplate their return.

Each separate being in the universe
returns to the common source.
Returning to the source is serenity.

If you don't realize the source,
you stumble in confusion and sorrow.
When you realize where you come from,
you naturally become tolerant...
dignified as a king.

Immersed in the wonder of the Tao,
you can deal with whatever life brings you,
and when death comes, you are ready."
~ Tao Te Ching

"Surrender all attachments."
~ Buddha

"Do not seek to have events happen
as you would want them to,
but instead want them to happen
as they happen,
and your life will be good."
~Epictetus

"What we are today
comes from our thoughts of yesterday
and our present thoughts
build up our life of tomorrow."
~ Buddha

"Happiness is determined more
by one's state of mind,
than by external events."
~ Dalai Lama

"There is no reality,
only perception."
~ Dr. Phil McGraw

"Happiness can be achieved
through training the mind."
~ Dalai Lama

Never the Same River Twice

Some messages come to us more than once in a season...

And for this, there is always a reason...

I read this quote by Heraclitus, that has come to me over and over again, each time revealing another layer of meaning:

"You can never step into the same river twice."

And then, I stumble across this clarification in the wonderful book, Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey Out of Depression, by James S. Gordon, MD:

"We cannot step into the same river once;
by the time the second foot falls,
we're already entering a different river.
This river of continual change is our life."

And as the author of this insight work notes, "there are times when we resist the pull of the river..."

I read on, and find much that speaks to me, that I will share later, but for the second time in a month, the same passage from the Tao Te Ching comes to me, and I realize the quote from Heraclitus, and this passage, come bearing insights and gems of wisdom. Perhaps there are pearls in there for you as well...

"To be whole, let yourself break.
To be straight, let yourself bend.
To be full, let yourself be empty.
To be new, let yourself wear out.
To have everything, give everything up.

Knowing others is a kind of knowledge;
Knowing yourself is wisdom.
Conquering others requires strength;
Conquering yourself is true power.
To realize that you have enough is true wealth.
Pushing ahead may succeed,
but staying put brings endurance.
Die without perishing, and find the eternal.

To know that you do not know is strength.
Not knowing that you do not know is a sickness.
The cure begins with the recognition of the sickness.

Knowing what is permanent: enlightenment.
Not know what is permanent: disaster.
Knowing what is permanent opens the mind.
Open mind, open heart.
Open heart, magnanimity."

Valentine's - A Day for Love and Compassion

This is a day that is often celebrated by lovers, but it truly offers all of us an opportunity to give and receive love and embody compassion.

I have been reflecting on the Buddhist meditation practices of lovingkindness and tonglen and their relationship to compassion, as I prepare to share these techniques in a meditation short course, and as I also integrate the theme of compassion in my own yoga classes this week. I am in essence, killing two birds with one stone!

In the Buddhist and Hindu traditions, the word "karuna" is translated as compassion. Compassion is one of the Brahmaviharas - or four sublime attitudes, along with lovingkindness, joy, and equanimity. These attitudes are described in Buddhist teachings, and also in sutra 1.33 of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.

Whether we are Buddhist or Hindu, Jewish, Christian or Muslim - I do believe we all recognize the importance of cultivating all of these attitudes and especially embracing, expressing, and embodying compassion.

The Dalai Lama often writes and frequently teaches on the subject of compassion. Because as humans we are in essence, all one and the same - we have the same wants, desires, and experience the same pains - and so it is important that we cultivate greater compassion in our lives. The author and teacher, Steven Levine wisely noted that:

"When your fear touches someone's pain,
it becomes pity.
When your love touches someone's pain,
it becomes compassion."

Love and compassion are beautifully intertwined...

Lovingkindness and tonglen practices enable us to radiate more love and compassion in our lives. It is necessary for us to practice lovingkindness towards ourselves first before we move on to others. Then, we can focus on a loved one, followed by a neutral person that we might not know well, before we move on to practicing it for someone we have difficulty with.

In tonglen, it is customary to practice for others first, and then eventually to offer this practice for ourselves. There are many variations of both techniques, and I would suggest reading the works of Pema Chodron, Sharon Salzberg, and Sogyal Rinpoche, among others. But I will offer here, a stripped down variation of both techniques that I have successfully used over the years:

Lovingkindness

May I be filled with lovingkindness.
May I be well.
May I be at peace and at ease.
May I be happy.

Tonglen

Visualize the suffering of another soul.
Imagine it as hot, and thick dark smoke.
Breathe it into your heart.

There, in the furnace of your heart, transmute it -
and breathe it back out--
sending it back to the person as white light,
along with joy and love.

Today, as I stood in line at the grocery store, I was greeted by my cashier, who addressed me as "dear." She was mindful, and present, and at the very end, she wished me a Happy Valentine's Day. Whether she knew it or not, she was the very embodiment of compassion itself!

Ananda - Embodying Bliss

I shared in one of my recent posts, that I have been journeying through the attributes of the Divine as themes for my yoga classes of late. This week, my focus is on "ananda" which means bliss, and I am working with "Inner Spiral" - one of the Anusara Yoga Universal Principles of Alignment, as a way of creating more expansion in the body, (more specifically in the hips) and thus, a greater container for the embodiment of bliss. The implication is also to let go of what stands in the way of embodying more bliss as well.

I have also been teaching a short course titled: "The Art and Yoga of Happiness," so needless to say, I've read quite a number of books on the subjects of joy, bliss, and happiness in the last couple of months...

One of the books I recently reviewed is: Unconditional Bliss: Finding Happiness in the Face of Hardship by Howard Raphael Cushnir, and like Byron Katie, he too proposes two questions to ask oneself to get at the heart of the matter of what is impeding the flow of bliss in our hearts and lives.

The yogic sages often spoke of bliss as one of several attributes of the Divine, particularly in Tantric texts. They also taught that meditation is a practice that can lead one to a greater embodiment of bliss.

Cushnir asks us to:

"Imagine an existence of constant, ever-available bliss. Imagine that this bliss asks for nothing and depends on nothing. Imagine that it is the very foundation of all experience, and that not even the most tragic of life's events can alter its strength or presence.

I know that this bliss exists. I know it because I live it. And I believe that you can, too...the bliss to which I'm referring is deep within every one of us, always present but rarely chosen..."

In another chapter, Cushnir invites his readers to:

"Think of an activity that gives you great joy...Once you've selected the activity, pause for a few seconds and summon up the feeling that the activity generates.

Next, think of a person whom you love as much as anyone on earth...Once you've selected your love, pause for a few seconds and conjure up the feeling it elicits.

Now take a deep breath, smile, and bring that joy and love together. Let yourself sink into the experience this creates. Plain and simple, it's bliss.

Joy + Love = Bliss"

Cushnir does note that bliss can be temporary, but in the book he describes how to make it more permanent. He notes that bliss is present all the time, whether we experience it or not.

Recently, I read an interview with the meditation teacher Sally Kempton, in Elephant Journal, who spoke of the spiritual path as one of ever deepening levels of awareness. I found her comments very insightful and helpful in understanding why we don't embody a spiritual lesson once and for all - after it is realized...

"I see it as part of the spiraling process of development, which...usually means moving one step back for every two steps forward. Just as we think we've aced it in one area of life, life in her wisdom will point out that, oops, here's a place where you still have some growing up to do. Its helpful here to look at development as a spiral rather than as a line, because the spiral lets us see how we keep cycling back to where we started, but at a higher level than the last time we were there. And this process happens in every area of our life, as we evolve towards integration..."

We are all called to embody bliss. And with a committed practice, we can reach a point where the state of bliss becomes more common, or at least we can more readily return to it. But, it is also comforting to know, that the spiritual path will take us forward and backward on this journey. The trick is to remember this, and enjoy the ride!

Free at Last!

Freedom comes when we least expect it. It has its own time-table, and is subject to its own laws...

I think of this, as I drive in the wintry morning darkness, that is also foggy and misty and still snow covered, looking so much like a Christmas card, with the sun slowly rising...

The load seems lighter in my heart, as my friend's spirit soars higher and higher into the skies...

My heart offers practices from the Tibetan Book of the Dead, meant to aid a soul in its passing. Yet, I sense that my friend's spirit already did most of its clearing on this side of the veil...

I knew this moment was eminent - most especially when I wrote my last entry...

And now, in the quiet, and in the stillness this evening, as the sun goes down, marking the end of another day, that is barely 24 hours since my friend's passing, I reflect on my urge to sit in meditation yesterday, at exactly this same time...

I look at the clock right now - and it is 5:55 PM - the numeric symbol for Christ Consciousness. It was at this very moment that I sat and lit one votive candle in front of my salt lamp, that is always lit on my altar, as an eternal flame...

I offered my prayers and my sitting practice, as I have now for several weeks, for this incredible soul...I felt moved to offer up and share my own personal prayer and mantra that I recite everyday, with the addition of several more lines that were recently received in meditation. I offer them first for myself, and then for my dear friend Lili...

Dear One!
YOU are INFINITE!
YOU are FREE!

YOU are
As God created YOU!

Everything you need
Is inside of YOU!

Everything that IS--
IS, as it should BE!

YOU have everything
YOU WANT!

YOU have everything
YOU NEED!

And it is ENOUGH!

I urge her to seek the Light. Her work is done here. I offer to hold a healing space for her - for as long as she needs. Yes, it is hard to leave - but she must let go now. Eyes have not seen the wonders that have been prepared for her. So many await to welcome her on the other side of the veil, even as others on this side already miss her. But I know, someday - she and her loved ones - will be reunited again, because we are always ONE in the LOVE of God!

I bid her adieu - I hold a Sacred Space for her, and ask her when she is ready, to hold one for me as well. I propose a Sacred Contract: Let us help one another transition, and let go of what holds us captive, and which no longer serves us, in this life...

I sit for a while, and suddenly realize the room has gone dark. The light on my altar has gone out. And while I know now, that she died about a short while before I sat, she had given me a sign, and had now moved on. I knew, in that moment, she had been set free...

I felt lightness, and I could taste the freedom of her spirit - and felt my soul filled with the same indescribable bliss that has accompanied our spirits' merging throughout this Sacred Week. And so, while I continue to offer blessings and sacred practices for her, I somehow know they are no longer needed...

On the morning of her passing, I shared a blessing from Stephen Levine, on the blog her husband has daily updated, with the most heart-felt devotion...

"There is a grace approaching
that we shun as much as death,
it is the completion of our birth.

It does not come in time,
but in timelessness
when the mind sinks into the heart
and we remember.

It is an insistent grace that draws us
to the edge and beckons us to surrender
safe territory and enter our enormity.

We know we must pass
beyond knowing
and fear the shedding.

But we are pulled upward
none-the-less
through forgotten ghosts
and unexpected angels,
luminous.

And there is nothing left to say
but we are That.

And that is what we sing about."

On this very same day, I also stumble across this verse from the Bhagavad Gita, shared by a Facebook friend:

"We are born into this world of nature;
our second birth is into the world of spirit."

Dear soul and friend, you are free at last, as Martin Luther King Jr., proclaimed in his "I Have a Dream" speech. Yes, YOU are "free at last. Thank God Almighty, you are free at last!" And we, are all the better for it, and so grateful to know, we have you looking over us!

Lili, this one is for you! You left footprints on my heart!

Lovingkindness and Freedom

I go down to the river on a cold morning, drawn there, after over a week of snow and ice...

I go down to the river to offer a Lovingkindness meditation, for myself, and my friend, who is still in transition from this life, miraculously holding on, in a state of suspended animation, but teeming with life, as the bottom of this river...

I came down to this very river, a little over three years ago for the first time, and began a daily practice of offering a Lovingkindness meditation - a Buddhist "metta" practice for myself, as it is suggested, for many months, before I was ready to offer it for others. It was a long, and arduous but fruitful road to letting go of resentments towards others, and lightening the load in my heart...

I come today, and repeat the words I prayed daily then - and I share here, my own "personal" version of this practice:

May I be filled with lovingkindness.
May I be well.
May I be at peace and at ease.
May I be happy.

I practice for myself first, and then for my friend, but spontaneously, another line arises from deep within and it is added, placed at the end, by my spirit's higher wisdom:

May I be filled with lovingkindness.
May I be well.
May I be at peace and at ease.
May I be happy.
May I be free...

Yes, may I be free - and may my friend be free - and indeed, may we all be free - from whatever each one of us needs to release! May we truly embody this attribute of the Divine, "svatantrya," that is extolled in yogic and Tantric texts, which I have chosen to focus on this week, as a theme for my yoga classes.

I write my friend's husband this morning, and I tell him, that his beloved and I, are journeying together, in setting our spirits free - she from the physical dimension that still holds her captive - and I - experiencing this freedom in more interior realms - as St. Teresa of Avila prescribed as a necessity for the spiritual path, back in the 16th century...

I offer my Lovingkindess practice for souls I know that are currently in need as well, and believe that my words and intentions will serve this in the best way possible...

Words are very powerful to me. They are sacred - and their vibration is eternal. Thus, I strive to choose my words wisely, and to leave the world a better place through their articulation. I am reminded of this quote by Rudyard Kipling:

"Words are the most powerful drug
known to mankind."

With one word we can imprison a soul and scar a life, we can touch another's heart profoundly, and we can heal, and set our souls free...

The river is partially frozen - and thus partially held back - and yet it is partly flowing as well. It is in transition - in between states and seasons, and once again, a metaphor for my life...

I begin my day by reading, a beautiful prayer for Candlemass, left on my friend's blog, by Mechtild of Magdeburg, who has always been one of my favorite mystics. And while it was offered as a description of my friend's present condition - I saw it as a metaphor for all of us who are on the spiritual path. It also reminded me personally, of the embodiment of "kenosis," the self-emptying of Jesus on the cross that has always born a special meaning for me...And so, I share this beautiful piece here as well...

"Under this immense force she loses herself.
In this most dazzling light she becomes blind in herself.
And in this utter blindness she sees more clearly.
In this pure clarity she is both dead and living.

The longer she is dead, the more blissfully she lives.
The more blissfully she lives, the more she experiences.
The less she becomes, the more flows to her.
The deeper she dwells, the more she expands.

The deeper her wounds become, the more violently she struggles.
The more loving God is to her, the higher she soars.
The more radiantly she shines in the reflected effulgence
of the Godhead, the closer she approaches him.
The more she labors, the more contently she rests.
The more quiet her silence, the louder she calls.

I recall, other words by Mechtild of Magdeburg that have also nourished my soul through nearly three decades, re-surfacing her and again, whenever needed:

"God has given me the power to change my ways."

Yesterday, I connected with several souls in need. With one, I shared recently read quotes and passages that arrived almost heaven-sent to comfort and speak deeply to my soul. With the other, whom I have known for almost 40 years, we revisited shared memories of our friend in transition. Then, as a spontaneous gift, we thanked each other for our shared friendship over the years, acknowledging the love we felt for each other...

I was touched profoundly by the sharing I did, on each occasion - both bearing gifts of their own...

And so, I end now, with a few more passages that have fed me these last couple of days...

"Your living is determined not so much
by what life brings to you,
as by the attitude you bring to life;
not so much by what happens to you
as by the way your mind looks at what happens."
~ Kahlil Gibran

"You do not imagine
how Brilliant you are
in the throes of inner turmoil.
Likewise, when aware of Your Brilliance,
agony and samskara cannot be found
even upon close investigation!
Oh Nasruddin, when the Sun has set,
why do you instruct people to look
for it with a flashlight?
When the sun has risen,
no other lights are required!"
~ Rumi

"To engage in actions with desire for their fruit
is true tyaga (renunciation).
God is the Divine Renunciant,
for He carries on all the activities of the universe
without attachment to them.
Anyone aspiring to Self-Realization--
whether he be a monastic or householder--
must act and live for the Lord,
without being emotionally involved
in His drama of creation."
~ Paramahansa Yogananda

Addendum: And just after I completed this blog, had lunch, and sat down to a cup of Yogi Tea, I read this on the tag of my tea bag. Another gift and message!

"Empty yourself
and let the universe fill you."

Amen!

Ultimate Freedom

One of the attributes of the Divine, as recognized in Tantric texts and teachings is "svatantrya" or ultimate freedom. It is also an attribute that we strive to embody and attain as yoga practitioners and mundane mystics. I believe it is something that all humans yearn for, and as we observe the events that are taking Egypt and the Middle East by storm, this becomes even more evident and relevant.

In my own classes this week, I explored ultimate freedom as resulting from the interplay between Muscular Energy and Organic Energy - two of the principles in Anusara Yoga's Universal Principles of Alignment. It is in the dance between the two that we experience and come to embody ultimate freedom. But it is also in this dance that we consider and ponder the many questions that arise in our lives and that calls us to honor our process as well.

Today, as I reflected on three inter-related issues - the profound insights received during a craniosacral therapy session with a very gifted therapist, the process of a friend nearing the end of her life's journey, and aspects of my own life that require releasing - I could not help but notice the constant invitation to let go, release, and step into the current of grace, and surge into the arms of ultimate freedom...

It was a day for holding sacred space here - and in another realm for a friend transitioning - and for profound realizations as well as I journey more deeply toward my own path to ultimate freedom...

I end my sharing, with messages received that spoke to me, and which perhaps may speak to you as well...

"Be patient towards all that is unsolved in your heart
and try to love the questions themselves
like locked rooms and like books that are written
in a very foreign tongue.
The point is to live everything.
Live the questions now."
~ Ranier Maria Rilke

"To be whole, let yourself break.
To be straight, let yourself bend.
To be full, let yourself be empty.
To be new, let yourself wear out.
To have everything, give everything up."
~Tao Te Ching

In Someone Else's Eyes

"In someone else's belief, you are rich and free.
In someone else's eyes you are smart, capable and daring.
In someone else's world of existence you have it all.
In someone else's level of experience,
you have already reached their understanding of nirvana.
Whatever your story is, you are blessed
as you are willing to recognize you are."
~ David Ault