Aligning with Grace

We have begun our journey into Holy Week with its sacred themes of surrender and unconditional love among so many others - and the commemoration of another sacred journey - that of Passover, which begins this evening... Spiritual traditions converge once again, dancing into each other, as they have for centuries, offering us an opportunity to reflect on all that unites us - rather than that which may separate us... I surround myself with meditations and reflections from various sources, and have spent Lent reviewing and immersing myself in entries posted during this sacred season in recent years, finding gems and kernels of wisdom interspersed here and there, that once more touch my heart profoundly and manage to speak again so deeply... Perhaps nothing is truly ever new under the sun... The same struggles surface again and again in my own seemingly small and insignificant life. But once more I re-learn and am reminded - that there is nothing truly small and insignificant in any li...

This month is nearly over - and the summer is now officially for me - two thirds of the way through as well... It was not the kind of summer I had originally envisioned for there were so many unexpected turns that were taken. But in my heart of hearts, I know that everything was as it needed to be - and indeed, everything is always as it should be... I spent Saturday afternoon and early evening, attending Sally Kempton's workshop, titled - "Surfing Transformation: How to Navigate Your Journey of Inner Awakening and Change," at Willow Street Yoga Center. I have regularly attended Sally's workshops, and it was also wonderful to return to Willow Street and see so many friends. As always, Sally had much to say that was helpful to me. Her insights and the practices she led us through were particularly meaningful. In fact, a couple of the practices resulted in one of the most profound "aha!" moments that I have had - and I know I will be sitting with those insig...

It's been a quiet week of deep interior cleansing - on emotional, spiritual and physical fronts... I prepare for my first and long overdue colonoscopy later this morning. But I have also cleansed myself of possessions - as I engage in the process of divesting myself of long held things which I now choose to give away - weeding out half of my closet and drawers, and even selling a substantial percentage of my gold jewelry. Some of these pieces were passed down to me by my grandmother, but somehow, I sense her urging me, that it is time to let them go. I realize later, that I chose to sell these items on the very day that was the 16th anniversary of her passing from this life into eternity. Somehow, this incredible woman of faith reminded me, that we cannot take anything along with us on our ultimate journey. I wish to do nothing more and nothing less - than to simply, lighten my load... And my reduce my footprint as well... I have said to many, that my surgery has ha...

Late yesterday afternoon, as I was tackling the grueling traffic on the beltway, here in the Washington DC area, on my way to teach my weekly yoga class at Willow Street Yoga Center, I asked myself, "What do I know?" In other words, what have I learned that has shifted my consciousness, or my perspective recently - or what I have learned or practiced that has enabled me to deal with life's circumstances or curve balls. Earlier this week, I read the article "Who Do You Think You Are?" by Sally Kempton on the site: Patheos.com In this article, Sally discusses how to work with "avidya," a Sanskrit word which describes the basic ignorance of who we are, and she cites Sutra 2.5, of Patanjali's Yoga Sutra . This is what Sally has to say: "'Avidya,' the sutra says, 'is to mistake what is perishable for the eternal, what is impure for the pure, what is sorrow for what is happiness, and the not-Self for the True Self.'" I've r...

I had both the pleasure and honor to meet, and be able to speak to Sally Kempton , a respected meditation teacher, this past weekend, during a workshop she gave at Willow Street Yoga Center . If I had to summarize the workshop, I would simply say that it was about "Bhakti," the path of love - and deepening our relationship to the Divine... Today, I finished transcribing and typing nearly 33 pages of notes, and as I often do, I research or review references made, and include them in my notes. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am the "official" scribe for my local yoga community, and my notes usually circumnavigate the world. Or, so I often find out! As I reviewed my notes, and quotations from the workshop, I could not help but see, that truly, everything that matters, circles and comes back to love. Why are we here? We are here for love... What are we to do? We are here to love... And really, what else is there? In the 14th century, Julian of Norwich , an English mys...

We are all gardeners. Perhaps not of actual gardens, but certainly of our souls... We must til the fertile soil within our hearts and plant seeds that will blossom into those traits and characteristics that we want. There are many ways to do this. Through deep inner work. By reading. And sometimes, by attending a lecture, a workshop, or some kind of training. I am off to do this today. I am looking forward to spending a weekend with the wonderful meditation teacher and practitioner, Sally Kempton , whom I have quoted here so many times. Last night, I finished reading - Inheriting Paradise: Meditations on Gardening , by Vigen Guroian , and began The Fragrance of God , also by this same author - two exquisite tomes, filled with delicious imagery and beautiful insights. In Inheriting Paradise , Guroian writes: "...Everything comes from God and without God's constant nurture, nothing would be and nothing could grow. 'It is not the gardeners with their planting and watering who...

Last night I finished reading Sally Kempton's wonderful gem of a book, Meditation for the Love of It. She acknowledges the reason we meditate is simply because "we are ultimately in it for love." I thoroughly enjoyed this work, but found the last few chapters particularly helpful because they accurately addressed many of my current experiences. I felt blanketed in the comfort of what Kempton keenly observes and affirms, and the needed insights supplied, that will fortify me on this continual path toward deepening meditation... For example, Kempton wisely observes and echoes great meditation masters in affirming that: "The most important signs of spiritual progress are revealed in our character, our ability to maintain equanimity, our power to keep the mind clear and still, our compassion and kindness, our clarity, and our capacity to hold our center." And truly, what else is there in this journey we call life? Kempton reminds her readers over and over again, ...

For over a week, I've enjoyed deep silence, longer periods of meditation, touching base with a few friends, spring cleaning, reading, and delighting in the insights gained and imparted by wonderful teachers. A week and a half ago, I had the privilege and honor of studying with Elena Brower , an Anusara Yoga certified teacher, who shares her heart and gifts all over the country, and also writes a wonderful blog for the Huffington Post , among other talents. For a long time I have wanted to take one of her classes "live" - since I had already experienced her teaching "online," and I was grateful to be able to experience her deep teaching in a beautiful art gallery. One of the most wonderful things Elena told us, was that we have the power to transmute the triggers in our lives into nourishment, through our practices, and most particularly in our bodies, through yoga. She explained that we can choose practice over indulging in our preferences and thus create meani...

Yesterday, I quoted a wonderful article, "Blessing Heart" by Sally Kempton , the well known and loved meditation teacher. Giving blessings is a powerful form of spiritual practice that Sally writes about - and it can lead to deep transformation and healing on many levels - for the one sending the blessings, and the one receiving them as well. In Sally's words: "When we offer blessings, we align ourselves with the force of grace that runs through the universe. We become channels for the higher power. And according to some of the mystical traditions, this is the hidden purpose of human life. The Vedic sages, whose culture is the basis of the Hindu tradition, believed that one special function of human beings is to create conscious bridges between earth and cosmos. They did this through invocations and offerings, and bracketed their practices and ceremonies with mantras we chant to this day - Lokaha samastah sukhino bhavantu - May all beings be happy... Grace is everyw...

I continue to reflect on the notion, the observation, and the reality - that life is practice, and practice is life - as I teach and sub for a number of yoga classes this week, and as I reflect on my own life, its most pressing interior issues and concerns, and the work that I must do and am currently engaged in... I remember how not too long ago, during meditation, a beautiful mantra arose from deep within my heart, unfolding simply, and softly whispering to my soul, "Everything in God, and God in everything..." I recall insights that brought such solace, from Sally Kempton , the gifted meditation teacher, who observed, that spiritual development is never linear, but spirals forward and backwards, as if in a dance, as we evolve and expand, sometimes needing to retreat and drawn in, before we can journey more deeply in our growth... Once again, I am touched by an essay of hers - I read it in the late evening, before bed, and it beautifully encourages and suggests the dedicati...

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 ...

Late last might, I read Sally Kempton's newsletter, a wonderful spiritual teacher whose works often focus on the power of meditation, and she offered beautiful insights into the Season of Love , which is indeed, every season, in every year... I have excerpted the following, which spoke to me: "A friend of mine wrote, 'I was at the DMV today. I was looking around and falling in love with faces, feeling the brokenness and listening to the seeds of hope in every conversation around me.' Reading her words reminded me how this season - the year's midnight, with its celebrations of light and grace - can often invite us into this kind of poignant, almost heart-breaking love. Of course, love is always present, ready to pour through us. And we always have the choice to see each other with the eye of love. Yes, it's always felt to me that the love force of the cosmos is present in a particularly universal way at this time of year, at least in the parts of the world that...