Aligning with Grace

It is a difficult time to witness what is happening on our planet... The sorrow, the suffering, the violence the pain... This morning I woke up with this short, lovingkindness practice on my lips: "May our hearts overflow with compassion." The only solution possible to all that is happening is greater Love. Greater compassion. I believe it is the foundation for everything else: greater insight, understanding, and practical solutions. This is all I am going to leave you with today. Let us all practice it and embody it, to shift the energy on this planet. "May our hearts overflow with compassion." For more practices to support you on your journey, visit:  www.meditationsimple.com

  Today is a glorious spring day where I live. I marveled, on my morning walk, how blessed I am to be able to step out of my home and access a myriad connection of pathways through meandering green spaces and parks. And yet, I am also very aware of the many tribulations we are facing in the world. Still, to commit to seeing beauty and goodness in the midst of all that is not well, is for me - a choice, a need, and an imperative. I also know that many of us live in difficult and challenging circumstances, fording a constant stream of anxiety and fear. How could we not? Just look around... And yet, there is more to see as well... We can focus on the fear and the steady diet of negativity the media feeds us - or we can choose other staples for our diet. We must also feed our souls... But, how to do that? I can only share with you some of the things I am currently doing. For example, I am limiting the content of news I am consuming. Recently, a dear friend of mine and I spoke of becomi...

Nearly twelve years ago I started this blog after a visit to the Potomac River, which is about a mile from my home. I had not planned on writing, I just came home and did so, following an inner prompting. For years I came down to the river regularly. One year, it was almost a daily occurrence, and I sat on a bench during all seasons to do some meditative practices which evolved over time and transformed me in the process.  Recently, I received a message which I perceived intuitively. "Go back to the river. And take up these three practices once again. You need them!" And so, I listened. Over the course of the next few entries, I will share these easy practices with you. They are simple practices, but powerful ones. As I mentioned in my last entry, the purpose of spiritual practices and prayers is to transform ourselves, not others. Although others may change as a result of our own evolution as a spiritual being, that is not the focus here. It is about...

We live in perilous times, or so it seems. But if truth be told, we are always in the midst of conflicts somewhere on our planet. It just seems that everything appears more persistent and in our face constantly. Like many, I am overwhelmed by the suffering of those in the path of destruction everywhere - certainly those in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey who will spend months if not years trying to recovery from the devastation - but elsewhere as well. The constant struggles in the Middle East and Africa don't always get our attention - such as the cholera epidemic in Yemen, and the endless civil war in Syria, but they are no less deserving of our compassion and assistance. The truth is, many are suffering everywhere - and we often forget they are our brothers and sisters. They need our positivity, our well wishes - but most especially our lending hands and the sharing of our resources. We must be Good Samaritans. There is a beautiful meditation practice often referred to...

I am drawn to go to the river on this windy, and beautiful fall morning... Several years ago, I began so many mornings like this, going down to the river, with my kayak in tow, which I had aptly named "Grace," and into the waters we would go, to pray, to meditate, and commune with nature... I am not able to do this at the moment, for I lack a vehicle in which I can haul my kayak, and so today, I simply sit on a bench, looking out at the broad expanse of the river in front of me, and begin to do Metta practice for many in need. I give thanks and express gratitude for so many things in my life, chanting the Reiki precepts slowly, and with great care, mindfulness, and devotion, as if lost in a reverie not of this world... As I lose myself deeply in these spiritual practices, I feel buoyed by the Divine Presence surrounding me - and tossed about like a leaf in the wind and grace of God's love... I dance joyfully, following its gentle lead and rhythm... I marvel at t...

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 embody...

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 fir...

This week, we continued to explore the second of the brahmaviharas - which is karuna - or benevolent compassion, as a theme in my yoga classes. We connected this to the action of Inner Spiral to widen our hips, and our lower backs, all the way up to T12, and up to the back doors of our hearts. By creating this opening by widening needed areas within our bodies, we begin to widen our perspectives and perceptual lens as well. Only then, can we truly embody compassion. Only then, can we truly embrace the unity that is at the root and heart of all diversity. We often regard compassion as a form of love - and very much like the practice of metta - or lovingkindness, we must cultivate compassion toward ourselves - in order to more fully embody and reflect it to others. Kuan Yin is the Goddess of Compassion to the Japanese and Tibetan Buddhists, and the story is often told that when she was ascending to heaven at the end of her life, she heard the cries of all the suffering beings that ...