“Simply Begin Again” *

(This blog is a retread from February, 2017)

The expectations we hold for ourselves in relationship to our spiritual practices are at times stringent, tight, and perhaps unforgiving. Possibly there isn’t much fluidity or flex to draw upon to support our own comfort and realignment. Any iteration of self-judgment cannot be helpful in realigning our focus back to practice. These profound words by Jack Kornfield, the master meditation teacher, speak it all: “Simply begin again”.

Imagine you are driving your car from New York to San Francisco and your car breaks down in Chicago. You don’t ship your car back to New York, repair it and begin the journey again. Of course not. You fix the car in Chicago and keep heading west.

I have found solace in this simplistic and uncomplicated frame of spiritual practice. What if there is no “off the path”? What if there really are no errors? Although I’ve come a long way in dismantling my perfectionism in relationship to my practices, I still can easily slip into the default of “I should be past this”.

Norman Fisher, Zen master from the West Coast, writes inspiringly on this subject, infusing the idea of practice with a sense of ongoing momentum that no lapse can interrupt. Here are some of his thoughts:

“In spiritual practice, there are no breaks and no mistakes. You may think that you have lost the thread of your practice, you may feel bad about it…..but this is not what you think. Once you begin practice, you always keep going, because everything is practice, even the days or weeks or lifetimes that we forget to meditate. It’s impossible to be lost. You are constantly being found, whether you know it or not.”

I find this riveting and empowering. Please do not hear any syllable of this blog as an invitation into relapse or hurtful self-behavior. The possibility in this reframe is kindness and compassion which can allow us to realign with right action quicker and with more ease. This can a powerful benefit.

We are constantly being found, especially when we don’t know it. Here are some considerations for your hearts today, for your pondering or journaling pleasure:

• What does it mean to you “to be (constantly) found”?
• If that might be true, what would be freed up inside of you? What might be different?
• What is one thing you can do this week, to practice repairing your car where it is, and moving easefully and lovingly forward?

Rumi, the ecstatic Persian poet of the 13th century, offers us this powerful and similar reminder. Let’s savor these words, wrap his blessing around us, as we move forward into this new gift of a week:

“…..ours is not
a caravan of despair.
Whether you’ve broken your vows
a hundred times,
come,
the door is round and open.”

And now, dear friends, we practice. May your week be filled with the ease and grace. May we be blessed with the willingness to practice.

All blessings,
Aruni

 

*words of Jack Kornfield

Heron on Swamp Road

Driving on Swamp Road and being interrupted by a gaggle of adult and adolescent geese waddling across the road reminded me of the powerful and precious teaching from this beautiful poem by Wendell Barry. Give yourself the gift of relaxing into his words.

When despair grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

 

We share the earth with a parade of majestic critters; some sleep on our beds, some in the forest. How can be pay more attention to them? How can we draw on their presence, their peace, to enhance our own? Here are some simple ideas to contemplate—

• For Our Animal Companions at Home: Don’t be fooled by the critters with whom you live. Just because they are snoring on your couch and wearing the sweater you knitted for them doesn’t mean they aren’t a hair away from deep, elemental wildness. Watch them—open to them. Notice when the wild reveals itself. What an opportunity we have, to live with something, with someone who has learned to cooperate within the human system, yet, in a heartbeat, is wild and fully natural, living in the rhythms of the earth in ways our human minds cannot imagine.
• For the Birds: Listen. Notice differences in their chirps, dependent upon the time of day. Watch. Do they feed alone? What is their flight like? What species of bird opens your heart the most? Look on line—get a book. There are extraordinary helpful guide books to assist in your bird listening/watching.
• For You City-Dwellers: No exemption is granted you from this experience; perhaps you will have to look more carefully. Go to a park. Notice the trees. Watch the squirrels. What seems to be happening in the Land of Squirrels? How do the animals interface, if at all, with the human participants in the moment? The bunnies and birds around Kripalu appear fully entrained in knowing that people are safe and, if you are adorable enough, you will be fed. This, of course, has both an up and down side.
• For Our Brains—Evidence-Based Data: Remember. Do you have any past experiences of animal intervention, an animal calling you back to center and self? Do you have any experience of animal communication, in which you were fully assured of the communication offered you? Has an animal visited you in a dream? Has an animal, known or not, been part of your healing journey? When? How?

According to researchers at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, we share our planet with 8.7 million species, not counting bacteria, just in case you might be. Nearly 6.5 million of these live on land, while 2.2 million live in the ocean. We are not alone here. Let’s open our eyes, let’s relax our hearts; let’s draw on our glorious partners in our homes and out.

To the feathered, the furry; to the fuzzy and the hoofed—
To all the sizes and shapes of beings who walk this earth with us—
May we see you,
May we shepherd your safety always
and
May we rest in the arms of your silent depth.

Dear Readers, dear friends, do let me know your animal experiences, currently or in the past. Please keep me posted. I am aruni@rnetworx.com.

All blessings,
Aruni

 

 

A Reenactment*

Rather than seeing joy as a random gift, let’s consider it a practice, an active discipline, in the best sense of the word. Surely, we don’t make joy happen—we just aren’t that powerful. But we can, as a consistent practice, create the circumstances in which joy is manifested. Regardless of the internal or external, the personal or political situations, we can choose our focus.

What are the elements of joy upon which we might agree? Here are a few—please add yours to the list. Joy may be:

• Body-centered
• Fleeting
• Expansive
• Contagious
• Experienced alone
• Experienced with others
• Triggered by nature
• Almost fluid in its nature
• Available when our minds are quieter
• ______________? Add yours here.

The practice of leaning toward joy demands that we be present with all of life. It does not make us immune from the inevitable challenges and constrictions of living. To the contrary, being present in the moment is the key to unlocking the door of possibility. If we are busy trying to control the moment, trying to push away the “hard stuff”, surely, we aren’t there to be filled with that whoosh of prana, that flow of energy that is joy.

I believe that any body-centered practice will make us candidates for joy. Moving the body, quieting the mind, creates the circumstances for joy to emerge. Walking, dancing, playing, biking, doing yoga—are only a few of the springtime doorways through which you might walk toward joy. The body’s messages get louder as the mind quiets. Our hearts open to the flow of life.

Why is it that we tend to shy away from the activities that we love the most, that are perhaps the best for us? Amrit Desai, Kripalu’s former guru, used to teach about “bliss tolerance level”. Perhaps it just feels too good—too much pleasure—is that a possibility? Consider. Certainly, we each and all, deserve all the joy in the universe.

So how might we ready ourselves to receive this joy. Here are some suggestions:

• Consider—as a kid, what activities were fun for you? Perhaps renewing one of those in this upcoming week might open your heart.
• Thich NHat Hanh says, “Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet”. Take a week and experiment with this glorious invitation.
• Go to the zoo, the beach, a beautiful park. Notice and breathe and relax.
• Walk barefoot—in sand, in grass, in water. How does it feel?
• Watch a hilarious and ridiculous movie. Consider the Marx Brothers, Charlie Chaplin, Woody Allen. My personal all-time favorites—Some Like It Hot and Bananas.

What’s the bottom line here? We deserve it. We deserve it. We absolutely deserve it. Let this springtime open your hearts to the positive flow of life energy. Simply said, lean toward joy. In the words of Rumi:

“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.”

Let’s practice flowing with that river.

Dear Folks, keep me posted. What are joy-filled memories you have, either from decades ago or this morning? What can you bring again into your life, to flow into the zone of joy? Consider and let me know.

Here’s to our birthright, the flow of joy,
Aruni

*Photo, of author, by author, reenacting the infamous hoodie-panty experience.

 

The emotional wounds of our children, the children we were and the ones we still are, live in our bodies. We do not outgrow their issues until we allow ourselves to revisit them, to touch in to their feelings and begin the process of releasing. As we attempt to keep their struggles separate from our lives, we compromise our own creativity and spontaneity, depriving ourselves of their youthful brilliance.

The yogis and ancient sages teach us about samskara, the unresolved energetic experiences that live as energetic cysts in our bodies. In the body-mind paradigm of yoga, we learn that life brings to us the appropriate triggers, the perfect people, places and things, to begin releasing the samskara. The gifts of this practice are many; more internal spaciousness, freedom from the past, and a renewed sense of energy and flow, to name a few. Yoga on and off the mat both activate and integrate the samskara, as do different therapeutic systems.

Pema Chordin, the wondrous Buddhist nun, talks of “befriending” our different selves. How might we use this concept to connect to our wounded children? Here is a practice of befriending our inner children. Is there anything here for you to practice? Just consider:

Sit quietly, releasing distractions from your environment. Soften into your breath, as your eyes relax, drawing your gaze inside. Spend a few moments in contemplation, listening to the sound of your inhale, the whisper of your exhale. Be slow, be gentle with yourself.

As you are ready, imagine the child that you were. See her, see him, right in front of you. How old is this dear child? What is she or he wearing? What’s happening in her world? As you sit with her, with him, let each breath relax you and soften you into this child’s world. When you feel readied, here are some questions to consider–

• How was this child most hurt? Consider and contemplate. Watch with radical compassion.
• Imagine you could become this child and channel her words. Become her. Speak, write, or consider the words of her or his hurt.
• And now, as an adult, from this vantage point of healing, speak directly to this little one. What words of wisdom, comfort, or hope can you offer her? What do you want her to know?

What is something you could do together, something fun, today, just for today, with this essence of internal playfulness? There are many ways to continue mindful relationship with this child, if that draws you—writing to one another or having a consistent playdate are just two.

Dear Readers, let’s move forward into this spring with intentionality and compassion for our own journey. Please, as always, keep me posted—has anything touched you in this welcome letter and blog? I am aruni@rnetworx.com.

All blessings,
Aruni

 

Sunset

Ayurveda, the original health care system developed by the Indian sages over 1200 years ago, looks to the rhythms of the day, of the season, and of the body to ensure wellness in the body-mind continuum. An extraordinary system of health care, it teaches us to observe nature, where there are so many clues for healthful living. Night is shrouded in darkness— then the sun rises. The light comes and shifts and travels through the sky. Finally, the sun sets; light is released from the day. Darkness and night return. It changes. It passes through. We let it come and we let it go.

However, as we attempt to hold onto what is, as we struggle to analyze and codify the moment, we interrupt the natural fluidity of things. We inevitably create suffering. It seems our practice as mindful people must be to cultivate the stance of non-judgmental observation. This perspective offers us a more hands-off relationship with our minds and with the moment; both become places to watch and, with radical acceptance, accept and realign. From relaxed acceptance, everything becomes possible.

It’s coming to pass—it’s not coming to stay. Fighting against reality, pushing against the moment, makes everything harder. Just like yoga on the mat, when the sensations build, fighting against them, struggling to overcome them only increases the struggle. Relaxing into what is allows the transmutation of feelings through our body, as well as circumstances though our lives.

How can we relax into the fluidity of the moment? How can we cooperate with life such that the moment flows more ease-fully? Here are some simple strategies to struggle less and to savor more:

• Breath
  This is the best intervention we have; as the sensations build, as you notice feelings rising in your body and/or thoughts racing through your mind, take three deep and long breaths. This will shift us out of the sympathetic nervous system (fight—flight—freeze) and into the parasympathetic nervous system (rest—digest).
  

• Body-centered relaxation
  A Twelve Step slogan says, “Move a muscle, change a thought”. Movement will quiet the mind, releasing the tension in the body. Move—do something fun. Walk, run, swim, dance, play. Play! Play in your body, rather than in your mind.

• Self-care
  Reframe discipline as the loving gift of practice. What pillar of self-care needs your kind attention today? Nutrition? Movement? Stress Reduction? Sleep? Consider which is the wobbliest of pillars. Give yourself one simple gift in this arena. Do it today, as a presentation of lovingkindness, to you, from you.

And now, we practice. We simply notice and do our best, allowing our brains, our bodies and our behavior to relax into life, just a little more.

Dear Readers, please let me know what resonates with you in this blog. To what pillar of self-care are you committed? What would that look like? What’s body-centered fun today? Do you have a particular practice of mindful breathing that works for you? As always, please do let me know. I am aruni@rnetworx.com.

 

May you ride the waves
of your life,
Aruni