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Rain of Blessings

11/20/2022 by Aruni

“Rain of Blessings”*


This blog post is also available on my Facebook page to make sharing it with friends and family easy for you to do.

I remember
Being in my early years 
Of sobriety
And attending
A Thanksgiving 
Gratitude meeting.

I can remember
Exactly
Where I 
Was sitting
In the room.

How many
Lifetimes
Ago?

And I remember
Thinking–

Oh,
Gratitude— 

I’m tired 
Of hearing
About that.

I
Want something
Something
More
Spiritual,

Something
More
More profound.

OH.
Dear.
Me.

In this 
Present moment 
Of cronehood,
I can excuse
The arrogance
And
Ignorance,
Of 
My
Youth.

I have grown
To believe
As Amrit Desai, 
(Gurudev) has said:

Gratitude is
The highest prayer.

~~~
I remember another 
Meeting,
Probably around
That same timeframe,
My pre-Kripalu,
Early sobriety days,
In the 
Mid-80’s,
In NYC.

I remember
Hearing a woman
Share
That 

Upon awakening,
She thanks the Universe
For all It will 
Offer her
That day.

I was appalled!
Shocked!
Horrified!

What if shitty things happen?

Shouldn’t one
Wait to see
The “kind”
Of experiences
One is given,

Before one
Offers
One’s 
Gratitude?

Oh.
Dear.
Me.

Another opportunity
To forgive the 
Youthfulness,

The
Lack of 
Understanding
Of me,

Me,
Back
Then.
~~~
More recently
In my adulthood
(phew),

I am practicing
Being grateful
For all of it.

For all in me.
For all around me.

Not just the positive
Aspects of myself.

Not just the successful,
Comfortable, funny
Things about me…

But my fear.
And my anxiety.
As well as
My
Shame.

To welcome each

Back home
Into the arms
Of my 
Own awareness,

Into the hug
Of my self-observation
Without judgment,

Into the embrace
Of my own
Self-kindness.

To be grateful for 
All of it.

Outside of me?

The same.

For the hard
As well as
The easy moments.

For the comfortable
As well as
The scary 
Interactions.

For the fear
As well as
The faith.

To be grateful
For all of it.

Inside of me.
And outside.

To be grateful.

~~~
Do you know the Japanese concept of kintsugi?

It is centuries-old art form which joins cracks in pottery with gold dust.

More than an aesthetic, it celebrates the philosophy of embracing and loving our human flaws.

The “repaired” bowls become more beautiful, more unique, more remarkable than their original form.

As we honor once-banished parts of ourselves, we, too, become more beautiful and unique and remarkable than our original form.

Here is an extraordinary video—thank you, Mary Ellen, for sending it on.
Singer-songwriter Peter Mayer performing his song, Japanese Bowl.

~~~
Dear friends,
What parts of yourself to you run from?
Do you hide from others?
Do you wrap in lesser-than,
In not-good-enough?

What might it look like,
To
Befriend them,

To
Welcome them,

To
Celebrate them?

They are doorways
To our wholeness.
~~~
As the days shorten and darken, as the holidays hover, let’s lean into the light.
Miten and Deva Premal are wonderful chanters who can lead us there.

Here’s a song from their new album, Miten—the Jungle Session.

At the end, please watch the extraordinary woman doing a prana dance.
This is our very own Kripalu teacher, Nina Crisp, a woman of grace and strength and fluidity.

Here are Miten and Deva Permal, with Rain of Blessings:

~~~
Dear Friends,

In gratitude 
For
What was.

In gratitude
For 
What is.

In gratitude
For 
What
Might
Be.

Inevitably 
And
Eventually

May we
See the blessings.

Best,
Aruni
~~~

REMINDER

Grief, Loss & Renewal—Savoring Life’s Lessons

December 2-4, at Kripalu Center

This program is both powerful and gentle, grounded in acceptance and transformation.

Please pass it on to anybody to whom it might serve.

Information Here

*Title comes from Miten and Deva Permal Song of the Same Name

Filed Under: Uncategorized

And Bow Often

11/13/2022 by Aruni

“And Bow Often”*

Moonrise over Pond

 

This blog post is also available on my Facebook page to make sharing it with friends and family easy for you to do.

As the leaves fall,
Curtains are 
Drawn open
Onto
The landscape.

More is revealed!

Leaves carpet
The earth
With musty,
Delicious-for-dogs
Delights,

Crunching 
Beneath
Boots.

Our world,
This glorious planet,
Stunningly alive
Now adorned
With vistas galore.
The giant moon
Dangles,
Rising over the pond.

The waves 
Dance
In the pond.

The geese overhead
Nosily,
Assuredly
Head home.

And bow often,
Says Mary Oliver.

And bow 
Often.

~~~
Meanwhile
The earth
Is
On fire.

Meanwhile
We push each other
Away 
With violence
And
Unimaginable 
Fury.

Meanwhile
Justice,
Equality,
Freedoms
Dangle
Incomprehensibly
Like
The 
Moon.

Meanwhile
The earth 
Is
On fire.
~~~
How do we live in both realities?

How do we 
Ride the waves
Of
The
Cognitive
Dissonance—

Natural beauty 
And
Injustice?
Stunning moonrise
And
Starving children?

Perhaps we
Just practice.

Perhaps
We
Bow
Often,

Being with
Whatever it is.

To all of it.
To all we are given.

Let us 
Practice
Being
With.
~~~
To acknowledge
Both realities
Of our world, 

Here are two 
Different
Pieces
Of
Inspiration,

Offering
Acknowledgement,
Appreciation,
Blessings
To all we are given.
~~~
First,
OH! Our Mary Oliver, When I am Among the Trees:

~~~
And secondly, from Playing for Change.
From our place of privilege and comfort, let us remember.

“On the International Day of the Disappeared, 
This is our tribute to the thousands of people who disappear
Every year due to armed conflict, violence, natural disasters
Or on the migration route.”

And I Still Haven’t Found…

~~~
Dear Friends,

One step,
One breath,
One thing
At a time.

Through
Simplicity of purpose,
Through
The
Lens
Of 
Radical kindness

May we find
Our
Way
Forward.

Stay blessed,
Aruni

*by Mary Oliver

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Let Yourself be Heartbroken*

11/06/2022 by Aruni

Let Yourself be Heartbroken*

This blog post is also available on my Facebook page to make sharing it with friends and family easy for you to do.

In how many ways,
For oh, so long,
Have we
Protected
Ourselves
From
Our
Own
Feelings?

In how many ways,
For oh, so long,
Have we run
From
Our
Fear?

From
Our
Heartbreak?

I certainly have.

I
Sometimes
Still 
Do.

Lama Rod Owens
Tells us:

“Let yourself
Be heartbroken.”

His invitation
Echoes.

His surety
Calms.

His
Clarity
Rings
Authentic.
~~~
I understand.

In my head,
I know.

Kripalu yoga
Off the mat
Teaches
Us
To
Be
Exactly
Where
We
Are. 

One moment,

One
Feeling,

One breath
At a time.

I know that.

Yet I get 
Scared,

So scared
To feel.

Let yourself be heartbroken,
~~~
I am heartbroken,

HEARTBROKEN
About the world.

The violence.
The injustice.

The cruelty and lies.

The overriding
Of
Reality
For personal
And
For
Political gain.

As a child of the 1960’s,
I am shocked,
Surprised,
Disappointed,
And
Profoundly,
PROFOUNDLY 
Heartbroken.
~~~
I thought
I really did,
I thought
We could change it.

I thought
I really did,
I thought
Peace and flowers,

Freedom and happiness
Were possible
For all.

For all.

I was wrong.

So far,
I was wrong.
~~~
Why bother?
Why feel?
Why?

Leonard Cohn says it 
Pretty darn succinctly:

 

Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack, a crack, in everything.
That’s how the light gets in.

~~~
When we feel our pain,
Our suffering,

We are able
To 
Feel
Others’.

When we 
Authentically
Connect
To ourselves,

We can
Then
Authentically
Connect
To others.

And the
World
Changes.

The world,
For that nanosecond,
Becomes
One.
~~~
Anthem, from the London concert:

~~~
Here is a fascinating and wonderful article and video, about a farm in Arizona that offers refuge from the aloneness of grief, creating a community of connection and compassion.

Read Here

~~~
Dear Friends,
Strong back,
Soft front.

Strong
Back.

Soft
Front.

Strengthen
Yourself

While

Opening
Your
Heart.

Feel your feelings
While noticing
The
Beauty,

While
Noticing
The Grace.

They are intricately
And forever 
Intertwined.

We
Are
Intricately
And
Forever
Intertwined.

Dear friends,
Strong back.

And
Soft
Front.

Stay blessed,
Aruni

*Lama Rod Owens
https://www.lamarod.com/

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Keep Coming Back

10/30/2022 by Aruni

Keep Coming Back

This blog post is also available on my Facebook page to make sharing it with friends and family easy for you to do.

 

I know the teaching.

I understand the principle.

Don’t you?

Stillness lives inside.
No matter the externals,
We are able to connect
To the silence.

To the emptiness.

To the void within,
That is Everything.

I know the teaching.
I understand the principle.

Don’t you?

And then—
HAAAAA—
Then there 
Is life.

In Twelve Steps we say,
Life on life’s terms.

No shit, Sherlock.

I know the teaching.
I understand the principle.

And then—
There is life.

~~~
We can.
We must.
We do.
We find our way
Back.

We
Remember perspective.

We
Ask for help
In remembering.

We
Relax into
Something
Else
Beside
Our minds.

What do we do?

Do we—
Pray?
Meditate?
Stop?
Make a call?
Hug a dog?
Look around?
Look inside?

How do we return?
How do we ask for support
For our returning?

Our journey back
From forgetting
Back
Into
Remembering?

~~~
Here’s one of my all-time favorite vehicles of return:

~~~
Lyrics:

(Santa Maria, Santa Teresa, Santa Anna, Santa Susannah
Santa Cecilia, Santa Copelia, Santa Dominica, Mary Angelica
Frater Achad, Frater Pietro, Julianus, Petronella
Santa, Santos, Miroslaw, Vladimir
And all the rest…)

A man is placed upon the steps, a baby cries
High above it hear the church bells start to ring
And the heaviness
The heaviness settles in
Somewhere you can hear a mother sing

Then it’s one foot then the other
As you step out onto the road, steppin’ on the road
How much weight? How much?
Then it’s how long? And how far?
And how many times before it’s too late?

Calling all angels
Calling all angels
Walk me through this one
Don’t leave me alone
Calling all angels
Calling all angels
We’re trying, we’re hoping
But we’re not sure how long

And every day you gaze upon the sunset
With such love and intensity
Why it’s almost as if
If you could only crack the code
You’d finally understand what this all means

But if you could
Do you think you would trade it all?
All the pain and suffering?
Ah, but then you’d have miss
The beauty of the light upon this earth
And the sweetness of the leaving

Calling all angels (calling all angels)
Calling all angels (calling all angels)
Walk me through this one (walk me through this one)
Don’t leave me alone
Calling all angels
Calling all angels
We’re trying, we’re hoping
But were not sure how
Calling all angels (calling all angels)
Calling all angels (calling all angels)
Walk me through this world (walk me through this one)
Don’t leave me alone (don’t leave me alone)

Calling all angels
Calling all angels
We’re trying
We’re hoping
We’re loving
And we’re hurting
We’re crying
We’re calling

‘Cause we’re not sure how this goes

(Songwriter: Jane Siberry
Singers:  Jane Siberry and KD Lang)

~~~
Returning.

From the inevitable
Lapse,

From the inevitable
Forgetting.

Connecting to something
Anything
Bigger
Than
Our 
Minds.

~~~
No matter how many times
We forget,

And forget,
We do!

Friends, that is the human dilemma.

Whenever you notice
The forgetting
In all the forms
It might take—

(Anxiety, fear,
Forcing a solution,
Etc.
Plus/And
A trillion
Options….)

Come back.

Be restored.

Be renewed.

Remember.

Ask for help.

Realign.

That is the dance
Between
Human
And
Divine

That is
Ours
To
Dance.

~~~
Up here in the Berkshires,
The leaves are mostly on the ground.
Some remaining yellows oh, so softly shimmer from the hillsides.

The space around me feels open,
Vast, yes.

Vast.
May we find ourselves
In the vastness.

May we honor
The constriction

And know
It is a doorway

To expansion.

May the highest
Unfold for all.

All blessings,
Aruni

Filed Under: Uncategorized

For Women, Liberty & Life

10/23/2022 by Aruni

“For Women, Liberty & Life”*

This blog post is also available on my Facebook page to make sharing it with friends and family easy for you to do.

Dear Folks,

From the safety 
And the privilege of our lives, 
How do we bring compassion, 

Truly bring compassion

To the suffering of others?

How do we lend
Our authentic support?

As we allow ourselves
To experience
Our own broken hearts,

Is that the doorway
To the broken hearts of others?

From our bubble 
Of safety,

How do we
Offer
Compassion,

And 
Caring,

And
Right action,

The struggles
Of others?
~~~
I have
No answers.

I offer
Just a 
Simple practice.
As best we can,

Can we Feel
What
Is,

From inside,
Out?

Can we
Pray
For the highest
To unfold
For all?
~~~
Here is a man who connects hearts.
Here is a man who has stirred a movement.
Shervin Hajipoler.

Iranian musician.
Activist.
Connector.

His song, Baraye, is considered the anthem of the of the Mahsa Amini protests in Iran.  Two days after the song was published, he was arrested, September 29, 2022.  He was released on bail on October 4.

So moved by this song and its iterations, I offer three links to it.  
For Women, Life, and Liberty.

The first version offers us translation:

~~~
The second version, we receive the faces, the passion of the protest:   

The third, the Dutch Dance Company DC 058 gives movement to the sentiment:

 

~~~
Dear Friends,

For women,
For life
For liberty.

May the highest
Unfold
For 
All.

From the
Darkest
Of clouds,
May
A
Rainbow
Emerge,

Eventually
And
Inevitably.

Dear Friends,
Stay Blessed—
Aruni

* Shervin Hajipoler

Filed Under: Uncategorized

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