Month: September 2018

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Be Here Now

The greatest and yet simplest gift that our mindfulness practice brings is a connection to the present moment.  When we inhabit the present moment, we can open ourselves to all of its possibilities, its opportunities, the full experience of that moment in time.  When we release our attachment to our busy thinking mind, our past regrets and future worries, we can simply be in the Now.  In this moment lies the possibility for peace and joy; in this moment lies an opportunity to grow and heal.

My second meditation on Insight Timer has reached the head of the queue and is now live!  Be Here Now is a practice that begins with awareness of your breath and your surroundings, and then it guides you on a scan of the body to help you connect to the full experience of each moment.  I invite you to explore this practice whenever you find yourself distracted or disconnected, feeling stress or anxiety, or simply in need of respite from the busyness of your day.

Being here now helps you to cultivate a sense of peace and calm that will allow you to navigate whatever arises on your path.

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A lifetime of learning

This weekend I had the extraordinary privilege of studying with Father Joe Pereira. A Catholic priest for 51 years, Father Joe also studied closely with B.K.S. Iyengar for more than 40 years. He has been sharing the wisdom and healing power of Iyengar yoga around the world, while harnessing its therapeutic benefits to treat addiction and manage HIV/AIDS at the 69 treatment centres run by Kripa Foundation, which he founded in 1981 (http://www.kripafoundation.org/).

For those who are unfamiliar, B.K.S. Iyengar is widely known in the West as the father of modern yoga. The form of Hatha yoga he introduced is firmly rooted in the eight-limbed path set out for us by the sage Patanjali around 400 CE.  Iyengar yoga is often thought of as alignment-based asana, but it is so much more than a physical alignment practice – guided by the moral and ethical compass of the Yamas and Niyamas, it seeks to align the external body with the internal environment; it enables us to forge a union of body, mind and spirit, and from that place of union we can discover our connection to the Universe, to the God of our understanding, to that which is greater than ourselves.  We come to realise that we are not separate from one another; this existence is shared, and we must live it together with compassion and lovingkindness.

To me, the importance of lifelong learning cannot be overstated.  Our minds and bodies thrive when we are learning something new.  Though I am a teacher of yoga and meditation, I will always be first and foremost a student.  I try to approach each day with an open heart and an open mind, receptive to whatever lessons that day may bring.  When I take a class, a workshop, or training, I invite a beginner’s mind as I explore with wonder all that is being shared.  In the presence of someone with such depth and breadth of knowledge like Father Joe, who is extraordinarily wise, compassionate, humble, and kind, I am filled with gratitude for his teachings; like a sponge I absorb all of the wisdom he shares and welcome it deep within my bones, deep into my heart so that it may infuse and inform my practice and my daily life on and off the mat.

There are lessons to be learned in every moment – we need only pay attention and open ourselves to the wisdom in the world around us.  When we learn something new it changes our perspective; we look at our life, or aspects of it, in a different way.  These teachings can come to us in myriad forms, through myriad channels, anytime and anywhere.  Though we can have powerful learning experiences in formal settings like courses and workshops, some of the most profound lessons come when we least expect them – in our encounters with friends and loved ones, with unfamiliar people and places, when we are communing with nature.  The common denominator between all of these learning opportunities is that we have opened ourselves to possibility, and we have done so with presence, with mindful awareness, with a willingness to release our attachment to what was and welcome something new.

For these latest teachings from Father Joe, I am deeply grateful.  When you look back upon your life, at the important lessons you have learned, who are the teachers and what are the experiences that taught you most?  For even the seemingly small lessons we can give humble thanks, for every lesson we learn informs our journey, shapes who we are, and helps us determine the next step along our path.

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Be bodacious

Each of us has the right, the possibility to invent ourselves daily. If a person does not invent herself, she will be invented. Be bodacious enough to invent yourself.  ~Maya Angelou

A dear friend shared this quote with me recently.  The words of Maya Angelou never cease to inspire and amaze me with their insight and wisdom.  With each day comes new possibilities, new opportunities. And yet, how often do we truly explore them?  How often do we have the courage and audacity to fully embrace change, to evolve, to invent ourselves daily? I suspect that for most of us, the hurdle that lies between us and invention is our own inner critic, the judgments we lay upon ourselves over and over that limit our ability to love and accept who we are in each and every moment.

The first step on the eight-limbed yogic path is Ahimsa, non-violence.  To practice Ahimsa means to do no harm in thought, word or deed – no harm to ourselves, to others, to the world around us.  To practice Ahimsa we must truly embody compassion and lovingkindness, and this begins with ourselves.  The Dalai Lama asks: “What is love? Love is the absence of judgment.”  Through mindfulness we seek to observe each moment, each thought, emotion, and sensation, without judgment or attachment.  Our mindful awareness shines a light on our inner critic and when these judgments are exposed and identified, they begin to lose their power over us.

In my classes I often invite students to turn their gaze inward, to reflect within. Both yoga and meditation are internal practices that enable us to know our true selves, to connect with the innate wisdom and beauty that lies deep within us.  The trouble is that to reach this inner sanctum, we must slay dragons like self-doubt and fear, we must awaken from what author / meditation teacher Tara Brach calls the trance of unworthiness and fill ourselves to the brim with compassion, with lovingkindness, with acceptance of all that we are and all that we can be.  Armed with the power of self-love and true acceptance, we can connect to our intuition and plumb the depths of our wisdom to guide us on our journey, our evolution, the bodacious invention of ourselves daily.

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Gratitude

“He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.” ~Albert Einstein

“Who is rich? Those who are happy with what they have.” ~Jewish scripture

It’s easy to get so caught up in the day-to-day challenges of our life that we forget to open our eyes to the myriad gifts that surround us.  It’s easy to let our attention become so sharply focused on the future and what we want to acquire, achieve, accomplish, that we neglect to look in the periphery of our present and acknowledge what we already have.  At any given time on our path we could be standing triumphantly on a peak, mired in a deep valley, or walking steadily somewhere in between.  No matter where we find ourselves, whether the path seems clear or hazy, it is exactly the right time to practice gratitude.

There is something quite profound in regularly giving thanks for the simple blessings in our life.  The practice of gratitude helps us shift our focus to the unsung heroes that support us on our journey.  We can give thanks for the love of family and friends, for the roof over our heads, for the technology that allows me to share these words with you and enables you to access them from virtually anywhere.  We can give thanks for the gifts of hearing and sight, of taste, touch and smell that allow us to connect to the world around us and marvel at its beauty. Even in the throes of despair or disease, we can give thanks simply for the breath that nourishes us and gives us life in that moment.

Gratitude can offer us a refuge from our inner and outer struggles.  It shifts our gaze away from our challenges and helps us cultivate a sense of contentment, balance and perspective.  We are reminded to appreciate the simple joys of life, the gift of being alive, and we begin to recognise that this too shall pass – whatever ‘this’ may be.  We remember that change is our constant companion and with each moment arrives new possibilities, new opportunities to grow, to learn, to heal, to stand rapt in awe at the simple blessings this moment brings.

Gratitude can be practiced anytime and anywhere, and like any skill, the more often we practice, the more adept we become.  When you awaken each morning, ask yourself: what am I grateful for on this day?  When feelings like frustration, anger, loneliness or pain arise, invite yourself to pause and bring to mind one thing for which you are grateful in that moment.  The more often we pause to wonder and we acknowledge that we are truly rich, the better able we will be to find contentment within ourselves and the world around us.

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A walk in the forest

The present moment is a gift. Unfortunately, it is one we often neglect as our thoughts rush headlong into the future, planning and worrying, or they get mired in the past, reliving and regretting. When we allow ourselves to connect fully to the present moment, something magical happens – we open ourselves to its possibilities. Our kind attention gives us new eyes through which to experience the world around us and we awaken to all that moment has to offer.

The other day I spent the morning wandering through the forest along the lake. The natural world is deeply nourishing to me – it soothes, mind, body, and spirit. As I climbed over rocks and roots, felt the softness of cedar and pine and moss beneath my feet, I was fully awake and firmly grounded in the present. My attention was rewarded with beautiful treasures as I explored with wonder and curiosity the world around me: mushrooms of all shapes and sizes were peering out from fallen limbs and leaves. The forest floor was alive with these little gems, and had I been hurrying along lost in thought, I would have missed their marvelous show.

Joy comes to us not in big, bright bursts, but more often in glimpses and glimmers that we can only see when we are paying attention. Where can you find little gems in your daily life? What slivers of joy come into view when you pay attention? The softness of the breeze on your face, the smell of bread fresh out of the oven, the warmth of laughter shared between friends. Each moment is an opportunity to experience joy, even in its tiniest measure. As you move through your day, I invite you to welcome the gifts of each moment and see what treasures await.