• Breathing Practice

    • September 3, 2010 11:32 am

    Dearest Readers,

    Where does your dark side come out? In traffic? In supermarket line-ups? Mine is on the phone with “agents”. You know, “Okay, you’d like to speak to an agent. One moment while I transfer you.” That kind of agent.

    It’s not pretty. I’ve worked on this, believe me. And then I’ve worked on it some more. And I continue to work on it, one call at a time.

    Yesterday, someone gave me a new tool. She called it a Breath Prayer. On the inhalation, you summon whatever Force you choose to believe is spinning the planet, whatever Higher Guidance you entrust with your life, and on the out breath you say the thing that is going to ground you in that Power.

    For example:

    Inhale Higher Guidance.

    Exhale Centre Me in Patience.

    I love this. It’s easy. It doesn’t take any time at all. And I can do it anywhere.

    Including on the phone with an (inhale, exhale) agent.

    Inspiring Message of the Day: Today I will create a Breath Prayer that works for me. I will keep it simple and make it meaningful and I will practice it whenever I need Grace on my side.

    Let Him Be

    • July 27, 2010 7:38 am

    Dearest Readers,

    If you happen to be spending time in the company of someone who is in a bad mood what do you do? Do you immediately ask her what is the matter? Do you try to compensate for his grumpiness by becoming overly cheery? Do you act like nothing is wrong and behave normally? Maybe you turn sour, too.

    No doubt I’ve responded in “all of the above” ways over the course of my life. I’m certainly sensitive enough to venture the question, “Are you okay?” but I’m also anxious enough to turn into a Chatty Cathy in order to lighten the situation. Often I will choose avoidance. It’s the easy way out. Or I’ll take on the negative energy and ‘bang’ I’m in a bad mood also. I’m a good codependent that way.

    But I’ve changed. Or, more aptly, I’m constantly changing. Willing to try the new behaviour. Willing to do it differently. Willing to evolve.

    I was recently dining with a couple of friends, one of whom was behaving in a most sullen manner. I didn’t feel it was my place to say, “What’s the matter?” although in hindsight I probably could have. My anxiety was rising steadily and I could feel the yakity-yakker itching to get out. I could also feel my anger brewing and foresaw myself joining my friend on his gloomy island of despair.

    But I didn’t feel despairing. I felt grounded. So why should I go there? I shouldn’t.

    So guess what I did? I breathed, relaxed, and I let go. Let him be. I don’t have to take him on. Let him have his feelings. I don’t have to take them on either. Perhaps his own anxiety is causing him grief. I’ve been there. I’m not there now. I can be present with him in his state without altering my own.

    Kind of a miracle. Kind of radical. The temptation to somehow alter the situation was overwhelming. “I’m uncomfortable and I gotta make this different. I can’t handle this I gotta change it.”

    No, I don’t. Breathe, relax, let go.

    It wasn’t long before this man’s own spirits lifted and the atmosphere changed. Not my doing, folks. I was too busy Be-ing.

    Inspiring Message of the Day: Today I will not let another person’s mood alter my own. I will stay grounded in my own Power unswayed by what is happening around me. I will breathe, I will relax and I will let go.

    I am

    • June 19, 2010 9:39 am

    Dearest Readers,

    Here on the ashram life is quite simple.  Waken early, meditate, chant, practice yoga for the body, eat, do service, study, more yoga, eat again, meditate again, study some more and bed. Nothing complicated about that.

    But the study, well, I wouldn’t say it’s complicated, rather it is decidedly simple but it is not easy. For here we study the Ultimate Reality and becoming that which we already are: the manifestation of Pure Consciousness.

    Yup, told ya it was simple.

    Inspiring Message of the Day:     Who am I really? I am a human being, yes, and I, too, am a part of the Great I Am, the Power of Oneness Back of All Things. When I remember this my fear is relinquished.