7/5/20: My classes this weekend focused on freedom. Freedom for me means freedom from the prison of my mind. When I want to control things, or when I feel disappointed, angry, frustrated or anxious, I feel trapped. When I am uncomfortable, I remind myself that I have tools to find my way back to the present, and back to peace. I can breath, be grateful, walk, practice yoga, spend time in nature, or gaze at the full moon. As the Buddhist teach Pema Chodron says, “it’s not life that causes suffering, it’s the story we’re telling ourselves that causes so much distress.” When we practice interrupting the story we’re telling ourselves, we can find a new freedom in the face of uncertainty and change.” Click HERE to read Pema Chodron’s article, “Free Yourself from the Story of You”.
5/31/20: A friend of me told me about Medicine Cards. Tarot and Oracle (medicine) cards are used to help answer questions about our personal life and our choices. The cards I purchased are animal Medicine cards, which channel animal totem power and teachings about our pathway in life according to the Native American concept of medicine. Medicine in this tradition includes anything that heals the body, mind, and spirit. Class today focused on the meaning of Crow pose. Crow pose symbolizes rising above our perceived limitations. “In seeing what is true, you may need to weed out past beliefs or ideas to bring yourself into the present moment. Crow reminds us to remember that Divine Law is honoring harmony that comes from a peaceful mind, an open heart, a true tongue, a light step, a forgiving nature, and a love of all living creatures. Honor the past as your teacher, honor the present as your creation, and honor the future as your inspiration.” -Medicine Cards by Jamie Sams & David Carson. I purchased the Medicine Cards online, and they came with a beautiful book that describes the healing benefits of each animal.
“The very first Easter was not in a crowded worship space with singing and praising. On the very first Easter the disciples were locked in their house. It was dangerous for them to come out. They were afraid. They wanted to believe the good news they heard from the women, that Jesus had risen. But it seemed too good to be true. They were living in a time of such despair and such fear. If they left their homes their lives and the lives of their loved ones might be at risk. Could a miracle really have happened? Could life really had won out over death? Could this time of terror and fear really be coming to an end? Alone in their homes they dared to believe that hope was possible, that the long night was over and morning had broken, that God’s love was the most powerful of all, even though it didn’t seem quite real yet. Eventually, they were able to leave their homes, when the fear and danger had subsided, they went around celebrating and spreading the good news that Jesus was RISEN and LOVE was the most powerful force on the earth. This year, we might get to experience a taste of what the first Easter was like, still in our homes daring to believe that hope is on the horizon. Then, after a while, when it is safe for all people, when it is the most loving choice, we will come out, gathering together, singing and shouting the good news that love always has the final say! This year we might get the closest taste we have had yet to what the first Easter was like.” -Unknown Source
“This is a time of ritual opening. The world knows what to do... the daffodils shoot upward, the insects hatch, lizards crawl out of their dens. And the prayers. In the still moments the soft prayers come, they pass over each of us like snippets of a new song, or whispers of a promise. We need only listen, attentive and true. Listen to what is calling you. Shed the skin of old habit, melt the fear that freezes. Trust each breath, trust the cycle of becoming. Prepare for a great resurgence where greed and cruelty die a thousand deaths. We want only to live in a kingdom of kindness. We are feeling today the sorrow for lives lost and, too, the immense possibility of renewal. Who knows the creative force behind this strange, silent season? Get ready to emerge from this long dark dormancy. The time is upon us now for rising up, waking from this long, mute, insentient sleep.” -Tias Little
“In this strange time of social distance, we do not go cold. We do not turn away from the world, dispassionate and aloof. Rather by bearing witness we come straight from the heart. Our hearts bleed concern, loving kindness, and nurturance. We acknowledge our own vulnerability and the vulnerability of all we love. In bearing witness, we garner both the resiliency and love to withstand the fate of the world, come what may.” -Tias Little
“A powerful shift is happening in and all around you. As the days go by, you will continue to notice these changes, both personally and collectively. This time has everything to do with nourishing your inner equilibrium, but more importantly, it’s here to inspire collective consciousness. Whether or not you believe it, there is a silver lining to the chaos.” —Valerie Mesa
The Bright Side of the Sun
In the face of the fast-moving Coronavirus, all of us are no doubt experiencing creeping pangs of fear. Anxiety crawls through our gut, and dread lodges in our shoulders and neck. We are worried for our families and members of our community. Fear is palpable on the street as the existential threat to health, livelihood, and survivability continues. We are seeing people respond through consumptive grasping -- buying up groceries, hand sanitizer, and TP. Yet under the lining of despair, there is, for those of us engaged in ongoing and deep practice, opportunity for harvesting a kind of potency at this time.
First off, there is the Power of the Pause. While our lives barrel lickety-split down the track, we are now suddenly encouraged, in fact mandated, to take our foot off of the collective accelerator. If we do not succumb to panic we can exhale. As the world brakes and the buzz and burn of traffic is reduced, the atmosphere all around is more serene, sattvic. Not since the tragedy of 9/11 have we come to such a collective halt, and in the midst of the break we are led to wonder, will we ever experience such space and quietude again in this lifetime? Perhaps this momentous brake/break will enable a Big Shift and clarify our intention to take care.
In the pause we exhale, we let go of urgency, rush, and demand. Like in pranayama, when the breath is interrupted between cycles and the entire physiology can reset, we have an opportunity to press the “refresh” button. I always say in SATYA practice, “let the pause do its good work.” The pause allows us to shapeshift into something new and unforeseen. In the process of meditation and yoga, the pause (called nirodha) is essential to transformation -- the shedding of the old habit of being. At the very least, and this is great in and of itself, the pause is an invitation to just be.
Each of us wonders, how long will this viral threat last? Will it metastasize and effect us all? Is the person in front of me in line at Trader Joe’s contagious? This is a reminder of another tenet of practice: Not Knowing. Not knowing involves witnessing impermanence, seeing that everything is in flux, from the outermost galaxy down to the cells in your spleen. That everything is “fluxing,” mutable, and uncertain lies at the heart of the Buddha’s teaching on transience. Through a lifetime of practice, we learn to breathe through uncertainty. And it is through not knowing that we attend to the great mystery. There is no better time than now to peer back over our shoulder and ask, “what have we been doing?” and look ahead and ask, “how can we come to a collective homeostasis?”
In the hermetic quarantine that we are now in, there is a cache of real gifts to be uncovered. One is the reckoning that we have been scorching the very earth that sustains us, with a hellbent urgency for more, bigger, better. The other is the acknowledgment of just how fragile and precious this terrestrial life is. We come to a sincere appreciation for the very fabric of social networks that sustain us -- schools, supply chains, farmers, health care providers, sports, the press and… each other. In the midst of the shutdown (and before it all starts up again) our obligation to protect and preserve this treasure-filled blue globe is made all the more clear.
Spiritual seekers have long sought isolation as the fertile ground for revelation, compassionate presence, gratitude, and vision. While we bide our time in our own homes and spaces, may we not tremble in fear like caged rodents, but put into practice the very peace and resolve needed to sustain the wonder of the world that is ours. -Tias Little