love is everything

Every atom of you is made of love, all the spaces between the atoms- love. Everything vibrates the energy of love. Simple, joyful love. There is nothing that is not love. So go ahead, try to be unlovable. It's impossible. Here I am, still drawn to your side, wanting to hug you, to help you remember.

Peaceful Love: Marriage Equality

Are we trying to win the battle or end the fight? I know how easy it is to get triggered.   I know the seduction of winning the argument and proving them wrong.  I know the wild, free, uncontainable feeling of screaming in the streets.  But I also know that it scares my spirit.  It hurts my soft soul.  I don't want to fight.

I want to love.  Softly, peacefully, quietly.  We can call our anger by the name of love but the heart knows.  It knows that a hand held in silence is more powerful and more true than any battle cry. 

Consider disengaging from the fight. Rise above the endless struggle. Just love more.  Love deeper.  Love whenever and whoever and however you are able to love. Love the way the sun shines its light. Let it touch whatever it can reach. Let it fill the trenches in the heart.  Let it blur the lines we have drawn around and through ourselves. 

Love heals the brokenness and makes us whole. We need to feel whole. Human. Simply and uncontainably human. Equally, lovably, vulnerably human. Because that's the truth of us.  That's just what we are.  

We are angry & hurting, I know. I know because I feel it too. And that's how we feel when we are feeling less than the simple,  complicated and endlessly beautiful human beings that we are. 

But the fighting won't soothe us.  War never led to peace & we need peace alongside our love.  

Offer it to yourself.  Love your insatiable love and find peace in it. Just Love. Not in spite of them, not to show them, but simply because that is what our soft hearts are asking for- to love and be loved.

Come out and play

In the span of everything, you won't happen twice. Not like this, in this way. So show the world what you are made of, show them your heart, speak your vision, because if you don't, the world will never know what it could have been if you had chosen to show up. And the people around you will never know how much of you there was to love. And I want to know. I want to love the truth of you. Come out of you. Show me.

Heartbeat

I want to share something with you- 
Stop for a moment and place your hands over your heart. Feel the vibration of your own heart beating. We share this, and there is no way to share this. It is yours uniquely, and it is mine uniquely, but together, we share this experience. This is the simplicity of connection. This is the truth of us. Peaceful, simple, clear. Beyond words. Peacefully the same and gloriously different. Thank you for sharing this life with me.

For Today, On any day

I hope that you make a really nice day for yourself. Take every opportunity to be kind to yourself. Let's choose the experience we want to have and indulge in our ability to offer it to ourselves. 

And you may say, "Today, I want to win the lottery!" Or, "Today, I want to be on the beach in the Caribbean!" But I know you hear the little voice in your heart. And like mine, today, like everyday, we are just asking to love and be loved. You have the blessing of experiencing both at once, toward yourself, always. Start there. 

Ask yourself, "What would be nice, right now?" And see if you are willing to do what you can, for you. Maybe it is as simple as a cup of tea, or a re-positioning of your body to be more comfortable. Love is simple like that, and you are so deserving of that kindness. I wish it for you, for us. Today, let's honor ourselves, together.

Keep moving

Hey, I want you to know, I see you struggling through your struggle, and I think you are doing beautifully. Spring is coming. All the tiny sprouts are gaining strength by slowly, patiently moving through that thick dark earth. They instinctively move through the darkness toward the sunlight that they have never seen. Trust, you are heading in the direction of unimaginable light. Keep moving, little one. Something in you knows the way.

Aum Shanti

I spent the afternoon chanting "aum shanti" with a gentleman who had experienced a series of stokes that have left him with limited capacity. "Aum shanti" is his favorite chant and today we got a good rhythm, and he started clapping and stomping and shouting... "aum shanti aum shanti." Over and over. For those who are unfamiliar with the chant, it is a chant for peace, for peace that surpasses understanding. It is a kind of affirmation that everything in existence is an expression of a peace that surpasses comprehension. And together we shouted for peace, we stomped for peace, we clapped for peace and then we whispered for peace. And I told him, "if you want to rest I will continue, just rest and enjoy the vibration." So when he grew tired, he mouthed the words, and I gave them sound. Peace, peace beyond words. Peace that is softer than even the idea of peace. I whispered peace to him as the snow fell and he rested his eyes.

Lovably flawed

Yesterday, I bought a plate in a thrift shop and chipped it as I was washing it for the first time. I was so angry at myself. So ashamed of my inability to have a proper clasp on a slippery thing. And I had wished that I had broken it entirely, so I wouldn't have to face it over and over. 

Today, I remind myself, flawed things are still lovable. There is a freedom in allowing the flaws to be there. A freedom comes when you stop fighting them and hiding them in the back of your kitchen cabinets. There is a freedom in loving yourself through your imperfection. So it turns out that I am still lovable, even with fumbling slippery hands and a new, freshly chipped plate. Thank goodness. Because I need to be loved.

A Reminder

When I was little I used to spin around really really fast until I got dizzy and then hurl myself in the direction of soft couch cushions and wait for the spinning to stop, then jump up and do it again. I think I still do that, but now I call it living and sometimes I forget to enjoy it. Today I remember- This is all for the fun of it.

For the hard times...

With any rough patch you are going through, remember, you have probably come through moments that were harder than this. And if you haven't, if this is the hardest yet, then you have the opportunity to grow into more than you have ever been before. In order to meet the challenge, you have the opportunity to be stronger than you have ever known yourself to be. And everything that comes after won't seem as daunting. You are capable of overcoming so much. Honor your power and your strength and know you are not alone. I am here, sending love and support.

Translations

I don't write. I translate.  I communicate energy through words. 

I use words like conductors to bring the energy through. Or like made rivers to let it flow. 

 Most of the time I am bringing through the energy of love.  

For a long time, every sentence was a trench. Not a river, but a line of defense to hide behind and to hold it all back.  

Now I want to use every word in the service of my loving. Mold. Feces.  Love.  Love me.  I'm here. Yes, even here.  And look.  There you are.  Right beside me. 

Everywhere, every word.  I love you. Yes,  I still love you. Even in that place that you are sure no one should see.

  I'll meet you there. Or we can go together.  You can show me the way  to a new part of us to love.  And I'll translate, to make it softer.  I'll use the trench as a river and send water to the deserts in your spirit. I'll make it easier to live there. I'll make it safer and softer.  So we can stop the fighting and finally come to rest. 

To my students, with love & gratitude -

I can't explain it except to say, I fall in love every time I teach a yoga class. 

I fall in love with the human spirit.  Its softness, its impulse toward self protection and self care, its impulse toward pushing forward and growing, its stumbling, its falling out of tree pose and head-shaking tongue-clicking disappointment and trying to rush back in again.. over and over.  Or the giving up and being still, and knowing, "not today."  I love the hopeful effort and the "probably not, but I'll try," and I watch you try,and I cheer for you, whether you succeed or not, I cheer for your trying. I love the "my god, I did it." I love the "nope, still can't do it." I love your serious faces when I ask you to "shake your branches in the breeze." Like pretending to be a tree was to be taken very very seriously, and to fall short of proper tree-ness was not something to be taken lightly.  And I love the "ahh finally" sigh  when I guide you into deep relaxation. Or the "oh god this better not be too long, please let her talk me through" and the "why is she still talking, I want to be quiet." What I am trying to say is.. you, each of you, every one of the people that have unfolded their mats in front of me, have been some of the most endearing and amazing people I have ever met.  

In the course of a class we have shared a whole range of experiences, from dread to relief, from disappointment to hope, and we have built sacred trust. I do not take it lightly. I am moved. 

I have seen you fall and I have watched you lift.  I have seen you rest and I have seen you struggle through. And I have experienced it all by your side.   I too have fallen out of tree pose and looked around to see if anyone noticed. I too have said, no, my body will never enter that pose, and I too have wondered if I was any less for not being able to enter it.  I too wondered if I was lovable even in my fumbling falling-short of expectations.  You are... and there are no expectations.  I am merely here offering possibilities for experiences.  Trust, you will have the perfect experience for you if you honor yourself. It is your body that is your teacher, it is your spirit that guides you, I merely offer suggestions. I merely stand in the front of the room and watch as you unfold yourself, and follow the path that your spirit takes you on. And I look on in awe.  And I learn, and I share the space of growth, and I get inspired. 

I hope you are inspiring yourselves.  Because every time you show up, you show up for you.  Every time I show up, I show up for me.  And some how, we meet each other. If we go deep enough within ourselves, we find each other.  I have found you all deep within me, I recognize the light we share.  And I want you to know. You are amazing and I am more amazing for you being a part of my life. Thank you. 

Thank you for sharing the experience, and thank you for the trust that you have placed in me as you allow me to guide you through. You are my blessing.