THE LONG GAME...

• Today's suggested practice: Three minutes ... (see below)

• My playlist while writing today's meditation: Jon Batiste, I Need You https://is.gd/mMvQ0f

• My morning practice: Sleep in; Short warm-up followed by Sat kriya, with Linking to the Infinite pranayama and mantra later....

• My vulnerability practice: A softness at my edges, allowing something unknown, unimaginable to enter...

—Hans Peter Meyer

MY MEDITATION Impatience. The word that came to me during practice today, after reading this morning's passage on "retraining consciousness" (see below).

David Deida talks about three broad approaches to love. In my experience I know these three broad-brush stages as useful ways to understand my relationships, not only to "love," but to all of what the feminine brings me. And every time I become impatient with what life is bringing me I can choose to have compassion for myself, for being, again, in the "first stage" —anxious that I won't get "enough" of whatever it is I am wanting more of.

The moment of feeling ill in my body this week changed my perspective on recent "flowering" in the garden of my life. Not a change in thinking. A change in feeling. And, today, I am satisfied. For this moment.

There is nothing that that has changed from three days ago, when I was becoming anxious and impatient with life —nothing except the reminder of a body not well: slowing me down; resting; noticing how good it feels to drink water, to read, to not read, to breathe....

In Deida's "third stage" there is no wanting, only the question: How do I serve love? Or, How do I serve the feminine? How do I hold this moment as holy, reserved for Her blossoming —in Her time, in Her way?

Yes, there are things I want. But, today, these have become less important. Less clear. What remains? My depth. My presence. Opening.

TODAY'S INSPIRATIONS 🌀...in this environment of unfair advantages, your love of fairness ignites hard work and a long game strategy....you’ll overcome all desires for quick solutions while honouring compassion over competition, equality over hierarchy and truth over any orchestrated victory...invite deep understanding to neutralize the 'deep-fake' weapons. (Guru Singh and Guruperkarma Kaur, Retraining Consciousness)

🌀Our nervous systems are built for relationships. (Anon)

🌀 I'm always impressed by you. (My beloved, my Oracle)

TODAY'S SUGGESTED PRACTICE Three minutes of sitting with yourself and another....

Please read through first, then ...

• Ask a friend if they will sit with you for just three minutes. Either in person, on the telephone, on video, or even just audio.... Tell them you will be sitting silent for ten minutes, that nothing is expected of them. They can talk, or be silent.

• After a few moments of greeting, in which you let your friend know that you are doing a yogic practice as directed by your teacher. There are no expectations from them, except that they are sitting with you or on the call for these three minutes. Set a timer for three minutes. And...

• Sit. Breathing comfortably, slowly deepening into your belly. If you are sitting with your friend in real space or on video, look into their left eyes. Attend to this: Hold their left eye, but don't stare, keeping your gaze soft. Imagine your eye and your heart opening.... breathe slowly, deeply.

• When the timer signals, relax your gaze and nod or bow to your friend. Thank them for participating. Ask them if they have anything to say. If they do, listen. Before responding, breathe deeply for three cycles. Decide if you have anything worth saying.

• As you step out of the practice, as you put down the phone or otherwise end this practice, reflect on this: your friends and family, your world, is here to nourish you, and to be nourished by you. We don't have to "do" anything but bring ourselves into a powerful and witnessing presence.