SOMETIMES I RESIST

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

• My playlist while writing today's meditation: John Coltrane, A Love Supreme 

• My morning practice: 30 minutes, Sat kriya and Linking to the Infinite pranayama and mantra

• My vulnerability practice: Breathing I slow down and allow Her to nourish me, to swallow me whole...

—Hans Peter Meyer

MY MEDITATION 

Sometimes I resist what life gives me. Imagine that! Sometimes I resist the situation. Or the person. Or their attitude.

Sometimes it takes me a little —or a long!— while to hear the love song that She is playing.

As I wrote that last sentence I could feel my heart breaking open, to receive something I can't put words to. Oh, this tender ache...

I'm listening to Coltrane's "A Love Supreme." I'm looking out the window at my garden, the world. She is wet. Soft. Yielding. And I am in awe. Bewildered. I am quiet and feeling this ache, this yearning to be swallowed by the richness, the wonder of Her.

...

I am today 48 days into a practice that transports me, opens me up. I shared this with a friend yesterday. We were sitting on the edge of an escarpment above a river valley. In the Spring rain it's own kind of beautiful bewilderment. He closed his eyes. Six minutes of breath and mantra, and something stirred in him. Strange to see these small, subtle things like posture, breath, sound blossom him who I think in so many ways resists. Or is it me?

Sometimes I sit on the edge of my life and am amazed. How did all of this come to me? I am reminded of a simple phrase that has stayed with me after doing a guided Inner Voice meditation years ago: "It's OK. Relax."

Indeed. Relax. Allow. Feel it all. Trust myself to hold it all. This is how I love myself: accepting it all, enjoying it all, opening to the ache of yearning and letting Her swallow me whole, and being witness to all of it.

TODAY'S INSPIRATIONS

🌀I think God is on Earth, inside every living being. What we call "the divine" is none other than the energy of awakening, of peace, of understanding, and of love, which is to be found not only in every human being, but in every species on Earth. (Thich Nhat Hanh)

🌀The Conscious Warrior practices the cultivation of wonder and awe. (John Wineland, Precept 7)

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

TODAY'S SUGGESTED PRACTICE

Six minutes to begin to know your infinity, your deep beauty and power...

Please read through first, then ...

• Find a place where you can make some sound without being disturbed. Set a timer for THREE minutes (you'll reset half way through).

• Sitting or standing, close your eyes and allow your breath to gently slow....

• If sitting, place your left hand on your left knee (if standing, hold your heart with your left hand).

• Close your right nostril with your right index finger and begin to breathe long and deep through your left nostril.

• Close your eyes and roll the up and in to focus on the brow point midway between your eyes. Let your mouth fall open and place your tongue against the roof of your mouth.

• Breathing only through your left nostril exhale slowly (15-20 seconds) chanting ONG. Feel the vibration in your tongue, your nasal passages, your jaw. Keep breathing and chanting slowly allowing the vibration to be felt throughout your body.

• When the timer signals, gently move your right hand to your right knee (or your heart, if standing). Close your left nostril with your left index finger,. Reset the timer for THREE minutes, and, as before, begin chanting ONG long and deep (15-20 seconds for each exhale).

• When the timer signals, relax posture but keep your eyes closed for three breath cycles. Notice the echo of the sound vibration in your body.

• Open your eyes and see all that is before you. Now, move gently back into your day.

• You may repeat this practice at any time, and for up to 11 minutes each side, if you wish. As always, enjoy!