TODAY WE REMEMBER THE MASSACRE OF WOMEN

• DEC 7: Topic: Violence, guilt, powerlessness. Open online #menswork groups for men at 11am and 6pm. Please register at https://www.sacredbodies.ca/monthlywork (all proceeds to go to the Comox Valley Transition Society, creating & holding safe spaces for women & children in my community)

• Today's suggested practice: Day 7 of this month's practice... (see below)

• My playlist while writing today's meditation: Mozart, Requiem https://music.apple.com/ca/album/mozart-requiem/1440771795

• My morning practice: 5am: 75 minutes, physical , yogic practice, including Meditation for Trust

• My vulnerability practice: I feel this powerlessness and this rage, a heart broken by knowing how tender and vulnerable She is, and how roughly She is treated, and has been treated in my life…

Hans Peter Meyer

VIDEO

November was National Domestic Violence Awareness Month in Canada. This our issue, men.

TODAY'S MEDITATION

My beloved is a woman. She is an engineer. She is in Montreal. And I can only guess at how all of this comes together on this day of mourning.

This is my issue, as a man. To own that violence against women is something that both affects me, and is something I have not yet done enough to change. So yes, guilt, anger, fear, powerlessness, rage, frustration —so many things to feel. And, to remember the tenderness and vulnerability of women confronted with the hatred this culture shows towards them. Sometimes killing them. Always, dangerous, in some way.

If you are a man, I am inviting you to help change this. Feel yourself. Feel how strong you are, and how afraid to be strong, and resolve to do what it takes to do what I consider is our sacred masculine work: to create & hold safe space for the feminine.

We’re not doing so well.

It’s why I do what I do. My effort, not enough I know, but feeling my way towards what is right, here, in this life.

I invite you today to remember, and to commit. Let’s do this. For our sisters & daughters & granddaughters. For our mothers and grandmothers. For our wives & lovers. For our friends & colleagues. For all the women and girls. And also for all the boys and young men who need our heart-centred and powerful leadership, to be unafraid of the feminine. Let’s do this for each other.

But first, today, we remember:

Geneviève Bergeron

Hélène Colgan

Nathalie Croteau

Barbara Daigneault

Anne-Marie Edward

Maud Haviernick

Maryse Laganière

Maryse Leclair

Anne-Marie Lemay

Sonia Pelletier

Michèle Richard

Annie St-Arneault

Annie Turcotte

Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz

Murdered at the École Polytechnique in Montreal.

TODAY’S INSPIRATIONS

All of the women’s organizations calling us to pay attention to our male violence against women.

TODAY'S SUGGESTED PRACTICE

Day 6 of this month's practice, take 6 minutes today to sit and listen to “The Longing”…

Please read through first, then ...

• Today, sit (or stand) in stillness as you listen and chant, or simply listen to this song, let this question stir within you…. What are you feeling as you allow yourself to think about and feel the fact of what has become known as the “Montreal Massacre?” Perhaps you’ve experienced violence against yourself? Just for a moment, feel that fear, powerlessness, rage —whatever, feel it, fully. Hold yourself, just for a moment and breathe into it. And again, wonder. Wonder, at how beautiful and resilient and powerful you are, even in the face of your hurt. And then ask yourself, How am I holding space for this part of myself? For this part in the feminine in myself, and all around me? There is so much hurt to hold, and you are able to be some of that holding, even if only for a moment.

• Begin by closing your eyes and aligning your body into its truest, most elegant posture, tucking your chin to lift your heart, tilting your pelvis to straighten your spine. Become still, more still than you've ever been. Your alignment is the physical training for trustworthiness. Bring your hands to your heart, right (masculine) over left (feminine).

• Focus on feeling the vibration. That is all.

• Set your timer for 6 minutes or listen to “The Longing” by M Path here:

• As the timer signals or the song ends allow your eyes to slowly open. Take three, relaxed breath cycles, no pressing, no effort, and feel yourself full, without thoughts, open. Safe to receive. Then, step into your day, letting the mantra echo as a nourishing vibration whenever you become still. You don't need to DO anything. You are alive! You are breathing. Let the world come to you with its demands, its complaints, and yes, its endless tide of gifts and blessings.✨