Bittersweet – Jalaluddin Rumi Poem – reading by Madonna

In my hallucination

I saw my beloved’s flower garden
In my vertigo, in my dizziness
In my drunken haze
Whirling and dancing like a spinning wheel

I saw myself as the source of existence
I was there in the beginning
And I was the spirit of love
Now I am sober
There is only the hangover
And the memory of love
And only the sorrow

I yearn for happiness
I ask for help
I want mercy
And my love says:

Look at me and hear me
Because I am here
Just for that

I am your moon and your moonlight too
I am your flower garden and your water too
I have come all this way, eager for you
Without shoes or shawl

I want you to laugh
To kill all your worries
To love you
To nourish you

Oh sweet bitterness
I will soothe you and heal you
I will bring you roses
I, too, have been covered with thorns

She Let Go

Teaching is a divine gift that I am blessed with. Everyday when I teach I learn something new about myself and the world around me.
To me teaching is a way to connect with the divine/God.
I truly believe that when I teach I am guided by a higher power because most of the time I don’t remember what I taught.
My classes are never the same but they are always transformative. I don’t say that with my ego but with my heart. I know in my heart and soul that my teaching is deeper than the knowledge in my head.
This past weekend I co-hosted a yoga retreat in Palm Springs with a friend and amazing yoga teacher Jill Manly. Our intention was to nurture women and to inspire them to receive (something quite challenging for most women).
Unlikely most yoga retreats where you have two asana practices at sunrise and sunset, Jill and I decided to create a unique and transformative journey with healing activities linked to one another to support our students to stay together in their process of “metamorphosis”.
Jill brought a beautiful poem by Ernest Holmes called She let go. And I opened one of the yoga practice with this poem to inspire everyone to release, open, surrender and let go.
But as I was reading it I was struck by the simplicity and power of the poem.
It touched me deeply and it has been in my heart, body and mind since then.
As I mentioned above my teaching also heals me, and this poem was the “medicine” that I was needing to heal my heart. It has been an inspiration to close a painful transition.
The butterflies that flew around the circle when I was teaching yoga was Mother Nature’s reminder to tell me that I am now a butterfly that is ready to fly, ready to explore and ready to live the authentic life that my soul craves so much.
I am grateful for the past and all the lessons but I am ready for a peaceful, loving, authentic and safe present where I can enjoy all that I am and have.
Namaste dear Souls. And may this beautiful and powerful poem inspires you in whatever way it can.
May all beings on Earth be happy and be free.

She Let Go

She let go. Without a thought or a word, she let go.
She let go of fear. She let go of the judgments.
She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head.
She let go of the committee of indecision within her.
She let go of all the ‘right’ reasons. Wholly and completely,
without hesitation or worry, she just let go.
She didn’t ask anyone for advice. She didn’t read a
book on how to let go… She didn’t search the scriptures.
She just let go.
She let go of all of the memories that held her back.
She let go of all of the anxiety that kept her from moving forward.
She let go of the planning and all of the calculations about how to do it just right.
She didn’t promise to let go.
She didn’t journal about it.
She didn’t write the projected date in her day-timer.
She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper.
She didn’t check the weather report or read her daily horoscope.
She just let go.
She didn’t analyse whether she should let go.
She didn’t call her friends to discuss the matter.
She didn’t do a five-step Spiritual Mind Treatment.
She didn’t call the prayer line.
She didn’t utter one word. She just let go.
No one was around when it happened.
There was no applause or congratulations.
No one thanked her or praised her.
No one noticed a thing.
Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go.
There was no effort. There was no struggle.
It wasn’t good and it wasn’t bad.
It was what it was, and it is just that.
In the space of letting go, she let it all be.
A small smile came over her face.
A light breeze blew through her.
And the sun and the moon shone forevermore.
Here’s to giving ourselves the gift of letting go…
By Ernest Holmes

Happy New Year

Happy New Year Everyone!
May we all shine our lights without shame and fear.
May we all radiate like the sun so we can share our light and shower the Earth with unconditional love.
Wishing you all a blessed 2014 filled with love, light, joy, peace and expansion.
Here is some wisdom from my favorite author Marianne Williamson:
” One more year is almost past. The year ahead lies before us like a newborn child, fresh with possibilities, its history not yet written. And as with a child we must be very careful, for its future will reflect either our wisdom or our lack thereof.

Spiritually, every moment is a new beginning. We enter into it with either an open heart or an unloving attitude, voting with our consciousness from a slate of infinite possibilities. Standing on the brink of a new year, let’s feel the joy but also the sacred solemnity of our extraordinary power to design the future.

New Year’s prayers carry more miraculous power than do New Year’s resolutions. Forgiving ourselves and others for the casual unkindness of an unconscious moment; for time wasted in self-pity that could have been used to create something true and beautiful; for lack of gratitude for blessings and privileges. Dedicating ourselves to the purification of our hearts… seeking to stop the chronic indulgence of our weaknesses, and the power to embody our God-given strengths.

Lists can be helpful:

I ask forgiveness for….
I grant forgiveness for….
For I would carry none of that burden on my heart into the new year…

And another one:

I pray that this or that aspect of my personality be healed, transmuted, miraculously dissolved as I enter the new year…
I pray to embody the perfection of my divine potential, as a blessing on myself and others…

This is the moment of the year when we inhabit inwardly both sunset and sunrise. God created them both, but we ourselves decide how to paint them. Next year will bring whatever next year brings, but what we bring TO it will make all the difference. And the greatest thing we can bring to it is our love.” Marianne Williamson
Namaste

Because an idea or way of doing things is popular doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone

Just because an idea or way of doing things is popular doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone. However, part of the way that something becomes popular is that many of us don’t take the time to determine what’s right for us; we simply do what most of the people we know are doing. In this way, our decisions about life are made by default, which means they aren’t what we call conscious decisions. There may be many other options available, but we don’t always take the time to explore them. This may be the result of feeling overwhelmed or pressured by family, peers, and humanity at large, to do things their way, the way things have always been done. Regardless of the cause, it is important that, as often as we can, we decide for ourselves what to do with our lives rather than just drift along on the current of popular opinion.

It is not always easy to make decisions that go against the grain. Many people feel threatened when those close to them make choices divergent from the ones they are making. Parents and grandparents may be confused and defensive when we choose to raise our children differently from the way they raised us. Friends may feel abandoned if we decide to change our habits or behavior. Meanwhile, on our side of the fence, it’s easy to feel frustrated and defensive when we feel unsupported and misunderstood simply because we are thinking for ourselves. It can be exhausting to have to explain and re-explain our points of view and our reasons.

This is where gentleness, openness, and tolerance come into play. It helps if we are calmly persistent, consistent, and clear as we communicate to those around us why we are making the choices we are making. At the same time, we have the right to say that we are tired of talking about it and simply need our choices to be respected. Our lives belong to us and so do our decisions. Those who truly love us will stand by us and support our choices, never mind what’s popular.

Standing in your Truth

“You never find yourself until you face the truth.” Pearl Bailey

“Have you ever been afraid of what people might think about a decision you have to make that could be very unpopular?”

Erika Napoletano broached this question in a Ted Talk. She realized just before she was to walk down the aisle at her own wedding that she didn’t want to go through with the ceremony. She had to choose (very quickly!) between disappointing everyone gathered in the church and disappointing herself. With the support of her father, she chose in her favour.

I’m awed by the courage that took. I know that at a young age, I couldn’t have done the same thing. I hope that now, I could stand in my own truth.

Why do we allow the opinions and feelings of others to have such power over us?

Perhaps it’s because many of us have lost touch with our own truth. Our inner voice has been silenced for so long that the voices of others easily drown it out.

Napoletano reminds us that typically, from a very early age, we mold ourselves into being what other people expect of us. We also learn to be polite rather than honest. “So it’s no wonder,” she says, “that by the time we get to be adults, we can’t tell anyone who we are, what we love and what we’re feeling.”

If this subject resonates painfully, what do we do? Napoletano urges us to stop apologizing for who we are and start being honest with ourselves and others about what we like and dislike.

We can also challenge ourselves to get specific about whose opinions do matter to us and why. This might empower us to stop being swayed by fears that the faceless ‘they’ won’t approve.

Are we now ready to stop wasting time by trying to be all things to all people? Are we willing to muster our courage and boldly claim whatever paths best suit our hearts?

It’s our life, after all. Time to fully live it!

By word of the heart

Imagination, Imaginal Cells, and Evolutionary Leaps

A question of balance

One of the most beautiful qualities of an intimate relationship is the give and take of energy that occurs between two people. In the best-case scenario, both people share the talking and listening, and the giving and receiving of support, equally. Occasionally, within any relationship, the balance shifts and one person needs to listen more, or give more. Generally, over a long period of time, even this exception will take on a balanced rhythm; we all go through times when we take more and times when we give more.

However, there are also relationships in which the balance has always felt one-sided. You may have a friend whom you like, but you have begun to notice that the conversation is always about their life and their problems and never about yours. You may also have a friend who seems to require an inordinate amount of support from you but who is unable or unwilling to give much in return. Over time, these relationships can be draining and unsatisfying. One option is simply to end the relationship, or let it fade out naturally. Another option is to communicate to your friend that you would like to create a more equal balance in which your concerns also get some airtime. They may be taken aback at first, but if they are able to hear you, your friendship will become that much more sincere. They may even thank you for revealing a pattern that is probably sabotaging more than one relationship in their life.

A third option is to simply accept the relationship as it is. There are many one-sided relationships that actually work. One example of this is a mentor relationship in which you are learning from someone. Another example is a relationship in which you are helping someone who is sick, disabled, or otherwise needy. In these instances, you can simply be grateful that you are able to help and be helped, trusting that the balance of give and take will even out in the big picture of your life.

By Madisyn Taylor

Peace within. Peace without.

“There is an Indian Belief that everyone is in a house of four rooms: A physical, a mental, an emotional and a spiritual. Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time, but unless we go into every room everyday, even if only to keep it aired, we are not complete.” Rumer Godden

“The older I get, the more I realize the importance of exercising the various dimensions of my body, soul, mind and heart. Taken together, these aspects give me a sense of wholeness. I want to be a whole human being rather than one who limps on one leg because I don’t know how to use all of my parts. Intellectual, emotional, and physical activity are not separate entities. Rather, they are dimensions of the same human being.”Robert Fulghum

Detox from Technology-Unplug

I believe multi-tasking is over-rated! Recently, I saw a study that said the average smartphone user checks their device about six times an hour. Small wonder so many people these days are feeling distracted and overwhelmed! Making matters worse is that we are the ones constantly interrupting ourselves, tapping that Pavlovian bell we call the smartphone, checking it when it’s buzzing and when it’s not. And what’s all that incoming information doing to us? It’s creating world of people who are stressed out, exhausted and perpetually teetering on the brink of a cold or worse, because their immune systems are similarly fried.
In short, our tech-tethered lives are making millions unwell. While that may be good news for Big Pharma, we in the sustainable wellness community have a better idea: try a digital detox — learn to cut the cord and take your life back from tech. In other words, give your overloaded, “always-on” brain a break. By doing so, you’ll be able to recharge your body and mind, re-connect with your creative side, improve your mood, boost concentration and make room for new intellectual connections you’d probably not have made had you been glued to a screen. Not convinced you may be a bit addicted? Put it this way: if you start your day by checking your email before you’ve even gotten out of bed, or worse, while you’re on the toilet, it’s time for a digital detox. Here’s how to start your dial-down:
1. Do Less Every Morning
Wake, meditate, shower, dress, have breakfast with the family, go through your morning routine – all without blaring TVs, radios, or flickering phones and computers competing for attention. Sure, the kids will probably hate it at first (you might also), but by lowering the decibel and distraction levels, you’ll help tame the early morning chaos, enabling all to focus on getting out of the house on time. To start, try doing this one day a week – call it Mellow Mondays – and add more days incrementally as the family gets used to the new routine. Another tip: If you’re the one holding everyone up in the morning, save precious minutes by not checking email until you’re belted into the passenger seat in the car-pool, then you can officially start your workday.
2. Send Your Brain on an All-expense Paid Vacation
There are numerous ways to disconnect from technology, some short-form and others, a bit more hard-core, but all have one thing in common: silence. Commit to a daily meditation practice even if it’s just for 10 minutes, as soon as you get up. If you can take another mediation break in the middle of the day, even better. The more opportunity you give your brain to calm down and refresh itself, the more productive and creative it will be – you just need to give it a little free time! If you’re ready to make a longer commitment, consider trying a silent retreat, one where meditation and quiet contemplation are the main events. Among the more popular retreat weekend programs are those offered by IMS/Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA.
3. You are the Boss of Your Weekend
Sure, your boss-from-hell delights in spending his entire Sunday firing off non-stop emails, but unless you’re in charge of national security or make your living as a fire-fighter, chances are you don’t actually need to respond until “normal” business hours on Monday morning. Don’t respond Sunday night unless you want the boss to think you’re always on call. It’s about boundaries, people, and in the digital age, we all need to set them.
4. When You’re Off Duty, Mean It!
Make weekends and vacations true relaxation times, not just lighter versions of your weekday workdays. Use the-out-of-office notification setting on your office email and resist the urge to respond to emails until just a few hours before your scheduled return. If not checking your email makes you nervous or puts your livelihood at risk, politely inform colleagues that you’ll be checking emails at specific times, for example 10 am, 3 pm and 7 pm, and will be able to respond only to the most truly time sensitive ones. If you value your off-hours, so will they.
5. Go a Bit Off the Grid
While not always feasible for everyone, I like the idea of occasionally going “off the grid,” and leaving technology behind. For example, when I travel, I lighten my digital and mental load by traveling with just my phone and leaving my laptop in the States. I have several patients who dial-down their digital dependence by spending time in places or situations where Internet service isn’t necessarily guaranteed – and they love the retro feeling they get from being able to step back in time, if only for a few days. One exec has a remote cabin in Quebec where the wifi is subject to the amount of cloud cover on a given day, thus limiting his access. Another simply refuses to connect to wifi on long-haul flights so she arrives mentally and physically rested – and ready to hit the ground running.
6. Make Yourself Digitally Incompatible
The simplest way to disconnect? Add activities to your life that are all but impossible to do with a digital device in hand. Three of my all-time favorites are meditation, yoga and hiking. The beauty of all of these three calming activities is that they are wonderfully head-clearing, fantastic for your body and utterly incompatible with electronic devices.
7. Be Where You Are
When you are texting, emailing, Facebooking etc., in the presence of others, you are not being where you are; you’re only partially engaged with the real world. Your tapping away in the presence of others announces that your mind is elsewhere, and suggests that they’re not as interesting as whatever is happening in your virtual world. If it seems family and friends seem annoyed with your lack of attention, the screen between you and them might be contributing to the problem. Learn to put the smartphone down and start giving people your full attention, you know, just like we used to do in the old days.
8. Go On a Digital Diet
Control some of the mayhem by curbing your enthusiasm for social media. Go on a Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Snapchat diet. Cut down on the number of times a day you check in or are alerted to your friend’s status updates. Update your page every other day or so, instead of multiple times in a day. Are you brave enough to take it a few steps further? Then go rogue and shut down your Facebook account. You might be surprised by how much more time you’ll have to do the stuff you never used to have time for!

By Dr. Frank Lipman

Namaste dear Souls! Let’s all meditate together and bring more love, light and peace to our lives and to this beautiful planet.

Live Life Purposely and Passionately

“Dance like there’s nobody watching
Love like you’ll never get hurt
Sing like there’s nobody listening
Live like it’s heaven on earth
And speak from the heart to be heard.” William W. Purkey