Post election 2020 Seeing parallels… The day I kicked my narcissistic husband of nearly a year and a half out of my house, I felt a gargantuan victory like never before. At the time, I cried tears of relief for hours and wondered why it took so much effort to finally put appropriate boundaries up. I only then understood the stress I had been enduring. Those boundaries would prove to be the meager beginning of a very long struggle with knowing how to hold up against these types of forces. To kick him out took an immense build up of … [read more]
Blog
As the Geese Fly: A Contemplation on Life Tempo
My experience with the geese this weekend has inspired me to think about the tempo of life and how resonance with nature is the way forward. The geese know exactly when it is time to fly. I recognize that I too must be in sync with the resonance and tempo of nature. This occurrence came about as a result of my growing relationship with the subtlety of nature over time, with our land, the movement of birds, insects, animals, trees, sun, light, shadow, wind and the concert that is created from all of these things. I can know very much … [read more]
Four Stages of Spiritual Work
As the Awareness School year progresses with many groups in session, I am struck by a clearer understanding of various stages of this great Spiritual Work. Whether that be gathered from one on one meetings or the women’s group or the various classes within the introductory Practical Awareness Course or from our studies of vigilance in the Tuesday night group, we span a spectrum of experience that seeks freedom. Across the board, something has become more solidified for me regarding sign posts of these stages, and so I offer a brief overview. My intention is to elucidate certain aspects of … [read more]
The Elusive Center
Our theme of vigilance is revealing something about the elusive feeling center. Last Tuesday many tried to describe what emerged when in this type of vigilance meditation as we rested in curiosity and stillness without expectation. We can come to know the sensation of the body on a profound level with the use of this practice. It is the foundation by which greater openings can occur. It takes us out of our heads and grounds us in an energy required for presence. If we do this practice not only in our meditation but out and about in life, it yields … [read more]
Meditative Vigilance
My meditation practice over the last 30 years is ever evolving. The stages through which I have emerged are due to the consistency of the practice. However, it is possible to meditate in ways that do not promote our evolution and in fact can hinder it. It is a slippery slope between effort and non-effort, between aiming for something and accepting what is, between discipline and abandon. This edge could be considered vigilance, but this vigilance evolves…changes character. There is a tightrope one walks where a toehold on attention balanced with letting go is a tiny back and forth motion … [read more]
Energies
Energy is a huge subject. J.G. Bennett has written extensively about them, so this is an introduction and my take on his schematic. We interpret the word energy in many ways and experience what energy is in our bodies, our thoughts and our emotions. With loss of “energy” we feel listless. We also may experience energy blocks in the form of illness, disease, or emotional anguish. However, there are energies of a higher order that feed something more than our day to day functioning. Energy by its very nature is never destroyed but only transformed. When we are interested in … [read more]