Thanksgiving

Teachers who treated my inquiry as worthy. Teachers who, when I grokked the knowledge offered, treated me as an esteemed colleague. Holly Prado, Jeff Kober, Thom Knoles.

Students, who come to me with worthy inquiry and teach me that we're all able to cognize the Truth.

Friends who have stayed with me through several incarnations and various stages of evolution - I don't see them often enough. Nicole Criona, Steve Brady, Christi Styles, Jen Hirshorn, Adele Slaughter.

For lack of a better word, Frienemies. Those who grit their teeth when I'm around but still manage to share and impart wisdom and show me that we don't all have to like each other to be each other.

Ex-husband who is not an ex-friend and who is still one of the first people I think of to share good news. Mark Neukom.

My husband, who tells me I'm beautiful first thing in the morning when I have bed hair; who starts the kettle boiling for me and brings me tea if I haven't made it from the computer to the kitchen, who remembers to pick up cat food on the way home from a meeting, who, when he slides into bed before me, warms my side of the bed first ...I could list each gesture but it would be a whole blog entry.

Carl Bartels. Love personified.

Follow Charm

"Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls." Joseph Campbell

Vedic Meditators talk about it all the time using the word "charm". Follow charm. And then the discussion begins - how do I follow charm without becoming really lazy? "Gee, I'm not charmed by getting up at 6 in the morning in order to go to the gym before work. I'm charmed by laying in bed an extra hour."

Well, maybe you are charmed to lie in bed, but are you charmed to gain 10 pounds over the course of 3 months because you decided to stop taking care of your body? Charm has to include the bigger picture. That bigger picture, by definition, includes evolution. You can succumb to the ever-repeating known - lie in bed, feel less healthy - or opt for change (evolution). Change the status quo, change your evolutionary state.

I've used exercise as an example because it's easy to see physical results over a relatively short time. You can plug in any action here. (This is not to say that rest does not have its place in your life - but with vedic meditation, you truly need less rest.)

Today, truly follow charm, follow bliss, right now - what is the first thing that pops in your head. Follow.

Practical Spirituality

Every time I do an Intro Talk, I am reminded of all of the practical benefits of Vedic Meditation. My students ask "but will I be able to stop the loop in my head that tells me I'm not worthy?" Yes.

It's not just an intellectual adjustment, your being is affected on a physical level first. It begins to produce all kinds of yummy bliss chemicals; serotonin, anandomine, 14 different endorphins and these course through your body. Suddenly not only is the loop erased, but the content is then replaced by your higher deserving power.

Everytime you sit down to meditate you open the channels to the message - I am That, thou art That, all of this is nothing more or less than That - and when you recognize this truth, you realize there is no higher deserving power than self recognizing Self.

Filling In

Today I filled in for Jeff Kober. He was out of town on an acting project and I was honored to be asked to run his Knowledge Meeting and lead the group meditation. There is a two-fold responsibility when you're asked to "fill in". First, as a teacher, you want to step up to the plate and answer worthy inquiry. Second, as the "substitute", you want to uphold the quality the group is used to.

First, thank you, students of meditation, for your most worthy inquiry and the insights you had to share.

Second, thank you Jeff, for the opportunity to fill your much larger chair.