Bicycle Lessons

I have a new bike.  It has a basket and I love it.  

Lesson One:  When bicycling to Whole Foods for breakfast items, do not get raspberries.  Unless you want to use them in a smoothie when you get home.  Then raspberries are a fine purchase.

sustenance, spirituality, unity

I finally sat down and read "eat, pray, love".  Several friends have recommended it to me over the last few years and I resisted it because... well, because I was in the middle of my own journey.

Last week I acquiesced and borrowed the book from a friend.  The movie was coming out and I wanted to at least have a point of reference for the conversations that would undoubtedly transpire.

After I finished the book (a good read and I admire Ms. Gilbert's attempt to put into words what is the most difficult to articulate - a personal spiritual experience of transformation) I sat with it in my hands for a moment looking at the title and then just smiled.

eat, pray, love -- sustenance, spirituality, unity

It's why we're here - it is the path of evolution.  Write your own story.

Recent Follow-Up to Knowledge Meeting

At my July 24 knowledge meeting & group meditation, the subject was relationships... one of the Vedic Meditators followed up and sent me an email asking for clarification.  Relationships are such an important part of our lives that I thought I'd share the exchange and invite feedback.  (I cut the introductory discussion from the student in order to protect identity and specifics.) Basically, he had a question about the "distinction between attachment and letting go of "needs from the other person".

"Its just difficult for me to understand because I always thought that there are natural needs and expectations in relationships.

Take a married couple for example. They are married and in love. There seems to be some commitment to the partnership in that they each count on each other in order to have a shared life together.

Now if "person A" leaves the relationship by just saying "I'm no longer satisfied in this marriage" or "I'm seeing someone else" or whatever, than "Person B" is supposed to just be alright with that?"

My response:

We are all evolving toward not expecting another person to fulfill our "needs". We are fulfillment. We bring that fulfillment to the relationship. If you come to a relationship expecting the other to complete you or satisfy a need, you will invariably be disappointed. It is why relationships end. 

The beauty of this is that if both people come to the relationship understanding they are fulfillment in their own right, by definition there is no reason either one would no longer "be satisfied" by the other. The reason people leave relationships is one of two reasons: 1. Person A thinks that Person B is responsible for fulfilling their needs and that doesn't get done and they leave seeking yet "another" to satisfy their needs; or 2. Person B feels the weight of Person A's neediness and understands they can't possibly satisfy that need and leave. There are variations on this theme but essentially, that's the nut.

As humans, we're never just "okay" with loss but if someone leaves you, then look at self before putting all blame on "other". Chances are the neediness factor was high on one of the sides.

Finally, people commit because the relationship becomes a third entity that is greater than the sum of the two. If it is not, it often doesn't last. Commitment to something greater than oneself is not a lock and key, it is the road to freedom.

Any thoughts?

Arctic Circle

As imagined, it is a harsh life.  On the island of Kivalina there is no running water.  There is very little room to build homes for growing families and the island, due to climate change, is shrinking.  The community knows what the next move must be, where to migrate, how to save the culture, but there are voices that tell them "no" - voices telling them to go elsewhere.  That elsewhere (far north of the village and ocean) does not include a life the tribe has lived for hundreds of years; a life of subsistence, a life of rhythm.

I, being from L.A., only a visitor, made my way to Fairbanks today, on to another set of interviews.  I sat in a bar (non-existent in Kivalina) next to a man from Illinois.  He asked why I was here, whether I was a tourist.  I said "no" I was working on a documentary on climate change.  He wasn't impressed. I could tell that he, being from Illinois, a cold state, didn't put much stock in the concept.  "Is that what they tell you?" he asked.  "No" I answered, "that's what they're living."

And then he made me smile sadly, ironically, inside.  "Why don't they just come down here if it's that tough?  If life is hard, why don't they move south?"  I realized his beer wasn't deep enough to dive into the the fact that some of them had tried that.  Had been to Florida.  Had been to Nevada.  Deep warm states.  They went back north.  Why? Because of the heat?  No.  Because they couldn't find jobs.

In Kivalina, meat is the price of gas for the boat.  When you catch it, or kill it, it feeds an entire village.  In Kivalina, life is lived for others.  

We need to think about that.

San Diego Vedic Meditation Students

I taught in San Diego last week (Thursday through Sunday) and it was such an amazing, synergetic experience.  Every turn was supported by nature and completely frictionless.

Just want to give a shout out to the new meditators, B.J., Marti, Blake, Leah and Lou Ann!  I also wanted to thank Heather at Bird Rock Yoga for hosting us and providing such a beautiful space for the course.

Jai Guru Deva!

Connection through Conversation

I just finished a telephone conversation with Michael Miller, a colleague whom I respect very much.  

It is at these moments that I appreciate the individual manifestations that make up the many.  I enjoy the give and take in communicating with an other that ultimately leads me to a deeper understanding of Self.

Oneness.

Intro Talk in San Diego!

As you know, I've been to Des Moines, Iowa to teach and my hosts have been Jules Green Zubradt and her mom, Joyce Green - lovely women and incredibly evolved beings.

Jules is a Life Coach and the soul of The Meditation House, a three-city venue offering workshops that expand your event horizon and providing a space to learn Vedic Meditation.

In June, Jules will be in San Diego offering a workshop and yes, once again helping to introduce Vedic Meditation to the community.  Toward that end, I'll be holding an Intro to Vedic Mediation on Wednesday, June 9 at 7:00 p.m. (location to be announced).  

In the meantime, you can go here to r.s.v.p. and let us know you're interested.

Homeward Bound

Teaching Vedic Meditation in Iowa this past week has been a re-connection for me and I hope a re-cognition by the students of their higher deserving power leading to renewal of self/Self.

In Los Angeles we have access to many avenues of evolution - so many roads that it's easy to lose our way, easy to sit in traffic, feeling at least we're pointed toward destination.  So sometimes when potential students show up for an Intro Talk, they see meditation as just another thing to try and, like other things, maybe it will have the surface affect of the "feel goods" for a little while.  Those people usually come up with a reason they can't do it "right now".

But those who are ready and understand, finally, that they're tired of reading books, attending workshops, saying affirmations and talking about the idea of "higher Self", make the commitment to learn Vedic Meditation. 

From the first meditation, the resonance, the recognition of unbounded leads to the realization that this is not a set of beliefs - this is not a school of thought.  

It is action.  

It is knowledge enlivened through experience.

Reunion

I have a high school reunion coming up this summer in Bismarck, North Dakota.  The deadline for registration is May 1.  I haven't registered yet as I'm still waiting to see what the spring will bring.   Recently, a classmate sent me a message, through the website created for the event, asking if I was the one who dated so-and-so.  I honestly couldn't remember having dated the person in question (gives a hint as to how long ago this was) and I answered that I remembered being friends with him but not dating him (and apologized to him if I had) and then gave a brief answer as to my activities in high school to help the emailer identify me.

He had the right person (and apparently my apology to so-and-so was merited) and then went on to ask me about my spiritual beliefs because in high school I was a self-professed "athiest".  Here, I should explain how I came to be an athiest at such a tender age, suffice it to say, it would take too long and the truth is I was at the beginning of my spiritual evolution.  First, we tear down, clear a space -- then Truth has somewhere to begin its growth.

In any event, that led to a series of emails between us where he assured me he wasn't judging me, then asked me about my spiritual beliefs now and told me I was "incorrect" years earlier.  Hmmm.   Basically, he has a Christian faith that he wishes everyone would adopt. 

Since all faiths are welcome to practice Vedic Meditation, I acknowledged his spiritual path and then asked the following question to illustrate my current spiritual understanding: 

God is omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent - how can we not be wholly God?

He replied "Do you see yourself being omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent?"   A challenge that I answered so that he could understand.  

The simple answer can only be elicited by worthy inquiry.

The Martin Guitar & Miracles (Part II)

On March 27, just before noon, the doorbell rang.  I was in the bedroom in my meditation chair reading, waiting for potential meditation students to show up to my Intro Talk for Vedic Meditation.

I heard Carl answer the door and a woman's voice say "I have something for you" and then a silence and then Carl's stunned voice ask "Who are you?!?" and her voice answered but I didn't hear what she said.  Assuming a potential student had arrived, I went out to the living room to find Carl who looked at me and then pointed at something.  I followed his hand to find a case "Martin".  We sat on the floor next to each other and opened the guitar. It looked exactly like his - he said "I'm absolutely sure that it's mine." He pointed out familiar scars. 

The woman had said her name was Jules.  Carl didn't recognize her and I never saw her. 

Carl sat on the living room floor strumming his guitar.  I didn't have any students that day but we have music in the house again.

The Martin Guitar & Miracles

A little over a month ago my husband sold his Martin guitar to a music shop.  He did so because he wanted to surprise me with the ability to buy a plane ticket to Iowa because I had been invited there (for the second time) to teach Vedic Meditation but we didn't have the funds for me to go.  When he handed me the cash, I was surprised and immediately asked him "where did this come from".  He hesitated and then began to explain that because his thumb had been bothering him, he wasn't playing his guitar and .... at that point I burst into tears.  

That guitar had been part of our courtship.  That guitar was part of our "Shasta Circle Singers" early in our marriage when we would invite friends over on a Sunday afternoon for barbecue potluck and cheap entertainment of playing and singing.  That Martin guitar, for me, wasn't just a symbol of creativity, it was creative action.

I went to the shop, money in hand, but the owner said he had already promised it to a customer and refused to sell it back to me.  As he spoke, I was staring at the case, on a high shelf.  I left in tears.  Later that afternoon, our car broke down and the money was used to pay for the repairs.  So much for the plane ticket.

The next day I was in a better place about it and realized that of course, all things happen for all reasons.  I shared the story with fellow students in Adele Slaughter's Prosperity & Abundance workshop.  The response I got was overwhelming and sweet.  One student said "I wish you had said you needed a ticket, I can help you with that, I have tons of frequent miles from my days as a model."  Ting! I had a ticket to Iowa.  It was so amazing and in working with her on the logistics I felt that I also had a collaborator - she and I were both doing our part to teach Vedic Meditation. 

For me the whole experience was a lesson in allowing others to be instruments of abundance and a reminder that I am not the source.

While this lesson in source might be considered a small miracle or perhaps not one at all, there is a second part to this story that lives up to the title of the post.  I'll share that tomorrow.

Service

Where does the universe need me to be?  Where is action welcome and evolutionary?  

These are questions I have been asking since last week.  Last Monday, I got word that the meditation course I was going to teach in Iowa needed to be postponed to April.  I was a little disappointed but figured there must be a reason.  An hour later, an old friend from England emailed to say that his brother living here in L.A. had taken his own life.  My friend was acquainted with his brother's cricket team but didn't know anyone else in the area.  

Obviously he was in a place of great need. I was able to be there for him because I did not leave town to teach. I won't go into the grisly details of what was required to come to his aid.  The important thing is that it was satisfying to be strong for someone else and to be of use.

Taking one's life is counter-evolutionary and I felt a tremendous sadness both for my friend and his brother but I hope that in providing solace and service for my friend that something good has come of this -- perhaps the good is that my friend knows that he is not alone in this world, that he is loved and that when tragedy occurs, humanity prevails.

Advaita

The benefits of Vedic Meditation are only part of the truth. The reason we practice Vedic Meditation is closer to the Truth. The reason is to experience Oneness -- Advaita.

If one approaches Advaita from an intellectual understanding, they may understand the concept "all is one" but that understanding is incomplete. Advaita is experience. Fully aware -- full of love.

And just as with the explanation of love - something is missing if one attempts to explain Advaita from the point of view of intellectual understanding. It is not just physics and the unified field. Advaita is not a concept. It has no rules, no borders, no limitation.

When we close our eyes in Vedic Meditation and drop to the simplest state of awareness, we experience That. Consciousness. In all glory, in all simplicity. I am That. Thou art That.

This past weekend I attended satsang with Francis Lucille. His expression of Advaita, his teaching, is full of love and a deep impersonal understanding of the individual's struggle to find the path. You can find a lovely description of Advaita on his website but I have re-printed it here and give him full acknowledgement:

• Advaita is a sanskrit word that literally means "not two". Synonyms of Advaita are non-duality (nonduality, non duality). Advaita is not a philosophy or a religion. Non-duality is an experience in which there is no separation between subject and object; a "me" and the rest of the universe; a "me" and God. It is the experience of consciousness, our true nature, which reveals itself as absolute happiness, love and beauty. Consciousness is defined as that, whatever that is, which is aware of these very words right here, right now.