Parinama

   “Any place is sacred ground, for it can become a place of encounter with the divine Presence.” ― David Steindl-Rast, A Listening Heart: The Spirituality of Sacred Sensuousness       It is hard to discern what we need for growth and healing but a necessary engagement.     In my experience, it is often the case that we find growth and healing through a challenge that makes us feel anxious and incapable at first, that tries us in ways that we would not like to be tried, but that gives us a chance to cultivate courage and faith and the energy for great creativity.       Sometimes we have no choice but to face a challenge that has been placed before us like an illness or a loss.   At other times, it is up to us to choose the harder and more difficult path because it is what is necessary for growth.   Figuring out the right amount of challenge and difficulty to take on, how, and when ...

  Religion is a means of ultimate transformation…An ultimate transformation is a fundamental change from being caught up in the troubles of common existence to living in such a way that one can cope at the deepest level with these troubles. That capacity for living allows one to experience the most authentic or deepest reality – the ultimate. Frederick Streng, Understanding Religious Life   I am thankful for so many things.   A safe and beautiful home, the strength for yoga, long walks, nature all around.   I am thankful for the health and safety of my family, loving friends, a job that allows me to earn a living and work for social justice.     And yet, I still feel afraid everyday of what I might lose, what I will be unable to protect myself or my family from.   And I also wonder how hollow my own good fortune can feel when all around – close to home and across the globe – millions suffer from injustice, poverty, hung...

  Sometimes I hold on tightly to how I want things to be unable to be with how things are.    I can get angry and irritated when things aren't turning out how I had hoped.  But through the yoga which calms the mind, strengthens the nerves, opens up the heart, I have cultivated the strength and courage to pause when irritated.  Rather than react from anger, I can be with the vulnerability that underlays the anger and act when and if I am ready with more calm and skill.   My father had a hair trigger anger reflex.   The smallest of things could set him into a rage that could get dangerous for you if you got in the way or just were in the vicinity.   While going out for a meal was a special and usually happy family occasion, too many were ruined by my father’s angry outburst at a waitress who didn’t bring enough bread or a maître d who kept us waiting too long for a table.   His road rage was particularly scary and all t...