Greetings!

Please, drop me a message to let me know how it’s going for you! How can I support you? 

You will be receiving a new meditation, along with Day 1 for Week 3, our final week together, later tonight so you may begin Monday morning with the practice of Moksha, or Finding Freedom.

This week’s investigation of the Shadow, and how the shadow is an inherent part of ourselves, and our growth, to be here in this moment, brings us closer to an Acceptance of what is, as it is, and a sense of Gratitude for even those things that have been painful in life.

In each moment, both light and shadow exist. We cannot live in light until we embrace the shadow, which often means the possibility of the opposite.

This morning I read some writing from one of my teachers,

Kaya Mendlin. She sums up our week and our particular time, so aptly, so I will share this with you:

“The truth is, your body and mind are precious and vulnerable to pain, loss, illness and panic.

This is a time on the globe when that is more apparent to some who usually live in comfort.

But it is also true that the Self of the self - your very Beingness remains free, full and changeless at all times. The Awareness that you are is untouched by illness, loss or fear.

The best we can do now, is the best we can do at any other time: it is to be caring contributors living in accord with dharma. To do what you are called upon to do - for yourself and for others - is your duty now as much as at any other time.

While you have no control over macro level circumstances, nor control over the r e s u l t s of your actions, you do get to choose your actions moment to moment. And when we pray for the blessings of health, and wellbeing it is so that we can continue to be available to 1) do the work of caring for others in our own way, and 2) do the work of spiritual growth in which we come to know the Self of the self which is vulnerable to nothing. It’s free, whole and complete right now.

Here (attached)  is (an image of) abhaya mudra (hand gesture), that you may be free from fear so that you can care for yourself and others. True fearlessness does not mean you are no longer vulnerable, or that you don’t use common sense. It means you do what is to be done, knowing that the body and mind are vulnerable while the Self is not.”

That final paragraph lands so solidly with me:

Being free from fear so that I can care for myself and others. And this does not mean I am not vulnerable. It means I do what needs to be done, with the knowing that my body and mind are vulnerable, for that is what it means to be human, in this body, and in this life, but also holding that deeper Knowing that the Self - the Self of the self - is not.

And the Abhaya mudra is a hand gesture often depicted in statues of the Buddha. But interestingly, in religious art, it is also the gesture that Jesus is holding, as well as other saints.

Practice the Metta meditation one final time. 

https://vimeo.com/402770394/e6c433027e

After the meditation, pause. Notice your breath and body. See what arises. What now does Gratitude feel like? 

Then journal.

Thank you for being here!

Be Well in All Ways,

Kristen

Upcoming! Register HERE:

https://kristenboyle.offeringtree.com/offerings

• Business of Yoga Q&A Mastermind (FREE) Tuesday at 4pm EDT

• Build Your Online Audience Mastermind ($97) Thursday at 10:30am EDT

• Yoga Online: Meditate, Move, Rejuvenate (Donation) Thursday 7pm EDT

• Virtual (coffee) Chat - a Sangha - Saturday 12pm EDT