The Columbia City Yoga on-line Moving into Meditation class met this morning.  This week we explored courage.  Courage, in its many forms, is an expression of heart wisdom.  It enables us to feel the most difficult moments in life.  It sparks the willingness to stay with good trouble.  It illuminates the moment to let go.  It matures as a loving presence we can offer ourselves and others.

We continued to draw from Oren Jay Sofer’s book: Your Heart Was Made for This: Contemplative Practices for Meeting a World in Crisis with Courage, Integrity, and Love.  Oren believes “it takes courage to be with things as they are, to turn toward and be with the truth of each moment.  Courage begins with one moment of awareness and the possibility of taking a pause.”  A deep breath and a sigh feels good too.

We heard John O’Donohue’s Blessing for Courage. from his collection, Benedictus. John’s work  offers comfort and encouragement for the milestones and transitions of life. It reminds us that our relationships with one another are crucial to our emotional and spiritual well-being.

Guided Reflection

Last week we explored the transformative energy of curiosity.  Offering ourselves and others curiosity can be liberating.  We have the possibility of experiencing what it is like to be undefended and all that brings.  Being undefended often calls us to courage.  In his book, Your Heart Was Made for This, Oren Jay Sofer writes about existential courage.  He asks:

How much courage does it require to remove the masks we wear every day and allow ourselves to be emotionally naked?  . . . What does it take to trust that who we are in this life is enough, just as we are?  That we aren’t defined by what we do, how much we accumulate or even how much we give.  

. . . Each of us belongs here, deeply and intimately, just by virtue of our being part of the human family, and that alongside all of the good we can do in the world, one of the most valuable things we can offer is our capacity to keep feeling.  We can give the gift of walking through the world with a courageous heart.  

When I think about courage, I think about Alexei Navalny.  Alexei was a Russian opposition leader, lawyer, anti-corruption activist, and political prisoner.  As you may know he died in prison last week.  Closer to home, I think about my friend whose life has been threatened by a stalker for the past few years.  She got very little support from the rural sheriff’s department where she lives.  She had to close her business, remove herself from social media and hide.  She chose to defend her life and her daughter’s life by pursuing state legislation. She reached out to everyone she could think of.  Her last resort was the conservative state congressman who agreed to take up her cause.  She co-wrote and was instrumental in the recent passing of legislation [H.B. 4659 and S.R. 8660] which recognizes the devastating impact of stalking.  She continues to meet with legislators and lobbyists to pursue support for stalking victims.  My friend is empowered.  She is joyful and inspiring.  

Oren encourages us to remember:

. . . We can each learn to be that steady, loving presence for ourselves – and open the door to being there for others.  Then our action comes from a courage deeper than fear, stronger than doubt and greater than grief.

There have been times when fear seemed to be in the air I breathed.  At one time, my curated life seemed to disintegrate around me.  I couldn’t imagine what my next steps would be.  Thankfully I received the loving presence I needed to tolerate the intolerable.  I experienced the loving presence and courage I needed to venture into a new life.  Here is John O’Donohue’s Blessing for Courage:

When the light around you lessens
And your thoughts darken until
Your body feels fear turn
Cold as a stone inside,

When you find yourself bereft
Of any belief in yourself
And all you unknowingly
Leaned on has fallen,

When one voice commands
Your whole heart,
And it is raven dark,

Steady yourself and see
That it is your own thinking
That darkens your world.

Search and you will find
A diamond-thought of light,

Know that you are not alone,
And that this darkness has purpose;
Gradually it will school your eyes,
To find the one gift your life requires
Hidden within this night-corner.

Invoke the learning
Of every suffering
You have suffered.

Close your eyes.
Gather all the kindling
About your heart
To create one spark
That is all you need
To nourish the flame
That will cleanse the dark
Of its weight of festered fear.

A new confidence will come alive
To urge you towards higher ground
Where your imagination
will learn to engage difficulty
As its most rewarding threshold!

We begin our own courageous journeys right where we are.  We can resolve to be a steady loving presence for ourselves and others.  We can become that presence in our practice today.   Let’s begin by bringing awareness to the body.  You might take a deep breath and let it go.  Notice how your body settles on Earth’s body.  Can you sense Earth’s abiding presence?  Become aware of her steady support.  Sense the steady support your body offers.  

Each moment can be a pause to breathe and feel.   To observe your response to these ideas about courage, about fear, about feeling.  What do they bring up for you?   No feeling is right or wrong.  Sometimes it takes courage to feel what is true.   Explore the willingness to stay.  Stay with embodied experience.  Open.  Curious.  Present with this unending stream of experience.  

If you become fascinated with some narrative or story, return to your breathing or feel sensation in the body.  Present, embodied experience. 

Now broaden your awareness. Allow this experience to be. Feel breathing and let there be space around this experience.  Can you meet this experience with patient loving kindness? If you like you can place a hand over your heart as a way of feeling comfort. “ . . . Gather all the kindling about your heart to  create one spark that is all you need to nourish the flame . . . “ of that wise part of yourself, your loving presence.  “. . . Steady yourself and see . . . You will find A diamond-thought of light, Know that you are not alone . . . “

Steady yourself and see.   Breathe and allow.  Feel what is true.  

The willingness to sit with fear arises from heart wisdom.  Our fears are human.  They call for our attention. They call for our compassion.  Heart wisdom calls us to let go of the stories and feel.  To be present, embodied, and kind with the truth of our experience.  

Search and you will find
A diamond-thought of light, . . . 

Know that you are not alone,
And that this darkness has purpose;
Gradually it will school your eyes,
To find the one gift your life requires
Hidden within this night-corner.