The Yogabliss, Two Rivers/RiverTree Yoga on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning. We focused on bringing presence to our innate sensitivity. We explored ways of cultivating acceptance and appreciation; patience and nurturing. The lotus flower symbolized our ability to allow Life to move through us. We explored rhythms of opening and closing in breathing, feeling, moving and thinking. We mirror Nature because we are Nature.
We heard Daniel F. Mead’s poem: If You Would Grow – Shine the Light Of Loving Self-Care On Yourself. Daniel speaks to our ability to be as hard as nails and tender as flowers. Like a blossoming flower, a true opening of the heart cannot be forced. I found Daniel’s lovely poem at the UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness site. I am sorry to say I couldn’t find any biographical information for Daniel. His poem has been referenced many, many times on the internet. Thank you Daniel for your encouraging words.
We drew from psychotherapist, author and soul activist Francis Weller’s Sun Magazine interview, The Geography of Sorrow. He poignantly observes the relationship between grief and gratitude and the vital importance of keeping our hearts open.
We ended with Jennifer Paine Welwood’s poem Unconditional. Jennifer encourages us to feel our loneliness, face our fears and grieve. Paradoxically, this courage and willingness is our path to wholeness.
Guided Reflection
Allow yourself to settle in whatever way feels natural and comfortable to you. Take a few deep breaths. You can roll your shoulders even take a few moments to look around the room orienting to your surroundings and letting your nervous system settle. Allow breathing to move through you. See if you can open your mind to the insights of Daniel Mead’s poem: If You Would Grow – Shine the Light Of Loving Self-Care On Yourself:
If you would grow to your best self
Be patient, not demanding
Accepting, not condemning
Nurturing, not withholding
Self-marveling, not belittling
Gently guiding, not pushing and punishing
For you are more sensitive than you know
Mankind is as tough as war yet delicate as flowers
We can endure agonies but we open fully only to warmth and light
And our need to grow is as fragile as a fragrance dispersed by storms of will
To return only when those storm are still
So, accept, respect, and attend your sensitivity
A flower cannot be opened with a hammer.
In mindfulness practice we can be patient, accepting and nurturing. We can attend our sensitivity. We can allow the flower of our being to open with light. The light of our awareness reveals what our demanding doesn’t open. In our mindful presence we listen; we see; we feel; we breathe. With our ability to sense, our sensitivity, we bring ourselves intimately into Life’s impetus to grow.
A flower opens in Nature’s time after being nourished by so many other life forms. It is gently guided by the light. We are gently guided as we sit in the ease of nondoing. Feel embodiment. Notice the places where Body touches the ground. Feel the weight of Body and then meet Earth’s steady presence. Like a growing flower: quiet, awake and receptive. This is awareness: Life moving through us. Notice where awareness lands: the rhythms of breathing; the grounded sensations of Body sitting. Find a place to rest awareness in which you are present with breathing, Body, sensations, sound. You are growing Life right here, right now.
It’s natural for mind to wander. Mind wanders and becomes aware of wanting. We are learning how to relate wisely and kindly to moments of wandering. We remember and recognize awareness. Every remembering is an opportunity to let the followers of awareness grow. See if you can meet whatever arises with curiosity and openness. Then, gently let go – a small surrender – an inner bow of appreciation and begin again. Be at the ever changing threshold of the present moment.
Beginning again requires a certain humility, a willingness to not know. A willingness to be with the emotions and thoughts that give rise to frustration or struggle. We want things to be other than what they are. So often our struggles are expectations born in the past; ideas we project into the future; something we hold onto in uncertainty; some form of distraction from the deeper feelings within. What flowers blossom when we can offer ourselves and others loving kindness and compassion?
There is surrender in the wisdom of allowing Life to move through us. There is courage in allowing this not knowing to continue living in our hearts. We learn the ways of living mystery – not knowing what the fruits of our being will be, whose lives we will nourish or harm. All the lives we have ever touched, all the beings who have shared our breath are fleeting. And yet some how, they are still with us. The parts of ourselves we abandon or suppress keep whispering. In the moments we meet with presence we can allow their presence to be known. We can allow our deeper feelings to surface in the fullness of our humanity.
Francis Weller is a psychotherapist, author and soul activist. In his Sun Magazine interview, The Geography of Sorrow, observes:
Everything I love, I will lose. That’s the harsh truth. You either have to shut down your heart — and miss the love that is around you — or wrestle with that truth and come out the other end. There is indeed such a thing as joyful sorrow.
The work of the mature person is to carry grief in one hand and gratitude in the other and to be stretched large by them. How much sorrow can I hold? That’s how much gratitude I can give. . . . . Grief keeps the heart fluid and soft, which helps make compassion possible.
Right now we can reflect on the grief we carry in one hand and the gratitude in the other. They are so immense we cannot hold them alone. In the fullness of time, when our hearts are ready, we share our sorrows and our joys. Like an encounter with a wild animal we approach with care. We stop. We breathe. We feel our heart pulsing. We share moments of pure presence.
Poet Jennifer Paine Welwood describes the loving willingness to grow in her poem Unconditional:
Willing to experience aloneness,
I discover connection everywhere;
Turning to face my fear,
I meet the warrior who lives within;
Opening to my loss,
I gain the embrace of the universe;
Surrendering into emptiness,
I find fullness without end.
Each condition I flee from pursues me,
Each condition I welcome transforms me
And becomes itself transformed
Into its radiant jewel-like essence.
I bow to the one who has made it so,
Who has crafted this Master Game;
To play it is purest delight –
To honor its form, true devotion.