I’ve experienced the deep bone-weary tension of walking into a studio or temple after a full day of “doing” and feeling like I have to wrestle a boa constrictor before I can relax into my practice.
It took time for me to recognize the insidious pressures and misconceptions that arise with contemplative practices like meditation and yoga; especially, when we encounter hardcore folk — teachers and students alike — who translate noble silence and the noble postures into perfect control and transcendence of bodily realities (neglecting to acknowledge or offer accommodations for ability, injuries, illnesses). So grows the ill-formed notion that the moment our butts touch the cushion or we stretch into our first pose, we will instantly be filled with peace and relief…Oh! and be infused with the superpower of levitation.
As a teacher, I’ve witnessed the struggle in practitioners who then expressed frustration at not being able to get things “right.” After observing the cues of many students who would walk in early, immediately drop from exhaustion on their mats, close their eyes, and beg for restorative poses, I shifted my approach and started each class with deep relaxation. For my sake and theirs, it was essential to honor the fact that our brains and bodies need ample time to spin down and transition from one activity to the next. Reclaiming the space to transition from the rhythm of striving to the rhythm of relaxing and finding refuge enabled us to bring our biological, emotional, psychological, and energetic layers into alignment. We gave ourselves time to catch up in body, mind and heart in the present moment.
I drew upon the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (the core of my personal practice) and began guiding practitioners through an embodied self-awareness sequence that supported our capacity to cross the threshold of any room and allow ourselves to fully arrive. Breath by breath, inch by inch, we learned to first unravel the tensions in body, heart, and mind in order to relax completely. Once we felt relaxed, we could awaken and inhabit our bodies with full awareness.
Listening deeply, seeing clearly, responding skillfully
to whatever showed up.
Greeting and acknowledging our sensations, thoughts, emotions and perceptions with compassion.
Taking refuge in the rhythm of our breath, we could gently align body, heart, and mind and then joyfully abide in this state when we transitioned from the privilege of an intuition-led practice back into the world around us (whether a casual gathering with friends, a family celebration, or an office meeting).
Arriving is the first of four guided meditations in my series, Embodied Self-Compassion: The Four Energies of Mindfulness.
I shared this practice during the healing session I taught at the Allied Media Conference in June and, afterward, had the honor of being interviewed about it for MIT’s CoLab Radio: How to Awaken Self-Compassion Through Meditation.
A 3 Jewels Yoga + Ari Chillman Production.
Recorded June 2016 at Sherwood Forest Live.
As a child growing up in this Southside neighborhood, I have a lot of memories playing and swimming at Moores Park.
In recent years, it has become a place of refuge where I’ve hosted free walking meditations at the labyrinth each spring and summer. This year, 3 Jewels Yoga has officially adopted Moores Park through the City of Lansing Park and Recreation’s Adopt-A-Park program!
On June 12, Sangha participated in our first mini “cushion-to-community clean-up” and will continue our efforts to maintain the beauty of this park and the labyrinth through the practice of environmental stewardship after every meditation.
#WalkingTheLabyrinth | 12 June (“Do-Over” after the previous Sunday was rained out)
Official #AdoptAPark Letter
A Bowl of Dandelions
Exuberance
Sharing Dandelions
The Gifter of Flowers
#TouchingTheEarth
Landmarks to the Labyrinth
The Labyrinth is nestled in the lawn just a few steps off the Lansing River Trail, where its path funnels in from the Beal Avenue parking lot. It is bordered by two black benches and, perched above on a hill to the south of it, is a Pavilion (which can be rented out for parties).
Trivia + other points of interest: The Grand River, Michigan’s longest river, runs along the northern perimeter of Moores Park. This segment of the river is intersected by the Moores Park Dam, which provides power to the city’s oldest power plant. Also sitting across the riverbank is the GM car assembly plant.
We have not forgotten nor begun to recover from the massacre in Charleston on June 17, 2015. And here we are once again, nearly a year to the very day in a month that has become bloodied by another act of terror against people who were simply being themselves in what was thought to be a safe haven to celebrate, dance, laugh, connect with others.
With hearts heavy with sorrow, let us turn toward and abide in light to cast away this looming darkness. I bow deeply to dharma teacher Rev. Zenju Earthlyn Manuel for the healing wisdom she offers in this relentless cycle of violence and recent loss of 49 precious lives in Orlando.
For All Beings excerpts from the chant written by Zenju Earthlyn Manuel
May all beings be cared for and loved, Be listened to, understood and acknowledged despite different views,
Be accepted for who they are in this moment… Be allowed to live without fear of having their lives taken away or their bodies violated.
…Be treated as if their life is precious, Be held in the eyes of each other as family.
…Feel welcomed anywhere on the planet, Be freed from acts of hatred and desperation including war, poverty, slavery, and street crimes, Live on the planet, housed and protected from harm…
On June 18th, I’ll lead a healing session at the Allied Media Conference in Detroit. This opportunity has given me pause to pick up an old thread + follow it back to the faded memory of my former life as a graduate student at NYU, where I studied media through a sociological lens — examining race, gender, culture, representation + impact — and earned my M.A. from the Tisch School of Arts/GSAS.
Now, I have the deep honor of helping to cultivate a healing justice practice space for artists, educators, activists, and radical media-makers + offer them an immersion in mindfulness to foster compassion, skillful understanding + authentic connection.
“I understood at a very early age that in nature,
I felt everything I should feel in church
but never did. Walking in the woods,
I felt in touch with the universe and
with the spirit of the universe.”
~ Alice Walker
Glorious. This is not a word I encounter often.It’s alluring — in tone and sensation. So I was more than curious to watch Laura Mvula’s video after my dear friend described it in this way when sharing it with me recently.
Stunningly glorious! And absolutely resonate with the spirit of #MarchMindfulness:
To overcome the madness with mindfulness.
To tend to ourselves with deep care and clear understanding so that we can share our gifts and transform our unskillfulness.
To amplify the good as we face the realities of suffering.
To recognize that fueling ourselves with compassion and fostering deep listening to expand our understanding and cultivate authentic connection helps us to disrupt the normalization of hate, apathy, greed, and oppression in the world.
Abide in energy of mindfulness — expand your capacity to soak in the power of hope and renewal.
Hold on to the aspiration to experience all that is glorious in this world.
Remember, no action is too small! Shine Bright.
‘Overcome’ Lyrics
When your heart is broken down And your head don’t reach the sky Take your broken wings and fly
When your head is heavy, low And the tears they keep falling Take your broken feet and run
With the world upon your shoulders Nowhere left to hide Keep your head up carry on
It ain’t no time to die Even though we suffer Come together we pray
Round the mountain all God’s children run Round the mountain all God’s children run Round the mountain all God’s children run Round the mountain all God’s children God’s children run run round the mountain run Round the mountain all God’s children God’s children run run round the mountain run Round the mountain all God’s children run
As we enjoy the final days of March and the warmth of spring, I am feeling stretched by all the lessons that arose during this month spent renewing my commitment to compassion, understanding, and connection.
S T R E T C H E D and TESTED!
But those experiences only AFFIRMED what I know to be true:
Even in the hardest moments — after I’ve fussed and cussed through my frustrations (to good spiritual friends who listen deeply, see me clearly, honor my wholeness without co-signing my craziness, and respond skillfully with wise and loving support) — compassion calls me back again and again.
It offers a calming, centering grace that inspires me to seek the depth and breadth of understanding that in turn keeps my heart open to authentic connection.
“Sometimes we think that to develop an open heart, to be truly loving and compassionate, means that we need to be passive,
to allow others to abuse us,
to smile and let anyone do what they want with us.
Yet this is not what is meant by compassion.
Quite the contrary.
Compassion is not at all weak.
It is the strength that arises out of seeing
the true nature of suffering in the world.
Compassion allows us to bear witness to that suffering,
whether it is in ourselves or others, without fear; it allows us to name injustice without hesitation,
and to act strongly,
with all the skill at our disposal.
To develop this mind state of compassion… is to learn to live, as the Buddha put it,
with sympathy for all living beings,
without exception.”
― Sharon Salzberg Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness
we inherited nature the moment we were born. the moment we came into existence, we entered the landscape of nature. in fact, we are nature. nature is form. body is form. body is nature.
nature is body. ~Zenju Earthlyn Manuel
Inspired by our Winter Immersion reading of The Way of Tenderness in which Zenju Earthlyn Manuel offers a rich contemplation on the body as nature, 3 Jewels Yoga Sangha will look deeply into practices that support understanding, healing, and renewing our relationship with the Body.
Join us for this 3-week series: APRIL 3, APRIL 10, APRIL 17 11 – 12:30 PM
Heartdance Studio | 1806 E. Michigan Avenue in #LoveLansing
RECOMMENDED STUDY RESOURCES
Check back for updates to this list!
On The Five Remembrances
I am of the nature to grow old; there is no way to escape growing old. I am of the nature to have ill health; there is no way to escape ill health. I am of the nature to die; there is no way to escape death. All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change; there is no way to escape being separated from them. My actions are my only true belongings; I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand.
Shine Bright! has been my personal mantra and my sideline cheer for others. But, oh, has this been a hard-won lesson to live into!
I’ve learned to honor my gifts and skills, and the contributions I make within my circle of loved ones and within my community. Still it continues to be a practice around “enoughness”– giving enough, learning enough, being compassionate, understanding, open, patient, skillful enough.
Doubt knocks on the door. Yeah, that’s right — Doubt has finally gotten some manners and no longer shuffles in uninvited while I scramble to push it back over the threshold. Now, I choose when to answer and welcome it in for deep inquiry where I skillfully sit with the questions it has delivered. What is this? Is this true? What can you see clearly?
Turning toward the aspiration to “shine bright,” I realized through several recent experiences (either as witness or participant) that we fear shining brightly means we’ll cast a shadow over others. We worry that expressing our full selves with unapologetic radiance, confidence, and vision is an act of vanity, ego, or arrogance. We’ve been taught that humility is a virtue, so we play small to make others feel less insecure.
At the same time, we receive a million messages about the importance of self-esteem and self-love. This is the crazy-making cycle our culture perpetuates that gives rise to lingering Doubt, which breaks in, refuses to leave, and becomes an indignant squatter in our hearts and minds.
So I appreciated reading an article years ago in which the writer reframed “humility” as being grounded and connected. To him, being low to the ground (as the eytmology defines it) in no way suggested self-deprecating acts of meekness or inferiority.
Rather, he embraced an understanding of humility that drew upon a sense of strength and stability from the Earth in the very same way that worshippers of various faiths will offer their full body in prostration during prayer. Bringing our body close to the ground is an expression of gratitude and wonder for the Power that makes life possible. It is empowering and energizing — a reminder to stay connected in body, heart, and mind to our capacity to love, create, inspire, teach, lead, serve, empower, heal, and thrive. And to thrive requires fertile soil…and light!
tscottmiller 