refuge – tscottmiller

the spaces in our togetherness

It’s the second day of Spring, friends!

Under ordinary conditions,
we’d be inspired into all manner of group outings and activities.

But we’re now 7+ days into our collective practice of
social/physical distancing to flatten the curve of this new virus,
which has demanded a change in how we connect
and created a SURGE in our virtual communications.

These digital spaces are important.

AND
(as many of us have identified/lamented long before the pandemic)

They are also draining.

(*ahem*…which is why it’s been nearly a year since I last posted
on Instagram and why I’ve limited my posts on Facebook.)

So, as we continue to safeguard our physical health,
I pray we are diligent about safeguarding our spiritual + mental health!

Safeguard your humor + joy.
Safeguard your hope + faith.
Safeguard your heart + mind.

It’s Spring, y’all! Things are/will be blooming!

May you rest in the energy of this season of
possibility, growth, healing, transformation
and things being made anew.

[Image Description: 5-second video of a Khalil Gibran quote from “The Prophet” that reads, “Let there be spaces in your togetherness” in white lettering on a blue background, with white arrows that fade in from the upper right corner + lower left corner to point toward the quote in the center. Credits for the content creation appear at the top in yellow lettering: 3jewelsyoga.com + radicalbodhicitta.com.]

winter solstice blessings

Happy Winter Solstice + Full Moon Eve, Dear Ones!

For me, it is a time to rest, reflect and
enjoy a balance of solitude and authentic connection.

In whatever ways you observe,
participate in, reframe or abstain from the festivities of this season,
may you honor that which has heart and deepest meaning for you.

3jewels.merryhappyeverything1!

reclaiming rest

Naps on naps on naps! In this season of soul-tending, I’ve been relishing a slower pace and a quieter schedule where I can rest in the mundane. A key part in spinning down from the fullness of activities in previous months has been to recognize and accept that everyday doesn’t have to be purposeful or productive!

Discovering the nap ministry during this period of reclaiming rest was a clear co-sign from Spirit to reset the tempo of my days.

Even if I don’t actually close my eyes, I’m enjoying the horizontal repose as often as possible.

embodying radical self-expression

i am fierce, flawed,
fragile, fear-facing
and, above all, free.

a decolonized mind,
tearing down false refuges + unhooking from the iron yoke of twisted mores that decree how to love, learn, worship, succeed.

a liberated soul,
living into the sacred —
on spirit’s clock, wisdom’s rhythm + body’s intuition.

a rebel heart,
pumping joy through blue veins,
blood rich with resistance.

i am a miracle of my ancestors.

my breath is their legacy,
a continuation of their resilience,
a commitment to brave on
in any + every way
i magic.

embodying resilience

i am lungs springing back oxgenated, fueled and aflamed to burn off toxins and tensions.

the softening fist, fingers extending in a mudra of receptivity.

emerging grace, wobbly-kneed and raw-skinned soles finding its footing, rebounding from stumbles, rising from falls.

the heart willing (sometimes wavering), nevertheless ready to face the tenderness of being alive.

embodying resistance

i am an open heart —
strong, free, full and clear as the bell itself.

i am soft-flexed knees,
gravity centered and recaliberated,
surfboard-steady and supple
to ride the waves of challenge and change.

turning away from that which seeks
to diminish, defeat or undo me —
i protect my borders,
restore breaches,
preserve the sanctity of
wisdom well earned
and compassion long cultivated.

turning toward that which fuels and fortifies me,
i am a commitment to liberation —
transmuting hurts,
cutting through artifice,
toppling the false idols of oppression,
and living (w)holy unperturbed
in the unalterable truth of my divinity.

more contemplations:

embodying refuge
refuge, resistance, resilience + radical self-expression

embodying refuge

i am a dwelling place of spirit, hope, healing and possibility.

a resting place for doubt, grief, fear, uncertainty, worry, frustration, disappointment and anger to be aired out with breath and tender patience.

an abiding of body, heart and mind in joy, equanimity, compassion, transformative love and freedom.

a sacred space.

refuge, resistance, resilience + radical self-expression

“The Sangha is an island of peace. The Sangha is a community of resistance against violence, hate and despair.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

These words of my root teacher Thây live at the core of our sangha’s suchness. They have shaped our evolution into a community of spiritual friends who find sanctuary in journeying together through challenge and change; being stretched and sharpened by wisdom teachings, shared insights and loving (re)assurances; shedding skin, healing, transforming, blooming wholy into our radiant bodhisattva-ness!

We are called together to revive, reclaim and fortify ourselves with liberating contemplative spiritual practices. We take refuge in the full embrace of sangha to “remember to remember” that we have all we need — breath, willingness, enough time, connection to wise companions with gifts, skills and rich life experiences — to (re)connect with our true selves and nourish our wholeness.

“Retreating” from the madness of the world around us is not a viable option for everyone. For me, access to organized retreats set in bucolic off-the-grid environs invites us to interrogate spiritual elitism and the socioeconomic realities and other disparities and inequities among practitioners in all spiritual traditions. It points us back to the question of how we practice and cultivate justice, liberation and healing as people of faith and wonder.

So we take refuge in “the wisdom of no escape” each time we come back to ourselves wherever we are in a given moment, when conditions are not optimal, when our lives aren’t set up for leaving.

Each time we spring back from our worst moments, we strengthen our resilience, self-trust and capacity to resist being swept away by the toxicity of systemic degradation, violence and oppression that spreads like contagion.

It is my deepest hope and prayer that we know the freedom of trusting ourselves, of embodying the spirit of refuge that feeds our radical being-ness.

Who are we when we cultivate and embody refuge?

Who are we when we cultivate and embody resistance?

Who are we when we cultivate and embody resilience?

Who are we when we cultivate, embody and celebrate radical self-expression?

woman horizontal | tonglen in four parts

today, the exhale was the hardest.

a trust fall in giving and taking —precious tears and shadowed fears, irrupted hopes and radical imaginings — into a world that cannot hold them gently.

where supple lungs now resist the inhale, constricting to protect me from inviting in a swirl of noxious fumes (engineered to smother epiphanous dreams and embolden all manner of delusion).

i can only manage a sip of air: a shallow 4-count laced with doubt that queries for fulfillment.

then comes the subtle pause. a fleeting moment to contemplate beginning again.

i tentatively measure my next release: 6 counts, loosening and softening toward relief.

the next pause, extended, to steady my racing heart and test the limits of suspension.

but i cannot sustain emptiness for long and concede to the will of change.

quaking. inevitable. relentless. burning and swelling into an elastic 8 beats of oxygen.

palm pressed to heart, i yield to the sending, taking, giving, getting, sharing, receiving, filtering and transmuting of sorrow and despair into joy and wonder —

a persistent rally for life-love-light.

woman horizontal | elder song

i hear the mothers whisper-chant: do not abandon yourself, dear one.

blending with the harmonies of grandmothers singing: seek refuge in the dance between heartbeat and breath.

buoyed by the infinite canon of their prayer-magic, i have trusted myself into love,

loved myself into healing,

healed myself into death and rebirth,

becoming more and more of myself, and still something new.