On Celebrating Nothing(ness)

Tags

action, celebration, healing, lightness, nothingness

The daily nightsong that begins in the pre-dusk hour with great earnest, has been particularly persistent this season. Over the past few days, I have found myself trying to identify the player(s) of this orchestra through online searches of bird songs, Audubon societies, and more. Truth be told, I have not yielded much, if anything. It is more like a whole lot of nothing.

And then, one night last week, after another round of futile googling of the source(s), I was reminded of Winnie the Pooh…

My favorite thing is to do a whole lot of nothing – for something good often comes out of nothing.

I paused, and asked myself – what is so wrong with not knowing the source(s) of the nightsongs? How about I simply do nothing more than embrace the beauty of the orchestra, without trying to assign name, cause or reason to the sounds and harmonies? What if I were to simply choose to enjoy, even celebrate the gift of spring’s songs, without trying to analyze them?

And so, for the past few nights, the night’s songs that last from dusk to dawn, have taken on new tones, new rhythms, new colors for me. It is as if they have been reborn. I have been opening the windows a bit more, drinking a bit more tea, and simply been sitting in open surrender to the all and the nothing.

The result? The allness and the nothingness have often flooded me, occasionally stopped my breath, flitted a not-knowing smile across my face, and filled me with the very same orange-peach glow that sunset often spreads across the sky at spring’s twilight. I have stopped my wandering and wondering in those few moments, to allow for something good to happen as a result of my celebration of nothing(ness).

Impossible to do, you say? Well. Consider another Winnie the Pooh gem of living wisdom:

They say that nothing is impossible. But I do a bit of nothing every day…

Embrace the impossible moment. I invite you to create time and space, where you do a bit of nothing every day with loving effortlessness. Maybe something good will be created as a result. Maybe, in embracing nothingness, time and space will cease to exist, and be reborn as love. Maybe we will discover that our inner black holes are in fact filled with the allness of light, and that nothingness is simply a portal to That something, which is in fact, everything.

Kumud @AjmaniK

P.S. Join us Sunday April 14 at 9amET, as we embrace nothingness while listening to each others’ songs, drinking tea, and sharing light. Namaste – Kumud

Sunset and twilight – an invitation to celebrate nothing(ness)

On Seeding Friendships

Tags

celebration, creativity, energy, friendship, unity

At 5pm on Friday evening, a dozen or so folks gathered online in a multi-dimensional meeting which included sound, video, and much laughter. Lots of laughter. Many ideas were exchanged about how to best use such meetings in the future. But this first meeting was primarily about getting to know each other a bit better through the spoken word, through smiles and favorite quotes and prayers. It was about planting new seeds of friendship and growing the friendships that have formed through #SpiritChat over the years.

The Sanskrit word for ‘friendship’ is maitri. It is also referred to as <a href=”https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mettā“>Mettā</a> in the Pali language. How and where does a friendship first come to life? There is usually some common ground necessary for two (or more) people to decide to sit with one another. The sitting can be in silence, a primarily one-way communication (lecture), a two-way conversation, or even a multi-way exchange facilitated by a desire to be in each other’s presence.

When friendship takes on the energy of @maggiemistal, the expression of ‘loving kindness’ (@sageandsavvy), or is simply steeped in love (@AwakeningYourTrueSelf) or is a simple yet heart-felt expression of gratitude (@tomarciamae), it transmits the energy of the heart to all present. When it takes on the expression of ‘watching, waiting, working’ (thank you, @mscator), the gentle sharing by @wonderpix, the energy of @maggiemistal, the creativity of @heiddiz, it breathes new life into the sitting. When it is expressed through the Mettā prayer of @intuitiveheal, the wisdom of @southbaysome and the grace of @garygruber, one knows and feels that they are in a special space and time.

And so, the seeds of friendship are nurtured. One question, one answer, one chat, one conversation, one smile, one kind gesture, one zoom meeting at a time.

It is tough to say what will come next, but for today, the heart feels filled with maitri – the benevolence and radiance of those who shared with all of their heart.

The sage Patanjali said in his yoga sutras (aphorisms) – “be friendly towards those who are friendly towards you.” It sounds simple enough, but it isn’t always easy to do (why is that person being friendly? what do they want from me?) However, it is safe to say that we are largely “friendly to all” in the #SpiritChat community, and we extended on that principle in today’s sitting.

As I sat watching the radiant colors of the sun, the sky and the clouds merge into the lake waters, it reminded me of the ease with which we all converged on the common ground of friendship today. We came a bit closer to the essence of maitri, of Mettā, of meditation.

Kumud @AjmaniK

P.S. What is (or was) the greatest friendship you have experienced? How were its seeds sown? How did its roots develop, its flowers bloom? And those friendships that withered away – what was their life cycle? Share with us, Sunday April 7 at 9amET / 1pm UTC / 630pm India in our weekly #spiritchat on Twitter. Namaste – Kumud

On Spiritual Radiance

Tags

celebration, healing, radiance, spring, winter

There was no mistake about the invitation. The morning sun had finally made its way through the haze as is crested over the ridge, seemingly at the same moment that I reached the bottom of Cedar Point hill. The only question was whether I was going to turn left or right onto Valley Parkway, park in one of the alcoves, and accept the invitation to walk.

And walk into spring I surely did. Unlike the day before, when spring seemed imminent but wasn’t quite there yet because the river was firmly frozen and the wind that blew through the clearings was swift enough to crinkle your bones, today was different.

There was a certain radiance in the invitation today. A radiance that spoke through the ever so slightly higher pitch of the songs of the birds. A radiance that invited the fishermen to walk out to the middle of the river on the sheet of ice still thick with opacity. The radiance made the water flow briskly in channels between the ice floes, and also started to create pockets of water inside the thick sheets.

And so I walked, letting the radiance of it all warm me from head to heart, bathe me with the light breeze that flowed from under the bridge as I walked out on the rocks towards the middle of the river until my passage was blocked by sheets of ice laden like layers of lasagna. Right there, in that stillness amid all the music, I spontaneously started singing – a prayer that invokes health and wellness for the universe and all her beings.

An invocation for guidance in our paths, to prepare us well for our walk, to give us strength to endure winter and also give us lightness to welcome the radiance of spring. A prayer of gratitude to all those who are walking with us, have walked with us, and whose radiance continues to reach us from the wide yonder beyond. Right there, on the rock in the middle of the river, came the awareness of the beautiful, gentle energy of the divine feminine, and its influence in my life.

And so I walked some more, absorbing, healing, sending thank you notes to all the women – mothers, sisters, aunts, teachers, grandmothers, my wife and daughter, and all the ladies of #spiritchat. All of you have raised me up, and it is from you that I continually learn the singular fact that radiance requires no medium. It is an energy like love, like kindness, like the light streaming through the trees and making patterns on the melting snow, which gives your heart the distinct knowing that, yes, you too, are the spring to somebody’s winter.

There is great joy in acceptance – to accept the invitation to walk, to be That radiant spring.

Kumud @AjmaniK

P. S. Join us Sunday, March 10 at 9amET/ 630pm India (note that US shifts to daylight savings this Sunday!). We will celebrate and honor the radiance of spring, and share team and cookies for International Women’s Day. Namaste – Kumud

Witnessing radiance – standing on a rock ledge in the middle of the Rocky River, as the river melts around me…

The river flows North to Lake Erie, and small, frozen waterfalls serenade her passage

The play of light and shadows, spring radiates into winter

The halfway point… I walked out into winter… I paused… I returned with spring…

On Breathing Light

Tags

awareness, breathing, celebration, healing, light, remembrance

The journey began Monday evening, when the iPad which had gone dark over the past few weeks, and refused to start up inspite of my best attempts of geekery, decided to come to life. I went searching in the library app for something good to read, and an incredible journey into breath began when I downloaded, and read, that same evening, from cover to cover – WBBA – but more about that a bit later….

Breath has come into the forefront for me this week. There is a story in the Upanishads where the student asks the teacher – who among sight, speech, hearing, touch and breath, is the most powerful in life? The teacher says – ask each of them to leave, one at a time, and you shall know. When it comes the turn of breath to leave, the student’s question is answered…

I have been led to work with, observe it, and develop a greater awareness of the physical act of breathing this week. When the emotions rise, when I feel the stress level change, I have tried to pause and check my breathing pattern and cadence. The interesting thing about breath is that it is easy to observe, because it is always with us, even when it is temporarily is taken away. My observations have been quite a revelation. It is no surprise that I have discerned a direct correlation between feeling stressed and the disturbance in my breathing pattern.

So, how do I plan to use this breath awareness? I believe that, with practice, one could modulate, if not to some degree even consciously control, the autonomous breath and the nervous system connected to it. When our new breathing practice becomes habit, we shall find an emergence of new patterns, new pathways, new possibilities.

For when breath remains, all is possible in the field of possibilities, and then some… is it not?

What began on Monday evening, came to a head this morning. I share with you, my entry from my meditation journal:

There was a such a surge… a wave as high as me… in the final ten minutes… that it literally seemed to push me sideways… the intensity and breadth of the light was such as if it became like the air around me and that I was breathing it with every breath… it held no force, it’s nature was gentleness and pure being, and I was awash in its wholeness… it felt that the white light was energizing every single alveoli in the lungs… cleaning, cleansing, oxygenating, healing, liberating, and filling me with the life force that travels between every channel of the many layers of my being… it felt like the same way that I might have felt in my first awareness of being born into this physical world… the aggregated energy of all the prayers she might have said from the instant that the was aware of me, until her last… and with that breath of first new light, I felt such immense gratitude for the experience that I was led to celebrate the breath of light and life with you… and I hope… no, it’s more than hope… it is a knowing that every breath you breathe is also filled with light… and that you are enough light in this moment, and you will be enough in the next moment… and when the breath stops and leaves, the aggregate of the light you breathed and shared would also have been enough…

for when we add or subtract the infinite from the infinite, the infinite breath of love and light still remains… and that, breath, in life and what we call death, is worthy of celebration… so, let that celebration of love continue… even when breath becomes air….

Thank you. For awareness. For breath and light. For breathing light into me.

– Kumud

P. S. Join us Sunday, Feb 17 at 9am ET / 730 pm IST as we celebrate, breath, light and breathing light. Namaste – Kumud

Breathing light during one of my walks…

The one who took eternal breath, Feb 17 2016…

On Choosing and Celebrating Light

Tags

celebration, choices, light

Some days, light chooses us. On other days, our choices lead to light.

It was one of those Friday mornings when I would have rather rolled over than rolled out. After a cold, wet autumn day when it seemed to have rained, monsoon like, all day and night long, the birds in the backyard woods were silent as summer sheep grazing on a meadow. From the corner of a half-opened eye, I could tell, even amid the pre-dawn darkness, that the cloud cover was still heavy outside.

And yet, reluctantly, I did roll out, for the morning hour called to meditation and the routine of school and work. But I was determined to get that haircut before I got to work today. And so, I made a seemingly innocuous choice of stopping at the neighborhood “Barber Shop” instead of the national chain I usually stop at to get sheared every other month or so.

At first, I thought I had made the wrong choice. The lady hair-dresser was already busy, and the other employee, who looked seemed engrossed with a tablet-like device. My choice was validated though, as soon as he put away his ‘device’ and greeted me with a smile as broad as the the sunshine still hiding beyond the clouds outside. Over the next twenty minutes, my propensity towards asking questions led to me finding out that his daughter just got an internship at NASA, that he had just moved into the neighborhood with his family, that he was studying to be a nurse, and that he would have loved to be an aerospace engineer!

My seemingly innocuous choice to try something different had led to the brightening of the morning. It was like the day had been turned inside out, and I was now fully awake to the possibilities of the rest of this still rainy day. Except that it did not feel cold, dank and dreary any more. I had walked into the company of one of those people who radiate so much light just by being who they are – open-hearted fountains living life to make other people’s life brighter. They are like the cool side of the pillow that is within your reach – you just have to choose to flip it over.

So, what does all this have to spirituality? Thank you for wondering, for asking. I propose that it isn’t always our BIG choices that lead us to light. Sometimes, if not often, it is our choice to make different small, everyday choices that create light for us. Serendipity that brings unexpected joy and restores our faith in the goodness of human beings and the human spirit, is often a product of small, simple choices.

Even if that choice is to walk into the local barber shop that you have been driving by for months and let an ex-football-player who still holds the dream of building a kit airplane some day after he has put his four kids through college.

Who knows? You may get the best haircut you have had for a while. And, your heart will be so full of light that you can’t help but share it with all who ask – what’s with YOU today?!

I don’t know. Maybe I’m just excited to celebrate all those who make (new) choices to create light. Or maybe I’m just excited to celebrate the annual Indian ‘festival of lights’ (Diwali) this week. I have a feeling that it’s going to be a great celebration of light, of the victory of truth and goodness.

Join me. Choose light. Celebrate.

Kumud @AjmaniK

Choosing and Celebrating Light…

Join us in our weekly chat on twitter, Sunday Nov 4th at 9amEDT / 730pm India in #SpiritChat ~ we will celebrate our choices of light. Note that the chat may be an hour later than usual in your time-zone as we switch back to “standard time” (choosing morning light!) in my region. Namaste – Kumud

Raising the Divine Feminine

Tags

abundance, celebration, empowerment, feminine, spirituality

An Indian legend goes that when the Earth was overrun and overcome with the oppression of the Audra’s – those with evil tendencies – even the all powerful (male) trinity of creation, preservation and regeneration felt powerless. The three then decided to contribute their best strengths, and appeal to the universal force above them, to evolve a superlative, energetic being that would help restore order and righteousness to the world.

The result was the creation of Shakti – the energy of the divine feminine, which restores order, harmony and dynamic balance to the world. The arrival of this new energy, a new trinity, is celebrated over a nine day festival that is currently underway in India. I view the festival as an opportunity to reflect on all the trinity of feminine influences in my life.

Who are the ones whose creative power of navigating the next big obstacle still flows within me? Who were the ones who taught me about the power of the creative arts of singing, writing, dancing, cooking, and much more? Who are the ones that showed me, with their propensity towards giving and sharing, that prosperity grows and flows best through the channel of an open heart? I raise all of them, celebrate them.

It is perhaps time for all of us to consider contributing our best strengths, and raising the divine feminine within us. Endowed and graced with that new Shakti, what obstacle(s) couldn’t we overcome? What new wave of equitable prosperity could we send forth with our best new energies? How much new creativity could we evoke to find solutions to our current challenges?

Raising the divine feminine within, is thus, cause for celebration. I invite you to celebrate the Shakti within you – for the peace, joy and goodness that it can bring to all,

Kumud @AjmaniK

Join us, Sunday October 14 at 9amET on Twitter. We shall celebrate the best of the divine (feminine) energy of the community that is #SpiritChat. Namaste – Kumud

The energy of #autumn is a wonderful time to reflect on the divine feminine… avail a walk…

Our Brothers and Sisters

Tags

brothers, celebration, siblings, sisters, spirituality

They are one or two of the very few physical, hand-written letters that comes my way these years. Their importance however is unmeasurable, because they each contain a single, simple, shining thread steeped in the love of each of my sisters in India. The oversized envelopes bring a sweet missive of sugar, along with a few grains of rice and saffron.

If I were in their physical presence, the simple ceremony would go something like this. First, she would put a paste of saffron and rice on my forehead. Then, she would tie the thread that reaffirms the bond between brother and sister. An exchange of sweets would follow, and then I would hand over (fairly large) amounts of cash, or a gift that she has been dropping hints about. The entire ceremony takes less than five minutes. The import lasts a lifetime, because it reaffirms the brother’s commitment to protect the sister in all ways possible.

In his first speech to an American audience at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago, Swami Vivekananda opened with the seemingly simple greeting… “Brothers and Sisters of America”. These five words struck such a chord, as the audience responded with a standing ovation that lasted many minutes. It was perhaps his open, loving reference to the audience as “brothers and sisters” that evokes such a flow of warmth. It opened the communication channel between a hitherto unknown monk and those assembled, and they felt a kinship, a sibling-ship, with him.

What is it about the phrase “dear brother” or “dear sister” that evokes such strong feelings and memories? I wouldn’t want to assume that all these evocations are of joy, for there is often much pain and estrangement between siblings too. Regardless of the level of joy and pain that our siblings may evoke, this Indian holiday is about remembrance and opportunity.

Remembrance of our wider, deeper universal brotherhood and sisterhood. An opportunity to spread joy and take a step towards a healing, to ask for and give of forgiveness, and commit to a greater caring of our frayed threads of sibling-ship.

I close with this poem for all of my sisters far and near. It came to me while watching the full moon rise from across my front porch. A thank you, a small gift, from a brother, to all his sisters, old and new, and all my dear brothers and sisters in #SpiritChat ~

All my sisters in lands near and far,

I remember like a warm summer glow;

And as the moon rises and the stars watch with awe,

Sisters sing our Mother’s songs on the earth below;

Their mirth and laughter rings of truth,

Of an unearthly joy they somehow know;

Whenever my light has gone aflicker,

Their spark tends to bring it aglow;

If I could express enough gratitude

It would be as much water does into the ocean daily flow…;

They say that the divine takes form in them

so as to us mortal brothers glimpses show;

That love does not reduce when shared,

By that infinite math does it grow;

And the threads that come from near and afar

Shine on my wrist today –

binding me to higher love, I know!

Kumud

P.S. Join us in a special celebration, dear brothers and sisters of #SpiritChat ~ I will bring some sweets and silken threads 🙂 Namaste.

Celebrating Guidance

Tags

celebration, guide, guru, spirituality

Friday July 27th was a special day in many ways. Astronomically, the full moon was accompanied by the longest duration total lunar eclipse in this century. Spiritually, Indian tradition celebrates this full moon as a ‘festival’ to honor our Gurus – those who provide us guidance on our path. Those who eclipse our doubts and being light and radiance to our hearts.

Over our morning coffee in the backyard, my wife suggested that I “call in well” to work… an idea that I was already considering, and hence readily agreed to. Family time. What better way to celebrate a festival? On Friday, family time meant spending time at the local bookstore, followed by lunch a new local fave where almost every entree can be ordered in a “gardein” (vegetarian or vegan) variation.

But first, the bookstore. As my daughter browsed the ‘young adult’ section, I wandered over to the nearby ‘spirituality’ stacks, to see what was new. I have ‘discovered’ some beautiful treasures of Rumi, Thich Nhat Hanh and Iyengar in these spaces in the past. And being in that space, I remembered. Wait. I had been meaning to order this particular book online since the day it was released in June. Maybe they have it in the store? So began the scouring of the ‘Spirituality’ shelves – first, a broad sweep of “books by author”, then “books by subject”. But to no avail. After wandering nearby into “mysticism” and other subjects with the same empty-handed was, I thought – maybe it was not for me to find this book today.

And then it struck me – maybe I ought to ask for ‘guidance’. The lady shelving books was right in my vicinity, every so often bringing a book to shelve in the very sections that I was searching in. So, I swallowed my slightly bruised ego, and timed my plea – ‘excuse me but could you look up a book for me?’ – with her return back to her computer terminal. In less than the time it took me to say the title, she said softly – yes, we have eight copies in the store!

Eight. How could I have missed all eight in the small corner in which I had been looking? She must have seen the quizzical look in my eyes, for she then said – “I have been watching you searching in ‘Spirituality’ – but this one is shelved in ‘Personal Growth’.” And where’s that, I asked? She proceeded to point to a stack in the diametrically opposite corner of what is a fairly large store – at least fifty feet away. So much for my conviction, my knowing of where to exactly find what I was looking for.

As I cradled “my find” proudly and stood in the checkout line along with my daughter’s choice, I wondered. How long would I have searched (again) in that ‘Spirituality’ section for my book – the very section where I had casually searched at least twice before on previous trips, and had left empty-handed thinking – I’ll just have to order it online. And how easy it was to “find”, when I asked the one who knew, and all they had to do was point me to the location. I did all the finding for myself after that… it must have taken less than a minute.

Yes, we often hear – embrace the ‘struggle’ (I call it ‘striving’), for it isn’t even really struggle, and that our struggle is part of our journey. We (are expected to) learn from our life’s strivings, our pains, our wounds, our bruises, so that when victory and healing comes, it may be even sweeter. What if part of our spiritual journey is to learn about when it is prudent to ask for guidance, from those who have walked the path before? While there is no shame in being (temporarily) lost, and believing that we can find our own way, we run the risk of letting our (small) ego misguiding and misdirecting us. Would it not be be a tremendous waste of our heart’s potential and energy if we were to accept being lost, to return home ‘empty handed’ as our spiritual destiny?

So, it was on the very day that I honor my Guru(s), that I was taught yet again – humility, acceptance, willingness to ask and then follow, and much more. I felt raised a little bit, in a gentle loving way, to the next stage. All in the search event for a book which has now become a metaphor for seeking loving guidance, illumination and practice of “The Heartfulness Way”.

Kumud @AjmaniK

Join us Sunday July 29th at 9amET for our weekly twitter chat in #SpiritChat. So many of you have provided guidance for so many on our community. This 7th Anniversary chat will honor all of you, your light, and your love. Namaste. – Kumud

P.S. My daughter’s book choice? “Gathering Blue” by Lois Lowry.

Celebrating guidance, rising in the center, among the five petals of the hibiscus…

On Living Goodness

Tags

celebration, goodness, living

The stories of the victories of ‘good’ over ‘evil’ are perhaps as old as the written word or even human memory. During the ‘holiday season’ in India, stories of the celebration of ‘goodness’ abound. The all-conquering nature of the Goddess (Durga), the ‘educational’ goodness bestowed by the Goddess (Saraswati), the benediction of prosperity from the Goddess (Lakshmi), the battle fought for ‘truth and justice’ fought by Rama, and many more are described in the Indian pantheon.

As I look back, I am grateful that I grew up hearing about the meritorious nature of taking time to invite the ‘good’ into our living. I am discovering that a re-commitment to a remembrance of the prevailing nature of ‘good’ is necessary, if not essential to live goodness. Remembrance of our, and others’ innate ‘goodness’ tends to focus our energy on that which is permanent and truly important. When we focus our energy on goodness, it brings us face to face with living our truth.

Of course, we cannot live our goodness in isolation, in ignorance of what is often referred to as the ‘reality’ of the world. ‘Reality’ (or is it really ‘illusion’?) often submerges us into living everything but our ‘goodness’. We start to live our angers, our judgements, our disappointments, our failings, our dark spaces, our excessive pursuits and goals (even of goodness!), our insensitivities, our illnesses, and even our ‘death’. And when we have had enough of such ‘living’, when we are gasping for a breath of goodness, what can we do?

We can remember those who have made a positive impact on our life. We can celebrate the words of kindness that steered us towards our own inner strength. We can honor those mentors who invested their considerable heart energy into the fledgeling seedling that we once were. What more could we do?

If and when we are strong enough, we could pull those who are gasping for a breath of goodness out of the waters and bring them ashore. We could then share our stories of the victories of ‘good’ over ‘evil’, of learning how to swim in goodness, ride the uplifting waves (or the thermals). We could empower them to involve towards, and live their innate goodness.

And those would be some things truly worth celebrating in any season – don’t you think?

Kumud @AjmaniK

P.S. Join us in #SpiritChat on twitter – Sunday October 15th at 9amET/1pmUTC. We will gather to talk about “living, remembering, invoking and celebrating #goodness”. I will bring some fruit and cookies – and of course some good tea! Namaste. (October 18th/19th is the ‘Deepawali Festival of Lights’ – a culmination (of sorts) of the Indian festival season celebrating the ‘victory of goodness’ :))

“Inviting Goodness” – Festival Art during a celebration at a friend’s home…

Chat Summary: https://storify.com/ajmanik/living-goodness

On Slowing Down – Again

Tags

celebration, heart matters, mindfulness, relaxation

There are one hundred and sixty eight hours in a week. If we slow down to count from one to one hundred and sixty eight – slowly, deliberatelty, mindfully – we can become aware of the amount of time that we potentially have access to. Even a slow count from one to twenty four, in the moments that we first awaken in the morning, can help us to reflect upon the treasury of the new day that has been opened before us.

Those few early morning minutes can indeed be ‘trend-setters’ for the rest of the hours of the day. In those early moments of the day, our minds and hearts are like flowers laden with dew opening towards the rising sun. The dew will surely turn into vapor as the heat of the world around us rises and we plunge into our daily routine. Yet, we have an opportunity to begin our day with a few moments of slowing down, a relaxation.

In an age of acceleration, nothing is as exhilarating as going slow. – Pico Iyer (via @GaryGruber)

We often slow down, relax, unwind at the end of the day, rather than the beginning. We are usually ‘running late’ in the morning, so we tend to plunge head-first into the river of action. We often leave little time for ourselves to appreciate the interplay of fragrance, moisture and morning light. I am well aware of this ‘reverse order’ of slowing down, because I did the same for many years in my life.

And then one day, I decided that I was going to reverse the order of ‘slowing down’. All it took was ‘giving up’ some minutes of sleep in the morning. But I really didn’t give anything up because I discovered that I really loved ‘slowing down’ more than I loved ‘sleeping in and rushing into the day’. I didn’t give up ‘slowing down’ at the end of the day either. In fact, the acts of ‘slowing down’ have become the primary bookends of my days.

It has been a slow, deliberate process that has been almost eighteen months in the making. Meaningful change does not happen instantly. The decision to change may happen in an instant, but the actions necessary to effect that change in the long term takes a commitment to practice. And I wonder if that is why so many of us, including me, have a challenge with ‘slowing down’ in the long term. We may slow down intermittently when we are exhausted, tired of rushing around. We may slow down intermittently on vacations, in (spiritual) retreats or on the ‘weekends’. But the challenge is to create a lifestyle which makes ‘slowing down’ as essential as breathing.

Indulge me when you have a minute. Sit, and close your eyes. Start taking an in-breath. Visualize the air near your nose enter the air passageways as it makes it long way through the trachea and into each lung. It is now traveling through smaller and smaller passages until it reaches the alveoli. Here, the oxygen from the air is exchanged with the carbon-dioxide from the blood brought from the heart. This exchange happens across a thin membrane that makes life possible. Both the air stream (the purifier) and the blood stream (the receiver) have to virtually come to a standstill so that purity can be effected. You have slowed down, and yet only taken half a breath. Now, watch the air leave the lungs as it reverses path and leaves through the mouth or nose. You have completed one breath. One, slow, deliberate cycle of life.

Maybe our spiritual heart works the same way. Is it possible that the medium that purifies our spiritual heart needs us to slow down, to relax, to perhaps even surrender – so that It may do its work of purificiation and renewal?

Let us pause to consider. Let us be aware of the moments that create beauty and joy in our heart. Let our (spiritual) practice help us create more such moments for ourselves. Let us eventually create an environment for those around us that will invite them to create such moments for themselves. For it is then that ‘slowing down’ will create lasting change.

Namaste,

Kumud @AjmaniK

I invite you to ‘slow down’ with us in #SpiritChat on Sunday, July 30th at 9amET/1pmUTC on twitter. We will celebrate another year of our weekly Sunday morning conversations with the community, as we launch our seventh year of practice… Thank you, fellow travelers!

A New Day

On Slowing Down