Invitations of Spring

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invitation, music, reflection, spirituality, spring

It’s 10am Saturday morning and I have been up for at least four hours, absorbing all the energy flowing around and within me, from near and from 7500 miles away. This same routine has been going on for the past few days, and the energy has taken on a special frequency since the Indian ‘Spring’ festival of Basant Panchami was celebrated on January 26. Spring in the middle of winter in the Northern hemisphere, you say?

We are almost five weeks into winter, seven weeks from Spring. If we lean our hearts a little, and let our mind wander a week forward, we will be halfway there. In some ways, the festival is an invitation to the Spring that is imminent. Yes, winter may still have some questions to ask of us, but so what?

The better question to perhaps ask is — What does Spring mean to you and your heart? The calendar is simply a time-keeper, isn’t it? If we orient our energy towards the feeling that Spring engenders within us, will we not instantly evoke Spring, or any of our favorite seasons at our heart’s behest?

Over the past few days, particularly since I received and accepted Spring’s ‘early’ invitation to play, my schedule has been pleasantly ‘disrupted’ by my attendance at an online festival of ‘music and meditation’ every morning. As a result, I can feel that my internal energy has been shifting daily, slowly but steadily towards warmth, renewal and a harmony that is the hallmark of Spring for me.

As I finish writing, the Sun has literally made its way through the heavily overcast skies, the wind has been becalmed by a shift, the reflections of the trees in the pond are becoming sharper by the minute, and the geese are slowly arriving for the day. I am sensing another invitation to sing, to meditate, to raise awareness of what lies in the heart.

It surely feels like an invitation from spring to me. I guess that winter without will have to wait. Have you received any invitations of body, mind and heart lately? If so, what have you done with them?

Kumud

P.S. I invite you to join our weekly twitter chat and gathering, Sunday Jan 29 at 9am ET / 2pm GMT / 730pm India in Spiritchat over tea and cookies. Namaste – AjmaniK

P.P.S The second phase of the ‘Spring festival’ of ‘music and meditation’ hosted by Heartfulness India will run from Feb 1-3 2023 at 7amET / Noon GMT / 530pm India. You are invited to attend the Free live sessions at https://hfn.link/youtube ~ Namaste.

Spring invites us in its own subtle ways… to reflect on body, mind and heart…

On Spiritual Retreat – Seven Keys to Growth

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reflection, retreat, spiritchat, spirituality

The final week of the year, leading up to New Year’s Day is perhaps one of mixed emotions for many. As is our human nature, we tend to look back on the fifty-one weeks of the year gone by, while looking forward to the upcoming year and the promises that it holds for us. We may look at our ‘successes and failures’ from the year, and make plans and set goals for the year to come. Or, we may simply take the time to ‘retreat’ from all the busyness, and create space to rest, recover, recharge, rebuild, refocus, and renewal…

Yes. For me, retreat is an essential part of the act of living a full life. Some may view the notion of retreat as going off to some exotic or far-flung destination of individual solitude. Others may view it as gathering with a group of like-spirited individuals for the common purpose of renewal. Whether it is done individually or with a group, in our own backyards or in an organized setting away from home, the purposes of a retreat are fairly congruent for many. A few of these come to mind…

• Rest. We do our best work when we are well rested. In my weight-lifting days, we would work different groups of muscles in a three-day rotation – chest and arms, shoulders and back, legs – the fourth day would be one of rest – and then we would repeat the rotation. My ‘coaches’ taught me that if I did not rest the muscles I had exercised, they would not have a chance to…
• Recover. The exercise of daily life needs – almost demands – a period of recovery. Just like our muscles which form micro-tears with strenuous exercise, the fabric of our life, suffers micro-tears with daily living. A retreat from the world, however brief, allows us time and space to recover. In the retreat, it is essential to have the tools in place, or to acquire new tools, so that one may…
• Recharge. Tired muscles need good nutrition. Tired minds need good nutrition too. Rest and recovery are essential, but if not ‘fed’ properly during the retreat, our muscles and minds and hearts will have missed an opportunity. The tools of good nutrition allow us to recharge, and multiply the advantage of rest and recovery by accelerating us on the road to…
• Rebuild. It is very difficult, if not downright inadvisable, to heal without having gone through a period of rest, recovery and recharging. We would simply build upon a weak foundation, which may do us more harm in the long run. The purpose of the three-day rotation was so that the muscle groups, when exercised again on the fourth day, would have had assimilated the mixture of rest (space), recovery (time) and recharging (good nutrition). This would lay the foundation for rebuilt additional strength. In the process, one would occasionally need to…
• Refocus. Just like life, pursuing a graduate degree and trying to keep to a regular exercise schedule was not always easy. There were many, many distractions, which could easily get me off track. Not to mention that it was difficult to afford good nutrition to recharge. But, ‘my coaches’ had taught me one very important rule. Once we were in our workout area, surrounded by free weights and other folks working out, we always kept focus. This ensured that we never got hurt, and nobody got hurt because of our lack of focus. The easiest way to lose focus is when tired, or hungry or overly emotional… Focus, or lack of it, can cause more injury, to self and others, than strength ever will. Creating time and space for retreat, particularly with a good coach, can help us refocus, so that we end up on the road to…
• Renewal. It does not really matter what shape we enter the workout area of life in. What matters is that we have a commitment to work, a good coach to guide us, and the tools and resources we need, to recharge, rebuild and refocus on the road ahead. We keep practicing, resting, recharging and renewing. We keep rebuilding the micro-tears at every opportunity, sharing with grace and renewing our commitment to forgiving and living with love.

Do believe me when I say that this post was not intended to be a post about exercise, particularly as some of us (including me) wonder about what to do with all these extra pounds that have found us over the holidays! The analogy just flowed into my brainbox and became a bulwark around which I found myself wrapping the threads of the topic of ‘spiritual retreat’. Each bullet point could be an entire #SpiritChat conversation in itself, and we may do revisit the six points above, at various times over the next year.

For now, let us focus on the topic for Sunday, December 27th – spiritual retreat. I hope you can join us in the live chat on twitter – and share with us – what is your ‘seventh key’? If I don’t ‘see’ you on Sunday, I wish you the best of renewal, and all the best of the holidays and a wonderful year in 2016!

Namaste,

Kumud

P.S. It may well be the case that most of you who have read this far have ‘unplugged’ from ‘social’ for the year, and are in semi-retreat or full retreat already – in that case, I will see you in 2016! Enjoy your retreat!!

Reflection and the Spirit

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reflection, spirit, spiritchat

The month of June has been one of wonderful discussions in the #SpiritChat community chats every Sunday morning. We began in the first week by discussing the role, and desire for perfection in our lives, and how it impacts our spiritual growth. The second Sunday of June featured our first special guest in our Summer Series, Jill Chakra Khan. Jill helped turn the focus of the community from perfection to intention, as we examined the nature of our intentions, and their importance in our daily lives. The third Sunday’s conversation was about fathers, fatherhood, and the complexity of our relationships with father-figures in our lives. This was a difficult conversation for many in the #SpiritChat community, and a lot of open, healing sharing was done by some very courageous folks. It was a great eye-opener for me in that not everyone out there has necessarily had positive influences from their fathers. Regardless, they continue to examine, heal and move forward.

The fourth Sunday of June featured our second special guest of our Summer Series, Leia Cator. Leia turned our attention to two conjoined topics – awakenings and celebrations – or, celebration awakenings. Leia and her love for nature, and her dedication to photographing sunrises, brought a wonderful feeling of awakening, and celebration, to the #SpiritChat community. This brings us to the final Sunday of June (yes, there are five!), where we pause and reflect. One aspect of reflection comes from the fact that we are officially at the half-way mark of the year. In addition, the fact that we are officially into summer (at least in the northern hemisphere :)) may also give some us of pause for reflection – on perfection, intention, and celebration! Summer can be a busy time for many, as family time, travel, conferences, retreats and many more events may fill our calendars.

So, perhaps, it is a good time to pause. And reflect. To take stock of where we are, and where we are going. To examine our intentions for the next quarter, or maybe even the second half of the year. To look back at some of our (spiritual) and life goals, and how we took (or did not take) action on them. And, if we did not set any goals (I very rarely do so myself ;)), perhaps at least reflect on the nature of our intentions and do a quick self-exam and adjustment on them. We pause, reflect, plan, and move forward with action on our journey, as we carve our own path on our spiritual journey.

As has become custom, I invite you, dear reader, to come join me as I open the doors, yet again, to our Sunday morning conversations (whose threads sometimes meander during the week :)). Sunday, June 30th at 9amET. Let us engage in some reflection, as we well know how to do in #SpiritChat.

Until then, Be well. And may we continue our work to polish the mirror within. May we also continue to, as the song says, Believe in Love. Namaste!

Kumud

Update: Here are the questions asked during the chat. Enjoy, and feel free to answer in the comments… The full transcript and statistics are available at http://bit.ly/sc-tr-0630

Q1. Reflection – what does it mean to you in the context of everyday living? #SpiritChat

Q2. What are some real-life obstacles to meaningful reflection? #SpiritChat

Q3. We tend to reflect more in times of sorrow than in joy. Agree or Disagree? Why? #SpiritChat

Q4. What are some short and long-term benefits of reflection? #SpiritChat

Q5. How can reflection be used to connect the past with the present? #SpiritChat

Q6. Please share some favorite techniques that help you with reflection. #SpiritChat

Q7. As you reflect on the past, what inspires you to move forward? #SpiritChat

Final Q8. Reflect forward. Send a message to the future… #SpiritChat