Namaste to all of you! 

I awoke early this morning with an old song going through my head.  Written in the mid-sixties by Stephen Stills, you may remember the one called "For What it's Worth."  It's a great song.  Please take a couple of minutes to listen and read the lyrics.
  

Fortunately, the young adults of today are still trying to understand and make since of the dualities of life.  And when their voices are heard, they help to make change.


Today I am writing this post to honor all the victims of the Parkland, Florida shooting -- the ones who lost their lives as well as the ones who were wounded physically and mentally. I am bowing to all the young people of Florida who are speaking their minds and sending out a ripple of awareness all over the country saying we are fed up and something isn't right with this gun situation.   I am bowing to all of them around the country for being brave.  I say right now, "Power to the young people!" for wanting change.

I am reminded of the book Shambala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior written by Chogyam Trungpa,  another Tibetan Buddhist teacher.   Looking at the duality that is relative in our everyday life (for example ... night/day, love/hate, cold/hot, guns/no guns) he tells us that we need to be fearful, tender of heart, or sad to enable one to "open up, without resistance or shyness, and face the world."  The fear  transforms into fearlessness.  

In watching and listening to the high schoolers that are facing the world and speaking out, it looks like their fear transformed them into fearless "spiritual warriors."   Chogyam Trungpa says:

“Warrior-ship here does not refer to making war on others. Aggression is the source of our problems, not the solution. Here the word “warrior” is taken from the Tibetan “pawo,” which literally means, “one who is brave.” ... "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye."

I am glad that these activists are out there carrying signs, going to D.C., speaking to political officials -- letting it be known that things are not acceptable.  We need this and I believe we should do all we can to empower this mission of calling for change.  

Some think that simple prayers, thoughts and meditations may not help in the big picture.  But that is not true when you have a inkling of the cosmic energy that runs throughout the whole universe -- through all of us including our actions, thoughts and words.   If you are of the right mind and practice with compassion, it can help to raise the consciousness of all. 

I go along with the thoughts of the Dalai Lama that world peace starts within.  And Gandhi's words:  Be the change you want to see.  And then there is Thich Nhat Hanh suggesting that each step must be peaceful in obtaining peace.   These three spiritual leaders are known to be activists for peace, equal rights and freedom.

           So I tell myself:  Don't talk about it.  Be about it!

Our hearts have been wounded again and we are open and vulnerable.  Is it time to recognize yourself as a spiritual warrior?  I am looking toward more active efforts leading to higher consciousness for all and raising the vibe of the planet.  Meanwhile, I will continue to be the best person I can be and do Tonglen meditation as I have talked about in the preceding post -- the meditation is something I can always do.  

At this time, I'm making a request to all of you concerned ones and spiritual warriors to keep your peaceful ways going  and to continue seeking change through rational and compassionate actions in service of a higher goal.  

                          Thank you to all the fearless ones 
                for being here on the pathway to awareness! 
                                        

 

                      Namaste!  I am bowing to everyone!  

I have been talking about and practicing Tonglen meditation for a couple of years.  With all of the tension in the world, I am now making an effort to introduce Tonglen to my friends and family.  Developed by Tibetan Buddhists, this meditation with its unique breathing technique, offers us a chance to feel more helpful in situations.

It has helped me get through lots of physical pain as well as the anxiety caused by illness and now it is helping with the frustration of  dealing with environmental, political and social issues.  It is a different technique in that you take in negative energy and send out positive energy.

With all the information that is out there, you will be able to create a Tonglen practice that works for you.  My aim, here on this page, is to give you a glimpse into this meditation with the assistance of Pema Chodron, a Tibetan Buddhist nun, who has a very real and relaxed manner in teaching.  


Pema says: 

           "Tonglen practice, also known as “taking and 
           sending,” reverses our usual logic of avoiding     
           suffering and seeking pleasure. In tonglen 
           practice, we visualize taking in the pain of others 
          with every in-breath and sending out whatever 
          will benefit them on the out-breath. In the process, 
          we become liberated from age-old patterns of   
          selfishness. We begin to feel love for both ourselves 
          and others; we begin to take care of ourselves and  
          others."


The drawing below shows you the process -- breathing in the negative dark energy which could be an emotion or happening and then breathing out the energy of a desired positive outcome.

This is how I use it.  I will breathe in my unsettling and  anxious feeling.  I look internally to how this anxiousness feels.  And then I will breathe out peace, calmness, serenity.  Next I will do this same process for someone that I know is experiencing the similar feelings.  I will breathe in her anxious feelings with empathy and breathe out calmness. Lastly, I will move on to all those in the whole world who are feeling anxious.  I will breathe in that anxious feeling and then I will exhale with the thought of peace for all.  I spend some time with each area of this meditation.

Now a short video featuring Pema giving us more information and some more clarity.  Remember there are different styles of tonglen.  I suggest you do some research ...

I find this is a meditation that works for me.  You can use it with anger, pain, any negative emotion.  It is engaging my practice to help myself and to help others.  When you start with yourself, it enables you to feel what others are feeling.  A really easy one is to just breathe in fear and breathe out love starting with yourself, then someone else, and ending with the whole planet.  Another one is breathing in ignorance and breathing out wisdom.  It really does ease up the uncomfortable feelings of not being able to do something.
                             


                             Thank you for being here
                                    on the pathway!  

 


 

                          Namaste! I am bowing to you! 

We all love walking!   We love how we can move around freely and easily.  Through a physical situation, I lost that freedom for a couple of years.  That experience served me in fine tuning my awareness of the gift of movement.  My gratitude for walking has increased to the umpteenth degree!  I am still rehabbing and I make a big deal out of mindful walking.  It is such a wonderful experience to pay attention to the miraculous symphony of motion in every step!

        I wrote the following essay.  I hope you will enjoy it!

                      Walking Walking Mindful Walking
 
It’s a beautiful breezy day.  I  am with a new friend who has become one of my favorite walking partners.  Her name is Milly.  She is strong, dependable, and inspiring.  During this time of finding more  physical strength and balance, she has taught me so much about being aware of my body and all its movement during our walks.  I believe her to be a walking master.  I am so grateful that she is always ready for a workout and have come to deeply appreciate all the insights I receive while in her presence!
    
Before beginning the walk routine, I stand still with my feet at hip width apart.  Balancing on my feet, I soften my knees a bit and sink  into the energy of grounding.  I become aware of my breath.  Of course, we are dependent upon breath for oxygenating all our cells, but I recognize its more subtle function — paying attention to its flow, opens the doorway to mindfulness of our bodies and its movement. While watching my breath, I  breathe slowly and deeply — in and out, in and out.  Following my breath, I watch it travel throughout my body opening the connection and calling me to look deeply into my upper body — the neck, shoulders, lung, heart before continuing on to scan through my hips to upper legs, knees and feet.  I look for any sensitive areas to be aware of during this walking practice to avoid injury to my healing body.
      
Besides conscious breathing, my walking practice involves another traditional zen element.  Now forming my hands into the Shashu mudra, I first bring the thumb and index finger of right hand together forming a ring.  This finger gesture also offers grounding.  I place the left hand over the right hand letting the thumb lightly hook into the ring of the right hand.  Keeping my gestured hands very relaxed, I move them over my solar plexus just below the ribcage.   

Honoring the walking experience, I bow to Milly.  So it is with this conscious breathing and pose, Milly calls on me to start.  With my eyes cast down and looking about six feet ahead, we begin with an ever-so-slow stride.  The slowness allows me to create a rhythm and be more conscious of the movements of walking — I am lifting—moving—connecting—lifting— moving—connecting, over and over again.  I take deep and slow breaths and feel my hips shift back and forth with each alternate step.  

I remember to look more deeply into the movement with my inner eye to see into the region of the feet and their more distinct actions as they first touch with the heel, gliding onto the ball, and finally onto my toes of the forward foot.  As I push off with these toes, my other foot is starting with the heel, then ball, and onto the toes.  After keeping my sight there for some moments, I move on to watch my knee. I feel the spacious movement of these joints — the rotating, lifting and stepping out and then alternating to the other.  Traveling up my legs to my hips joints, I smile at the gentle swing of my hips so thankful to my body for this miraculous and synchronistic action of walking.  Hearing the words “walk like a mountain” run through me.  I breathe, straighten my back and lift my diaphragm.
    
Confident of my balance, I know I’m ready to increase my speed slightly, I move out of the hand mudra.  Now my arms are swinging freely keeping in time with the alternate leg.   As I move faster, I don’t forget to pay attention to the movement of all the joints and their part in the walking movements.  Back to the simple thought of lifting, moving, connecting with every step.  And still conscious of the gentle shift of the hips, I watch the appropriate leg and foot action.   Is my left foot coming down at the right angle?  Am I moving with my hips in proper alignment over the appropriate leg?  I am breathing?  So much to be mindful of! 
    
After 30 minutes of walking, I feel it is time to slow it down — I bring my hands back into the walking mudra and I am able to slow my breath and watch it gently travel down my down through my legs looking for irregular feelings.  All is good!  And I concentrate for a bit more on the whole action of stepping out slowly with lifting, moving, connecting and then I again take a deeper look into that action — heel, ball, toes — again and again until I am finished.   I feel flushed, sweaty and good.  I smile and bow once again to Milly and thank her for being here for me. 

Well, now back to real life.  I find the spray bottle and cloth to respectfully wipe down this wonderful machine.  Yes, let the truth be known.  Milly Milly the Treadmill!  Yes, Milly is my name for this constant, no non-sense walking companion. 
    
And dear Milly can be found everyday on the second floor of Makana Training Center on the island of Kauai.  I have grown to really appreciate this machine.  I can just walk with one step at a time and not worry about any obstacles on the pathway.  With Milly’s help, at this point in my workout, I have created a 35 minute walking program that guides me through different paces that are enabling me to walk with more strength, balance and determination.  I call our time together “walking without walking.”  Thank you!