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…

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practice cancelled

Holy-Ice Storm, friends! Sangha is cancelled due to this stunningly bizarre weather. With the news reporting that the road conditions are sketchy (and my car being completely covered in ice to the point where the doors are frozen shut), it just doesn’t make sense for us to take any risks. May you find moments of…

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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…

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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…

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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,…

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embodied prayer | transforming the heart

Through our collective musing last Sunday, it became clear to me that “Transformative Love” is the energy that changes the shape of our hearts and minds. As I become more and more of who I am — and something new — I am contemplating the question: What does this look, sound, feel and act like…

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transformative love | what changes the shape of our hearts + minds?

Last week, we opened the new season of contemplation by diving into the study and practice of Transformative Love. Sangha is fueled by the cultivation of spiritual friendship where we support one another in developing spiritual faculties such as trust, discernment, skillfulness, compassion, and diligence. These qualities facilitate transformation and healing, and root us in…

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full moon + new year blessings

First of all: Y’all already know that every breath is a new chance to begin anew so today is no more special than yesterday for aligning your clear intentions with skillful actions! For those who are already clear about what you’ve been called to manifest — the energies to conjure up and call toward you, the…

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on the dharma shelf | december 2017

Originally posted on radical bodhicitta:
? In our very bodies, hearts, and minds we are programmed to be in relationship and community together. Breaking together means, when community gets tough, we can feel how much difficulty, pain, and suffering there is in the community. We break together because none of us wishes to add one…