I have spent the last three years encouraging people to own, master and transcend their hate. This has been an uphill battle. At the beginning of this period, one person left. In one class, I gave everyone permission to hate; he was the most resistant and therefore the one most filled with hate. I called him out and said it …
Honoring Baba with the Guru’s Words….
There is no better expression of gratitude than to live the Guru’s words. Muktananda says: The world is an extraordinary drama. The Shiva Sutras say, nartaka ātmā—“The Self is an actor.” The world is God’s theater, God’s play, and the sport God has created for His own pleasure. A person who understands this understands everything. For him there is no room …
Beyond Doctrine….
When I was studying dance, we always talked about being technically proficient. We all spoke about getting technically flawless, magnificently proficient, in order to let go of technique and finally dance. That was an actual verbalization every single day in the studio: become so technically proficient that you can go beyond technique. We knew that if we wanted to actually …
Baba’s Mahasamādhi 2016….
I miss Baba. I miss Baba’s form. I miss Baba’s laugh. I miss Baba’s speech. I miss Baba manifesting through Baba’s vehicles. From everything Baba taught and shared, it is clear that he was focused on his Guru, Nityananda. The Self of All was Baba’s focus. Baba rested in the Heart, where God and Guru reside. As for me, I …
I Am Not a Teacher….
I am not a teacher. What a relief. If people think of me as a teacher, they relate with me as stubborn and rebellious students. They think in terms of doctrine and doctrinal disputes. I do not. I am not a teacher. I share silence, and the practice that brings silence. My Guru, Swami Muktananda, lived this and shared it …
Who Doesn’t Want Love….
Who doesn’t want love? I ask that question a lot. Can someone answer that question for me? When people say yes, they want love, I then tell them how to get it: be with your experience, let whatever comes up from your experience come up, and function appropriately on the physical plane. That is where everything breaks down. No one …
Love Is Nondual….
The more we move toward nonduality, the more Love we will have; the more diverse we are, the less Love, compassion, and empathy. When we live in our notion of diversity, we may believe in our uniqueness and not feel our unity with others. We have spoken before of unidualism vs nonduality. “All is good” or “all is bad” is …
Really Being Positive….
Calling something what it is is being honest, which is truly being positive. Calling something what it is is not negative. What is really negative is not calling something what it is; it is calling something what it is not. So if I am practicing, then I am truly honest with myself. I can choose. I can see what is …
Notion-Building….
If you are identified with your idea of the “way to be”, then you are not practicing. You are not being with your experience, letting whatever comes up from that experience come up, and functioning appropriately on the physical plane. Instead, you are keeping a lid on vibrations, or calling them something other than what they are, to keep your …
Not the Way To Be, Part Two….
Last week, I wrote about how we all must uncover what we believe is the “way to be” in order to free ourselves from that idea of “goodness”. We may know intellectually that our “way to be” is wrong—even that it is destructive—yet on an emotional level we are still sure it is good. But the truth is, the “way …