Category Archives: Religion
TENDERNESS AND THE TRUTH
One could reasonably say that our egos are totally structured around the need to defend ourselves from what we believe at our core we could not tolerate experiencing. From this standpoint, our spiritual path is to let ourselves make contact … Continue reading
ATTENDING TO THE HEART In my Soul Repair and Soul Work childhood trauma recovery groups I have participants put their hands over their hearts and attend to what is present there. Also, sometimes I have them put one hand over their hearts and one hand over their guts. One thing that this can do is to bring our awareness more deeply into connection with our heart and gut “brains”. There is clinical evidence that this is one way to synchronize the electrical patterns of the brain and the heart, which is important to good emotional self regulation. Try the following experiment the next time you are really upset about something. Rather than reaching for food or distraction or support outside of yourself, resolve to be present with yourself in the moment, especially with your heart region where much upset is experienced. Place one hand over your heart and feel into your heart space. Let go of any thoughts or memories or mental images if they arise and go back to your heart space. Breathe and gently stay present there. You may find that this helps you to calm down and think more clearly.
Tender Loving Kindness for our meditation
Dear Group, We will be continuing on the theme of Tender Loving Kindness for our meditation meeting this Friday. Some of you may have Inner Critics that will turn up their noses on this topic with disdain or possibly … Continue reading
FIFTY WAYS OF LETTING GO
Fifty Ways of Letting Go “Robert Cornell has written a wise and practical book for our times. A book that beautifully integrates psychological health and well-being with a genuine spiritual path.” —Roshi Robert Joshin Althouse , Zen Life & Meditation … Continue reading
Spiritual Practice and Baggage
We also bring a great deal of baggage into spiritual practice from our cultural values and attitudes. Our culture is hyper individualistic and focused on success and competition and so we will tend to bring a very competitive individualistic attitude … Continue reading
Dethroning the Inner Critics in Spiritual Practice
Dethroning the Inner Critics in Spiritual Practice It is often said and very truthfully that spiritual practice is mostly unlearning what we bring to our spirituality rather than what we learn and try to add to ourselves. Letting go of False Self, … Continue reading
TOTAL SURRENDER
Sometimes our deep core belief in our separation from God and our unworthiness weakens enough that God’s love can flow into us unimpeded; and when this happens, our hearts are transfixed in an intense beam of love. There is a … Continue reading