Monday 12 June 2017

✨Come in✨ What a time of difficult news it is. How shaken we are, often, by what is going on in our worlds. I would like to share with you some thoughts about practice here.

I took this photo in Sri Lanka last month, at a Buddhist temple. You can see how the tiles by the front door are softly scuffed, from people coming and going and going and coming. One time you open the door, not much happening. Ten times, hundreds of times, thousands of times, something is happening.

Spiritual practice can be like this. Often -- so often -- it is a question of simply showing up, in the knowledge that something might be happening that you're not wholly aware of in the moment.

Yesterday morning I felt so flat and so sad; just at the beginning of comprehending what happened in London on Saturday night. I didn't really feel like practicing or moving. I felt like... doing nothing. But from years of experience with myself, I knew that starting by just showing up is helpful. I sat in meditation, just for ten minutes, and let myself soften into something that felt... real. I practiced on the mat for an hour and felt my energy and emotions move around. I was where I was. I am where I am.

The door opens, again and again. And it is a sense of opening that helps me feel available to myself and others. I am able to support, when I am open. So I practice opening, even when (sometimes especially when) it starts from a point of going through the motions.

I am sending us all a big hug and lots of tenderness. Lots of love from London.✨💛

Posted Jun 5, Instagram