Zazen is a practice that involves the body in ways such as working with the breath. Joshu Sasaki Roshi came up with the phrase, “Buddha is the center of gravity.” Rooting ourselves to the earth through the hara, the abdominal area, is an aspect of Chan or Chinese Buddhism that came to be known as Zen in Japan. We unconsciously absorb negativity that denigrates the body in our culture. There is a symbiotic relationship between spirit and the body in ancient systems like yoga, tai chi, and qigong. There is a traditional analogy of a chariot (the body), horses (our will and energy), driver (the ego that is in connection with the world), and passenger (the Self or witness). The ego needs direction from the Self. When we get beyond busy-ness we can hear the messages of the Self and the body. In Buddhism, it is not desire but unexamined desire that is suffering. The vessel has been referred to as the receptacle of the soul. Do we relate to the vessel with tenderness or judgment? Judgment pops up over and over; it is ingrained and patterned in our bodies. With deep meditation experience we understand that we’re not just the human body. In spiritual practice, relationship to the body is often ignored. The Middle Way does not deny or punish the body with ascetic practice and does not indulge the body. This way has got to look different today than when Buddha lived in 500 B.C. The focus on the evolution of consciousness can last right up to the end of our lives. A koan is a practice of a dying activity meant to dissolve the sense of a separate self. When we have compassion for ourselves, it spills out to other people. Myosho Ginny Matthews was a student of Joshu Sasaki Roshi for 40 years. She took lay ordination in 2000, leads retreats on practice, is a dance teacher and choreographer, and is featured in the book, The Unknown She: Eight Faces of an Emerging Consciousness.

Identification is the great law that governs all human life. We are enslaved and quickly swept away by it as it captures and consumes our attention, which is what we are in essence. Yet, we are blind to it and believe we are free. All human problems are caused by identification. Imagination and identification are identical twins that work together. We are powerless to hold attention for long before being captured by imagination. We are identified with the body and ego structure and by attachment to objects, people, ideas, belief systems. A root of identification is self-importance when we see ourselves as the center of the universe. Identification is fear, which blocks love. It has one aim only—the survival of the false self/ego structure. One of the primary tools of identification is judgment, which can become a reminding factor. The mark of a person who is willing to work is self-honesty. Freedom is freedom from identification. There is only ever one problem: an unwillingness to confront the need to cease all identification. We can loosen the hold of identification with the practice of presence by self-observation and self-remembering. The body is an objective feedback mechanism to help orient the attention in the present. If we’re not conscious of the body, we’re not conscious. Conscience can be seen as the Will of God, or Love. In saying and doing things that violate conscience, we suffer remorse and our hearts can change. Beauty is everywhere but we don’t see it due to fear or identification. We can come to be grateful to those who offend us. Intuition can be distinguished from imagination. Love is the standard by which we can compare and come to disbelieve reactions and feelings. Red Hawk is an acclaimed poet and the author of 13 books, including Self Observation, Self Remembering, The Way of the Wise Woman, Return to the Mother, and Book of Lamentations.

Rick Lewis talks about the mystery of the Guru through telling stories of his experience with his Guru, Lee Lozowick. He discusses circumstances that brought him to his first Guru, Bhagwan Rajneesh (Osho), to meet Lee after Osho’s death, and to search to escape from the anxiety of human separation through spiritual attainment. Altered states that feel incredibly profound can be used to maintain a separate sense of self, as if we are getting closer to enlightenment. Stories are told about how Lee fanned the flames of this spiritual pursuit, which began to unravel after Lee’s death. The inexplicable energetic field around a Guru, who functions outside the usual reference point of a separate individual, is considered. Relationship with a Guru is both unnerving and inviting given the uncanny awareness and connection a Guru has with the moving parts of reality. The content of one’s interactions become irrelevant when introduced to the ground of pure being through receptivity to a master. Rick remembers an experience of driving for hours in silence with Lee, with self-conscious feelings disappearing into the heart. He describes the Guru’s fierceness when asking a question he had previously asked, hoping for a different answer, without feeling any aggression. There is also the fallible human aspect of the Guru which adds to the confusion of the linear mind. To be a human being without putting on an act or mask is a natural thing. The Guru works with each person in a unique way and is completely available after death. If we have not had the experience of a Guru, all of us have the access point of feeling connected beyond our usual frame of reference with who the Guru actually is. Spiritual literature can be an access point. Rick Lewis is a national speaker and author of 7 Rules You Were Born to Break, The Perfection of Nothing, You Have the Right to Remain Silent, and other books.

It's interesting to consider that there are larger forces at play in creation than we know. Angels are part of the Abrahamic cultures (Moslem, Christian, Hebrew). There are similar entities—dakinis, demigods, spirits—in Buddhist, Hindu, and Native traditions. Einstein’s great question was, “Is this a friendly universe or not?” We can look at the qualities of angels in history, art, and theology and find them in living persons. Calling in our angels has many dimensions to it: a cosmic dimension of finding our rightful place in the universe and welcoming good company that provides help in our lives. Angels in religious traditions are not cute cupids but are often connected with the need to bring justice and peace to the earth. There are demon angels, but angels are most always connected with love. A scientific worldview has triumphed and we look to it to explain how things work. But we can shift the kaleidoscope a bit and see that the marvels of the cosmos are interpenetrated with divinity. If we believe the traditions, we are surrounded by forces set upon helping humanity, which is what angelic forces do. We can call upon these forces. Angel wings may represent an ability to move instantaneously when called upon. Angels are described as powerful, and they often appear as messengers. Praising God, which is what angels do, is a very high spiritual practice. Chanting God’s name is an energetic connection to a higher force. We are fascinated with science fiction in which other entities and dimensions exist. We can look at the night sky and open ourselves to the possibility of living in a divine universe. Who do we want to call upon to help us through transitions, including death? Regina Sara Ryan has just retired as the editor of Hohm Press and is a workshop leader, retreat guide, and author of The Woman Awake, Igniting the Inner Life, Praying Dangerously, Only God, and other books.

The aphorisms of G. I. Gurdjieff are an accessible concentration of many of his ideas and basic teaching. Nine of the 38 aphorisms are considered in this presentation on the life of Gurdjieff, who appeared in Moscow in 1912 after a 20 year search for knowledge. His quest produced a system that became known as The Work. Gurdjieff used the tumult of life that presented itself to teach, including world wars. All outer work can be used for inner work. Some students who helped Gurdjieff establish, manifest, and disseminate his teaching are discussed: the Ouspenskys, de Hartmans, de Salzmanns, and Orage. Work ideas, music, and movements were engaged by those who had a need to go beyond the ordinary state of “man.” This required self-observation of the human machine with thinking, feeling and moving centers and intentional suffering, choosing how one wished to be, and trying with directed super-efforts. Gurdjieff established a center for his studies at the Prieure near Paris in the 1920s and the aphorisms were posted in the study hall there which included: “The worse the conditions of life, the more productive the work, always provided you remember the Work.” “Like what it does not like.” “Remember you have come here having already understood the necessity of struggling with yourself—only with yourself. Therefore thank everyone who gives you the opportunity.” There is discussion of Gurdjieff’s trips to America, his writing of Beelzebub’s Tales, and his student Louise March who established a center at a New York farm with children’s groups and where the Work has continued. Carl Grimsman was born into the Gurdjieff Work environment during the first years of the New York Foundation, attending the children’s group there and later working with Mrs. March at East Hill Farm. The first two books in his “The Soul’s Traverse” series are Sun Bridge and The Kindling.

An ethical will is about what we wish to pass on to future generations. Native American tribes think seven generations ahead in terms of what to leave behind. An ethical will has been part of the Jewish tradition. Ethics is about acting according to conscience, while morality is more about following widely shared norms, sometimes unthinkingly. When we consider who our ancestors were, we learn about ourselves. How have things that happened in the past brought us to the spiritual work we’re doing now? Some of us on a spiritual path have been exposed to higher laws such as hospitality, good company, reciprocity, and invocation and have benefited from teachings passed down through traditions. Could we convey values we have learned in a way that benefits others and does not create a burden by saying what others who come after us should do? Maybe spiritual work, which arises out of the wellspring of a desire to self-realize, is inherent in life and does not need anything from us to express itself. But if we have benefited from it, do we feel a responsibility to pass it on? Most of the time what we want to leave behind is something to be remembered by. An ethical will is different; it is about passing on something bigger than ourselves. What is of ultimate value is beyond the personal. If we practice because we want to awaken individually, it will not yield much in a lifetime. Tribal people pass on values through story. Humor is often an aspect of expressing the sacredness of life so we don’t take ourselves so seriously. If we feel the urge to write, we could make an ethical testament of things we have learned from. We can live inside a question of what we might wish to pass on and how we could do that. Elise Erro (e.e.) has been committed to a life of engaging spiritual principles and service through theater, support for the dying, and bringing enjoyment to others as a chocolatier.

The Gospel of Thomas was found in 1945 in a jar buried in the ground in a small Egyptian town, Nag Hammadi, in a region where monks had meditated in solitude. Its origin dates back to the first few centuries and possibly to the time of Christ. In the accepted Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Jesus is presented as an utterly unique being or as the only begotten son of God. Thomas means twin in Latin. One interpretation of the Gospel of Thomas is that we are identical twins of Jesus at a deep level, children of God as he is without knowing it. Some find it not to be a gnostic text since it affirms the basic reality and sanctity of incarnate life which gnostics consider illusory. There were different communities of Essenes, Sadducees, and Pharisees at the time that Jesus lived. Jesus transmitted a lot of his teaching of spiritual truth through parable. The Gospels were originally spoken in Aramaic and translated into Greek. The Nag Hammadi texts are written in Coptic, a language descended from ancient Egyptian. So, the Gospel of Thomas, which contains 114 logia or sayings attributed to Jesus, has undergone translation. Several of them are discussed. In the first, he states that whoever discovers the meaning of the sayings will not taste death. It is assumed that Jesus did not mean we are not going to leave the body—he meant something else. If Jesus had wanted to be clear and literal, he would not have spoken this way. The second logion says that those who seek should seek until they find and when they find they will be troubled and will reign over all. The Gospel of Thomas contains nondual teaching—the kingdom is within and without. We can reflect on the sayings, make them our own and open to their meaning. David Herz is a spiritual practitioner who lives in Paris where he has been a journalist, technical writer, communications officer, and an English instructor at universities.

Love is a stable state of being that can be seen as the culmination of the path. What is required of us for this state to come about? Love is about more than one relationship. We can consider love in coupled relationship, with others that we associate with, and in relationship to life. What is usually meant when we say we love someone is that we want to be loved by them. We can have expectations of a partner and others and become resentful if they do not meet our expectations. What do we really want? If we had it, would it be enough? Relative existence is fundamentally disappointing since everything ends. Would residing in a stable state of love be enough? We have to consider loving our enemies if we are to work toward the possibility of the path. Society does not teach us to love our enemies. We see situations in life as friendly or unfriendly, favorable or unfavorable, and look for favorable situations all the time. We can consider the enemy to be anyone with whom we have a relationship of unlove and everything that represents the unfriendly side of existence. The traditions assert that there is something in us that has to change. We can intend to “Love our enemies” and do a turn-around when we are in a state of unlove toward others or when the unfavorable side of life presents itself. This is different than denying or suppressing our feelings. We can practice with this in small ways. Great masters have said that the Divine has us pass through painful ordeals to awaken us to the ultimate reality. We can have compassion for ourselves, not demand more of ourselves than is presently possible, and also work with such teachings and dare to remember the aim of staying in love. This talk is based on the teachings of the French master Arnaud Desjardins. VJ Fedorschak is the organizer of the Western Baul Podcast Series and author of The Shadow on the Path and Father and Son.

We are living in wild times, in a shifting world in which we don’t know what’s going to happen. How can we find and live with reality in a world that is so predominantly unreal? Our karmas have to ripen all the way for us to become more fluid, open up, and let go. An essential tenet of tantra is non-rejection, taking whatever is arising as our path. Pratyahara, a teaching in the Yoga Sutras, is about freeing ourselves from identifications and attachments, including spiritual ones. The path is a living stream that keeps giving us new challenges. All spiritual practice leads us to an in-between liminal state where we have to respond to what is present now and not what was in the past. We’re also in-between duality and nonduality, with awareness in both. The doorway to the Divine is the Feminine, a quality of being that is present in everyone regardless of gender. The Feminine has an instinctual trust of the life process, which includes death. The deeper we go on the path the more our hearts are broken and the more we recognize our love for everything, for the world. We can bear witness to what is unfolding in our lives and the world. If we are “in the world but not of the world,” we can step back to have a greater view of what is happening without getting caught up in it. When we’re clear, that is a moment to reaffirm our intention to the universe. In order for a new consciousness to be born, things have to die. The quality of our inner life makes a difference in this world. We keep getting broken open and getting bigger. Can we welcome the unknown and step into it with open arms? Mary Angelon Young is a workshop leader with a background in Jungian psychology, an editor and author of As It Is, Under the Punnai Tree, The Baul Tradition, Caught in the Beloved’s Petticoats, Enlightened Duality (with Lee Lozowick), Krishna’s Heretic Lovers, The Art of Contemplation, and other books.

Enlightenment may or may not be a goal for people, but why would we get on the path unless we wanted something? With age, there seems to be less talk about pursuing enlightenment, which takes attention and energy to sustain. Is it natural for the pursuit to continue with less intensity? Or have we been distracted by all the problems of life so that the focus of attention that some of us had in our younger years has gone elsewhere? Maybe spiritual heroics are not needed on the path, which may be a very gradual, persistent process that goes on. All great traditions refer to enlightenment, but Suzuki Roshi said, “Why do you want enlightenment? You might not like it.” The truth for us is different today than it was when we first got on the path. Our understanding was different and we did not know ourselves as well. Many people in their younger years have an ideal about what they want to do with their lives. That may get lost if we don’t pay attention to it and we may lament as we get older that we can’t find our way back into it or just don’t have the energy for it. Are we still passionate and motivated about the path? Why or why not? David Foster Wallace’s commencement speech at Kenyon College in 2008 is discussed. Where do our templates or beliefs and the meaning that we give to experience come from? This is different for everyone. If we pay attention, we’ll know there are other options to our templates and that we have choice about the meaning we give to experience. Our experience seems to support the belief that we are the center of the universe, but we could shift our attention and consider that maybe we don’t know the reality of situations we encounter. Everyone worships; the only choice we get is what to worship. Matthew Files facilitates groups that support people to look deeper into their process, formulate their own questions, and become responsible for their choices.

The metaphorical aspect of darkness can refer to the dark night of the soul, to a deep descent within ourselves, our individual or collective shadow, a time of transition, grief, or depression—whenever we’re suffering. We have a bias towards light. The sacred nutrients of wisdom, creation, and transformation dwell in darkness. Darkness has a fertile, receptive, feminine quality because something wants to be birthed from it, as from the womb. The talk is not about glorifying darkness or trying to be free of it but healing through darkness. The greatest courage is to see and be with all that life brings. When darkness is welcomed, nothing is rejected. If we run from darkness, we run from ourselves. Awakening cannot be separated from this joyful, painful life. The path embraces the full spectrum of darkness and light. St. John of the Cross said, “If a man wishes to be sure of the road he treads on, he must close his eyes and walk in the dark.” A bodhisattva is someone who has found the path and is committed to it. What we are looking for must be found in the dark. We sacrifice certainty, surrender to losing our way, and sometimes have to fall apart for a vision to arise. If we do the work the great possibility is that we become more fully ourselves, who we are intended to be. Many seekers tend to bypass the dark and focus exclusively on the light. Knowing our own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness of other people. We fear knowing ourselves because of what we might discover—not just about the darkness but also the light. We can walk through heaven and hell with an open heart, developing compassion for ourselves and the world. Some of the Dark Mothers of various traditions are discussed. Nachama Greenwald is a physical therapist, editor, and musician who for seventeen years was a member of the Shri blues band which performed Western Baul music.

The direct path is a refined articulation of the principles of nondualism, and the backward step is the actual practice of it. The mind feasts on complication. One of the features of the direct path is its simplicity. It does not involve lineage, guru, or ritual. We are always looking at things, but what are we looking out of? When we look at what we are looking out of, we are taking a step back into ourselves. Awareness is empty of anything solid so when we take a backward step we are no longer relating as one thing to another thing, from the duality of subject and object. When we step back into ourselves as far as we can go, all that’s left is being. What is looking out of our eyes now is essentially no different than what was looking out of our eyes when we were kids. It’s the same being that looks out of everyone’s eyes, including every saint and sage. That’s what is meant when we consider that everything is one. If we investigate where “me” is, we will not find it. We will just find layer after layer of qualities if we peel everything away like an onion. Our thoughts, feelings, and sensations would not be experienceable without awareness. The only thing that is aware of being aware is awareness itself. “I” is the name that what knows itself gives to itself. The “I” doesn’t know what it is, but it knows that it is. If we can be silent enough to be aware of awareness itself, that is a backward step. Welcoming the problematic parts of ourselves into the light of awareness, awareness will do the work. Nondual teaching is the crown jewel of Buddhism and all esoteric traditions. Awareness is the background of thoughts and personality. Everyone will find the help they need if they have earnestness. Peter Cohen was the drummer for the Western Baul rock band, Liars, Gods, and Beggars from 1988 to 1994. He has followed the nondual path and rhythm of life in Alaska and Idaho as a nurse and a musician.

We need help to continue to grow. The name of a God-realized being invokes the Divine. We can make efforts to return to the present, to ground the attention. Attention is crucial in learning to use suffering so that suffering does not use us up and can become food for growth. Two kinds of attention are possible for a human being: mechanical attention which is an unconscious survival mechanism, and a second or conscious attention which makes self-observation possible and is different than the mind observing the mind. Yogi Ramsuratkumar said that if we are born, we suffer. The Four Noble Truths of Buddha are considered: there is suffering, a cause of suffering, an end to suffering, and a path to that end. Why must there be suffering? What is the difference between suffering and pain? The mind makes no distinction between types of pain. There is only one place the mind can go to escape pain—into the imagination. All humanity is trying to escape mechanical suffering; conscious suffering involves not trying to get rid of it. The desire to change or avoid “what is” leads to constant, repetitive suffering. When we have the courage to stay with it, with discrimination, friction between “yes and no” produces heat which allows the heart to catch fire as mercy, as compassion. “May the heat of suffering become the fire of love.” All human suffering can be seen as the result of identification, clinging to a false sense of self. Mechanical suffering becomes universal suffering with the sacrifice of identification. There is a path to the end of mechanical suffering as a deeper sense of conscience develops, which takes in everything—suffering and joy—and when we do not seek one and avoid the other. Red Hawk is an acclaimed poet and the author of 12 books, including Self Observation, Self Remembering, The Way of the Wise Woman, and Return to the Mother.

The expressions of certain faces in spiritual paintings or sculpture and of genuine spiritual teachers in photographs or in-person can communicate our own basic goodness or organic innocence when we are in an open state. Something in us responds to a face that dances to the rhythm of creation, that exudes the peace of surrender. We are hard-wired for connection, which gets made through the face—for example, by babies. As we get older, layers of defense show up in a mask, as tenson in the face. We use our faces to create an identity. There’s a lot of information in how we decorate the face to make it something it isn’t. Are we aware when we are looking for recognition through our faces? Grief or shock or intense need can create cracks in the mask that let the light of reality in. When we start to let in and accept what we have previously denied, we may find that we do not know who we are anymore. It’s not popular to look how we feel, to be honest about it. Breathing starts and finishes in the face, which is where we can start to connect to the body. We can learn to face the howling wind and the sun, which are both gifts. When our desires manifest, we can accept, and when they do not manifest, we can accept. Our face was not our face when we were born; it was the face of heredity. Our face can start to manifest the original terrain that exists before the mask. We are not the face, but something comes through the face. When the clouds part the sun is always there. What faces do we have to lose for our original face to appear? The experience of magic, mystery, and miracle, which can occur through surrender to the Carver’s hand, only comes through losing face. Jocelyn is a spiritual student, artist, therapist, mother, gardener, and builder whose main interest in life is growth, development, evolution, observing in awe and participating in the cyclic nature of life.

All failure to live life richly and fully is based on the feeling that love is scarce. We may sense at times that love is the ground of all being. What if we lived on the basis of this truth? There is so much music and poetry that reflects on our inner longing. Those in attendance at the live talk were asked to write down sayings, mantras, or mahavakyas (short sentences of wisdom teachings) that came to mind. They were then asked what they thought would happen if they realized the truth of what they had written. “What if?” can be a “pea under the mattress” that can orient us in our spiritual lives. Great statements are often the result of practice and not something we just hear and fully understand. We can practice with sayings such as “Love your neighbor as yourself” and allow them to be absorbed into our skin. It can be a source of discouragement to take on unrealistic expectations. We can be inspired by great beings, but to take the way their lives showed up and try to translate them into our own can be less worthwhile than lowering our expectations and approaching our lives honestly. What if the very state we are in is exactly where we need to be? Not expressing the “just this” of our current state could be detrimental to our spiritual life. The moment we recognize we’ve lost our attention, we wake up for a moment. What if, instead of digging many shallow channels of practice, we dig one deeply? We don’t generally consider that everyone we meet is going to die. The tenderness of being opened by love can sensitize us to the suffering of others, to heartbreak that we do not want to stop. There are many ways we can keep ourselves attuned to the reality of love as the ground of all being and not scarce. Regina is the editor of Hohm Press, a workshop leader, retreat guide, and author of The Woman Awake, Igniting the Inner Life, Praying Dangerously, Only God, and other books.

We could say that all we know about ourselves cognitively are stories we tell ourselves. These are not necessarily obvious to us because they play so constantly. We respond to the universe through the stories that filter our experience. How do we work with this since we can’t think ourselves out of this box? Transparency hints at a different way of relating to stories. Many stories we identify with are cultural views. Stories in and of themselves are not a problem; they are a feature of what it is to be human. It’s when we hold onto stories that they capture our energy and attention so we don’t come back to the present and to the next event gifted to us by the universe. Transparency involves listening, seeing, generosity of spirit to others and ourselves, without reactivity to a story. This is not trivial work and a tool we have is self-observation, which is an energetic and not an analytical act. One feature of mature practice is relaxation of the tense form of attention we compulsively hold. This can allow for humor and for different kinds of spaces or chambers to be created. Belief is an emotional relationship with a lie. When a story turns into a belief, we can’t put it down. Resistance manifests differently in the three centers that are discussed in the Gurdjieff work. It is a rich vein to mine to reclaim energy of attention we’ve invested in story. Conscious suffering is the willingness to be present with resistance. Practice can be seen as an offering rather than as a story with an agenda to wake up. Creativity is an end in itself, the universe doing what it most wants to do. When not bound by our stories, we can accept the universe’s invitations to engage in higher work. Rob and Stuart run Tayu Meditation Center and founded Many Rivers Books and Tea in Sebastopol, CA. They invite spiritual teachers, practitioners, and authors to articulate their stories on The Mystical Positivist podcast.

We are always already living in groundlessness. This can be scary since we tend to approach life in a fear-based way, but we can be groundless and focused on our delight. Groundlessness is not linear; it has no direction as we are always moving and changing. Children trust that their needs will be met until we give them a different message. We get into the habit of identifying, and holding onto any identity keeps us stuck. A distinction can be made between figuring ourselves out, which involves digging into the past to understand and fix ourselves, and knowing ourselves, which only takes place in the present. We can’t know ourselves if we are tense. We can get to know ourselves when we sit with and accept parts of us that are out of integrity, which allows something to shift. Being grounded takes place in a different place than groundlessness. All of our reactions come from fear of losing something. Every time we make an assumption or comparison, hold a grudge, identify with feelings, try to prove or control something, we “hit the ground.” It's easy to forget that life is magical because we keep hitting the ground. If we get to the point of knowing we have nothing to lose, we can stay in groundlessness. When we rest in the moment, then things show up that we could never imagine. What is life but an unending stream of surprises? Everything changes, which can be good news if we stop grasping. It’s common sense to have a plan. We can experiment in life, take a step forward and see if we should take another step or change direction. To be awake is to live in groundlessness. Trusting ourselves is pivotal because without this it’s difficult to trust life. It’s up to each of us to come to our own conclusions, to come to the truth for ourselves. Juanita is an artist and writer/producer of interactive mystery entertainment who has been a student of the spiritual path for over 35 years.

In the Yoga tradition, Shiva represents unitary consciousness and Shakti represents the many forms that God takes in the world. One such form is pleasure. Kamala is a goddess and manifestation of Shakti, whose power is known as Shri, the fullness of pleasure. The word pleasure is boxed in by meanings we’ve given it in English, but Shri is a Sanskrit word for something deeper, a primordial vibration that gives rise to the creation of the world and is always present. We’re always tuned in to some frequency, which is a matter of habit and where our attention goes. There are loud radio stations that we tend to tune into, such as the news, and that we call reality. We can learn to choose other frequencies and inevitably can be brought to see God in all things. A practice of consistently tuning in to Shri involves undoing attachment to some strong frequencies. There is a core belief of lack in the U.S.—that we are not enough and there is not enough—that keeps us from Shri. Serving the frequency of Shri can be a life purpose or a golden path as it is called in Chinese medicine. Tuning in to Shri will be expressed in a multitude of ways in the world. Desire for pleasure can lead us to frequencies that feed on us. Nothing is opposed to spiritual freedom; everything is a portal or a trap. We can become more skillful at tuning in to the frequency of a desire rather than being fixated on the object of desire so that we want more and more of it. We miss Shri by not savoring experience or by thinking it’s wrong to have pleasure. There is discussion of the way women have learned not to fully allow pleasure. Shri is present in heartbreak and sorrow. We can work hard in the flow of Shri. The most repressed emotion is joy. Karen is a teacher of all aspects of Yoga—the physical and philosophical, the scientific and the mystical. She is a long-time student of Lee Lozowick.

The plot of the movie “Women Talking,” which was nominated for Best Picture in 2023 and won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, is summarized and its relevance considered in our world and on the path. In the movie, after women begin to speak about their experience with abuse in an isolated religious colony, others tell their own stories at meetings that are scribed by a male who is trusted in the community. Part of spiritual work today involves relating with issues of power and dominance—even when there is an intention to serve a higher purpose. There is discussion of many facets of gender dynamics, rooted in the ways we are raised and socialized that have influenced our view of ourselves and our behaviors. These include the way boys and girls are taught to deal with feelings, the need to bring wounded parts of ourselves to light without shame, the tendency to give over our power to an authority, the importance of thinking for ourselves, male aggression, complicity in unhealthy relationships, the untalked about subject of women abusing men, etc. Women talking to women and men talking to men who are open to doing this can provide support for work with such issues. We may not understand each other, but we can learn to listen with an open heart. The value for women of taking a stand for being treated with respect is noted. Gender equity and reconciliation work is considered. The principle of opening to the feminine is an essential aspect of the spiritual path. If men do not do this, they are cut off from part of themselves. The topic of gender change and young people is discussed. We can’t make global changes, but we can change the way we relate with those of a different gender. Elise Erro (e.e.) has been committed to a life of engaging spiritual principles and service through theater, support for the dying, and bringing enjoyment to others as a chocolatier.

What is our heart’s desire and what are we willing to pay for it? What coin do we have available as payment? Is our heart’s desire our top priority? We can identify our worldly heart’s desire, but we can go deeper into what is possible for us. Obstacles have a lot to do with identity. Are we willing to have our identities shaken up? It can be scary to give ourselves to our heart’s desire since it will change us. We are not comfortable with the unknown. It is possible to re-language our heart’s desire as longing for that which we do not yet know. If we are OK with the unknown, we will be changed forever. There are many words used to point to the longing of the heart. The currency of the heart is adoration. We spend our currency with distraction. A distracted lifestyle is not compatible with the heart’s desire. We can intuit and pay for our heart’s desire with our greed, lust, anger, etc. We can hide behind a spiritual identity. Everything should be examined if we are serious about removing obstacles. We cannot pay with the will of ordinary mind, which is different than the will of the heart, when it comes to the heart’s desire. To produce the heart’s desire, paradox is one of our biggest friends. We can’t let things fall away if we’re repackaging as fast as we can with buffers that we use to hold identity together. A spiritual school can give us tools to create the stamina needed when things fall away. The trick is to keep going, to take another step on the path. Fearlessness, which is to be awestruck, fuels adoration. We don’t want our last breath to be, “I wonder if it’s time to think about my heart’s desire.” Lalitha is a spiritual teacher residing in British Columbia, Canada, who has been a disciple in the Western Baul tradition since 1982. Her teaching style is rooted in the activities and responsibilities of ordinary life. Her books include Waking to Ordinary Life and Cultivating Spiritual Maturity.