Artwork: Sir Antony Gormley
Good Morning Beautiful People,
I hope that as you read this email, you are feeling safe and healthy, wherever you may be in the world.
In meditation, we often hear about the interconnectedness of all things, and though that principle can be a difficult one to grasp, the pandemic we are experiencing does indeed prove us that everything is connected.
During the past two weeks, some of you have showed up for our daily meditation practice, and as we come together to quiet our mind and awaken our hearts, we also begin to realise that the pain, fear and joy one carries, ripples onto others and belongs to the collective.
Yes, fear is present and rightly so, but so is joy, solidarity, acceptance, non- judgement and compassion to name a few. During these challenging and uncertain times, we are being forced to realise that our breath, the very one thing that is threatened by this virus, is essential to come back to the present moment, to calm down our nervous system and to welcome some level of clarity. As American Tibetan nun Pema Chodron said in her book When Things Fall Apart: “the most difficult times for many of us, are the ones we give ourselves.”
So, on this note, I am inviting you not only to show up, whenever you can for our morning meditation because we need your energy (you will see the details below), but you are also invited to pause, right now, feeling your feet on the ground and taking a deep inhale. What if you had everything you needed, right now? What if as you were breathing out the stories and thoughts that no longer nourish you, you were to realise that as Pema Chodron adds, “things come together, and then fall apart, so that they can come together again and fall apart again…the healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.””
Our hearts can handle it all, and I pray that we all awaken to the realisation that alongside joy, comes some level of pain. Its inevitable and also in the air.
If you feel called to deepen your practice, I have recorded a new guided meditation which is called Tonglen Practice.
Lastly, in case you would like to connect daily with other beautiful souls looking to quiet their mind and awaken their heart, please join us at 9.30am Brussels time (CET) on the following zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/6911455565.
Until Then, May you find ease and may you feel healthy.
With love and respect
Vanessa
