Newsletter Issue II : Winter 2012

In this Issue:

Letter from Neelam

Dear Sangha,

January has been a soft month so far around here with sunny clear weather and just a little bit of snow or rain. It is a restful time in nature with seemingly not much going on and yet the quiet time, the time of hibernation is an important part of the growth cycle.

It is in the time of rest that we gather the strength to come forth, to resolve a difficulty or to move into action. It is also in the quiet waiting that insights come that enlighten our way ahead and show us what is really needed and what is truly moving from within.

It is easy to forget that, especially in times of challenge when we either begin to move with the urgency of the past or become unable to take action altogether, immobilized by the magnitude of what arises.

It is most important to find a daily quiet time in your life, just to simply be here, self-reflect or come to rest. As you sit quietly or move through simple unscheduled activities in your live, allow the stillness and the softness of "not doing" to penetrate through. Allow the insights to come, the feelings to move, the sensations to be noticed and experienced; insights arise naturally once we let ourselves be present with what is. Every growth cycle, like the natural cycles present and visible in nature, goes through times of stillness, movement, maturation, falling apart and back to silence.

Allow this natural rhythm to be present and to inform your on-going daily being with what is.

LOVE,
Neelam

A Note from Jacque

What do we really want?

Resting in our True Nature, that is who we are. In this body though, amidst the many challenges presented to us daily, coming back to that resting state can be elusive.

The mind seeks to separate and shelter itself from conflict and discomfort. It perceives external and internal conflicts as obstacles to be eliminated. This act of separation happens most often at a very subtle level through making the other wrong, seeing self as flawed, feeding feelings of resentment and hopelessness. What we often forget in those moments of high emotion is that we do not have the power nor the ability to bring ourselves back to resting. We hold in a static state the memory to past experiences of quiet connection with Presence in a static state while in truth, Presence is not static but rather, continuously in shift and movement. It cannot be grasped or prolonged.

What is the work before us then? As Neelam gently reminds us, "...our job is to be here." We want to notice what is present and allow it its expression in the moment, trusting that at some point, through Grace, we will return to the Awareness of our True Nature. Over and over again, we are being challenged to see triggers and conditioning, thoughts and emotion as what is arising within rather than as a problem to be resolved without.

Can we just continue to practice bringing our attention back to the real origin of our unrest and separation? May we find the strength and commitment to continue this gentle practice of remembering over and over again, that the solution begins on the inside and that resolution is the natural outcome of quiet sitting with what is here to be seen?

Poetry

Reactivity To Freedom

By Juliet Rains

The response does not come,
the door locks,
the unexpected happens.
Another chance to come home
to presence, to Source, to me.

Can I sit here in this moment
as my unresolved past,
this wounded core,
expresses itself?

Can I sit here with these sensations,
flowing through me,
letting the mind be the mind,
not judging its reactive nature,
not becoming its suffering?

Can I be okay with not being okay with what is?

Can I be present with that
going deeper, deeper into my body,
truly coming home to rest in this moment
in gratitude for this opening to presence,
to freedom from my past?

For Neelam

You are the sapphire blue
light of truth piercing
my heart.
You are the space beyond
and through and below
my mind.

You are the gentle Presence
untying the knots
of memory.
You are the tenderness
that holds the child
within, and restores
her innocence.

Your penetrating gaze
dissolves me,
and at last I am
emptied of everything
and at home.

What perfect peace.

With love and gratitude,
Surja Jessup