Heartbreak As Spiritual Practice

Thirty years ago or more, and I remember still...A two~lane road in New England, wide open fields stretching away on both sides. A car in front of us hits a small bird in flight, knocking it to the tarmac. My husband brakes, comes to a stop. We get out. He kneels, carefully scoops into his gentle hands the brilliantly~colored, broken and shuddering goldfinch. Walking several steps into the field, he places the tiny being on the grass where it will soon take its last breath. We step back.

And all the while, the keening of this bird’s mate as she circles erratically, frenetically, a few feet above our heads. Our hearts break at the heartbreak we hear and see and feel.

Suffering is ever~present in the world we inhabit, though often we attempt to avoid it. No surprise there. Brains wired for survival do this. Yet from a spiritual perspective, our avoidance comes at a cost. It’s not that we can’t experience joy without opening to loss. We can, though likely not as deeply. To avoid a condition that is part of life on the planet, though, we must close down. We then feel less, become less. We hardened~~a bit or significantly~~toward ourselves, others and life itself. 

Efforts to avoid pain are also simply not sustainable. Pierced again we shall be. Sooner or later, a loved one will be snatched from flight and hurled to the ground. Or some other misfortune, small or large, will strike. Or another’s pain will burst into our awareness. Pain is a given. Better to embrace it and work skillfully with it. 

Perhaps a way to begin is by opening to heartbreak in all its varieties. Open hearts are pierced many times a day, and not just by suffering. Beauty also pierces. On my walk this morning, my heart broke at the white of a nighthawk’s wing bars flashing in the pre~dawn dark, and by the rosy blush of clouds stacked heavily in the eastern sky, reflecting fuchsia in the waters of the lake below.

Hearts are made to break, deeply and often. In fact, it is the heart’s function to ache and to break. For it is by breaking again and again that hearts become larger, deeper vessels for Love. While it does take skill to allow that breaking to open rather than weaken us, we really have no choice. Our hearts WILL break. It is what they do. 

The only viable approach is to open to the exquisite anguish and beauty of our world and learn to dance with heartbreak. Let everything break your heart. Let hate and loss and cruelty break your heart. And let each act of kindness and every expression of beauty and love break your heart as well.

Heartbreak and heartache, dear friends on the path to a full, rich and open~hearted experience of life. 

💓  💘  💔  💖 

Leia 

Okay, so here's a wee bit of symbolism of the synchronistic variety. Notice those heart emojis above. The beating heart begins small, becomes slightly larger when it is pierced, larger still when it cracks open, remaining the same size as it dances with stars. These wee emojis may be telling a true tale. Perhaps we notice our hearts most acutely when they are pierced. They grow larger in our awareness then, and still larger when they seem to crack in two. And if we manage our crisis well, our hearts remain that larger size forevermore...and better able to touch the stars in the heavens. And they grow even larger and more star~touched still with next heartache and heartbreak...and so on.

I don't intend to minimize pain or glorify a process that can be excruciating. Anguish is simply a part of life, so it seems best that we learn to work with it skillfully and find~~or even create~~redeeming value from it.

And I promise you, I did not tamper with the image sizes. It's just the way blogspot created the emojis.

Happy Autumn...and much 💖 ! 

The Autumnal Equinox

The Autumnal Equinox occurs tonight, technically at 1:50 a.m. MT on Monday, September 23rd. What this means astronomically is that, as seen from the Celestial Equator, the Earth is tipped neither forward nor backward in relation to the Sun, but rests for a brief moment exactly perpendicular to it and fully receiving the Sun's rays.

Metaphorically, this is an encouragement to come to balance ourselves. As the Equinox models equilibrium, a time in which Yin and Yang are in perfect balance, we can also practice tipping neither forward nor backward, resting instead in a dynamic stillness.

And so to this end, here's a very simple 15 minute meditation on the Autumnal Equinox, a meditation that plays with this balance of energies in a way that may assist you in coming to a deeper stillness. Unfortunately, you'll notice some rough spots in the recording, given the inconsistent internet signal in our little town. What a perfect opportunity to practice living in dynamic balance between perfection and imperfection! I hope it won't be too distracting for you, and that it might give you a chuckle instead.

To listen, just click right here~~

Autumnal Equinox Meditation (To save space on my section of the Zoom cloud, this link is no longer available there. If you'd still like to hear it, just send me an email, and I'll send you the file. Thanks!)

The meditation is recorded on the easily downloadable, totally private and free Zoom platform. If you've never used Zoom before, the link above will take you where you need to go.

And while I have you here, even though we're only now at the Fall Equinox, the Winter Solstice is just around the corner. C'mon, you know it's true! So I've included below the flyer for Resting in the Womb of Winter, A Winter Solstice Women's Retreat. You can also check out the details on my website, by clicking on the photo of that beautiful autumn tree above. If the Retreat appeals to you, please contact me with any questions or to register.

May all the gifts of the season be yours, my lovelies!

💖

Leia

Here's that flyer~~

Breathing Summer Into Autumn

Again we turn. The sun rises later, sets earlier, and its arc across the sky has slipped southward. The day’s heat continues to sizzle, but morning’s coolness begs now for long sleeves. Though summer’s lushness surrounds us still, things have shifted from riotous growth to harvest. Yes, autumn is on our doorstep.

My, but it's been a wild ride! Busy, dynamic, intense. Which makes this the perfect time to pause and come to center once again. Let’s do so now. 

Wherever you are and whatever’s going on around you, find a comfortable position as your attention settles on your breath. As you inhale, feel the air entering your lungs through nose or mouth. And on the exhalation, notice the sensation of the breath leaving your body. Note the gentle rise and fall of chest or belly as the breath comes and as it goes. Simply notice your experience as you follow this cycle of respiration for a few rounds.

Let's focus solely on the out~breath for a bit, trusting the inhalation to take care of itself for now. Observe the sensation of release with each exhale. Notice, too, how this release seems the easiest thing in all the world to do. As the air exits your body, carrying with it carbon dioxide collected from various cells and tissues, let it also take with it some of the tension you may have been carrying in shoulders, torso, arms or legs. 

Don't work hard at this. Simply allow a release, whether it be slight or significant. And in so doing, let yourself drop more deeply into stillness. As you continue to note that letting~go quality of the exhale, you may find it possible to release, too, preoccupations and worries, ones that may be rising up now even as you quiet. Breathe them out with every exhale. Open to your body’s innate wisdom, as it teaches the fine art of letting go.

Turn your attention now to the inhale. As your lungs fill, relish the gift of oxygen as it circulates throughout your body, enlivening and enriching every cell. You might want to open to a quality you’d like to embody more fully. It could be anything~~peace, love, acceptance, or the sense of being held and supported by something larger than yourself. 
Whatever it is, imagine that attribute infusing the air of your next inhale. Be playful as you welcome that quality deep into your core. Continue in this way for several in~breaths.

Expand your awareness again to encompass the full respiration cycle. Breathe in vitality. Breathe out what does not serve you in this moment. Breathe in that which is wholesome and life~affirming. Breath out and surrender. Welcome on the inhale. Release on the exhale. 

It's easy to lose ourselves in the hubbub of life. Yet the breath offers us a way back home, even as it calms and soothes. How cool is that?!! 

So, we breathe in as summer winds down. We breathe out as summer winds down. We breathe in as autumn draws near. We breathe out as autumn draws near. And may it be a happy turning of the seasons to you and yours!

💖

Leia