Welcome in. Today’s audio includes a brief opening sit then a reading of this piece, with extra notes.
Savoring The Frozen River during baths while traveling to teach retreat, marveling at the magnificence and resilience of women.
The title of today’s piece is care of our protagonist, Martha Ballard, who, due to her daily journal entries, now lives on in my heart. “I have been at home,” she writes on the days she’s home, which is to say, “I’m doing it all, trying to find pause with my people, make our candles for the evenings, cook meals, care for my patients, tend to my children as they struggle, acknowledge my own pain, while doing my best to feel joy, to heal.”
The phrase keeps stopping me in my tracks.
I have been at home.
Finding myself at Manchester, England’s Broughton Sanctuary this week, teaching: think Bridgerton-style manor home, re-wilding three thousand acres of land with an intentional, globally respected team, a modern spa within a ten-minute walk of the Hall (palatial accommodations); it’s gorgeous.
Here’s my walk to and from classes, a contrast to my high desert ochres and pinks.
The shadows of the trees, the birds and bunnies, the scent of petrichor in the air, the light that brightens in the eyes of the fifteen humans sharing of themselves and their experiences; more candor and clarity emerge each day.
Having lost my guiding notebook on the flight over (it was a 2” miracle wrapped in Japanese shibori fabric, with several notes for each day, and i don’t lose anything), I realize I’d apparently created it for someone who really needs it. Self-empathy for the win.
The recalibration: Pulling six teachings from each of the books I’d brought, randomly scrambling them up to let Providence tell us which teachings will serve our focus each day, trusting in decades of study to bring it together.
Each day, the teachings land in us, handing us what’s needed; practices for life, death and everything in between. Choosing one Lojong slogan (studying three interpretations, from Judy Lief, Norman Fischer and Pema Chödrön), one verse from Machig Labdrön in Skymind, and one dharma talk from Katherine Thanas, we find ways to weave it all together through practice. Our days are full.
Our resources:
The Truth of This Life by Katherine Thanas
Skymind by Charlotte Rotterdam and Pieter Oosthuizen
Training in Compassion by Norman Fischer
The Compassion Book by Pema Chödrön
The Slogans of Atisha by Judy Lief
Morning sits in the Nest. Silence stretches between us and becomes more comfortable as days elapse. Silent mornings mean soak time, gym time, and a sublime two-hour asana practice. Lunch, then free time for tours and wild swims in the lake for some, then a second practice with writing and Q+A in the afternoons. Delicious vegetarian meals. Poems whispering through our days as we go, co-founder Paris Tempest regales us with a midweek evening sound bath.
The unexpected closing labyrinth ceremony, during which each of us walks anew with Sevanti’s fiercely gentle guidance. Each person brings profound teachings, and we spend the week walking in a fine mist of deep feminine wisdom.
As we part, committed to getting up every day and taking care of this life, we carry new songs, new eyes, pockets of safety and refuge, with ethereal ancestral twine forever winding around this once-in-a-lifetime assemblage of hearts.
Eager to see these faces again soonest. An utter blessing to serve each of you.
WOMEN: The Portal opens this week.
Years in the making, highly anticipated, medicine and practice are converging.
Join Dr. Sara and me for one free opening session to explore the material, cadence, dates and exchange details for our year to come in WOMEN: The Portal.
Investigate the subtlest invitations to your intuition, steadiness and softness with us.
Registration opens May 21st - June 1st.
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