The desert always has more to teach. In the past, I came to the desert seeking power. This time I asked to learn about Love. The desert greeted me and my Dharma Center students with the sweet scent of wild flowers perfuming the warm air. Birds cooed and chirped while…
Between adventuring and resting, there was not much time to write while on retreat in Hawaii. On the plane ride home, I wrote until my hand could write no more as I tried to capture all the magical moments of this retreat. Traveling with a chronic illness is never easy.…
Spiritual Retreats Many people in our society work themselves to the breaking point, and then they seek an escape from their stressful lives. This escape is usually in the form of a vacation. However, they often spend most of their getaway feeling just as stressed as when they were working.…
Rain Storm Rain dowses the earth The ground is unsettled Quakes, floods, mudslides Disrupt the routine of human life Mother is clearing away the stale energy Wind tears through blockages Leaving us and the trees bare Loss A friend fell over in the mud He was long dead but stood…
There are no words to describe Enlightenment. We can use concepts to allude to the state of Awakening, to God-Realization, to Self-Realization. That last one, Self-Realization is rather ironic since it’s realizing there is no Self. We can say it is a state of Unity, of ultimate bliss and peace;…
At some point, I don’t know where or when, I picked up the idea that spiritual teachers should teach for free, that if a spiritual teacher charged money, then it was no longer spiritual. Like I said, I don’t know where this idea came from, but it seems to be…
The benefits of meditation and mindfulness are best discovered through personal experience. When done correctly, meditation brings clarity, joy, and peace. Through consistent practice, the mind becomes stronger and we are able to handle the constant changes life brings with greater ease and grace. The studies have shown these positive…
Every night my body turns and turns and turns, hunting for a comfortable position. Exhaustion finally takes over, and I drift off to sleep… for about twenty minutes. Then the turning begins again. At dawn, the sunlight wakes me from my half-asleep, somewhat restful state. And I smile. It’s not…
When we planned the spiritual retreat to Lake Tahoe, a few of us decided to drive there from Southern California. As plans came together, I kept getting a quiet yet persistent nudge that I needed to make a stop along the way. I examined a map and felt the call…