I haven’t posted in some time! I’ve been away for nearly a month. As I return I am reminded of something Jim Harrison once wrote: “Finding myself where I already am is a daily chore.” This feels particularly true right now, as I’m finding my way back home. What is “where I already am”, anyway? And what’s the path to getting there?
Something I’ve been considering this week is that part of the the return path is remembering and dreaming, and the other part is placing yourself firmly where you are (at the desk, in the garden, in a difficult conversation, advocating for yourself, etc.). What’s required is that we show up over and over in our commitments so that we can see and remember who we are. Sometimes our commitments can serve as ballast, sometimes as a path forward. They help us to navigate.
Photo by John Salzarulo on Unsplash
Part of my
Continue reading Coming Home: Finding Ourselves Where We Are
Through practice, we build our capacity to move toward what we deeply care about. Richard Strozzi-Heckler says: “We are what we practice, and we’re always practicing something.” So, why not have conscious practices that create change in us? Building awareness about what we are practicing and how this affects how we live our lives helps us to make choices that are more generative. We practice to become more alive to what pulses in us as the heart of what matters.
When we practice with others, in community, the learning takes place in what I have often called a cauldron. There’s a bubbling to the surface that can occur when practicing in the presence of others — a way into seeing ourselves that is otherwise invisible. By learning in community and taking the time to tease apart the practices, participants can deepen in their understanding of the practices themselves and, more importantly, the relevance of practice
Continue reading Somatic Learning in Action: Centering, Declaring, Entering
In the last post I talked about a practice that I am engaged in at present for my own development. It is a very particular practice that arises out of my two decades’ worth of training in the martial art aikido as well as my work as a somatic coach. I am hoping that seeing the practice in the video inspired you, but another thought I had about this is that it might have made you feel a bit intimidated. Or maybe that the practice isn’t something you would choose to do yourself. Or maybe it seemed to be too hard to learn. Or perhaps you didn’t see the relevance. (Or maybe you’ve all purchased wooden swords and are voraciously making up your own forms!)
All these pieces are crucial in designing a practice that works. The practice needs to be right for you. It needs to engage you for your own reasons. And of
Continue reading Creating a Practice that Works
There’s been a lot of attention in the past week or so to the phrase: letting life live through you. My dear friend Doug started this by naming his blog with this phrase, then citing the poem from which it originated. It’s a poem by Roger Keyes called “Hokusai Says,” which was introduced to many of us by Richard Strozzi-Heckler in our Strozzi Institute training. My favorite lines: “He says it doesn’t matter if you draw, or write books./… It matters that you care./It matters that you feel./It matters that you notice./It matters that life lives through you.”
Then just yesterday a colleague sent along a meditation with Tara Brach, and what is it named? Of course: “Letting Life Live Through You.” I just listened in and let myself be guided through this meditation, to see what Tara Brach’s idea of life living through felt like. In a meditation practice we can be encouraged to
Continue reading Life Living Through Us: A Practice
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