Hello Loves,
Hopefully you are finding little ways to nourish yourself well, taking little 'prana shots' throughout the day and slowing down to restore your essential reserves (ojas).
As I explore the concept of resources, and all of the types of resources, I am reminded of a story I once heard about Mother Theresa. There was an American artist of some kind who was in India volunteering for a short time with Mother Theresa. The artist was lamenting her value as an artist and how she might better serve by staying and being of service in India. Mother Theresa said something like this: My people have a poverty of material resources and I am here to serve that need. But your people have a poverty of the spirit. Go home and feed your people.
Thinking in terms of resources from material to spiritual and everything in between, the invitation here is 3-fold:
Go back over the questionnaire we did together during our session and list out all of the resources (inner and outer) that you do have in each of the areas of your life. Be specific and take some time to feel gratitude for all of the resources that fuel your life. May your list of blessings be vast and deep.
Pick one area of your life where you would like to be more resourced, feel more held, or be more nourished/fueled. Imagine one little way that you could resource yourself in this area. Chose one small thing that you can do to resource yourself. And dedicate yourself to doing that for yourself, many, many times everyday. Say thank you for the blessing this is and the blessings this brings. See where this leads you next.
One of my favorite Maya Angelou quotes came from an interview I watched with her, here's a snippet from the interview. She simply said: "Prepare yourself to be a blessing to someone." Having acknowledged and continuing to cultivate the blessings that fuel your life. Offer something of yourself to someone/something else. Give back in some way that feels integrated to you. Perhaps you dedicate yourself to offer yourself, your joy and your presence more completely to your kids, partner
or friend or maybe you carve out some time to volunteer for something that captures your heart.
Let us all know what you come up with and how that effects your pranamaya kosha, your energy body.
Love You,
M
As a snowbird renting in a new place this year, I am under resourced communally. So, every time I am out walking I make an effort to wave, smile, and/or speak to the folks I pass. If a person looks like she/he wants to be left alone, I respect that and offer her/him a silent blessing. If I encounter someone walking a pet, I ask if it would be OK to pet the animal. These tiny interactions boost my pranamaya kosha and make me feel connected to my community.
On a related note, I am always interested when modern science validates yogic principles. This informatiobn about brain chemistry might be of interest
❤️
Jaz I don’t know if prana can transmit over a blog, but I’m sending some. I’m so glad you’re part of this group! For real, I enjoy your spirit in the classes and am glad for the openness and insight of your posts. And also I bet the zoom is going much better thanks to your work behind the scenes.
❤️Cathy
Ohhh Jaz🩷 Now you are the Rock star✨!
So honest. So deeply honest.
Thank you.
Suggestion? : Find a DIFFERENT faucet to turn on.! ( don’t turn back on the same one.. Maybe its run dry? ie: headed back into the same mind loop, same patterns Does that make sense?)
I know that sounds cryptic, but I know a lil bit about repetitive patterns that have depleted my resources and gotten me nowhere. * Don’t give up on going inward!
However if you’re just staring at a blank nothingness wall ( in your mind) while inward.. and feeling like you’re not making any deposits into your Ojas bank ( so what’s the point here, right?) rethink what you are actually trying to do, which is support the process of building your deep resources, and how you can do that by going inward.
I Meditate on an aspect I REALLY want to awaken into …( see Meg’s # 2 above) is it Joy? Feeling strong and not defeated? Patience? Generosity? Focussing on HOW MUCH GOOD you bring to any one person or thing. …once you chose something stay with it for awhile ( ie revisit it …days.. weeks… months!) .if it starts going down the rabbit hole of gloom STOP! Only stay in the joy of building up what the Buddhists call Boddhicitta - turning your mind- citta- towards the true aspects of your beautiful, shiny and innate Buddha Nature. Again and again and…again.
That was a lot.!
Our lives here are so precious, we can actually take the opportunity to unload some cargo we’ve been carrying around maybe for lifetimes and build our precious reserves at the same time Love you😘
Ps I felt you on this one. I hope it’s OK what I wrote to you
This kinda combines both posts…or maybe neither and doesn’t belong here at all…lol
My ‘go to’ resources, that I have had most of my life, work, friends, animals, art, dreams and plans….In the last few years have all become unstable, unreliable and in some cases wiped out. I have had to go inward, but I haven’t been able to find anything there. It took me a long time to figure out it is because I have cut myself off from the life force to some extent…because, I am tired of crying. I am sick of being angry and feeling helpless to do anything to help make this fucked up world any better. I truly believe this is why we get sick and die. We just get fed up with the bullshit and all that goes with it. And I do all the practices and the things. Imagine those who don’t.
So, I don’t have a leak, or a way to resource myself cos I turned off the faucet…as much as one can and still be breathing.😹😅 Trying to figure out how to turn it back on.