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Heart News

Align - Love - Thrive

Our heart team proudly curates a set of teachings, practices and information each month and season to help you live a life of balance, alignment and connection: Yoga! Click through regularly to explore, learn and grow on the path. 

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Dear Community,

 

Season by season, day by day, moment by moment, we are both meeting the immediacy of the now and, with hope, considering our intention for laying the foundation forward. We have been talking about the pith of the teachings coming down to a clever (heart-centered) response, where our preparedness meets opportunity. With this view, life isn't simply happening to us but is presenting for us. Life becomes a place that is creative and therefore we become a creative expression of life itself. This is what I understand to be living awake in the world. 

 

Such a perspective can both be inspiring and daunting. I know that I am not the only one who feels like they are in uncharted territory here - especially given the current events of the world, our political climate, etc. The oscillation feels a bit like whiplash; in one moment experiencing hope, confidence and in the very next doubt, uncertainty. In theory and in practice we can understand and respect this as the dynamic balance that reality requires. We require moments of doubt (dark) just as much as we require clarity (light). In fact, this is what animates life and moves us forward. Without doubt there is no mystery to solve, no questions to ask, no answers to seek. It is this seeking and impulse for clarity that becomes the ground of practice - the embodied place where answers are sought and found. This is realization. Realizing, experiencing for ourselves, we are motivated through the truth of that discovery to live differently and to share wisdom with others. We actualize. This is our firsthand human experience of evolution, on repeat, again and again and again. I find comfort when I remember that I can rely on our inevitable unfolding. My aptitude to more quickly remember however requires intent, practice and a whole lot of support - tools, good company and guiding wisdom. 

 

We are truly fortunate at Heart because there is no end to the support that we have access to. We have each other and the trusted connection between us continues to grow. We have more tools available to us than we could ever possibly access in a single lifetime. We have context - lineage, teachings and abiding guides showing us what is possible by providing guideposts along the way. I am hopeful that as you read this you can identify the spaces where this is happening for you. I am further hopeful that Heart Center has become one of those sources of refuge for you and that you feel that you are actively contributing in this space as something that is living, breathing and thriving. To this end I feel it necessary to illuminate this intentional ecology that we are building so that we can do our part to grow and evolve as a collective.

 

In January of 2025 we set a broader intention - may our lightness lift the world, as we prioritize our responsibility to one another. In February we direct our attention through that intention. We might ask, do I feel prepared, resourced and supported in this work? Where am I experiencing doubt? How can I rouse faith and determination to gracefully live awake with the unfolding? 

 

This year I am hoping to support your/ our work on the path by coming together to study and practice thoughtfully via a specific teaching series called the 10 Ox-Herding Pictures (scroll down to see them at the close of this letter) and their corresponding ancient poetry. These pictures, from the Zen tradition, serve as a map (one of many) designed to support students on the path of enlightenment. It's also worth noting that within every spiritual tradition there are accounts of seeking and corresponding maps with guideposts that are strikingly similar. We could say that the way seeking path is universal - it's human. 

 

In the case of the Ox-Herding "map", each of the 10 guideposts come alive through an ink drawing and a corresponding short verse that is meant to represent the common struggles and turning points that we encounter as practitioners living in the (conditioned) world. The ox represents what can be called the true self or anattaa (non-self). The ox-herder represents each of us as practitioners. The images tell the story of a practitioner’s journey towards greater connection, peace and the ultimate acceptance of reality. Together the pictures and the verses can broaden our awareness of the nature of the path to awakening with all its challenges (perils) and benefits (pearls).

 

The pictures and verses follow a specific sequencing, of which we will look at a different set each month, beginning in March. The first week of the month we will look at the picture and verse. During the subsequent weeks of the month, we will explore the teachings in greater detail. On the last week, we invite you to bring and share your personal insights with the community. With hope, the combined teachings, safe space for practice and community interaction will allow us to participate more directly in our evolution, perhaps bringing to light some of our habit patterns and habitual states of mind that keep us stuck. Your freedom and lightness will lift the world for we are the world! 

 

In great love and determination, 

 

Meg Lucks

El Getsu Endō | "Brilliant Moon, Way of the Circle"

Lay-Ordained, Abiding Guide

The Heart Revival Center for Yoga

Past Newsies:

February 2026: The Way Seeking Path

January 2025: Joy as the Path

 

December 2024: Equanimity

November 2024: Empathic Joy

October 2024: Compassion

September 2024: Brahmavihara, Loving Kindness

August 2024: Being Upright

July 2024: Rhythm + Repose

June 2024: Intimacy

May 2024: Vulnerability

April 2024: The Art of Mindfulness

March 2024: The Eightfold Path

February 2024: Enlightened Society

January 2024: This Meaningful Life

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December 2023: Bodhichitta

November 2023: Prajnaparamita2

October 2023: Prajnaparamita

September 2023: Om Mani Padme Hum

August 2023: Mahamrtyunjaya

July 2023: Gayatri

June 2023: Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

May 2023: Om Santih, Santih, Santih

April 2023: Om Gam Ganapatye Namaha

March 2023: Om Purnam Adah, Purnam Idam

February 2023: Om Namah Shivaya

January 2023: Sat Nam

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December 2022: Self-love as Dharma

November 2022: Practice is the Antidote

October 2022: Happiness is the Path

September 2022: Taking Your Seat

August 2022: A Crowded Mind Leaves no Space for a Peaceful Heart

July 2022: Yoga is the Journey of the Self...

June 2022: Practice and All is Coming

May 2022: The Altruistic Intention

April 2022: Being Mudra

March 2022: Receptive Listening

February 2022: There is No Enlightenment Outside of Daily Life

January 2022: The Source of a True Smile is an Awakened Mind

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December 2021: The Practice of Touching the Earth

November 2021: Rejuvenation: Nourish Your Entire Being

October 2021: Contemplative Interbeing

September 2021: The Nobility of Silence

August 2021: Dissolve Your Fixation with Self

July 2021: Let's Linger

June 2021: I am in the Flow of the Universe

May 2021: Lighten Up

April 2021: We Travel the Path in Good Company

March 2021: Om Mani Padme HumM

February 2021: Embodied Dharma

January 2021: "Everything can be a 'that'; everything can be a 'this' " 

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December 2020: I Am a Sanctuary

November 2020: In the One is The All

October 2020: Ready, Set, Rest

September 2020: Attract Beauty Today, Create Tomorrow 

August 2020: Refuge in One and blogging by the sangha

July 2020: Awaken Your Voice 

June 2020: The Spirit of Sangha 

May 2020: Just as You Are 

April 2020: The Next Buddha is Sangha

March 2020: You and I Are Essentially Infinite and blogging bits by Heather Kolvenbach

February 2020: Mudita: Taking Delight in the Happiness of Others and blogging bits by Amy Griebenow

January 2020: I am 

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December 2019: Give the Gift of Presence 

November 2019: We are All Royalty by Roy Grant

October 2019: Rekindle the Heart 

September 2019: Where Your Intention Goes, Energy Flows 

August 2019: Come Home & Be Anywhere 

July 2019: Paradise is Now 

June 2019: Let Peace Be Your Superpower 

May 2019: Play is our Pathway to Possibility 

April 2019: Give Yourself Room to Bloom 

March 2019: Living Your Highest Truth 

February 2019: Out of Love, Our Path Can Lead us to Serve

January 2019: True Belonging is the Spiritual Practice of believing in and belonging to yourself...

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