Dear Community,

In a recent conversation with a mentor, they had offered that one of the great gifts of Heart's approach to community connection and practice is grit. It's something folks walking through the door willingly look for too - knowing that there isn't any glory except straight through the story. The spiritual path requires inquiry, investigation and both sleeves rolled up. It's a common misperception that spirituality, or even religion for that matter, are places to hide. However, on the contrary, they are meant to be places to step out, to be seen and to become. We will miss our evolution if we are too afraid to show up, to become fully receptive and surrender to the process. I've long held that being vulnerable in any relationship (and in community) provides an opportunity to be witnessed in life and in our unbecoming and becoming. I personally can't think of anything more important or beautiful for our shared humanity. 

John Daido Loori says that "an unexamined life is a perilous life". He says that through this "exhaustive self-examination" we not only skirt the unnecessary dangers that come with living asleep but we actually come to empower ourselves. "In the stillness that emerges we learn to trust ourselves." We come into unconditional confidence about the whole life thing. We trust that we know. We trust that we matter; that each of us matters. We verify through our bodies that the core of ourselves, our true selves, are actually perfect, complete and lacking nothing. A motivation is born to shine a light on the confused thoughts that nag contrary. With curiosity piqued, we learn that life can be something truly worth being available to and for. The work may appear to be endless but we needn't exhaust ourselves in the process. The teachings call us back to celebrate in the preservation, protection and celebration of life. We see our part in it and, with gratitude and humility, take up our responsibility in making it so. 

Thich Nhat Hanh shared with conviction that there was no way around the next Buddha being sangha. Sitting in circles, with open hearts, we anticipate that if love and unity are the goal, that moments of discomfort are part of it. The grit polishes and refines the surface of the pearl. Mirrors will be held up, accountability taken and repair sought and given. While this can be challenging, even for the most practiced of us, it's a necessity without shortcuts. How many of us have felt a lack of safe space to openly express, explore or even just sit in confusion? I asked the community recently to reflect: if the opportunity for contemplation and conversations aren't happening here, are they happening for you at all? Of course Heart isn't the only place we can do this work, however it does present as a place to try. Through practice, some clumsy and failure, we uncover the way. The spirit grows to take the next step into our vulnerability. We become living buddhas- examples of what is unapologetically real and possible and all while inspiring the same perfection of our beloveds to come out of hiding. 

This perfection I speak of has never not been available to us. Enlightened to it, we embody wide awakeness and with the available agency to return to what is true, to respond, to protect, to advocate, to speak up and to love without measure. Loori says that whether this is realized is left to be seen and here is where I find the chance to practice compassionately abiding with those who simply cannot (yet) remember. I know in my heart that their potential remains as sound as my own and that all things will be revealed in time. 

For now, in the presence of what is real and what we call daily life, we show up. We wake up to participate in one act of radical trust at a time. 

With confidence,

Meg Lucks

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

Lay-Ordained, Abiding Guide

The Heart Revival Center for Yoga

March through December we look to the Buddhist Ox-Herding images and their corresponding verses as an artistic illustration of the student on the path. While we will look at them 1 through 10, it's important to note that they are not linear nor hierarchical. They are helpers in our active practice of listening to the heart. We can gaze upon an image or hear the poetic lines and compare them to our lived experiences, with the intention to expand from a narrow mind to a limitless beginner's mind. In the spirit of for now, we can practice taking up what helps and letting go of what does not. We can practice listening to each other, holding space as a living, breathing dynamic, instead of fueling beliefs and patterns that divide, compare and diminish. My intention for our community is to create the ecology (container, context and content) for inner seeing and empowerment to come alive and ultimately bridge the gap between spiritual practice and daily life.