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Guru Mantra Tutorial 2: A slightly more complicated but beautiful chord progression for the Guru Mantra that I learned from Stephanie Snyder, with a peace prayer added at the end. “The teacher is in all the beginnings, all that is sustained, all of the change and loss and challenge. The teacher is nearby and beyond the beyond, I bow down to that teacher that is indeed everywhere.“
On Boundaries: Contemplating the porousness of our boundaries looking at writing and ideas from ancient and contemporary sources. Perhaps we are not as ‘fixed’ as we imagine? What does it mean to be in relationship with our environment? What is your felt experience of the collective? I refer to: Radical Wholeness by Philip Shepherd, Small Arcs of Larger Circles by Nora Bateson, The Recognition Sutras (Ksemaraja, translation Chris Wallis), and Basic Neurocellular Patterns by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen.
Innate Wisdom: Inquiring into our innate wisdom drives, intuitive and creative recovery, our relationship to the whole and how over valuing our ‘head intelligence’ can override the intelligence of our bodies. The wonderful podcast I mention is Pain Removed, Performance Improved by Joanne Avison. The book I recommend is Radical Wholeness by Philip Shepherd.
purnamada mantra: this mantra is the opening invocation of the Isha Upanishad, and speaks to the inherent wholeness of reality. This is a Vedic melody, author unknown.
Ganesha Mantra: calling to Ganesha as the aspect of ourselves that knows how to move through obstacles, digest our experiences, learn and grow through our challenges. Calling to Ganesha can also be a calling not only for ourselves but for the uplifting, healing and justice for all. I find this one so helpful in difficulty, and also as a sweet blessing for any new beginning, as Ganesha is also invoked to offer blessings at the beginning of any new venture. This melody is Edo & Jo’s beautiful creation.
Sri Ram Jai Ram: chanting the names Sita and Ram.
Sita and ram, queen and king of the universe, masculine and feminine; the integration of both within us. Deeply in love, and many stories of losing each other and finding each other, just as we forget and then remember ourselves. A call to the deepest remembrance of who we are, a call to trust and faith and perseverance. Melody - Paula Andreewitch.
Kali Mataji: A chant to kali, the dark goddess, mother, warrior power, and ruler of time: past, present and future who brings us into presence and NOW. Our ability to dig our way out of confusion and misunderstanding into truth.
Mata means mother, ji is dearest or most beloved. Calling to kali as the mother of all, and the aspect of ourselves that knows how to nurture, protect, and fiercely, unconditionally, love. Melody - Paula Andreewitch.
Well made & beautiful: an idea that sits at the heart of my practice, found in the Taittiriya Upanishad (2.7.1), that the essence of all in existence is well made, inherently worthy, whole and complete. How do we use our practice to anchor into that as a baseline as our circumstances shift and change constantly? I share some thoughts and a translation of the verse by Bill Mahony.
