molly's blog
“You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.” ~ Swami Vivekananda
Healing ourselves, Healing our communities
"The experiences of unity among peoples are more important and crucial than all the concepts, prejudices, ideologies, faiths that may divide. And if you can multiply these experiences of unity over a time interval of sufficient duration, you can undermine any barrier...
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Walking Meditation 1 ~ from the Monasterio de Benedictino Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles
This morning we gathered, as we do, in front of the main rotunda of the monastery for walking meditation. We began by listening to the bell, then singing, then hearing the instructions in Spanish and in English: walk slowly, mindfully. Listen to the sound of each...
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In response to the incidents at the Northwest Yoga Conference
To my friends in the northwest yoga community and beyond: I began my workshops this weekend with this quote from Howard Thurman and am resting in its wisdom – finding the right words and voice to speak the sound of the genuine in myself. “There is something in every...
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“The winds of God’s grace are always blowing, it is for us to raise our sails.” ~ Sri Ramakrishna
There is something I am learning right now that feels more powerful than anything I have encountered so far on my path. I am reminded of the 19th century Indian mystic and saint Sri Ramakrishna, who was a devout Hindu and bhakta – following the path of intense...
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Brahmacharya – walking with a friend
A couple of weeks ago I was having a discussion with a student on the meaning of brahmacharya – or the yogic ethical precept usually translated as continence or celibacy. It is also often discussed as moderation or a way for us to manage our energy; a way for us to...
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“You’re too into God now” or, I guess the practice actually works
If we are absolutely grounded in the absolute love of God that protects us from nothing even as it sustains us in all things, then we can face all things with courage and tenderness and touch the hurting places in others and in ourselves with love. ~ James Finley,...
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Cat person or dog person?
"I must look for my identity, somehow, not only in God but in other men. I will never be able to find myself if I isolate myself from the rest of mankind as if I were a different kind of being." ~ Thomas Merton "Are you a cat person or a dog person?" I bet we have all...
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On floating, tides, and luminescence
Faith does not need to push the river because faith is able to trust that there is a river. The river is flowing. We are in it. ~ Richard Rohr You can plan for a hundred years. But you don't know what will happen the next moment. ~ Neem Karoli Baba The...
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The personal, the spiritual, the collective. And – Lectio Divina as a practice for connection
Welp. I’m turning 51 next-week. I’ve always really loved my birthday. I don’t care so much about parties or presents or anything like that it’s more that I love the feeling of a day that I get to honor myself in a particularly conscious way. I’m that person who...
read moreIndia Pilgrimages
The powerful gift of uncertainty or, the fruits of faith
Three years ago in February, I was sitting in a window seat of an air-conditioned bus careening down the highways of south India, a Bollywood movie playing silently on the inconsistent screen above our driver. As I watched the rolling fields fly by, wincing every time...
read more A joy, a sorrow, a delight, a difficulty. The winds and tides of change.
A joy, a sorrow, a delight, a difficulty. These are all coming and going, happening all across the universe. May we find solace and comfort knowing that our experiences will not last forever, and that we are infinitely connected through these experiences. Let us not feel separate for them, but ever more unified, to one another and to the vast mystery of life itself.
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