I'm feeling deeply grateful to be back in the practice of offering therapeutic massage & energywork sessions, in the service of healing and the wellbeing of the community and greater world... one moment and being at a time. This work always brings me back to an eternal fountain - a river - an ocean - of gratitude, the bliss that is the source of life and love. In a life of service, there is always a way to be in harmony with this world... there is always space to be.
This past Sunday I attended a gathering of the Princeton Buddhist Meditation Group, and it has been a wonderful reminder of the basic purpose of everything we do in life: learning to keep a healthy and grounded sense of perspective on our sense of identity and individual desires, fears, and needs... and remembering to come back, again and again, to an aspect of being that rests beyond our emotions, judgements, assumptions, and even our physical sense perceptions. In the basic practice of meditation with awareness on the breath, and letting go of engagement with the momentum of thoughts, one can stumble into a space where hope, compassion, patience, humor and forgiveness are always possible... and where one experiences a new chance at living life with courage, humility, kindness and positivity.
"It's never 'them'... it's always 'oneself'!"
So much freedom one can find in looking closely yet gently, at how one is contributing to the situation one is facing... a freedom that requires detachment - a willingness to let go and allow everything to fall into the greater perspective of truth. Will any of this go with me when I go...? If not, then why am I making such a big deal about it...? ? ? Will my identity go with me...? ? ? no......
And in this perspective, life starts to look so much more fun! There's infinite possibilities in every moment. We don't have to stay locked into our ideas about who we are, and who everyone else is... and what will or might or might not happen. Yet, to truly make a thorough shift needs consistent practice - 'de-programming and re-programming' the patterning of physiology. This is where meditation, yoga, qi-gong... and therapeutic massage, energywork, and any form of healing modality... can be helpful. A supportive space... with the loving presence and skill of a compassionate, experienced hand & awareness... where we can allow the old cocoon to unfold, and gently climb ourselves out.
My mental gears are turning with ideas about "Community Wellness Days", during which I will offer chair massage and/or ayurvedic head & facial marma massage on a donation or sliding-scale basis, perhaps once or twice a month. I'm feeling inspired to find a way to make alternative health treatments affordable and accessible to anyone who may feel the need for it. I'd love to hear any thoughts or suggestions that come to you about this - those of you who have tried to do something like this before, or those of you who would like to see something like this happen... anyone who feels like chiming in... let me know...!
in gratitude...