Journey of the Heart

For the first twenty years of my mantra meditation practice...  ...I envisioned reaching a specific goal. I kept thinking it would be right around the corner, until one day I let go and gave up thinking about "results."  This is how I envisioned my journey afterwards. "Autumn River" by Stanislav Rico Watercourse   It’s entirely possible  for the daily hours     with beads in hand     chanting Shri Nam* to glide along     the wet slide     of pleasure and ease not unlike a youthful river    of showers and snowmelt    surging over stones coursing to its destination     the point invisible     from here the waterway    wends    meandering bends is in no conscious hurry     to pass through     lower or higher elevations ...

 Times are merging…  I have noticed through my work with tribal and indigenous peoples that the healing methods of the past are being resurrected today, in our present times. I offer you this blessing in the spirit of ancient times, when women gathered together to –as we are doing here- to elevate one another.  Such heartfelt openness blesses our lives from within. The woman who sees beyond illusion is freeing herself and others. Namaste! My sisters of heart and soul!  A BLESSING FOR LIFE Blessed one, deep inside I open to thee and embrace your being Sacred woman, sacred soul, we are blessed To know each other and all that is ... From the blessed one who created all I fuse with thee and open my heart To the longing and depth of all That we know...together... Forever blessed with life. In knowing this...I awaken my soul To the holy hour of sacred one Who resides so deep and is known as "I" I welcome you...

My garden is small and has very little definition.... I let plants reseed. There’s little strategy involved and that is good. I enter a different sense of time when in nature. On this day, I was trimming a massive heirloom climbing rose. There were sparrows and a pair of gold finches entertaining me. As I settle into the garden’s rhythm, it becomes meditative. The birds were speaking and I listened... The author's garden Message of the Birds by Carolyn Riker Stepping lightly through the sodden moss The wind whispered. It was a space between the shadows and light. She blinked to see if she really saw, and there it was: A reflection of her soul in the veins of a leaf, An ancient image of color and form, Breathing, like a fern, through her pores. She floated to the tree tops with the birds. Liltingly, she danced in the wind. Wordlessness transferred to her eye, mind and soul, The Sparrow said, “Listen.” The Finch tilted her head and said...

"Logos" is a Greek word, meaning "The Word".  It was used from the sixth century B.C. as a technical philosophical term that referred to the principal of order and knowledge. The Stoic philosophers, emerging in the third century  B.C., identified the term with the divine animating principle pervading the Universe.  Later, Philo of Alexandria (ca. 20 BC–AD 50) adopted the term into Jewish theology and in the Gospel of John (in the Bible) "Logos" is equated with Jesus Christ; "In the beginning was Logos (The Word) and Logos was with God and Logos was God."  In the Bible, there is also a verse that describes God as being "Over all, through all and in all". This poem explores these ideas. Over All, Through All, In All... You are the light of infinite stars, the silver mirror-moon. You are the new-born babbling of a mountain spring, you are whispering leaves and the pounding of ocean waves. You are the b...

This poem came to me after spending some time at the Meher Spiritual Center in SC and being touched by the spiritual energy of the place and the natural environment the Center is surrounded by. I take time to visit it at least once a year and completely immerse myself in my spiritual practices and my writing, because everything there reminds me that everything is connected and we are one and the same as Infinite Consciousness. Photo Montage of Padmasana by Catherine Ghosh for Integral Yoga Magazine I am That I am the pulse of existence,
 the space between your thoughts,
 and the spark of your desires.
 I am the source of life and death,
 the everything and the nothing,
 all happiness and all sorrow.

 I am mountains and rivers,
 creatures and creators, planets and galaxies, and beyond.

 I am the power of eternal love,
 the magnificent light behind the veil of illusion,
 and the illusi...

  The ocean and mountains are sacred places for me and allow me to rebalance mind and body... During a time in my life in which I was learning to cope with an anxiety disorder and fending off cancer, I drove to the beach every Saturday morning. I would lay on the beach, under an umbrella, all day Saturday and Sunday listening to the healing sounds of the shore and bathing in pure, uninterrupted calm. These reprieves from work and life pressures literally staved off an early death for me. "I Believe the Sea Oats" was written during a mystical moment one such afternoon on the beach, when I was lifted into an internal garden even more nurturing than the seaside. I Believe the Sea Oats Cicadas’ clicking crescendo the perpetual ocean whoosh engulf us in a dome open space a fine acoustical home the moment freezes breathes a whisper I can’t say if this is transcendence but the seagulls sense it without chatter they soar on quiet winds ...