Access the Course: The Yoga of Heartfulness 4-Week Course • Ram Dass
Hi everyone! Great to see you this evening. I hope we can start discussions here that we may not have gotten to on the call. What came up for you? What is in your heart tonight?
If you watched the recorded version…What were some of your favorite parts of Mirabai’s talk from Monday night? What questions came up? Here is a place for you as a community to discuss more.
Hi everyone. What a lovely call. If you have any questions or want to share anything, please do so here!
Is the Thursday Zoom morning or evening…it was confirmed by LSRF staff it was evening, but the Zoom link states morning…thanks!
Such a special zoom - was an honor sharing those moments of enlightenment that Mirabai was able to bring out.
One thing that stood out for me, not only on this call, but throughout my journey, is how many paths there are to the same place. Yet, the first step is always the same: Acceptance.
We often try to push away the bad. I’ve come to appreciate how by not opening up to it, we store this negative energy within ourselves (samskaras), which then causes more suffering, and the cycle goes on.
Only once we accept and open our hearts to it all or “learn to love in hell” can we start to feel free. It’s not easy. As Mirabai said, it takes practice, and gentleness and tenderness with ourselves. But I promise you it’s possible for us all.
I’ve been on this journey for 10 years. It wasn’t until last year when I truly understood that there are things about myself and my life I may never change. Instead of hating them and resisting, I started to open up to them. Ram Dass saying how he still had his neuroses after all his years really struck something in me, and I’ve done my best to open up ever since by cultivating the witness and then bringing love and empathy to that part of my incarnation.
I’ve now learned to love myself for who I am and know it’s possible for anyone to get there. Consistency is key. I bought a “be here now” bracelet as a constant memento that has helped quickly break identification with the monkey mind and bring that loving awareness to it all to watch the passing show. Ah, sadness. Ah, judgement. Ah, lack of self control. And who we truly are is just back here watching it all happen.
Sometimes it just takes a quote or a deep meditation session for it all to click. Hoping that everyone here finds their spark!
Namaste 
Mother’s Day was yesterday, and Mirabai’s chant to Ma Durga really uplifted and inspired me as I have been holding onto the remembrance of my earthly Mother and my Divine Mother. Her sweet melody transported me back to experiencing the depths of longing that led me to go on pilgrimage to Kainchi and receive the blessing of Sri Siddhi Ma’s darshan. When that great event came to pass, and She left Her body 6 months later, I felt lost - as if the being I loved most in the world had left me and abandoned me as my father did when I was 1. Every time I sing to Siddhi Ma (the embodiment of Durga - the divine feminine), I am reminded that She never left. Maharajji. never. left. They could never leave, just as love will never leave. For me, the Mother comes first. She protects us, guides us home, and loves us without condition.
Thank you for sharing this Norm. This really struck with me too. I love how that bracelet has served as a reminder. Ah-sooooo. Such a blessing!
Thank you will. What a potent reminder. We can feel your heart and truth in these written words!
Great dharma talk. Enjoyed learning about Mirabai’s practice.
Always enjoy learning more about how our views on practice take on certain attachments, which in turn shape our understanding of the dharma. Skillful practice involves skillful understandings. Opening our heart to the often fluid nature of the dharma. Avoiding binary views.
Hi Dana, I’m still confused about the times then for Thursday… so then is it morning or evening? Thank you!!
I gained a lot from the talk, thank you Mirabai! I see you are in Taos, our family drives down there quite a bit to for long weekends, we love it there. I just learned about the Hanuman Shrine that’s there and can’t believe I never visited that before.
Something that came up for me after the talk was in regards to how far do we push ourselves to trigger our own “shmoos” in order to use them as practice? I recall Ram Dass pointing out often that if you want to progress, and you don’t enjoy large cities, then move to large cities. Or the classic, if you think your enlightened, go live with your parents for a week.
I find that the more people I’m around or am directly impacted by in any given moment, the more of a sense of unworthiness (and accompanying parade of negative thought cycles) might show up. I’ve always been very comfortable being by myself and this comfort led me to live the classic shed-in-the-woods lifestyle for a bit (no manifesto, sorry:) But being isolated creates other issues and now living the family life is ultimately much more conducive to positive karma yoga development of all types.
I’m not looking for insight on my particular situation exactly, but I would be curious to know what Mirabai or anyone on here thinks about how far to push your triggers to move through your practice. Do you turn your life up to 11 and get that grist mill cranking? Or do you leave it at 1 or 2? I feel like I’m at maybe a 4ish right now, but I feel the lower number allows me time to focus more on meditation and finding my center.
I would appreciate to know how anyone else manages their grist mill levels. Obviously life cranks it up for you without asking more often than not, but if you actually got to consistently choose, what would you put it at and why? Thanks!
I just want to say that the call was incredibly beautiful for me, personally. There’s a lot behind that being that I’ve been doing this whole trip for about a year and a half completely alone. I have family and friends who vaguely believe in the God of their parents or grandparents but as is famously said, ‘God has no grandchildren.’ So to be a part of this satsang is, in and of itself, transformative and heart-opening. After the call I was filled with so much loving kindness and energy that I couldn’t have closed my heart if I tried and subsequently couldn’t stop smiling. I am so grateful to be a part of this course and community. I can’t wait to continue and be a part of Us even more deeply and passionately.
namaste.
I am also…I’m assuming it is in the morning because that’s what the Zoom link shows. 
The Thursday calls are at noon EST.
So glad to hear and so glad we are on this journey together!
What a great question. I think it’s one of those things that you don’t necessarily go looking for but you allow as it happens. I also am a big believer in “titration”. If you are in a situation that overwhelms your system, we go into nervous system response (fight/flight/freeze/fawn) and can’t actually do the work. So we have to be able find the place where we can actually work with it. This might mean moving in and out (hence titration). HOpe that makes sense.
I had never heard of that process…titration. Had to look it up! Thanks! 
https://www.spiritrock.org/the-teachings/article-archive/titration
I need this now, so I will be here now.
What a heartful call - thank you; I just finished listening to the recording and I feel I’m a little less in the mind, a little more in the heart. I need to sit with the call and I want to but I just want to share that all your shmoos are mine - being selfish, being judgmental… Nothing new indeed. 
Thank you for sharing this link! Very applicable.