This
week, rediscover our free Ram Dass virtual mantra and meditation
library, Ram Dass explores 'embracing it all',hear from a satsang member
about her retreat experience, and listen to this week's newest podcasts
from Be Here Now Network.
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Be Here Now
Weekly Highlights & Events
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Weekly Wisdom
Ram Dass on Embracing it All
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...It's interesting that as long as you identify with your personality, the things that get you uptight are your enemies. The minute you identify with your awareness,
the things that get you uptight show you where your awareness still has
sticky fingers. Most of us with a mind, because the mind deals with
polarities, feel that if you're happy, you're not sad, and you want to
be happy. So you push away that which makes you sad.
But if you are going to be free, there's nothing you can turn away from
or turn off. Like if you live fully in this moment, does this moment
include that baby that's taking its last breath from starvation? Yeah.
So are you sad? Yes. Does it include the baby taking its first breath as
it comes out of its mother’s womb, and the joy of the beginning? Yes.
So you're happy. If you are the fullness of the moment, all of it, these
are all your voices. If you and I are to be free, there is nothing we
can push away...
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Community Spotlight
Our Community Member Lindsay Bond Shares a Story of Her First Ram Dass Retreat Experience
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In the Fall of 2019, two weeks before the
start of my yoga teacher training, I was contacted by Love Serve
Remember Foundation, asking if I would like to attend a retreat in Maui
in December of that year. It had slipped my mind that in April, I had
emailed the Director of LSRF, Raghu Markus, expressing that I would be
interested in a retreat scholarship. There was a wonderful synchronicity
to the contact the foundation made; I had attended the Los Angeles
screening of the film Becoming Nobody the previous evening.
What unfolded in December was one of the most meaningful experiences of
my life so far – it had been a heart’s desire to meet Ram Dass in the
body while I still could. I took part in the five-day retreat, taking in
lectures from many wonderful wisdom teachers and meeting many
like-hearted souls and my teacher two weeks before his passing. (I am
still delighted that my meeting of Ram Dass took place the first night
at dinner by the buffet table! As RD would say, “Yum, Yum, Yum…”)
While at the retreat, I asked Krishna Das in session about ways I could
continue to hold space for my brother, Kyle, who suffers from
schizophrenia and struggles continually with homelessness. “As a
sibling, there’s a very deep connection between you,” KD related. “So
whatever you do do, with him in mind, is very powerful… Hold him in your
heart, pray for him, talk to him…There’s a knot between beings, a
karmic knot. So if from inside of that, if you can help unravel that
knot, that’s a good thing for you both.” The truth in these words was a
salve for my heart. Chanting has continued to be an anchor practice,
creating space for the grace and courage to hold Kyle in loving
presence.
Following the retreat, I continue to learn that through personal yoga
practice, not just “on the mat” but through devotional music,
meditation, and other modalities, our dedications for others can
traverse energetic borders. The power of simple, sincere kindness has
shifted my perspective and deepened my understanding of relationships,
not just with my partner or friends, but with strangers and even the
most challenging relationships. I’ve experienced that kindness extended
to one, benefits us all as the One.
Life has become richer and more beautiful as a result of my connection
to Ram Dass and satsang. The time I spent at 2019’s Open Your Heart in
Paradise retreat was a period of deepening I will continue to treasure,
learn from, and appreciate...
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