More, more, more. This is the mantra of our day. In my former life, I used to work in advertising and we didn’t refer to people as, well, people, we called them consumers. Something that takes something in. The description is apt, albeit a bit insulting. We are taking in something all the time, whether it’s food, news, email, sounds, lights, demands-modern life has turned on the fire hose.
All of this needs to be processed in some way. If not, the undigested food and experiences cause stagnation in the gross or subtle body and get stuck, leading to mental…
“Stop measuring days by degree of productivity and start experiencing them by degree of presence.”
-Alan Watts
Today was a good day. It didn’t start that way though, I was particularly exhausted and the kids and I were struggling to white knuckle through the homeschool assignment list. Productivity was not happening, so I told them to go out and play since that kind of hands-off supervision was the extent of what I could seem to handle. I was feeling pretty down about my inability to get even the things we were meant to do yesterday done, when I looked up…
There are those days when it’s hard to see what’s in front of us. Whatever is next is occupying seven eighths of the mind while the other eighth is trying to block out the annoyances of the day-the dirty dishes in the sink (placed in the sink if I’m lucky), “Is this water or pee?”, bills from the orthodontist, “Why is my wool sweater in the dryer?,” the Covid 15 (only 15 lbs if I’m lucky). It’s easy on those days to get stuck in the mindset of imagining life different than it is, “better” than it is, and thinking…
Last night I found myself sobbing. I was reading the first chapters of the book Wonder to see if it would be a good fit to teach my homeschooled third grader, and it wasn’t the bullying of the protagonist, a boy with a facial deformity, that triggered me, but the struggle of the mother to make the best choices for her child. The words tore the thin scab over what apparently is an insecurity about whether I have done enough to support my kids through this pandemic, and then the sobbing turned into those awkward sob-laughs because I realized the…
It feels like everywhere you turn this year with the Covid crisis, there is an obstacle. Events are cancelled, systems are collapsing, places are closed, expectations are continually dashed. We are being squeezed into tighter and tighter spaces. This discomfort has many of us simply waiting for the storm to pass and sending out anti-2020 memes before enjoying life again. But we can find expansion within the constriction. Not only is it possible, it’s the whole point.
My co-founder at Meditation Without Borders, Isabel told this story she read about this man who had his spiritual awakening when he was…
Life is meant to be enjoyed. Let me repeat that, life is meant to be enjoyed. This principle seems to have been somewhat forgotten, especially during such a heavy year as this one. I don’t mean life is meant to be pacified with stress distracting and numbing unsustainable behavior, or life is meant to be an unending pursuit of things and achievements with the idea that enjoyment will occur once they’ve been acquired. Your life, in this very moment, with all its flaws and inefficiencies and discomfort and loss and messiness is meant to be enjoyed. …
I’ve been hearing a lot from students and observing people’s frustration with trying to understand and find unity points with those who are oppressing others or enabling those who oppress others. Sometimes finding unity points with someone who is racist or sexist or any other “ist” can feel like you’re supporting that person and therefore their oppressive behavior. However, hating someone and focusing on their worst points only makes them more that way and is binding to you, not them.
Love is for your benefit, not just the benefit of the object of your love
When you hate, it’s an…
(This essay was written on September 9th in Mill Valley, CA during the fires).
This morning, for the first time in my life, the sun didn’t come out. It’s almost noon and it still is dark as night. The smoke from the fires raging all over California combined with the fog have created a red blanket so thick, you’d think we all woke up on Mars. It’s shocking and disorienting. It says to me what I’ve been feeling for weeks now is that the world as we knew it before is no longer and in this time of such intense…
“Don’t eat gluten. Running is bad for you. You should be putting money in your 401K. Natural birth is the only way. What you smoke! Gasp!”
Our society loves to tell us what to do. It sends constant (yet inconsistent) messages about the right and wrong ways to live our lives. This has only gotten worse as social media has allowed people to judge from afar, often making broad comments about someone’s life with almost no context whatsoever. Trying to sort out what are right and wrong ways to act can be dizzying. The reality is, what is true for…
“Without inner change there can be no outer change. Without collective change, no change matters.”
―angel Kyodo williams
Meditation is typically thought of as an individual practice, often falling in the “self-help” category in people’s minds. It does involve going within yourself and has all kinds of benefits to the individual, so it’s clear where this idea came from. However, our individual self-realization is dependent on uplifting those around us. And the changes we all want to see in the world can only happen by going within. One of the ways in which many of us bind ourselves and prevent…
Kristen Vandivier
Instructor of Vedic Meditation and Founder of The Vedic Method and Meditation Without Borders. Also, mother to Scarlett, Delphine and Adrian.
