This post was written by Meg McCraken, and is posted here with her permission.
Meg McCraken will be teaching alongside Lopön Polly Ryan, in the Inhabiting the Boundless Heart: A Yoga and Meditation Virtual Retreat, on November 12 – 14. This will be Tara Mandala’s first “Share the Dharma Initiative” – a “pay it forward” based system, so we can all share the Dharma with others! For more information about this retreat, click here.
This skin that you’re in,
sun-baked and sensuous,
a perfect, illustrious outline
of the spirit
that calls each cell,
each wrinkle, crack, dimple, freckle,
every heartbeat
home.
This mind that you find
wild and unnerving
most of the time,
a wonder
that becomes and beholds
the beautiful and boisterous
elaborate matrix of all humanity.
A heart so complicated and clear
beating always
just for you.
The ache for love,
that longing for meaning,
the strive for perfection,
the shame of falling so painfully short,
the will to get up
and to try again.
The fear, the anger, the doubt,
the tender tenacity
to simply be
with
all of the losses you’ve suffered
along the way:
youth, ability, agility, loves, battles, friends, foes, car keys and cell phones, photographs, memories, pain, joy, peace, place…
you name it, you’ve lost it.
The unshed tears of so many incomplete goodbyes
that you just can’t summon the courage
to allow to rise
to the surface
for angst of drowning
in grief
in darkness
all alone.
The shimmer of light
strung within
thread thin
brilliant and piercing
yet subtle and precious
like a back-lit spiderweb
magically draped between two branches
that always gets reconstructed
no matter how many times is
becomes undone.
The laughter of children,
the echo of the child
that you once were,
and the unbridged expanse
between the two
that is either
your complete unraveling
or your way back home
to the only one that’s never left you.
The comfortable hand
slid into yours
a warm reminder
in this cold, cold world,
a gentle holding
that allows perfect freedom,
to be
and yet to become.
The majesty of first breath
outside yourself
in the natural world
shocking your senses
into wonder
at the bigness of it all
questioning:
what could it possibly all be about?
No answers live here,
always the mystery awaits.
The wet snout of the dog,
warm sand on hands,
folding laundry,
driving to work,
having a third cup of coffee,
the thousands of sunsets and sunrises
you’ve enjoyed and endured
and those you never,
never even noticed.
The backache the heartbreak.
the time you got the flu
the moment of pure gratitude
for the little things
when you finally go over
the flu.
The triumphs and celebrations,
the missteps and mistakes.
Your almost imperceptible,
monumental mark
on the vastness of life,
forever life-giving
no matter how small.
This body.
This mind.
This heart.
This place.
This sacred ground
upon which you stand.
This life,
meant for you.
Inhabiting the Boundless Heart: A Yoga and Meditation Retreat
With Lopön Polly Ryan, MA, MFT and Meg McCraken • November 12 – 14
As we re-emerge, both individually and collectively, into this new and evolving landscape, the pull to return to how things were in the past is strong. Yet, this is an important time to be conscious about how we engage with ourselves, one another, and walk on this earth together. You are invited to join Polly, Meg, and a wholehearted community for a grounding weekend of meditation, yoga, reflection, discussion, journaling, connection and more. Come as you are, and leave revitalized at every level of your being. You will come out of this weekend retreat with practical tools, practices, and perspectives to help you to live with a boundless heart in your everyday life … Read more »
About Meg McCraken
Meg McCraken, E-RYT 500. Meg is passionate about sharing the full, rich teachings of yoga and meditation in a truly experiential way that helps us to positively transform and enrich our lives. Having worked as a yoga therapist for over a decade, she is continually inspired by the vitality of the human spirit and the power of yoga to help us tap into a source of deep inner-peace and well-being. She has been sharing the yoga life with all kinds of seekers for over 18 years and … Read more »
