Love Rising

I search the horizon for your warm, glowing light, anticipating your arrival with every cell of my being.

Nothing compares to how it feels, the magnetic pull, the abiding peace, when first I glimpse you.

Shrouded in clouds, levitating slowly up from the edge of the endless ocean, finally you appear.

Fiery orange, blazing bright, you announce your arrival boldly, your power unmistakeable.

Rising higher, certain now that everyone has noticed your majesty, you soften to yellow-gold.

Yours is the mystical, magical, marvelous way, manifesting desires and intentions, resolving fears.

In your light, prayers are heard, paths are laid, what was once obscure begins to clarify.

Mother Moon, full of love and promise, rising up over the sea in total glory, I honor thee.

Freedom: From Fear to Flight

Fear is a funny thing. To an extent, it is instinctual, a natural-born defense mechanism to protect us from potential harm. To another extent, it is learned, a product of the actions, attitudes and beliefs of the people and culture we are surrounded by. For many, fear causes self-limiting behavior, while for others, the sheer determination to overcome fear drives them to greatness. Fear of heights, of spiders, of God, of germs, of death, of loss, of power, of one’s own divinity. . . so many things that one could be fearful of. So many ways to then transform that fear into something benevolent and begin to soar.

There comes a time, or many times, in our lives when we are confronted with our fear. Not everyone will be open to their fear and use it as a catalyst toward betterment, but I assure you the option exists for us all. I never considered myself a particularly fearful person. There wasn’t much that “scared” me and I always thrived on pushing boundaries and testing my limits. I’ve never been afraid of the typical, more mundane sorts of things like snakes or airplane rides or the dark. My independent streak has been so fully intact my entire life that I was never afraid to set off on my own and march to my own drum. It took more careful observation and some pretty profound life experiences for me to realize that there are things that I am afraid of, and if I cannot transform that fear into acceptance, strength, conviction and other positives, it would continue to subtly paralyze me and prevent me from realizing my full potential and grace.

The first time I saw my fear clearly was when my father tried to kill himself a couple of years before he ironically ended up dying of cancer. Reading that line, you might assume that I was afraid of losing my father. That was not the case. Death has never scared me. I revere the significance of the loss of any life, I understand sadness and grief, but I have always been entirely comfortable in my faith that death occurs when and as the Universe deems it should. Who am I to question the Universe? When my father revealed himself in all his fragile, fragmented, imperfectly perfect humanity, I came to the realization that I had lived my life seeking his approval, and I had been deeply, if not always consciously, afraid of not having it. In the wake of his crisis, which spawned an even larger family crisis, I distanced myself and began the process of recognizing and reconciling my fear. It was through this experience that I truly internalized the realization that I do not need approval from absolutely anyone. While I may enjoy it, it is not a necessity, and I certainly do not intend to live my life seeking it. The ultimate contract that I must honor in my life is the one made by my higher self with the Universe. Only God and I know what that is really all about. Only God and I know what I am truly capable of and meant for; therefore, only we know when I am self-limiting or self-sabotaging in some way. I don’t need any external approval to know whether I am doing my best and following my path. Realizing I’d been so fearful of this and releasing it was a tremendous moment in my personal journey and it brought me into deeper communion with spirit than I’d ever known prior.

The second time I saw my fear clearly was when, after C. and I split up, I realized that we really and truly were not going to mend what was broken between us, and our marriage was over. In truth, I came to this realization deep down inside far sooner than I showed it outwardly. I continued to fight for quite some time to save something that wasn’t meant to be. It took us a year and a half to actually get a divorce, but somewhere in the deepest part of my being, I knew very early on that we were through. It was my fear of being alone and perhaps not knowing such a great love again, it was my ego, that fought on even when my soul knew better. It took time for me to bridge that internal divide and to face my fear. But once I did, once I realized that I am a perfect, beautiful whole with all the happiness, strength, comfort, resilience and wisdom I need already within me, it was like a rebirth. I have faith that love and companionship will come in and out of my life when and how they are meant to. I have faith that having learned about myself through this fear I will be open to the gifts and the lessons that each future encounter will bring, even when those gifts and lessons hurt to receive at times. I am not afraid to be alone, nor am I afraid to be in love. Freedom from fear is true happiness. Freedom from fear is what allows you to truly spread your wings.

Just yesterday, my fear rose up and placed itself directly in my line of conscious sight once again. This time, the lesson came more quickly than the previous experiences, making the emotions particularly intense and the ultimate clarity that came razor-sharp. About a week ago, I received a phone call with a piece of news that should have elicited an absurdly joyful response from me. Instead, I was literally overcome with a feeling of dread and weighed down with negative energy. I tried to shake it, but I couldn’t. I tried to understand it, but I knew my rational, analytical approach was not really getting to the core of the matter. I tried to excuse and apologize for my reaction, but everyone, including myself, knew I was just saying the words without feeling the emotions. I couldn’t shake the ominous, foreboding feeling off, and it troubled me. Something bad was going to come of this. Then yesterday, I got another phone call, this one telling me that that should-have-been wonderful news was no longer. It had been lost, leaving deep, dark pain in its wake. Suddenly my dread made sense. I had known all along that this was not meant to be, even though there was no way for me to communicate this to the keepers of the news. (Forgive my vagueness here; however, it is a sensitive matter involving loved ones whose privacy I want to respect.) Hanging up after the second phone call, I processed everything for a few moments time, then found myself uncontrollably sobbing with an anguish that rose up from depths I couldn’t even name. Rationally speaking, there was no reason I personally should have been reacting this way. I could revere the loss as a bystander, feel sad on behalf of my loved ones, but this matter didn’t touch me so directly as to elicit such a gut-wrenching response. Why was I crying so hard? Why was I feeling such a surge of emotion? At my altar, on my knees, the answer came. I was crying out my fear, releasing the energy that had been working so hard to keep me afraid of my own power. My power had revealed itself through this recent premonition in a way that I had never seen it before because I had not been ready to. I have been told by so many for so long, and felt stirrings inside of me that tipped me off to just how strong my intuition is, but I never understood it in the way I did through this experience. If this all sounds crazily esoteric or overly egocentric, believe me that it’s not my intention. I’m not completely sure how best to convey through words what I experienced, but I know that I have to try. I have to try because just as I needed to see that my own power is nothing to fear, we ALL need this lesson. Power is a word with very intense, and often adverse, connotations. Yet we all know that power can, and is, used for good all the time. If we can release the fear of the unique power that has been divinely placed within each of us, embrace it and channel it toward helping others and ourselves, our world will heal and be better.

May the space in our hearts presently held in fear open itself up to grace and to peace. May we all tap into the strength and courage to face the dark sides of ourselves so that we can bask fully in the light. May we free fall out of our fear and see that our very own wings are meant to glide perfectly on the winds of life.

Letting go. . .of the shoulds and the coulds and everything else that doesn't serve

Why is it that the whole concept of "letting go" is so very challenging for so many? There are infinite things to let go of, infinite ways to do it, and the commonality between them all seems to be the difficulty that most of us have in actually achieving the sweet release we are seeking. Letting go is so hard because it is a battle between our higher self and our ego, and the ego, like it or not, is strong. Not only strong, the ego is fiercely determined, fantastically convincing and can paint very enticing pictures in our minds that make us want to cling for dear life to the very things we would be best served to let go of. So what to do?

For most all of us, we have at least one successful experience we can draw from where we have sublimated the ego and let go of something/someone that we no longer needed. I would venture that, ultimately, it felt amazingly good once the pain was out of the way and releasing was done. If we can adopt into our consciousness a reminder of those wonderful, uplifting, enlivening emotions we experienced in the wake of letting go, that would serve as the perfect motivation to repeat the process of releasing, don't you think? In theory, sure, this sounds perfect and easy enough. But I know from my own practice, as I'm sure you do from yours, what seems simple very often isn't. That is certainly the case where letting go of the things our ego holds dear is concerned.

This just came up for me the other day when I came across some photos of my ex, A. and I. I was entirely pleased to find that seeing these pictures didn't provoke me at all, which is to say, I felt no extremes of emotions toward him or our history in either direction. Whereas at times in the past I might have alternately felt strong love, resentment, sadness, or longing, I was completely neutral. Yay for me! Cheers! I'm really over him! It was gratifying to be sure, but then it also made me think: I've been through a far bigger heartbreak after the end of my marriage to C. and have long since made it through the process of "becoming neutral" where he is concerned. I can look at our old wedding pictures fondly, chat on the phone to him without feeling any resentment or desire or anything polarized. Heck, we're even kinda sorta going to the wedding of mutual friends together next month. So if I already successfully let go in the context of our relationship's end, why then did I have to go through all the pain and suffering I experienced as A. and I had ours?

At first this whole dynamic seemed like a conundrum, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was me being true to form. I have always been one to "learn the hard way" and require ample experience with something, proof if you will, before I buy into it. I thought growing into my consciousness and intuition more as I've gotten older and delved further into spirituality had lessened this, but my ego still persists. It still puts up a formidable fight, though appears to be more discerning in which battles to pursue. It knows where my higher self has already succeeded in changing my perspective, attitudes and actions, but it definitely still shows itself in the ways that it can, whenever it can. So it was here. But all this feels like little consolation when at the end of the day, I experienced pain, I suffered over a situation that I thought i'd already mastered the art of letting go in.

Obviously every relationship, and every love, is unique, powerful and meaningful in its own way. Accordingly, the end of any relationship or love as we know it entails an adjustment and often some pain and difficulty. I'm not saying that having healed from heartbreak once I would expect to become immune to its symptoms in the future. Rather, what really frustrated me was that, in hindsight, I saw how I had so strongly identified with and attached myself to those symptoms the second time around, even knowing from previous experience how good it would feel to distance myself from them and let them go. Granted, I did process the break from A. much more quickly and with much less "wear and tear" to myself, but there was plenty of pain even still. In a sense it made me feel like all the hard work and effort I put into processing, healing and growing through the end of my marriage hadn't fully paid off because I just suffered again through the next heartbreak. And then I extrapolated from this single example that I would likely be banging my head against a proverbial wall in goodness knows how many other scenarios! Madness!

I know that is an extreme statement, and I know that I, like many, just need to have multiple attempts at learning certain life lessons before they really take hold. As I've written, and as I've lived through the experiences I write about, I've always placed great emphasis on my belief that there is so much value and so much to be learned through that which presents a challenge and provokes pain and suffering. So if I've felt those things, even in the face of a situation I thought I already "triumphed" over, it simply means that yes, my ego is still around, and yes, I still have more to experience in order to continue learning how to let go. Reminding myself of how sweet that release feels is an excellent way to stay on track, but ultimately, that still equates to focusing on something from the past when what I will always be best served to do is stay as connected to the present as possible. Therein lies what I suspect is the real key to honing the craft of letting go. Since, for me, this is still very much a work in progress, we'll just have to allow time to tell if my supposition proves true.

Running in heels. . . and catching my breath

I found myself walking hurriedly through the airport this morning, rushing to the gate to catch a flight that was already boarding for my second business trip in as many days, literally holding back tears. Why was I holding them back, you might ask? Or why did I feel like crying in the first place, perhaps? If you happen to be a reader who knows me personally, you’re probably wondering why the “Queen of Punctuality” was running behind schedule to begin with.

There’s much that I’ve been wondering about lately, many a “why” that I’m trying to decipher. This morning’s near tearfest was a product of some inner discord that I’m wading through. Since the incredible experience of my recent yoga retreat, I have been feeling a deeper sense of connection and commitment than ever to my spiritual practice. All I want to do is spend my days in nature, chanting mantras, practicing asanas and keeping company with others of inspired consciousness or simply with my own contemplations. I don’t just want this because I desire to live my life on some sort of permanent vacation. I want this because it is the way I feel authentically like myself, like I am fulfilling my purpose in this life. But the fact is, no one other than me has chosen not to make this my main focus at the moment. I chose to have a career, a home, the garden variety responsibilities and obligations, a total “of-the-world” existence. Thankfully that existence incorporates spirituality and a wonderful yoga practice to a significant degree, yet it keeps a distinction between the two. They co-exist and even intermingle quite well, but they are not fully integrated, and I have begun to feel this on a visceral level lately. That is the discord I speak of.

So back to this morning. . .

I caused myself to rush to catch my flight by dawdling. I woke up early enough to have sufficient time for a little morning practice, getting ready and out the door to the airport without having to really rush, which should have given me a fine start to my day. But instead of following the schedule I’d laid out in my head, I felt extremely unmotivated, a product of my overall lack of enthusiasm about my business trip, and thus dragged my feet. This meant no time to spend at my altar and me walking out my front door at the exact moment I should have been walking into the airport. As such, I was tense and frustrated while I drove, or better, while I sped, weaved in and out of traffic, huffed and puffed, mouthed-off to red lights and all-around lost touch with the calm center of my being. While this was happening, somewhere inside I was witnessing my behavior and the thoughts and feelings that were accompanying it. I was conscious of the fact that no amount of huffing and puffing was going to force the lights to turn green any faster. I was aware that my reckless driving in an attempt to shave a couple of minutes off my commute was ludicrous when I consider that it increased the likelihood of bodily harm to others and to myself. I told myself to take some deep breaths, which I did, and to chant along with the mantras coming through my speakers, which I did, but my energy scale remained tipped toward the negative.

By the time I was approaching the gate, I had taken full stock of the morning’s events, and it literally brought up such a swell of emotion that tears came to my mascara-enhanced eyes. I held them back lest I sully my work-ready face paint. It didn’t feel good. If higher consciousness is what I am seeking, then let me start right here, right now, because that is all there is. My obligations and responsibilities don’t simply extend to paying my bills, performing my job duties well and other aspects of the mundane. They extend to me being honest toward myself and recognizing that any discord or discontent I am feeling is of my own doing. I chose to allow negative emotion to be my focus as opposed to positive, just as I have chosen to segregate my life, making a distinction between my practice and my career. I say the former fulfills and nourishes me, while the latter just doesn’t, yet that is not true. It is my attitude toward these things that dictates what my experience with them will be. My career has afforded me the means to delve deeper into my spiritual practice by giving me time and resources to study, train, travel, etc. My career gives me a unique perspective that has fostered an even deeper appreciation for all that yoga has brought to my life. How can I rightly bemoan it then? While I might ultimately hope to one day have my life’s work be a full integration and expression of my spiritual practice (translation: no more corporate job) I have the power to see my present circumstances in exactly that same light.

My tears were part release of tension, part celebration of this recognition. It is part of the inner work I must do, that I want to do, to make peace with where I am at on my journey right now and to learn all I can from each aspect of the experience, even the ones that don’t seem as inviting or enjoyable. I have it within my to find nourishment and fulfillment in them, just as I do from the overtly spiritual aspects. Therein lies the lesson that I needed to be taught today, the lesson that I want to share with you. It is all a question of our attitude and our thought process in any and every situation. There is no external cause of suffering or discord. We create it ourselves, and as such, we can also choose not to. I don’t claim that this is easy, but it is simple. Think about it.

A deep breath and a pat on the back

In the interest of full disclosure and honesty, while I am doing my best to walk down the spiritual path that I've chosen and to embody the principles, values and teachings that accompany it, I have a LONG way to go. No real surprise there, I suppose, since that is pretty much true for most all of us. And one way in which this is very obvious to me is that I still have a heck of a lot of ego to deal with. Ah yes, ego. It is a word that comes up quite often among us mindful types because we're so busy trying to sublimate it. Sometimes that can mean we feel the need to discuss it ad nauseum. But ego isn't all bad. It depends on how you look at it, and how you put it to use.

Tonight, my ego is compelling me to share a story that is going to read much like a proverbial pat on the back, and that would be because it is. I had an experience today that I find tremendously gratifying because it gave me a very clear, tangible opportunity to see that all the work I've been doing is actually paying off. I'm proud of myself! And if sharing that pride is an ego-driven act, then so be it. I'm hoping the positive effects of my attempts at humor and inspiration will help score me spirit points to offset the whole ego business ;-)

With all the reflection on love that I've been doing during the past few weeks, not surprisingly A., my ex-boyfriend, has occupied a good bit of brain span. It seems natural and reasonable enough that, when contemplating the intricacies of love and relationships, one would refer to his or her own experiences, and in all likelihood, the current or most recent one is going to figure pretty strongly into the mix. I've been over A. for a while now, technically speaking. We haven't seen each other in a couple of months, my life has moved forward splendidly, I've met some people who've sparked my interest and I am in a great place all around. From a not-so-technical standpoint, however, I've kept a little soft spot in my heart for him where I've held out a tad of hope that the time would come when circumstances would be different, we would reconnect and the spark of love that we shared would once again be fanned into full-on flames. And because I've been feeling so lovey-dovey, naturally I figured this would be a great time to put that to the test. I'm a romantic, what can I say?!?

Or maybe I'm just really hard-headed and have to have certain lessons beaten in there by brute force before I can truly appreciate them. Chances are it is a little of both. There were things about my relationship with A. that weren't making me entirely comfortable or happy even when things were amazing between us. Being in love as I was, I conveniently pushed those to the side and focused on what was so good about us. And since our relationship ended, there have been multiple instances of emotional outpourings and attempts at reconnection that just haven't been sustainable. All signs point to us not serving each others' greater good any longer, and yet it has taken me months to really internalize this. It took me until today, actually.

After yet another attempt at reconnection didn't come fully to fruition, I witnessed myself almost instantaneously process the situation from a place of total presence and mindfulness. One of the best ways I can describe this is that my higher self took control of the situation and began to drive my inner dialog. A. flaked on plans with me twice this week, which was entirely not surprising. What was surprising, or better said, really pleasing, was that rather than get upset about it, give him an earful and then require a good dose of talk-therapy with one of my girlfriends to blow off some steam and process everything constructively (which is a respectable option!), I just did it right then and there on my own. I calmly hung up the phone. Then I witnessed my mental process of running down a little checklist of things I could do "to feel better", realizing immediately that they were simply distractions and not resolutions. Higher self Jess quickly nixed those. Instead, I sat still, took a few deep breaths and connected to my center. Then I hopped on my bike, rode to the beach to the tune of beautiful mantras streaming through my headphones, journaled by the ocean and worked it all out. Far healthier than mopping around, emotional eating, thinking that this may have been a great moment to take a stab at online dating or any other diversion that I could have easily created to keep myself from really looking at what was happening so I can process it and move on.

Yoga's myriad teachings have shown me the immeasurable benefit of practices such as being present and connecting to your breath. It is one thing to incorporate these practices on the mat during an asana class, though that one thing isn't always easy either! It is entirely another thing to incorporate these practices into the challenges and trials of day-to-day living. And that is really what this is all for. When I talk about the work I'm doing paying off, I'm not talking about all the hours I spend each week pushing myself physically while I drip sweat and twist myself up like a pretzel. Cool as that may be, that is just a means to an end. The end, which I do not have any delusions of actually reaching in this lifetime, is self realization. Know thyself, know the Divine. I walk the conscious, spiritual, yogic path proudly and contentedly, knowing that the process is a huge reward in and of itself. The process provides moments like I experienced today where I feel true peace, true centeredness. Those moments offer a taste of the ultimate self realization that we are working toward. Feeling your own divinity in the form of true alignment on all levels- body, breath, heart, mind, soul- is among the sweetest nectar there is.

In the light of love

It has been four days back at home since my time spent in Nosara, Costa Rica. I know from experience that returning to your day-to-day life after having such a spiritually charged break from it can be a tricky adjustment. I'm trying to keep myself safely in the "bhakti bubble" that marked my time away, particularly the sacred chant and yoga retreat portion. I find myself craving alone time, preferring the company of mantras, the ocean and my journal to even my closest friends. Unusual, compared to my typical, social butterfly way of being. But I have much to process, much to ponder, and it all comes down to love.

Love was the constant theme of the retreat. Bhakti is the yoga of devotion, the yoga of love. We spent our days singing about it, talking about it, feeling it and being it. We were living in the bhakti bubble. And it got better. Every aspect of the experience felt nourishing. Each day, delicious, fresh, healthful vegetarian meals were laid out for us. Nature's beauty provided a serene backdrop to our every moment. In the company of other conscious, spiritual beings you couldn't help but feel more enlightened and inspired than normal. And it was hot and sticky, with little clothing required, so you just became comfortable with your skin and your natural beauty. It was all a very intoxicating combination. It's like being high on a wonder drug where everything and everyone are love.

So if the retreat is the high, coming home is the detox. Everything has to get processed. And for me, the processing has been a meditation on love. Love. It is a small, simple word, and some even try to make it into a small, simple concept. That couldn't be further from the truth. Love is bigger and more powerful than the mighty ocean. Love is the force of life. Love is all-pervading. Social conditioning would tell us that there is romantic love, as in being in love with your significant other, and there is love of family, of children, of friends. There is even room for love of animals, of nature, of places. But each of these is a tightly defined category. Each of these has a place in the heirarchy of love. In my contemplation, I came to realize that, at least to some degree, I've blindly followed this belief, and I see now that it just doesn't resonate with my heart.

Take the retreat as an example. Here was an opportunity where everyone was in love. It wasn't necessarily romantic love, but it was love to be sure. There was powerful connection. There was a constant cycle of people projecting yummy, juicy, sticky-sweet emotions onto others and then having them reflected back, perpetuating love all around. Most of us were complete strangers, and yet we found ourselves part of connections bound by the pureness and intimacy that are the trademarks of love. And then there was the music, the most soul-stirring, trance-inducing kirtan. It all felt a bit like the kind of free love that marked the hippie movement in the sixties, only it was happening in the here and now.

So who is to say that love must be placed in a neat little box? I say love is wild, abstract and cannot be contained. I say you can be in love, fully and strongly, with multiple people at once. Being in love need not always entail a romantic connection. It can be a soul connection, a mind connection, a connection through a shared powerful experience. It can happen in an instant, and it can last for only a finite, fleeting period of time. Being in love doesn't always unfold the way we've been told it will since we were children. It isn't always about two lovers meeting, getting to know one another, building a life based on shared history and experience. Certainly this can and does happen. Certainly it can be entirely gratifying. But that isn't all there is. There is being in love as a group mentality. There is being in love with someone who deeply inspires you and touches your soul, even if only from a distance. And at the foundation, there is being in love with yourself. Taking the time to really connect to your heart and soul, to hear, see and feel who you truly are, what you truly desire and aspire to in this life. That is one of the ultimate acts of love, as it then allows you to fulfill your true purpose, which will always only benefit everyone.

As a bhakti yogi, I subscribe to the belief that we are all love, we are all one and we are all divine. So I say spread the love. Continue being part of the cycle of projecting and reflecting. I'm not saying poly-amorous lifestyles for all, though no judgment if that's your thing. I'm simply saying that we should let love flow freely and authentically rather than trying to reign it in and narrowly define it. Imagine what that would mean to our relationships, to our world! To me, it is one of the most beautiful and inspiring notions. A world where we can freely and safely express and embody love without restraint. A world where the underlying connection that we all share is understood to be love. How amazing!

Bhakti in paradise

I'm in love. There is just no other way to describe how I feel about where I am and what I am living right now. Because I promised myself this trip would include time for writing in the formal sense, but I've been extremely content balancing my time between very actively soaking up every possible drop of the experience I'm immersed in, as well as mastering the art of sitting still and accomplishing the same goal very passively, I figured blogging is a good way to go. I'm in a constant satsang, translated from Sanskrit as good company or a spiritual gathering, at the highest level. I'm taking Jivamukti classes led by Sharon and David themselves, with Deva Premal on the mat nearby, having stimulating conversation about vedanta and life with Shyam Das over breakfast, joining in intimate kirtan sessions led by Deva, Mitten and Manose, and have I mentioned this is all taking place in an absolute paradise that time has forgotten in a way? I am part of a group from all around the world, each one with their own intriguing story to tell, love of yoga and the bhakti path uniting us.

Oh, and then there is the natural beauty that I could go on describing infinitely. The musky, slightly sticky smell of tropical forest meeting ocean shore. Flowers perfuming the morning air with their nectar. The smoothly worn rocks creating lovely little tidal pools to explore. The constant hum of cicadas, bird songs and the occasional bellow of a howler monkey. The night sky so dark with the moon so bright that everything is gently illuminated by its glow and the twinkling of the stars. The roll and roar of the surf as I become weightless and lose myself in the vastness of the ocean. The fact that I can walk a few minutes to a beach with no one on it but me and enjoy the divine pleasure of doing that in nothing but my flesh. . . amazing how a couple of patches of fabric can be so encumbering. More amazing still what it is to experience the total freedom and connection to Mother Earth that being in nature in the nude can bring.

Overwhelmingly, I've been in a bliss state. Even in the moments when my physical exhaustion was intense or an upwelling of emotion has brought forth tears, the bliss remains. I am in such an intimate and sacred space, and yet I feel so connected to everything and everyone, a true sense of the oneness that binds us all. Love, prem, shema, amor. . .call it what you want. The feeling is all- powerful and all-pervading. Love is what I feel, what I am. Bhakti yoga, the yoga of devotion, is love. I cannot express how fortunate I feel to be experiencing it in this way, surrounded by such love-filled souls, with the music of love filling our days and the love of Mother Earth filling our senses.

As the blog title goes, happily now beats happily ever after, and I am undeniably, unequivocally happily now. Namaste, dear ones.