Passion

Ignoring your passion is like dying a slow death…Passion whispers to you through your feelings, beckoning you toward your highest good. Pay attention to what makes you feel energized, connected, stimulated- what gives you your juice. Do what you love, give it back in the form of service, and you will do more than succeed. You will triumph.

Oprah Winfrey

Where to find silence

There is no need to go to India or anywhere else to find peace. You will find that deep place of silence right in your room, your garden or even your bathtub.

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

non-hatred

Never in this world can hatred be stilled by hatred; it will be stilled only by non-hatred -- this is the law of eternal.
- Meditation quotes

Sitting Quietly, Doing Something

Can science explain the good cheer of Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, the “world's happiest man”?  
- Opinionator, New York Times

Coming to Our Senses by Jon Kabat-Zinn

Celebrate the Journey

Who knows why life unfolds
the way it does; why we choose
one path or another, share the
way for a while or a day, then
say goodbye. There is no
predictability here, and less
control than we might wish.
But there is the quiet urging
of the heart, the knowing in
the soul, the wisdom that's
beneath the mind, accessible
if we breathe and turn inside.

When the tide of change rolls
in we can resist or be at peace,
struggle or release. The stuff
of life may not be ours to
understand. It's enough to
offer love, to receive the best
and worst, to embrace and
say farewell. What matters
most is to celebrate each
moment of the journey.

One Soul: More poems from the heart of yoga, Danna Faulds, pg 66

Joy for No Reason

I am filled with quiet
joy for no reason save
the fact that I'm alive.
The message I receive
is clear - there's no time
to lose from loving, no
place but here to offer
kindness, no day but this
to be my true, unfettered
self and pass the flame
from heart to heart. This
is the only moment that
exists - so simple, so
exquisite, and so real.

One Soul: More poems from the heart of yoga, Danna Faulds, pg 62

The Operative Conjunction

Every day, a choice to be
made, a thousand decisions
between the dim and fearful
view (I can't do this. I've
bitten off far more than I
can chew) and the other
side (somehow this will
all work out).

The mind insists on
choosing sides, pitting
pessimism against optimism,
not content to let life be
exactly as it is. I imagine
the best or worst, and react
to mere possibility, not
present fact. But the desire
to control and judge, to pick
one experience over another -
is that just what humans do?

Every ingredient is welcome
at life's banquet. There's
nothing wrong with this stew
I'm cooking up. Whatever's
here; the bland or spicy mix
of shadow and light, the
grasping and the pushing back -
it's all equally sacred in the
eyes of the creator. The only
operative conjunction is "and"
not "but". How much
can I let in - both sides
and the middle, front and back,
the water and the wine glass
each are full. The feast of
life is laid out for the tasting.

One Soul: More poems from the heart of yoga, Danna Faulds, pg 55-56

I Am Already

One flow of
energy and breath
connects the full
depth and breadth
of consciousness.
There is nowhere to
go but here, no time
but now, no why or
how or maybe - just
the knowing, simple
and complete, that I
am already what I
thought I had to seek.

One Soul: More poems from the heart of yoga, Danna Faulds, pg 52

You Know Me

We are intimately acquainted, you and me.

I am the Creator and Sustainer, the life force
that animates the trees, the faith that transforms
belief into something deeper.

I am as eloquent in death as birth, the always
and forever essence of emptiness and breath.

Speak any of ten thousand names and I am there
before the words leave your lips.

It is I who lift the heavens up, bind water into ice
or send it flowing toward the ocean.

You know me in every moment, yet you can't own,
define, or even make me line up with what your mind
would posit as reality.

My presence doesn't leave when your awareness
shifts from prayer to serving tea. The mind will
often need to focus elsewhere, but that doesn't
change the truth of me.

There are countless ways I can present myself to you,
but what is it that I truly wish to say?

It's this: Don't miss me in the rush to get things done.
I'm here right now, the pinnacle and root of love.

You don't have to stop doing what is yours to do,
retire to a cave, close the curtains tight, or meditate
from dusk to daylight.

I'm here right now. You are so much a part of me
that you tend to miss the forest in the trees.

Choose to behold me. Choose to know me. Choose
to acknowledge the communion occurring even as
you read these words.

Choice is all that is required for the spark of me
within you to catch fire.

One Soul: More poems from the heart of yoga, Danna Faulds, pg 48-49

Swallowed Whole

When I let go of what I
know, what's left? If I
set off without a compass,
will I be led? An inner urge
too strong to overlook insists
that I go forward. I stumble,
fall, get up and start again.
Longing lights the path like
a lantern. The mountaintop
looks so far away that I
stop to rest, and in the quiet
I realize that practice isn't
about getting anywhere
changing anything, making
something happen or slowing
what's in motion. Union
can't be forced, won't be won
by fighting. It alights like a
moth on a dandelion or swallows
me whole like Jonah's whale.
All it takes is receiving what
is here right now, being intimate
with all that is, and knowing that
the act of offering what I really
am will never be refused.

One Soul: More poems from the heart of yoga, Danna Faulds, pg 45

Center of the Stream

Soften. Soften. Sink into
the still center and receive
the body's wisdom. Drink
it in. Feel everything. (Can
I really risk embodiment?)


Breathe until sensations rise
in a wave. The feelings I've 
always pushed away now
take center stage. (Am I 
strong enough to witness this?) 


Relax. A deep, connected
breath sends the message,
"All is well," even as
sensations swell. (Can I drop
the masks and feel the armor
start to crack?)


A parade of stories, needs
and dreams move past. (Can
I watch them all and not react?)


This moment is unfolding,
whole, unique, felt and seen.
(Dare I allow myself to be
carried to the center of the
stream where the water is
too deep to stand, and
there are no handholds?)

One Soul: More poems from the heart of yoga, Danna Faulds, pg 44

Precisely Where You Are

There is no turning back, you
know. Once the soul is awake,
and the voice of spirit beckons,
there is only one direction. Of
course, the route may look a
bit circuitous. Yes, it may
look as if you move every which
way but forward until you see
the broader view, the one that
shows you with arms thrown
wide, embracing absolutely
everything, your long stride
carrying you to the exact spot
on which you stand.

The path to truth moves through
some quite peculiar landscapes,
and there are times you'll swear
you're going nowhere.
But if you tried to iron out
the twists and turns and make it
all into a perfect, straight and
narrow walk to the finish line -
think how boring and predictable
that would be! Where you need
to be right now is here, just here,
precisely where you are.

One Soul: More poems from the heart of yoga, Danna Faulds, pg 43

Light Pours Into Light

I sit on the cushion,
using will, applying
firm determination to
stay still. It is an ordinary
morning, thoughts
and stories flitting through
the mind like Spring
birds at the feeder -
going, coming, singing,
fighting. My mind is
anything but quiet. And
then there is a shift.

Light pours into light,
and the small being
that was me expands.
There is open space
and energy, as if the
cosmos chose to birth
itself within my breast.

Light pours into light,

and then I'm back in

ordinary time and thought,

birds begging me for

more seed in the feeder.

One Soul: More poems from the heart of yoga, Danna Faulds, pg 41

Love Laughs

Listen. Love laughs
at fear. Can you hear it?
And fear fades in the face
of laughter. Let nothing
distract you from the fact
that fear will grow if you
feed it, and shrink when 
you pay it no heed. There.
See? Fear disappears, and
leaves love laughing.

One Soul: More poems from the heart of yoga, Danna Faulds, pg 35

Everything I think I'm Missing

I am struggling. There's who I
believe I ought to be, and who
I really am. It's humbling, isn't
it? This being, this mystery, this
me sits here radiating energy, yet
I'm gripped by a nameless fear
that I'm missing exactly what
I came to experience.

I am suffering, telling myself
stories of what life should look
like. And then I get the message
like a meteor, like the power
coming back on after hours
in a storm.

This life, this extraordinary
imperfection, this moment
just as it is, this is all I'm
here to receive. The infuriating,
limitless simplicity of day-to-
day living holds everything
I think I'm missing.

One Soul: More poems from the heart of yoga, Danna Faulds, pg 33

Beneath the Surface

What will I know if I go
below the choppy surface
of the mind? Focus flow,
and there are no fixed points.
Slow currents swirl, and slip
still deeper. I grow very quiet.
The mind attends the subtlest
sensations. It is a different
world and I am an explorer
of these inner realms, where
nothing stays the same for
very long. Energy shifts and
changes. I find peace beneath
the surface, bring it back with
me, hold it in my hands like a
small, white bird and then
release it, that peace might
fly where it's most needed.

One Soul: More poems from the heart of yoga, Danna Faulds, pg 32

Desire

Buddhists say desire is a
hindrance, but I see it as
an invitation. It opens
doors, draws me outside
my smaller self, inspires
me to be creative. Desire
is the proof that I'm alive.

The lesson lies in whether
I can value emptiness as
much as being filled. If I
can live with wants and let
them go, if I can know that
I don't know, then desire
is one among the many
paths to freedom.

One Soul: More poems from the heart of yoga, Danna Faulds, pg 25

Let go of Something

Let go of something,
somewhere. Use yoga
to become aware, to
touch what lies beneath
the surface of the skin.
Is there tension longing
for release; a knot of
fear so deep and familiar
that you believe its
part of who you are?

Ease into dark corners,
locked rooms, unexplored
hallways. Gain entry
not by force of will
but only by softness.
Enter on the wings of
breath, and turn the
key of self-acceptance
to let go of something,
somewhere.

One Soul: More poems from the heart of yoga, Danna Faulds, pg 24

Intimate with All Things

The Buddha said, "I am
intimate with all things."
Imagine that. To be on
the same close terms with
suffering and panic as bliss
and rapture; to know the
souls of water buffalo as
surely as my own; to push
away nothing; to let the
sweet or bitter taste of
life linger; to see the
Beloved in everything -
and when that isn't my
experience, to be intimate
with self-hatred, unmet
preferences and the many
ways I don't show up as
saintly. Imagine that.

One Soul: More poems from the heart of yoga, Danna Faulds, pg 18