25 results for tag: Tich Nhat Hahn


The World Needs More Healers—Not More Flakes.

This morning, elephant journal published one of my articles, The World Needs More Healers—Not More Flakes,  and it is an Editors Pick of The Week! Here is an excerpt from The World Needs More Healers—Not More Flakes.:   I don’t know how this came to be, but somehow the new age community thinks that one has to be a flake in order to be a healer. "I can tell you with complete certainty one can be a healer, shaman, teacher, or Reiki Master without being a flake. The shift toward flakiness is curious. I am grateful that the dogmatic version of spirituality and religion has expanded and shifted. We have included love and joy and ...

Co-Regulation and Healthy Relationships

Co-Regulation is when two people provide support for each other as a means of creating emotional safety, security, and connection. We need to connect with other people. It is that simple. There is a lot of information out there that convinces people that the goal is to be "self-sufficient", as if that is possible even if it were true. There never has been and never will be a time when being self-sufficient is best for us. Besides, we need food, shelter, the earth, sun and moon, water, air, clothing, beds, transportation, tools, machines, soil, trees, etc.; we need others whether we like it or not! We are not built to be self-sufficient, and that is a blessing! We are wired to be connected with other people and possibly other species. Many of us were not taught or demonstrated how to do this in a healthy, safe manner. This makes the illusion of trying to be self-sufficient seductive and tempting. We want to find a more straightforward method than investing the time and energy required to build these safe and healthy relationships. We want an easy way out where it is unnecessary to lean into our fears of connection and intimacy.
Most folks are terrified of letting others in and allowing ourselves to be that vulnerable and exposed.
So what do we do? We begin by creating inner safety and a sense of security that "I will be OK no matter what." This sense of safety and security provides the foundation for us to trust others because we know we are solid and secure. They may hurt us, but we will survive and, over time, thrive. Connection with others is what supports us in being independent....

Reflections on Compassion

"Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity." Pema Chödrön   "Compassion, however, is a renewable resource. When you are able to feel empathy but then extend a hand to alleviate someone’s pain, you are less likely to burn out. Research indicates that compassion and empathy use different regions of the brain and that compassion can combat empathetic distress. It is also important to remember that oftentimes, the smallest ...

Thich Nhat Hanh Passed To The Next Dimension

There are about two handfuls of people who have shaped the course of my life beyond friends and family. Tich Nhat Hanh was one of them. We can add Martin Luther King Jr., Dalai Lama, Louise HayThomas Merton, Mevlana Julaluddin Rumi, G.I. Gurdjieff, John Lennon , Mikao Usui, Mahatma Gandhi, and my former Teacher and Mentor Rev Betsy Browder. to this list. Today he passed to the next dimension. He and Louise Hay are where my journey into meditation began in 1990. There were not many books one could find on meditation at the time. Peace Is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh and You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay are the two that made the most sense to me. I felt like they were a key to a door that I somehow knew existed without any rhyme or reason to think there was such a door. I do not think I am being theatrical to say they saved my life. ...

Transcend with Friends – Yoga, Reiki, Ecstatic Dance & Sound Bath Saturday September 25

Transcend with Friends - Yoga, Reiki, Ecstatic Dance & Sound Bath Saturday September, 25 1-6 @ 24A Burgess Rd., Foster, Rhode Island! It’s time to tend the fire within, so your inner light may shine brightly through the fall and winter on this beautiful half-day retreat.   Join Ben Gettinger, DJ Mystical Michael (Michael Swerdloff), and Dr. Kathia Roberts Ph.D., as they guide you through a transformative exploration of the self. This half-day retreat will be hosted on a beautiful farmhouse property called The Mothership in Charlestown, Rhode Island. It is the perfect way to release energetic bonds that no longer serve you and ...

Learning To Meditate

Learning to meditate is hard. This is my experience with learning to meditate. I was coming up on six months clean and sober. My sponsor's sponsor, which I jokingly used to call my grandsponsor, was coming up on 40 years sober. I used to enjoy talking with old Bill often. He was kind, respectful, direct and openhearted. These were all qualities that I had desired, but did not know how to express them myself, or know many people who did for that matter. So I used to like to talk with him whenever possible. He was one of the few people I trusted even a little. One night after a meeting, Bill came over and sat next to me. He smiled that soft, gentle smile that typically held me feel safe, if only momentary. On that particular Friday night, I was not able to tap in to his smile in order to shift the sadness, desperation and frustration I was experiencing. Bill noticed this immediately. He leaned over, put his right hand on my left elbow, "How are you doing young man?". Bill was old enough that he forgot pretty much everyone's name, and we were all either Young Man or Young Woman, regardless of age or any other identifying factors. I let out a deep sigh, and felt my belly clinch, "I'm not doing so good Bill. I'm going to meetings, I talk to my sponsor, I hang out with all recovering friends, I pray every night before I go to bed every morning when I wake up and I still feel miserable. I feel like it's never going to get better for me and there's nothing I can do about." ...

We Can Still Be Crazy – Pema Chodron

We can practice meditation, Yoga, and Qi Gong every single day and night, and we can still be crazy! We can still be crazy if we practice all of the above, eat organic "healthy" foods, take herbs, and drink kombucha daily, and we can still be crazy. We can meet with an acknowledged expert in therapy or counseling, and we can still be crazy. In fact, it is possible that we may even become crazier if we diligently commit to these practices and follow them up with a 7-day cleanse and a weekly water fast. Nothing can guarantee that we will not be crazy. Nothing. Is the goal not to be crazy or to live an amazingly imperfect life that we get to be ourselves on a regular basis? Would you agree to practice daily if you knew you would never stop being crazy, BUT you would begin accepting yourself for who you really are? If you are curious about how we can still be crazy after daily meditation for years or decades, and that is OK, I invite you to read this short essay by Pema Chodron below. If you are unfamiliar with her and her work, please follow the link in the previous sentence; she is a living gem!  We Can Still Be Crazy - Pema Chodron - Michael Swerdloff - Providence Holistic Counseling, Coaching and Reiki ...