There were so many deeply moving moments in Emma’s heartfelt, raw and poetic words with which she opened our June 2017 Yoga Intensive “The Nectar of Karuna – Living Compassion Through Practice”, that we simply had to share them here in written form where they might offer space for greater reflection with every read.
May they serve you in the times you most need to call in the light of compassion and perspective of an infinite wisdom far beyond our own, to shine through the veil of our misperceptions and guide us home to a place of Truth.
Namaste with love x
“In the aftermath of self-destruction, I place myself before you on the altar of life
Bereft and fragmented by my own self-inflicted wounds; I hand myself over to you for healing and guidance
How could I have come so far, yet feel as if I am at the very start of everything?
It all seems so old and new all at the same time, and somewhere in that chaos I am, and we all are
In our humanity, how could we have found ourselves so lost and misguided?
With ruthless misperceptions and expectations that are not of our own making
My harshness is the manifestation of my deep-seated pain, masked in fear and fire
Please help others to know the wisdom of that reaction and to break down any illusion of misunderstanding
For I, with much sadness, untethered my Soul and got swept up into the slip stream of aberration
I lost a piece of myself and now it has come back to find me, longingly placing itself back into the matrix at the heart of my existence
I crave to return to the Source of your loving presence and wisdom that far exceeds my own
Can you hear me, calling for you, can you see me sitting here?
I ask you to enter where only you reside and to be here with me for a while
Lift us all from the quagmire of suffering and raise us up into your light
I have travelled far through the fire of self-imposed delusion and suffering and I stand before you now asking to be shown another way…
Please tell me there must be another way?
Hand me the torch of compassionate understanding of my own suffering so I can light and pave the way for others
Show me the path aligned with my divinity in truth and loving devotion
Help me find the strength to carry the challenges of the world and not be crushed by them
Permit me bear witness to the suffering of all, and help me share my light in those dark spaces
In the presence of your wisdom my illusions are lifted and I recognise the collective consciousness of suffering felt by every sentient being on this planet
It is the very presence of every shadow I see before me affirming your ever-present light is behind me, and all of life
I ask that the veil of my own misconceptions is lifted so I can release all that is not mine
I hand myself over to you, so your ever-loving wisdom rises to show me the way my own human limitations cannot fathom
I commit myself to igniting the light of compassion within myself in service to all your precious beings, without distinction
Sharing my light with the world only from an overflowing space, and I ask you to show me kindly when I continue to force water to rise from an empty well
Show me gently when I am callous or thoughtless with another, that I have simply disconnected from the very nature of compassion I too am craving to receive
Allow these gifts derived of compassion to rise in the moments when I am fearful and when all seems lost
Guide me to see the Truth of any challenge with compassion and let me find you there at its core
May your echoes of wisdom never leave me, so the true gifts of compassion can be given and received
And may we honour the challenges of our ancestors who have walked before us on this land where we now reside because of them
I ask that you give me the courage and patience to sit in the pockets of stillness long enough for your teachings to find me
And for them to find their way into my day-to-day connections and interactions
In the moments where I am caught up in my own meanderings, and when I forget to say it… thank you…
Thank you for always holding me, carrying me, and loving me back into Grace
In my daily Sadhana, I dedicate myself to giving your Truth the Devotion it deserves
My Soul knows, without question or hesitation, you are with me always, because the truth is you are me, in all things, omnipotent and omnipresent.
And so it is…”
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