Here I was, trying to be a peace-loving, sixties-style hippie, but my reception committee was a canine cat killer and a racist. I put the word out about Sascha. John in particular I warned, asking him please to let me know whenever he was coming over.
One day, after Sunday service at Ananda Palo Alto, I walked through our beautiful sanctuary with my 3-year-old nephew Drew. He wanted to see the altar, which has large photos of our line of five Masters. Drew was looking up, craning his neck. He said, “Lift me up, Wohwee, I want to see Babaji.” (Wohwee is the 3-year-old version of … Read More
I believe the blessing I received was a gift from Divine Mother to help me in the ongoing process of surrendering my desires and expectations in bringing up my child, and following divine guidance to the best of my ability.
I just took my very first seclusion. What is seclusion, you might ask? Seclusion was strongly recommended by my guru, Paramhansa Yogananda, as a means for deepening your inner communion with the Divine. Seclusion means as it sounds – secluding. Going into silence, alone and spending time deepening your inner spiritual life through meditation, contemplation and supportive yoga practices. Yogananda … Read More
I always assumed I would have children, probably four, the same as the family I grew up in. My first marriage ended quickly in divorce, and my second marriage didn’t start until my late twenties. My new husband was ambivalent about becoming a father. Then I went to medical school, and suddenly I was thirty-nine. For the next twelve months … Read More
As a new mom this year, I’ve noticed many changes in my spiritual practices. For one thing, there seems to be less time to do them! “Free time” is when our baby goes to sleep (for however long that lasts) and that time is usually spent accomplishing other things like cleaning, eating, working, and spending time with my husband. If … Read More
For me, asking Divine Mother, God, or Spirit, for inspiration is a bit like calling Her up on the phone. Sometimes She answers immediately, and sometimes you get Her voice mail. This particular month, I got Her voicemail and she answered me, little by little, throughout the month in very special ways. In my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade class … Read More
This morning, as I sat for meditation, the sound of my babbling baby playing peek-a-boo with my husband downstairs made a sweet and distracting background to yet another brief sadhana (spiritual practice). Rushed as usual, I launched into my practice of Kriya Yoga, an ancient meditation technique brought to the West by Paramhansa Yogananda. Most mornings start this way now. … Read More
This is a tricky topic…one that I’ve wanted to write about for sometime, but don’t want to come across judgmental of myself or others. The topic is discrimination. Not the sort of discrimination that is synonymous with prejudice. Instead, spiritual discrimination is the act of choosing to surround one’s self with spiritually uplifting people, ideas and things. Swami Kriyananda puts … Read More
“If a problem can be solved there is no use worrying about it. If it can’t be solved, worrying will do no good.” When I heard this Tibetan saying, it got me thinking about how much time I have spent in my life worrying about many things. In school I worried about finishing homework on time and “fitting in”. After … Read More
