November 2022 Week 3

“Vital Sustenance:…When we refuse air, light or food, the body suffers. And when we turn away from meditation and prayer, we likewise deprive our minds, our emotions, and our intuitions of vitally needed support.”

Avidya, spiritual ignorance is the root of all the 5 forms of human suffering - is this making more sense to you now that we are on month 4 of these Kleshas? Yoga philosophy can seem complex and maybe woo woo to some, but it truly is extremely practical if we break it down together. This months Klesha, Dvesha or repulsion, hatred or aversion to pain only happens when I am being spiritually ignorant and to be honest, I spend much of my time spiritually ignorant!!! To simplify, here is a scenario: someone does or says something to me or someone around me and I immediately have a thought, usually fear based and focused on me - how does X effect me? That is my spiritually ignorant self and I spent so many years living this way that I have very deep grooved patterns of self centered spiritual ignorance. Now for the good news….as I said I have these thoughts, and I tell myself I am not responsible for my first thought but I certainly am responsible for my second thought and the action or inaction that follows. If I am not living in Avidya I am able to come back to my commitment to my spiritual path and my connection with my intuitive self and process whatever is going on from that grounded place. In this space, Dvesha will not be a part of my life.

In my definition above I wrote - “aversion to pain” - this could be in reference to physical or emotional pain. I wanted to touch on the physical aspect for a moment as one of you reminded me of the dreadful physical process my body went through during and post my surgeries and treatment for breast cancer. The surgeries were brutal and I kept myself on track with my spiritual practices while I could not move my body and I accepted the physical pain, managed it and with determination healed. However…..post surgeries I was prescribed an estrogen blocking form of a chemo pill that I need to take for 5 years (I am almost 3 years in!) - now that little sucker caused havoc in my body!!! I went from not even touching on menopause to a fast track through it with all symptoms exacerbated because my body was now producing zero estrogen. Normal women going through menopause still produce small amounts of estrogen to help their bodies manage (even though I hear it is often quite unmanageable for many). This was not talked about and was a complete shock to me!!! My sleep went from amazing to severe insomnia, my joints ached, I was randomly sweating, my bones entered Osteopenia and because of all of this physical disruption - my mind went bat shit crazy (that may even be putting it nicely if you ask my husband!🙄). In this process there was a lot of resistance on my part and as I say “what we resist persists” - I was piling emotional suffering on top of the physical suffering I was experiencing and I was not helping myself or anyone around me. In this space, I processed life from a spiritually ignorant place!!!! I am so very grateful for the work I do for the Calm Crew and the cleanses that allowed me to still be uncomfortable, but to manage it with all of this work!!! This also led me to my recent studies of all over health, wellness and nutrition to help others manage their overall well being -and sometimes the solution for overall well being is to stay right where we are and lean into it to alleviate the added suffering of aversion or resistance (Dvesha at work!). So, on so many levels this work we do together is very powerful and life changing!!! I am so grateful to all of you!!

As you enter the holidays next week, please try to stay spiritually centered, Commit to Your Spiritual Path!!
“Vital Sustenance:…When we refuse air, light or food, the body suffers. And when we turn away from meditation and prayer, we likewise deprive our minds, our emotions, and our intuitions of vitally needed support.”