Dear Friends,
I trust you are enjoying this glorious summer! Here in Mt. Shasta it is truly heaven on earth! I have been so enjoying going up to Castle Lake and swimming in the clean, clear, cool water as I gaze up at incredible rock formations, and see the top of Mt. Shasta off in the distance. Wild flowers are blooming everywhere and I take time to be completely present with all of this magnificent natural beauty!

How are you meeting what the present moment is bringing? This has been my question to myself as well as the theme of a talk I gave this weekend in Marysville. Sometimes we may not be able to change the circumstances or situation that is happening, but we can change our experience, perception and way we are affected by it. We tend to judge things so quickly as good or bad, often if they are difficult they are bad, if they are easy, they are good. But what I realize as I live life, is that it is often what we term “bad” that makes us grow the most. I shared with you about my Father’s recent passing in the last newsletter, and how it was one of the most transformative, growthful and powerful experiences of my life. Yet before it happened if you had asked me if I wanted to orchestrate it that way, I would have said “no, there’s got to be a better, easier way!” Yet after going through it all without resistance, I see how every part of it had it’s place…and when met with openness, it served my evolution hugely. Sometimes our minds are not wide enough to fully comprehend a situation or challenge in life as the gift that it is to help us evolve and ultimately become more free from suffering. We must often trust beyond the mind’s perception.

I’ve been enjoying watching the Kung Fu Series from the 70’s; and appreciate how many wisdom teachings are woven into the story. In one scene, Kane, the wise priest and master is locked in a jail cell with a cowboy and they are both charged with a crime they didn’t commit and supposed to be hung in the morning. The cowboy watches incredulously as Kane is sitting peacefully in meditation (enjoying the present moment), and finally he says to Kane, “Aren’t you worried???!!!! We are going to die tomorrow!!!” and Kane slowly opens his eyes, and calmly replies “Does worrying change the future?” Now that is a simple yet profound thing to contemplate, a very useful teaching. As I thought about it, I realized worrying does not change the future, except to exhaust you so that you have less energy to meet the present moment which is the only place the future is created.

We can let go of worry and rest in the peace that is available right now as we take a refreshing breath in and out, and let go of the story that might be causing unnecessary stress. As Tich Nhat Hanh says, “We are flowers. And we must take care of our flower-ness.” Sometimes the flowers we are get wilted, usually from trying to get too much done, from too much worrying, from not taking time to rest and be still. We can water the flower we are by rest, quiet time, calm breathing, beholding the beauty of nature, and returning to the peace available when our attention is fully in the present moment.

So please take care of the beautiful, precious, and radiant flower that you are! I invite you as I invite myself to flow with life in non-resistance, non-judgment, and non-attachment. Rest more, relax more, let yourself just be, fully in the present moment with it’s peace and beauty. I send you the warmest embrace of love and wishes for your deepest well being!

The inspiration for the song “There’s A Letting Go”:.
The words to this song came as I was driving back to Mt. Shasta from Ashland after an evening with Gangaji. I had a deep opening during that evening and realized that we set ourselves free when we can let go of our story of suffering, or our story of why we cannot be happy now. I had been going through a challenging time, the end of a long relationship, moving out of a house I’d lived in for 15 years, facing a lot of unknowns, and I had this profound experience of peace once I realized I could let go of everything I was holding on to, and I was still quite alright. Better that alright, liberated!! So I wrote this song about the wide, ocean of love that we can rest in, that welcomes our sorrow and trust, and that as we surrender into, brings us freedom and the deepest peace. I love to sing this song, because it seems the more easily and quickly we can let go of things that contract us and block our hearts, the more peace we have.

JOIN US IN MT. SHASTA!
We still have space in our Mt. Shasta Retreat and would love to have you come and join us for a wonderful, rich and deeply restful and inspiring weekend retreat!

Heart Opening Retreat
August 27 - 30
Give yourself a retreat that will truly open your heart.
With deeply uplifting music, chanting, guided and silent meditation, gentle yoga
practices and nourishing time in nature, you’ll rest into the blissful stillness of your being.











At Stewart Mineral Springs, Mount Shasta, California

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"If we cannot be happy in spite of our difficulties, what good is our spiritual practice?"
Maha Ghosananda

"How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday you will have been all of these."
George Washington Carver

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