A Message of Peace
from Ainslie
This past month as we all have been watching the news with dismay I have been struggling to find hope amidst the current situation. My heart hurts for the loss of lives in the Middle East and I find myself exhausted by it all.
Yoga teaches us that we cannot forget that there is no such thing as separation. The motto of the Root Chakra is, “ALL IS ONE,” our pain is their pain and your pain is their pain. We lie to ourselves when we pick sides and pretend to be someone or something different than what we all are.
When I first began my spiritual journey I thought that having this practice would get me out of feeling uncomfortable in every way, I thought the more someone meditated and practiced the more they could shake off the hard stuff. In many ways it has helped with a lot of unnecessary turmoil but the big stuff I almost think I feel more deeply. Patanjali says in the Yoga Sutra that after the mind has been calmed the true seer, the witness can be revealed.
Today I can see all of this confusion and anger has been caused by pain which is causing more and more pain to be reverberated around the planet. Let’s support our brothers and sisters with compassion, with love, and with the remembrance of the reality that we are not separate from one another. In the studio we chant Shanti, Shanti, Shanti for peace and today I am reminded of a prayer for peace I heard a long time ago.
A Prayer for World Peace
We pray for the power to be gentle; the strength to be forgiving;
the patience to be understanding;
and the endurance to accept the consequences of holding on to what we believe to be right.
May we put our trust in the power of good to overcome evil and the power of love to overcome hatred. We pray for the vision to see and the faith to believe in a world emancipated from violence,
a new world where fear shall no longer lead persons to commit injustice,
nor selfishness make them bring suffering to others.
Help us to devote our whole life and thought and energy to the task of making peace, praying always for the inspiration and the power to fulfill the destiny for which we and all humans were created.
We have many opportunities for us to come together in communion over the next few weeks and months, please join us in any way that you can.