I leave Wednesday the 14th for a ten-day Vipasssana meditation course.  This will be my fifth sit at the ashram in Massachusetts.  It is a course of Silent meditation.  It’s not a retreat; it is a course in how to practice Vipassana meditation.  Each time I go there my practice deepens.  I wish I could explain it all here, but I can’t and it’s not appropriate that I do.  I’m not a qualified teacher for it.  

However, as hard as the course is, I recommend it to anyone who hears a call to try it.  That’s what happened with me.  I heard a calling to go and do this because it would take me deeper into who I really am and away from limiting thoughts and definitions.  As hard as the first time was, I went again the next year and two more times after that.  Hard doesn’t mean bad.  What makes it hard is any resistance to the spiritual stretching that takes place while in the course.  The gym is hard when you do a big stretch.  Spirituality is the same way.  AND…it’s worth it.  I will be back on Sunday, the 25th and I will come straight to the church in Norwalk and give a spontaneous talk.  

I’m very excited about this whole process.  The last time I was there was 2019 and then they closed in 2020 for a while.  When they opened it again, they kept it to a very local attendance and now they are running to a full but cautionary capacity.  It’s been an exciting but wearing few years and 2022 in particular has called us in our household to pay extra attention to life and see if we are practicing it abundantly.  

I imaging many of you in your household have been called to a higher level of thinking and diligence in your spiritual practice in these recent times.  Are you doing something in order to rise up to meet your spirit?  I hope so and if you haven’t, it’s never too late.  

I wish everyone well and I look forward to see you in Connecticut on the 25th and you New Yorker’s in October.

Blessings and Glad Tidings,
Rev. Shawn