Chanting is a way of getting in touch with yourself. It's an opening of the heart and letting go of the mind and thoughts. It deepens the channel of grace, and it's a way of being present in the moment.
Love is what we are; we don't get it from somebody, we can't give it to anybody, we can't fall in it or fall out of it. Love is our true Being.
The heart is like a mirror. When we dust it off, we are able to see ourselves. The dust is all our stuff - guilt, anger - this stuff is reflected back to us. Practice removes the dust from the mirror of our hearts.
Don't wait for a Guru. Your life is your Guru.
We have to learn to love people even if they are not giving you what you want... and then not take it personally. If you feel hurt, you have to recognize that they are not hurting you because you are you, but because they are them. You have to try not to be so hard on yourself.
Grace surrounds us and holds us like the sky holds everything in it … and as soon as I find a way to let go of my story, I keep seeing over and over again that grace is always here and it includes the forgetting and the remembering. The practice is the opening of the hand to catch the raindrops, which are always falling. If you don't open your hand, you get wet, but you don't get much to drink.
Devotion is a way of being, it's not something you do. It's dedication to finding awareness and Love. Chanting is like asanas for the mind and the heart.
You cannot think your way out of a box made of thought.
If we know anything about a path at all, it's only because of the Great ones that have gone before us. Out of their love and kindness, they have left some footprints for us to follow. So, in the same way that they wish for us, we wish that all beings everywhere, including ourselves, be safe, be happy, have good health, and enough to eat. And may we all live at ease of heart with whatever comes to us in life.
There is love in this world, and it lives within us as who we really are, not who we think we are.
Unlimited inner strength can only be awakened when it is in the service of Love....When we align ourselves with that love and act in service of that love, anything is possible.
We are so programmed to feel that our emotions are the most important thing in the Universe...We write, produce and act in the story of me. And then we write reviews - and read them and get more depressed. All we can do is let go, and that comes from training. And then we spend less and less time in the darker spaces.
The ultimate act of power is surrender.
We instantly believe everything we think. Isn't that insane? It's good for us to explore the depravity of our minds, so we know we are just as crazy as everyone else!
Grace removes obstacles that we don’t even know are there. Grace is what arranges our lives so we are forced to look within.
Chanting just hits you and you want to be a part of it. That’s the point of this whole thing. That’s what cuts through all the ‘stuff’. You get lit up. You don’t have to know what it means.
Practice is not about how you feel while you are doing it. You are planting seeds.
To love somebody is to let them be who they are and do what they have to do.
I chant to save my heart. Every time I sit down, that's what I'm doing.
I'm reconnecting, I'm deepening, I'm opening, I'm releasing negativity and negative thoughts and all the limitations I carry around with me - again and again and again and again and again and again. And again! And that's the only thing that keeps me alive.
Letting go does not mean pushing away or negating thoughts or feelings that come to us - but instead being with the feeling. We start to feel that we are no longer victims of the stuff that happens to us. There is something we can do about it... if we just take a look at it.
Surrender happens by Grace. All we're doing is cleaning up the room so when Surrender walks in, He can sit down.
The heart in us is deeper than any emotion or psychological issue.
Let's just chant and be good people, alright?
Bhakti yoga isn't something you join, it's love. It means falling in love.
