Tag: healing

Let joy be your compass…! Fun for Fun

IshLeave a comment

Hi you!

I hope you are thawing gently with the coming spring. It’s been rich, intense and juicy in my winter cocoon. And I have missed you! 

I take a few months every year to tend to my own inner landscape before I’m ready to re-emerge and help others tend to theirs. I don’t come out until guided by joy. Now that the pull is palpable- eager and refreshed, I’m popping in to share some of my joy with you!

This way of creating- with pause, from deep listening and honoring what we hear…it doesn’t make any sense to parts of us echoing our hyper-masculinized collective conditioning.

The messaging has been to “be open 24/7, never stop promoting, plan, execute, produce”…blah blah blah! All those years in corporate structures are still undoing themselves in me softly.

But in starting Come to Center, I said I wouldn’t move a finger unless it was guided by my deepest truth, my truest joy. It isn’t just a business to me, it’s my Dharma. Living that inner directive is my Life-long practice.

Have you ever been struck with guilt or worry in the middle of joy?
So many of us struggle to enjoy ourselves just for the sake of it.

We’re so busy “doing” everything in pursuit of joy, we forget letting Life be an expression of our joy is enough. In fact, it may just be all.

Often when we finally “arrive” after all the strife to get ‘there’ we meet an emptiness- devoid of connection to our innermost essence- which joy points us back to. There’s no fulfillment, no aliveness in the arrival, and we feel cheated.

I speak of course, from experience.
My traumatized parts still surface sometimes, asking- Am I really allowed to have this much fun (as if there’s a quota)? 

In the middle of facilitating? In the middle of teaching? In dancing naked in a monastery (how blasphemous!)? In the absence of it all? Yes, yes. Every time yes! And more!

And I see numerous clients reflect these fears- not being productive enough, not doing enough for the world. Not being healed already, or getting “there” fast enough, and most pervasively in the coaching/personal development circuits- not living up to our “highest potential,” whatever that means.

Even our natural blossoming is now equated with strife. And pleasure with guilt. Ouch.

The list of supposed-to’s is endless. Indulging them is maddening.

One client confessed “Even when I listen to music, I’m checking- am I listening to enough diverse voices? Am I being inclusive?.”

Ouch.Good intentions hijacked by fear. So I sent that client a reminder to go back to basics. It says: 

“Enjoy! Just enjoy!” And It’s my wish for you too dear one.

What was the last thing you did just for fun? 

Don’t let the simplicity of this love note belie it’s importance.

Write it on a posty note and put it up on your wall if it’ll guide you back to your joyful heart even once!
Your joy will take a different expression than mine. It must!

The School of Life isn’t a linear curriculum but we’re all heading to the same graduation- our death beds. One day, our time will be up. Just that simple. Hopefully we’ll be ready to move on with fullness of heart. 

So what’s more important than enjoying ourselves on the way now?
Please! Have fun! Not later, now!

Wiggle your bum. Dance a minute. Act out your inner 3 yr old’s idea of fun. Do what makes no sense but lights you up.

So much fun. As much as possible.

And I mean YOU!

Especially YOU…on a mission to make the world a better place…working for the benefit of all beings…serving something greater than you…all that is wonderful only as long as you’re at the heart of it.

I love you. And I wish for everything you do to be sourced from your deepest joy. Your aliveness, your sparkle- it’s your most potent offering.

We not only want it desperately, we need it. Take it and sprinkle it all over your being, your creating, your becoming- your family, your neighborhood, your livelihood…Let joy be your signature.I love when I let it be mine.

Would it be nice to see more joy, more fun in the healing/ embodiment/ non-dual/ spiritual teaching world? I think so!

Anyways- here are some highlights for me lately- I’d love to hear yours.

– Fresh flowers- lots of them.
– Wearing bright colors. The greyer the day, the brighter my outfit.
– String lights (they stay up year round in my house.
– Lying on my front lawn.
– Pollinating my Lemon tree- with a paint brush! 
– My relationship w my husband. We’ve been polishing it for years and it’s sparkling in a lovely way.
– Sitting by and stoking the fire! Inside and outside. 
– Eating my toast butter side down. A radical paradigm shift eh?
– Ukulele lessons from my husband.
– Gypsy Jazz.
– Sleeping in/staying in bed way into the day!
– Seeing how far I have come in the last decade (we made an actual timeline).
– Writing without an agenda.
– Making color palettes/ 
– Working with people I feel deep love for. 
– Teaching all the things I used to be to shy to own expertise in. Energy Matters is happening, yo!
– My lovely neighbors, especially their children :)
– Oscar nominated shorts. It’s a yearly tradition for me to catch these. The documentary shorts are unmissable this year. Live Actions are great too!
– Watching Modern Love and sharing it with all my friends!
– Not traveling and being home for a nice long stretch.
– My Buttercup yellow bed sheets!
– Long talks with good friends.
– Following my flow.

I’d love to hear where delight and joy and fun are most alive for you in your Life! Send me a note!

And remember, contrary to popular expression, there’s no such thing as “too much fun!”

with a wink and a smile, and a wish for the most fun for us all,
Ishita

P.S: I’m opening two new slots for 1:1 intensives, as I refine new group offerings. So if you’ve been waiting for a chance to work privately with me, come come!

PPS: If you want inspiration, invitations and insight in your inbox- sign up for my mailing list here.

Choosing To Live, Feeling Presence + Embracing Intensity…

Presence, resistance, not wanting to, and then choosing to live- embodiment, messiness, living iterations…we talked about so much!

IshLeave a comment

They say anything will reveal its secrets if you love it enough. 

As a kid I wanted two things: the ability to heal the suffering around me (I hadn’t quite acknowledged my own yet), and a model of Reality that matched my own experience. 

That want took me on a rich and arduous journey, and I feel grateful to own my place in Life’s healing mechanism. And though no model of Reality will ever be complete, I feel the Mystery revealing its secrets with humbling generosity.

I receive so much more than I can/want to keep contained, it’s my privilege to share it with those who long for the same. It’s a privilege to serve those equally excited to journey, explore, receive, and in fact, play with me to embody the sacred here now!

One such client- a participant in the current MURMURATIONS cohort, April McMurtry and I had an evocative conversation on her Between the Moon podcast. She is a facilitator in her own right, and brings her big questions for us to explore together. 

As you listen you will feel the sincerity of her inquiry, the ways that our journey is changing her and her commitment to her path. It’s this longing in people like her that makes me want to share more and more of myself with you…

Have a listen here, or anywhere they share podcasts!

Presence, resistance, choosing to live and living iterations…we talked about so much!

IF YOU TUNE IN YOU’LL HEAR ABOUT:
– Habits of Attention + Choice
– Escaping Reality, it’s intense being alive!
– Center is not a place it’s a process
– Relation + Belonging
– Return to “natural” way of being
– Right rhythm, right relation, right timing
– Why don’t ask why? 
– Extra suffering optional!
– Raising children + How we were made into people
– Noticing, mirroring, remembering ‘essence’
– Choosing to be in Life, consciously

And if our conversation stokes curiosity, join me to experience this work for yourself.

I’m teaching the process April says has been transformative for her- ENERGETIC BASICS this month and next. I’m also leading BOUNDARIES – a Free Facilitated Experiential Community Call in Sept, like the one on which she first found me! Details below. 

Both are good ways to feel into the work and see if you may want to join the new cohort of MURMURATIONS opening Sept 21st on the Equinox.

If you know others who’d enjoy our conversation or learning these tools, please share the podcast and my invitations with them. But most of all, enjoy listening with your whole body, anchoring into presence– like we do when we are together. 

And do share if/how it touches you.

with so much hope and love,
Ishita 

Responding to the now!

The call of MURMURATIONS is more important than ever, because correcting that misperception and coming together in mutuality, moving beyond our programmed beliefs, habits and reactions, no matter how dear and choosing to go from unconscious to conscious living is foundational to experiencing a new reality- both in our own and our shared realities,

IshLeave a comment

Visiting family in India after three and a half long years away changed me. It strengthened my conviction in the path I am walking, weaving the best of the East and the West, and it also opened many questions.

Landing back in the US, in the face of Roe vs Wade, shootings, wars and climate crises and all that’s stirring around and inside me, I paused to see what wants to emerge from my newness, willing to throw everything I had planned out the door if there was a better answer to my asking:

What is my part? How can I serve?

When I look more closely, I see the same elemental issue in every problem we have as individuals and as a collective- missteps stemming from misperception.

Karma or trauma creates a fundamentally incorrect understanding of who we are (feeling separate, small, powerless) which leads us to be fearful and then vie for control- over ourselves, others, Life, and we indulge our compulsive programming rather than accessing a deeper wisdom available to us.

We confuse who we are with what we have accumulated- ideas, stories, habits, emotions, our bodies and so on- it’s a classic case of mistaken identity! 

And this ‘missed-take’ in-forms (puts into form) every aspect of who we are, what we serve, how we live and relate…we believe we are small, separate and powerless, and stuck in fight or flight, become enslaved by our own biology- programmed impulses, compulsions, reactions.

The call of MURMURATIONS is more important than ever, because correcting that misperception and coming together in mutuality, moving beyond our programmed beliefs, habits and reactions, no matter how dear and choosing to go from unconscious to conscious living is foundational to experiencing a new reality- both in our own and our shared realities,

So again and again, in response, I am pointed back to playing my role in Life’s healing mechanism – helping others re-member who they are, integrate the wisdom of their heart, mind, body and spirit, and connect to something bigger than themselves.

THE NEW COHORT OF MURMURATIONS OPENS JUNE 21st

Space is limited to 12 people, and a few spots are already spoken for by some truly inspiring and inspired folks.

I am resuming interviewing applicants, so if you are interested, check out the website, hear my invitation and previous participants’ experiences, and if it resonates in your heart, apply and find a time for us to connect to see if this inner journey is for you!


WHY THIS GROUP?

While I love 1:1 work, participating in a healing and learning community like MURMURATIONS addresses what individual work alone can not.

Why? Because the change we wish to see starts within, but for us to find full expression, the shifts we uncover have to be embodied in relationship- with ourselves first, then others, and then All of Life.

That’s why, in MURMURATIONS we examine and reclaim our inherent rights to be, belong and become- in harmony with Life. 

We look deeper into the nature of our self and Life, opening into expanded states of awareness, learning to integrate that expansion through our human bodies, and then align with the call of our future, free from accumulated past- anchored and able to flow with Life’s intelligence, knowing our place in and as the Whole.

So in the process of uncovering our deepest purpose, we heal and grow through our deepest challenges and longings, while supported by the intelligence of a community of like-hearted peers. 

It’s a powerful and very fun process, and if it resonates, I encourage you to learn more and apply!

It might be the kickstart you have been waiting for…

with love and hope,
Ishita

APPLY FOR A CONVERSATION TO SEE IF MURMURATIONS IS RIGHT FOR YOU

Living Gratitude

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It occurred to me in words that we are all just growing into ourselves, supported by a magnificent field of Grace. All I ever had to do was be open to receiving it.  

A few weeks ago I had the honor of holding space for two people I love dearly, who are falling in love.

Breaking all the rules of “professional conduct” I asked one to invite the other into our session and when they came, we sat together for a while, listening, seeing, loving…in that profound simplicity, not many words were needed and neither was I anymore. So I declared our session over and went for a walk, filled by love, becoming it…

I walked on the open roads in the countryside, hands held out like a beggar and all I could say over and over, like a poem, like a prayer was “Thank you God. Thank you God. Thank you God. Thank you God. Thank you God…”

It was there when I came home. It was there when I picked up my paintbrush, when I was facilitating…I even went into meditation retreat ready to receive any beatings necessary to tame my spiritual pride, and what melted it instead again, was love.

Feeling the enormity of Grace- love and wisdom ready to pour into me, filled my heart and again what was left was just this:
“Thank you God. Thank you God. Thank you God. Thank you God. Thank you God…”

And I can feel that phrase weaving itself through the fabric of my being. I can’t even pretend not to see how much resource is available to me in every moment. I cry seeing the times I hid it from myself. Even in the midst of pain. 

…sometimes I sing it. Mostly I cry it. “Thank you God. Thank you God. Thank you God. Thank you God. Thank you God…”

What else remains? So much Beauty. So much Grace.

Thank you God. More please.

Getting naked, is where it’s at!

So you’re weaving the basket with one hand and the Universe weaves the other. It’s never been about perfection, it was just about authenticity. 

IshLeave a comment

In my early Come to Center days, as I was still learning to own, share and make transaction for my gifts, I spoke with a Sufi about desire, nakedness and vulnerability…about showing up in partnership with Life. Before we parted, he asked me to let myself be seen and go make a video, which I will share with you in my next post. 

Our conversation was a gift to my soul. I share an excerpt of it with your heart now as a gift and an invitation.

“This is important,” he said. “Your desire is really intelligence.

There’s the hungry soul state, the free state and the naked state. The hungry soul way of getting what you want, is desperate- stealing the pie. You see the glass is always half empty, and the universe agrees. In the free state you say, I’m ok here, I don’t need any pie, and the universe agrees. You’re numb, and one day you’re walking dead.” 

“You’ve been a renunciate and a sacrificial humanitarian, here and before. You say you don’t need anything, so no one can give it to you. But the thing is, it takes great humility to pay your bills, to ask for money, to say this is how I make my living- to ask for what you need.” And he held my hand as I started to cry. 

“Getting naked is where it’s at, you see…full nakedness!

Every day, you need something! And (you ask, and) the universe then starts filling you up…it’s really about being defenseless. Try to continue to ask for what you want, and give people a chance to love you for who you are, you see…letting them see you in your need, asking for what you want- vulnerability- one of the most important human traits…how Gandhi defeated an empire…that’s the nature of vulnerability… if you tell me how you’re feeling, I get to experience the power and beauty of your thought and emotion. 

So you’re weaving the basket with one hand and the Universe weaves the other. It’s never been about perfection, it was just about authenticity. 

If you make yourself real, God will make you real. If you make God real, God will make you real.”

I did. I still am. Bit by bit. I learned to show up, sometimes trembling, and stand in humility- soft belly, feet planted, heart racing, palms open. I learned to muster up the courage to discover and then ask for what I want, to say no, to be seen in my power and my vulnerability- which it turns out, are the same thing.

This making yourself and God real, isn’t easy! But it is what we have come here to do in our unique ways. This weaving the basket with the universe isn’t an abstraction- it is lived in every aspect of how we are!

And, so much friction eases when turn towards our Sorcerer’s task, knowing who we are, how life works and claim our right place in the Everything. That’s what this path is about, as is Murmurations.

His invitation to me then, is my invitation to you now!

Come weave your basket in partnership with the Universe. 
Let yourself be seen, be known…by yourself and those around you.
Cultivate your inner teacher, healer and sage, that they may fuel how you touch the whole world.

MURMURATIONS opens in two weeks!

This 6 month immersive alongside masterful guides is a place to awaken, heal, embody and align with purpose with a community supporting you!

And I mean a real community (not just a group of people), where we share our truths, our hearts, our highs and lows of life honestly in shared purpose- to heal and embody our deepest intentions, serving something bigger than ourselves. 

A combination of somatics, energetics, relational dynamics, emotional fluidity and awareness based practices coalesce to help people complete the cycles they are in and move into the next level of healing.

You can expect powerful transformation in a relatively short amount of time, in ways that are aligned and attuned to your unique needs.

As of now there are 4 spots open. A mature group is forming, so we can go deeper faster- they’re ready to dive not just into personal healing, but also integrating the relational and spiritual facets of being, while aligning their doing in the world from their new baseline consciousness. 

If our call resonates in you, go check out  the website, see what people are sharing about their own journeys and set up a time for us to connect. We may just be the mutual medicine we need.

just weaving my basket here,
<3 :D
Ishita

An insider’s experience of Murmurations!

LEARN MORE AND SEE IF MURMURATIONS IS RIGHT FOR YOU!

Big Love meets Big Love!

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Baby just let it fly! Louvre, Paris. Circa 2007- photo by Ishita Sharma
Baby, just let it fly! Photo by Ishita Sharma. Louvre, Paris. Circa 2007.

Dear one,

In my morning session today a beautiful client and I laughed for a good 10 minutes as she saw how she was playing the game of life, trying so hard to hide the Big Big Love she actually is!

Who did she think she’s fooling? I asked.
And she pointed to herself. We laughed some more.

As she saw herself as this Ocean of Love, there was nothing left outside of it. 

She, me, we, her stories, ideas, beliefs, emotions – all melted into boundless, all encompassing Big Love. And there was nothing left but tears of joy, the sweet mourning of that forgetting, that hiding…

We convince ourselves no one sees the love that we are, but it can’t be hidden. Mostly, we’re hiding it from ourselves.

What if for this one moment, as you read my words, you let this ocean of love that has been wanting to pour through you out into the Everything actually pour out?   

You showed up in the world one ball of innocence- loving everything you met. As a child you knew this- you were here to love and be loved. It was simple. It was easy to offer your heart and receive love into it. 

So now again, come back to the simplicity of that knowing.

Let yourself BE love. 

Maybe for just this moment. Maybe for another minute…maybe for this whole day, maybe just this weekend or this year…this lifetime!

Especially when it feels vulnerable – when you are afraid you’ll lose connection for showing up as it- like writing this email for me, it will feel so essential and so vulnerable…

Come!
Let it melt you.
Over and over. 

Big Love meets Big Love.

You, Big Love, go to the grocery store and feel the Big Love bagging your groceries for you. You walk to the post office and meet Big Love in the line and there it is again, mailing your letters. You come home and there it is again- Big Love pouring out, disguised as your children, your partner, your parents, your friend…what else was ever there? 

All around you. It’s hard not to feel it!

It can be that simple.

To let it be that simple is the most courageous choice we can make- turning towards what you already are- so much love it’ll break your heart and fill it. Over and over again.

That’s the invitation of Murmurations– being, having and doing as and from Big Big Love. If it calls, let’s talk.

What else could be more essential, more important, more joyful?

a wink, a smile, and Big Big Love!
Ishita

LEARN MORE + APPLY!

M U R M U R A T I O N S 
a unique transformational community

Heal, awaken, embody, and align with your deepest purpose- together.

We start Oct 5.

Dancing ancestors into being

IshLeave a comment

I had the privilege of dancing Oak Dance last weekend, my first step into Native American ceremonial space. It was time. I am American now.

Dancing to the Tree of Life to bring Light down into the earth for collective liberation. Dancing to celebrate Life, release and renew Self…While the core group danced in person, many of us were remote- satellites from our own lands.

Like every initiation, it was intense. And in the intensity, emerged revelation. It was a lovely experience and a chance to see my protection patterns in full swing!

I started out trying to do it right, by all the rules, dance in perfect sync with the group etc. rather than listening to and trusting what felt good and right to me was enough!

Much Tightness to start!

And then as I relaxed and surrendered.

To the ancient voices singing to the drum, to myself, my inner rhythm, to what is, to the intention rather than the form- there were deep openings.

I felt the field come alive.

As I danced my intention into being, I saw the late Lakota Chief, Ascended Master, holder of the light- Frank Fools crow’s face pop up in my mind.

Everything went silent.
I just cried and danced with abandon in that meeting for a while.

There are some beings who do that to me…Thich Naht Hanh, Paramhansa Yogananda…just the slightest brush with their field silences everything superfluous.

I return home.



And crying, dancing in the sound and the silence, I realized why they say not to take the lord’s name in vain…the power and grace of simple invocation is real. When we call a thing, a being, it comes.

It was beautiful.

I felt, in my bones, the force of everyone dancing our collective intentions into being around this country.

Know that a group of souls danced for YOU. Prayers for your highest good have been imbued in the air you breath…the breath of Life.

Literally.

It was palpable and profound.

You see, no prayer is ever wasted- every prayer changes us and when we change, so does our world.

Maybe you have felt it too- the power of shared intention. Of community with healing purpose!

This is what MURMURATIONS is about, I remembered.
I smiled.

How lovely to be weaving sacred space into my every day. I feel blessed to give and receive the work that flows through me.


As we closed, I saw myself descend down into physical reality after three days in dreamtime!

I felt much gratitude for who I am, who I’m with, what we have done, and how we do it.

I am unmistakably different.
That’s transformation.

What a gift!
What a blessing!

And there is so much to grow into.
The power of my intention is weaving the dream for me to step into.
The Everything is listening.

Big breath in. Big breath out.

Thank you.
More please!

PS: IF you are interested in self-transformation in a powerful loving community, join us in the next Murmurations cohort starting July! More info below:

Metamorphosis is all around you.

This is not a time to hold back, it’s the time you’ve been readying for. Your life situation is the catalyst, your desire the compass, and Truth your guide.

Join this transformational community to dive beneath the surface and heal disconnects that keep you stuck, separate and suffering.

Heal inner division to embody vibrant wholeness. Release your past to answer the call of a creative future. Connect with heart, purpose and a community of care. Learn how life actually works, and use it to fuel your evolution. Take your rightful place in the expansion of collective consciousness.

LEt’s talk and SEE IF IT’S THE RIGHT PLACE FOR YOU!

together we will

  • Learn the foundational principles of healing and mysticism from your direct experience!
  • Benefit from being held in an energy matrix through the course specifically designed to support your growth.
  • Access personal, group and universal intelligence.
  • Share your gifts and receive what others have to offer, deeply seeing and being seen.
  • Create personal rituals to re-attune to inner wisdom and nature’s rhythms.
  • Learn and practice tools to embody presence, deepen connection to yourself, others and purpose.
  • Explore and set relational and personal boundaries that nourish your well-being.
  • Feel the freedom and healing power of vulnerability and authenticity.
  • Receive surprises and real transformation.
  • Create meaningful relationships based in mutuality.
  • Most importantly, all while having FUN!

course components

  • An intimate group of 8 peers for depth and personalized attention.
  • 12 Live, facilitated bi-weekly 2 hour calls with your group via Zoom.
  • Access to call recordings shared only with participants.
  • 2 individual 1 hr sessions with Ishita Sharma to align and deepen your growth online or via phone. Option to add more at a discounted rate.
  • 1 fine-tuned astrological reading for insight into inherited patterns and your particular life path.
  • 1 herbal consult to cultivate a conscious, nourishing relationship with the Earth in support of your intentions.
  • 1 virtual cacao ceremony with Giovanna Garcia to augment group coherence and connect to your own intuition. You will receive ceremonial cacao and preparation instructions.
  • Private online group for connection, sharing and growth with others between modules.
  • Each call will combine teaching with experiential individual, paired and group exercises, sharing and Q&A.

My most honest invitation yet

Ish

Murmurations – a transformational community to realize your deepest intentions, isn’t just a path into your heart’s longing…My most honest expression and offering, it’s also one to mine. 

Lifetimes of hiding behind vice and virtue alike, the game is up. Years of reckoning with the fear of being seen and not seen, in my gifts and my wounds has me standing here now.

A 10 year crawl out of “my spiritual closet” feels pretty damn complete!

From here is my invitation to you- I am asking you to join me. It’s time.

If you feel a resonance, apply to the course soon. Enrollment closes Monday!

MURMURATIONS IS DIFFERENT.

It’s the weaving of Heart and Mind, Love and Power, Earth and Sky, Masculine and Feminine, Seen and Unseen, Sacred and Mundane- through the thread of your truest longing. 

Awakening and healing in conscious community, come dance the dream with us!

Together we will be Scientists and Mystics.
We will test everything in our experience.
We will be Individual and One.
We will look in the mirror of relationship.
We’ll keep what’s useful and discard the rest. 

An astrologer will illuminate your path and place in the order of the Everything. 
An herbalist with help you ground it into Earth through the wisdom of Plant Medicine. 
A cacao ceremonialist will open and connect our hearts to the heart of the Mystery.
I will hold a mirror to both your light and your shadow.
We will learn to walk in love together towards our deepest yearnings.
You will cultivate self-trust through your direct experience. 

It’s my most vulnerable and wholesome offering yet. 

Years of silence taught me to speak. Years of kneeling taught me to stand. The little girl who longed to be Krishna, the “Why Girl” kicked out of Physics class, the idealist who rebelled against reality, now stands a woman embracing it. 

In celebration of her wholeness and brokenness, a lifelong love affair with life and the Divine has planted her firmly on very Human feet. A wounded healer, a mystic, a teacher and sometimes, a magician. She is first and always, Human.

I trust what I feel when I tune into the silence. I ask of the Mystery and receive with grace. Always, it is precisely enough.

I know the whole thing has nothing to do with me and it’s all for me! Eyes open or closed, wherever I look I see me in you in me in All That Is. Dimensions melt into dimensions. Time warp equations of college Physics have never made more sense.

I’ve come full circle, again.
Love is.  

Crossing cultures, continents and paradigms, I take my place in the Everything as I invite you to take yours, alongside a masterful guide, and the manual of your experience.

If you can see yourself in this circle with us, know that a place is being held for you. Anchored by a crystal, blessed by fire and honored with loving attention. 

You just have to claim it.

We start next week. Join us! 

from my heart to yours,
Ishita

Listening for Collective Healing

Ish

We know listening is key to healing conflict, yet we seldom know where or how to begin.

In this experiential live online session I led for the global Truth and Reconciliation Weekend, we explored listening through questions like:

How can listening catalyze healing between and within us?
How can we listen to those we disagree with?
How can we connect beyond our ideas of eachother, beyond right and wrong, good and bad, us Vs. them thinking?

This is a recording of a session facilitated by Ishita where we will experiment with a way of being in relation to each other and ourselves that deepens presence, authentic connection and heals division.

Bring your curiosity and the willingness to see and be seen to each exercise.

As you follow the recording, turn the questions being explored onto yourself and notice what you discover.

If you are moved by the session and wish to continue diving deeper, I hope you’ll join me and a group of peers committed to bettering the world.

The world is begging us to show up fully for ourselves and each other from a place of love.

with hope and love,
Ishita

Receiving

I’ve come to suspect it’s a living truth that we want to give the world what we most need, and when we do, it comes right back to us.

Ish

I’ve come to suspect it’s a living truth that we want to give the world what we most need, and when we do, it comes right back to us.

“Hi, do you want a protein bar?” I said to the old Black homeless woman sitting on a park bench alone away from the crowd of homeless people milling about in Prichard Park. 

I had already gifted away the bags I had made to younger folks on the other side of the park. But as I left, looking for the old man I had seen a few weeks ago, I saw her on the bench by the toilets, alone, calmly watching the world go by. Her spirit called, shining in her eyes. 

“What is it?” she asked.

“Chocolate brownie.” I said, hoping she’d like the flavor.

“Yea- thank you. God bless you.”

“Thanks, bless you too!” I took a bar out and handed it to her. But it was hard to walk away.

“What else do you need?” I couldn’t resist asking.

“What do you have?” she asked.

“I have nothing right now. But I’ll come back for you. Do you need things for the winter?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t thought that far ahead.”

“Do you have a warm hat?”

“No.”

“Do you have warm gloves?” 

“No.”

“Do you have warm socks or a scarf?”

“No.”

“Ok- well I’ll come back and bring you some. What size do you wear?”

“In what? shoes or dress?” She asked.

“Both.” I said.

“I wear a 10 – 1/2″ in shoes and a 10 or a 12 in dress.”

“But you’re so tiny! Are you sure?” I couldn’t imagine how she’d fit a size 12.

“Yea. I like comfortable clothes. None of that small medium. I don’t like that Medium.”

I laughed. “OK. So where can I find you? Here?”

“Well- I don’t know. I got places to go. I’m trying to take the 5 o’ clock bus to go see my Dad. I move around you know. You tell me when you’ll come.”

I pause. Logistics…”I can come back in two weeks on Sunday.”

“Ok- well if I’m not here you can give the stuff to someone else who needs it. You just put it on the wall, they’ll take it from there. Wait, no it’s better to talk to a person. You don’t know what’ll happen to the stuff if you just leave it.”

“Yea- well, I’ll see if I can come by sooner.” I said, realizing this was a thin plan.

“OK.”

I walked away, wondering how to make it work. As we drove away I wondered if I could run out and get her some warm things before she possibly took the bus. She didn’t look too worried about anything so I worried she’d go without. It was 4:38pm, and if she got to the 5 o’ clock bus I’d surely miss her. 

Driving away didn’t feel right. I found 11 dollars between the glove box and the change pocket in the car. It wasn’t much, but it was something. I asked my partner to swerve back around, I had to catch her. 

She was heading into the toilet, I caught her just in time. I called out- “Hi, you! Hold on!” She stopped. “I don’t know if I’ll catch you again, but here’s eleven dollars. Go buy some warm stuff at Goodwill.”

“Yea you right. I was going to go there. There’s two of ’em.”

“Yea you can probably buy some warm socks and gloves with this and maybe a hat too.”

“Once someone gave me warm boots and they were black and and so warm they cleared my digestion right up!” she shared brightly.

“I believe that.” I said, feeling the pain that perhaps she herself couldn’t feel, imagining what going cold and hungry does to a stomach. I saw her wrinkled hand holding the money lightly, spread out.

“Well it isn’t much but put it away in a safe place.” I said.

“No, no- it’s a miracle!” she cried. “See God loves me and God loves you!”

“Yea God does love us.”I said.

“And I love you!” She added, eyes smiling.

“I love you too. You’re so beautiful, you know?” I said. It was all over her face- radiance, contentment, surrender.

“No, no, you’re beautiful! It takes one to know one!” She said.

We both laughed.

“God bless you lady!” She said. “And your soul! May God keep you safe.”

And I walked away laughing crying.

I’d prayed that morning that I would give to the homeless with humility and grace, and here I was receiving the same.

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