Tag: Truth

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,

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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

Kali, Kali, Maha Kali!

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Surrender isn’t easy.

It is humbling- it cracks us open exactly where the light needs to get in. 
It is the last doorway to homecoming, fulfillment.

Especially when we find ourselves in a bardo, as the Tibetans call it- that voidness between what was and what is yet to come.

Here we meet the tug of our cumulated past, our ideas, fears, our attachments, our compulsions. We continue striving for the impossible, perpetuating our own suffering, and that of others. We yield to fear and indulge our pain. We give ourselves up for an imagined reward, and it hurts.

Faced with the real threat of dissolution, and yes, even renewal, it is tempting to collapse, strive, fight, avoid, indulge- employ familiar safety strategies to innocently re-create the false safety that eventually must and will crumble. 

Yesterday’s new moon was a soft punctuation on the completion of a death process for me. After a deep swim in the void, mourning the death of ideas and ideals, humbled and changed, I can feel newness coming alive within me, exacting re-commitment, expanding response ability. 

Renewed, I am eager to welcome a new group of spiritual warriors, awakening and healing through their own cycles of death and renewal, in service of All That Is. 

But only after a full blown teenage rebellion, did I find it- a deeper commitment to the Divine.

Saying yes again to putting both feet into the river of Life. Because, as my friend Joann said, “you can’t find your yes until you allow your no.”  And as Maya Luna says in Becoming Kali (the call of this moment) below, “our pain is the portal to our power.” 

Surrender.

Crying on my knees, I bowed down, offering all the pieces of the Pie of my Life to God – literally, and metaphorically. I am here to do the needful- what is asked of me, and I bring my own wants to the negotiating table. 

Now again, there is peace. And an amused curiosity. I am watching the subtle expansion afoot, I am listening for where and how the pieces fall. 

And I suspect I’m not alone in emerging from a death cycle…creation, existence, dissolution and rebirth are not just markers of life cycles, they accompany us through phases of our evolution, all while still alive. It’s happening now in and around us. So when you examine your life-

What wants to end? What is beginning?

What do you know needs to go, that you don’t want to let go of? 

Can you be with what remains? 
Can you listen to the emergent?

Join us for the FREE September Community Call – RELEASE + REBIRTH on September 20th, 7pm EST to examine these questions together, as we ready to usher in the shifts calling us.
 
REGISTER FOR RELEASE + REBIRTH
As the Equinox tilts us into the Fall, you will be right on time to join the new cohort of MURMURATIONS – a transformational community walking towards truth, love and power, together. The group opens Sept 21, our first gathering will be on Oct 5.

In this unique and rejuvenating process we mine group intelligence, celebrating our light and integrating our shadows to end what needs to end, and welcome in what wants to be made through each and all of us, in a flock of spiritual warriors with shared values. 

There are spaces and scholarships open- all you need to apply is resonance and a commitment to your own transformation.

If you want to know power, and use it aligned with Life itself, explore my invitation, and follow the call.

Self to Self, Power to Power,
Ishita


BECOMING KALI
by Maya Luna

You want to know power?
Stop spitting out your food and eat.
Behold the banquet of density.
Eat the chaos. Be infused by the force that birthed this world into existence
Eat your struggle. Let it brand you with the unbound freedom of fire.
Eat your exhaustion. Let it sand down the jagged edges of your striving.
Eat your losses. Let them open you into the clarity of empty space.
Eat your regrets. Let them infuse you with the blessing of unnameable perfection.
Eat death. Let it scatter into ashes on fertile ground.
Eat your wound. Let it fill you with the marrow of unconditional kindness.
Eat your madness. Let it explode you into the breathless beauty of stars.
Eat your limitations. Let them press you into a radiant diamond.
Eat your hurt. Eat your devastation. Eat your unbearable heartbreak.
Swallow these poisons into the great heart.
Bear down and birth your own deathless body.
Your pain is the portal to power.

Kali Kali Maha Kali – the dark one, she who seeds dissolution of all that is false. 

And then we ask: what remains? 

Dancing ancestors into being

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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.

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

In the deep

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This poem came through tears…as a teacher of mine asked I accept my place in the world. It’s time, I know it’s time.

In the Deep
5/25/20

Deep
     in the deep of the deep
something profound is stirring.

Even as I cloak myself - 
            Parvati to Kali,
                    hiding between the play 
           of Sun     and    Moon

something quiet is moving. 

Listen:

From heart to heart,
the heart of God.

This is a beautiful incarnation.
There is a majesty here!
A profundity-

Joy! 

I walk where spirit and matter kiss...
     and
withinbecomeswithoutandallaround

A magnificent incarnation!
                           It is a Truth. 
I stand at the top of the mountain. 
                           It is a Truth. 

And from here it is seen so clearly-

all the while the only thing stirring
   was Vishnu's play- 
            His Sudharshan chakra 
swirling through this world
quietly 
           creating another.

My fiercest hope for humanity lies in YOU!

Ish

“
That’s my fiercest hope – is that we come back to the natural intelligence that flows through us, instead of constantly negating it. It’s surrendering to the impulse that is the driving force of life. That’s the impulse of creation coming through you!

What could be more natural?
What else could bring fulfillment?
“

Click on the image for the full podcast episode!

Dear one,

I had a colorful conversation on my soulful colleague Andy Cahill’s podcast, the Wonder Dome last August. He asked me what my fiercest hope for humanity is- a beautiful question he poses to each of his guests.

I realized my fiercest hope for humanity lives in you. It breathes in the way you and I show up in the world, and in these catalytic times, our way of being is more important than ever.

In this intimate conversation we talked about being human and whole, and the juicy possibility that emerges when we come together as one- in service of a world that consciously and lovingly includes and transcends all its parts.

If you’ve been in one of my group courses you know this place of possibility, and if you haven’t, I hope you’ll join me. The world is begging us to show up fully for ourselves and eachother.

You can meet me in all my colors if you listen in! 

with hope and love,
Ishita

SHOW NOTES:

Come to Center
Call to Coherence Intensive
Un Becoming Podcast
Sanskrit
Bhagavad Gita
Francis Briers
Stoicism
Dharma

Connect with me on Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

LISTEN TO THE WHOLE EPISODE HERE!

in a nutshell

I feel called to serve beauty, wisdom and wholeness. I was recently asked what my ‘message’ is- and here is what I said:

Ish

I am interested in existential, fundamental truth. The mechanics of being. In my explorations here’s what I have found to be true:

Absolute Truth can only be approached as Shiv-a – That which is Not.

The reflection of this Absolute is knowable in form as the organizing intelligence of the universe. It manifests within each of us as our own internal harmonic.

Every being is moved by a unique internal harmonic sometimes called God and exteriorized in culture, but of course, the source of creation, of preservation, of destruction- all aspects of manifestation are alive and beating from within us.

The degree of our alignment with the harmonic determines our degree of coherence with the rhythm of the whole, and the fluidity and joy we experience in life.

The illusion of a separate self to be protected, guarded and perpetuated creates distortion in our alignment with the harmonic (never in the harmonic itself). Self betrayal- saying no to our life force- the harmonic- leaves us disconnected from the song our instrument wants to sing.

Liberation, fulfilment, efficacy, joy, and fullness of expression- all lie in aligning with the harmonic. Learning to listen, trust and be guided by it- moving in harmony with all that is, asymptotically towards coherence of the particular with the Whole.

The harmonic isn’t missing in anyone of us. Even those of us who have conditioned and distanced themselves from it consciously or unconsciously, intellectually or somatically…the harmonic vibrates within us all.

To listen, we need silence. To trust, we need direct experience of our own Truth. And the only way to aligned, fulfilled, joyful living, is in.

All that is ever needed, is to go within.

In every moment, consciously allowing the directness of experience to be seen, felt, known, allowed, invited and finally loved…

Hence, Open Meditation.

on advaita

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Advait Vedant (अद्वैत वेदान्त) is the collected body of existential knowing transmitted through eons in India, reflecting the nature of being and the organization of formless into form that points to source.

A = not/without. Dvait – two/second.

So the word Advaita, points carefully to ‘that without a second.’ For it wouldn’t suffice to say One- it must be noted that there is no possibility herein for a second- for divisiveness within the whole. The focus is on the indivisible whole that knows nothing outside of itself- pointing to intrinsic, inherent existential connectedness, oneness, wholeness of which all form is a reflection. Multiplicity without separateness. And there is no possible way for a separate self to exist, even though sometimes we are deluded into believing in this separation…In Vedanta, each “piece” of the whole is known and celebrated to be a “small wholeness.”

Lacan wrote “The I cannot exist except in the field of the other.” Conditioned to believe in the separation between self and other, driven by the evolutionary need for self preservation, somewhere along the line the knowingness of the connection of the piece to the whole is lost and an identity emerges, wrapping its cocoon around a piece of the small, a small wholeness, that forgets its own nature.

And 13.8 billion years of evolution later, one small wholeness begins to question itself. To yearn to know itself. A seeker is born. Consciously or unconsciously, engaged in a journey that inevitably begins to point back to the seeker itself. Constructs and identity unravel into a homecoming. Wholeness begins to be experienced by its smaller reflection, and self dissolves into Self.

Advaita. That without a second.

Open Meditation Meetup

New online meetup to demystify meditation and build conscious community.

IshLeave a comment
Looking at collective social, economic, political and cultural suffering I have always asked why? And, what can I do?
For years, I looked to architecture, design, writing op-eds for the answer. Every line I drew as an Architect, every space I envisioned, was aimed to mitigate disconnection, depression, anxiety, overconsumption, isolation…but it didn’t seem quite enough, when people were suffering the nature of their own thoughts and emotions.
Design aligned the exterior, but if our interior itself was misaligned all beauty, wonder and joy would be missed. And it is. Everyday, we suffer our own constructs, individually and collectively.
A good friend once said to me, “In America you have to be rich, white, thin and beautiful to be happy. Ishita you are not the richest, whitest, thinnest or most beautiful person, but you’re probably the happiest!”
And in that spirit, as I grappled with the divisive and fear based political upheaval, I realized more and more that I can only ever do one thing- be whole in myself and keep clearing out my own core wounds so I can serve the highest and best for all, through the highest and best in me.
What can I do? Facilitate conscious connection to fullness and wholeness already within you which is our birthright. When we feel safe, full and connected, we act out of love not fear.
That was the birth of Come to Center. The only “work” that feels both worthy and true for me.
Meditation aligns our interior. Gandhi once said, “Happiness is when what you think, say and do are the same.” And that is my “secret.” Conscious alignment.
I dream of a conscious and present world, where every being acts from stillness, fullness, from love, for the highest good of all, which is the highest good for each.
Wherever you are, I hope you will join me for Open Meditation. It’s what we really need in the world now.

the ease of being!

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erik-on-the-water-copy
the ease of being

no action 

           rooted
 in      lack

could ever

bring

forth fulfillment for fulfilment

is

here    now     whole ness
               !          (the nature)


of being 

               free and full and delight full !

action
            may
                     (or may not)
arise and 

you 

will know from the 

very 

ease of being

 

in prose:

No action rooted in lack could ever bring forth fulfillment.

Fulfillment is here and now. Wholeness is the nature of being- free, full and delightful! Action may or may not arise- you will know, from the very ease of being.

and more:

To examine inner grasping with curiosity and amusement, rooting into being, is to invite its own dissolution.

Photo above
My husband floating on backwaters in rural Thailand, March 2016 (from STUDIO-ish)