So this has been my year of transformation and the journey continues 7 months into the year with a humbling experience at the feet of Geshela Michael Roach. He is the first American to be bestowed the honour of Buddhist Monk. My good friend Mary Farrell has been inviting to go to his talks for years. For the most part meeting him never interested me. I was quick to judge ( as I always am-working on that) an American who has studied eastern philosophy and was using it to make people rich…or so I thought; boy oh boy was I wrong.
My initial reaction to Geshela was one skepticism. Who was this man in Buddhist Robes and making millions of dollars, was this a contradiction in faith? I was schooled and boy did I learn. When you sit in the light of Geshe you know you are sitting in front of a man who is truly enlightened. He soft and lovely and luminescent. He speaks with a beautiful voice and I hung on each word. I touched his hand and heart and was instantly brightened. I was blessed to eat dinner with him and teach him yoga.
I have spoke about being judged or at least feeling like I am constantly being judged. Now I know it is me that is doing the judging. I have learned that the world, and how I see it, is just a projection of my thoughts and feelings. I created this world around me with my thoughts and actions. My actions can be called seeds. Karmic seeds that I plant by my thoughts or deeds toward the world and others in it. Consciously or unconsciously, everything I do and say has the ability to change my world and the world at large. I secretly knew this already and I think my resistance to studying and meeting with Geshe was that I would have to acknowledge my actions. I have ultimately created the bad stuff in my life. Yikes.
Okay I own that, now I have to change it…How to do this? The Buddhist ideas that Geshe Michael Roach presented to us are thousands of years old and he uses these principles to live an enlightened life. He created a multi-million dollar diamond business that was sold to Warren Buffet for a quarter of a Billion dollars. The money he has made he uses to change the lives of people everywhere. The principle is so simple. The highest honour in life is to serve mankind. The universe looks favourably on those who do. For every good deed or selfless act you perform a karmic seed is planted and when the seed ripens the universe returns the gesture 10 fold. The same is true for every selfish or negative thing you do. So it is important to plant good seeds and fertilize them well by doing the most good that you can for the most beings that you can.
You have to change your thinking in order to be successful in your business and in your life . To be successful you have to find someone with a similar situation and help them become successful. If you want to lose weight then you must help someone else lose weight. If you want to find companionship, you must first help some else who is lonely find companionship. Seems easy enough right? Not always, you have to be open to helping people you might not like or people who you feel have wronged you. It can be bittersweet, but it can also be empowering.
I have been sharing this teaching in my yoga classes this week. I gave everyone homework this week. Find someone who needs your help and help them! The results have been remarkable. People are really open to helping others and that makes me so proud. Students have been sharing their experiences and their hearts are cracked open wide. There is a brightness and luminescence to them. The same one I saw in Geshe Michael.
I always want to help people and I think I can help the most people through teaching and sharing the practice of yoga. I do it because I love doing it and not with the intention of getting something back in return, but that part is inevitable. I am happy to receive the gift. A big thank you to my girl Mary for helping to find this experience and a thank you to all who have shared your light, who continue to inspire and share this practice.
See you on the path…
