In this newsletter:
🌿 Quiet heartedness
🌿 New! "Pay-What-You-Can" Ticket for last two mini-retreats
🌿 How to find a place to be naked in nature - a practical blog from Brad
In the first several months after my marriage of 19 years came apart, every day was an emotional journey. It was all I could do to show up at work and try to make decisions, using a fraction of my mental capacity. I cried every day.
As time passed, I healed and I noticed a new inner state emerging. I would sporadically notice a sense of quiet and calm. This feeling would arise in moments when wasn't upset nor was I overjoyed, I was just inwardly still and peaceful. It felt like "The Void".
At first, I found this to be slightly alarming. Had I descended into some inner state that was even worse than heartbreak? Was I simply numb? I remember describing this inner state to a friend, and wondering about it. Was something wrong with me? Is it OK to just be "quiet" inside and not have any identifiable emotion?
Were it not for my decades of daily practice of meditation, yoga, journaling and introspection, I might not have even noticed the subtle nature of this fleeting state. It could easily get steam-rollered by the more intense and dramatic emotions of life.
This morning, as I sit down to write to you, I'm appreciating this quietness, this "Void", because it's here with me, today. It feels like the feeling that happens before the feeling. After years of tracking this, I now think it's actually the default resting place for my mind and heart. From this subtly quiet place, I notice how much my thoughts and internal stories influence how I feel. From here, I can go into gratitude, or contentment, bliss or sadness and grief, probably even anger, depending on what thoughts come into my mind. It's like the blank slate of emotion - receptive and open.
As I sat this morning and breathed into this quiet, resting place for my heart, I thought I would take this time to describe it to you, and to share it with you.
Maybe you find this place in yourself, too?
It's not intense, it's not sexy and I can't tell you exactly how to get there. But now that I'm no longer worried that a quiet heart is a numb heart, I'm realizing that I like this place. I like feeling inwardly calm. It's not boring. It feels like looking at the glassy water of a lake in the morning, mist rising on the air currents of possibilities. I think it may be a state of being that's worth cultivating and even celebrating. That's why I took the time to write to you about it.
With love,
Sarah
New payment option!
I've added a "Pay-What-You-Can" Ticket for the two remaining eco-erotic mini retreats at Dancing Shiva, in Black Mountain, outside of Asheville (August 11 and September 15).
These mini retreats are an invitation to practice combining your love of nature with your natural sense of Eros and pleasure, and to embody a new level of wholeness in the process.
Where and how can you find a place to be naked outdoors?
I get asked this question a lot! It's so important, for our health and well-being, to be able to frolic, play and breathe in our natural "sky-clad" state, and yet WHERE CAN WE DO THAT? Here's a nifty blog piece by my dear friend and mentor, Brad Amberheart, on the subject.
Upcoming Events
Sarah Belzile
Sarah Belzile
