Welcome to your September edition of Continuum. 

For those of you who need support and freedom in their busy lives, our final 4 week Self-Care Meditation training for 2009 starts October 20th. Be quick, as places are filling fast!  Stay tuned for futher details about our forthcoming meditation and yoga retreat in the Spa Capital of Victoria - Daylesford, co-facilitated by myself and the lovely Janet Lowndes, a psychologist and yoga teacher.

'The Test' the national health and happiness website and survey I have been involved with, as the meditation expert, has been an overwhelming success and will become an annual event. Over 55,000 people across Australia answered The Test's' 136 questions, and a high percentage of participants continue to read our advice, articles and information. Take a look at the results from just 3 of the questions below and, consider how you could benefit from learning some simple, self-care meditation training.

* Over 70% of people do not breathe consciously

* Over 90.64% don't practice relaxation techniques

* 86% of people are stressed

Staggering, but true!

See 'The Test' video 

Additional surprising results from The Test national Australian survey with 55,000 respondants:

1. Do you ever close your eyes and take 2 or 3 deep breaths?

50.3%    Once in a blue moon
26.7%    Yes, once or twice a day 
23.0%    No

2. Do you ever practice relaxation techniques such as meditation or deep breathing?

50.8%  No
34.5%  Now & then
9.4%    Regularly
5.3%    Too busy for that sort of thing

3. How stressed are you?

56.7%  Now & then, but that's okay
29.5%  Quite often
9.5%    Rarely/Never
4.4%    All the time

Alan and I will marry this month in the lush, tropical surroundings of restful Bali. In our excitment and anticipation, we have written our own marriage vows which made me reflect on when I took my vows as a Buddhist nun. Twenty one years on; I still believe in the power of vows and the power of their intention; given that a vow is a word we use to devote our awareness, as we engage or undertake a solemn promise of enormous value.  Some of our marriage vows have been influenced by our favourite writers, philosophers and also, our deepest, most painful learning's about life; reflecting on how we had grieved because we had settled for less in previous relationships and pledging to not take the other, for granted. 
We have vowed to keep our hearts open; even in the face of yearning, anger and vulnerability and also acknowledged the importance of play - how many times have I heard, "the couple that plays together, stays together!"  

Further inspiration has come from poet Rainer Maria Rilke, who said, "protect the solitude of the other."  We have promised to uphold the sanctity of one another's personal space, given that we live in a world where most people have little time for meditation retreats, to take a deep breath, sing their heart out, eat real food or even, for the sacred.

What people do have time for is what they are doing right now:
Driving kids to school, sitting at a computer, taking the dog to the vet, or screaming at loved ones!  Reality for most people is just that.

Have we lost touch with our heart that so much enormous distance separates us from claiming what our heart really feels - The longing to love and be loved; a gateway to the sacred.

Studies from Harvard and California University show that what people ultimately desire more than anything else, is to love and be loved; it is the pinnacle of our everyone's yearning.  But who would see or guess that, living in the culture we do?

We appear to honour the sacred in marriage, in birth and in death and, little else in between.  If we narrow the gaps and be a little more generous with ourselves, we might surprise ourselves by creating the life we deserve and adding a touch of the sacred to the ordinary tasks that claim us everyday.  Go ahead and have ice-cream with your cereal, take longer to massage the lotion on your body after your shower, savour the flow of closeness after lovemaking, or sign up for that art class - be willing to listen to your heart and act on it.

Without the sacred, we suffer from what I call profound absence - the opposite of being present. Is anyone home these days?  

Sometimes when no one is looking, we might secretly sneak in some 'special time' and with insatiable hunger devour the unmentionable, only to rush back in to the vacum of mental and physical fatigue. I wonder why anyone would choose to live this way.

Break up routine, give yourself even just five minutes of adventure, listen to your needs, acknowledge your own grace and attend to yourself accordingly; you just might come out ahead.

SOME KISS WE WANT

There is some kiss we want with
our whole lives, the touch of
spirit on the body. Seawater
begs the pearl to break its shell.
And the lily, how passionately
it needs some wild darling!

At night, I open the window and 
ask the moon to come press its
face against mine.
Breathe into me. 
Close the language-door and
open the love-window.
The moon won't use the door,
only the window.

               By Jelaluddin Rumi

Keep breathing to be the change you live and, to help you love, in all ways!