Passover

We had 18 people here last night! I created a mini-Haggadah that had ceremony, tradition, spiritual significance and education. Blessings began rather unconventionally, by expanding the naming of the One so that It is not gender-based:

Baruch Atah Adonai, Shekhina, Ruach Ha'Olam...

On the traditional side, we sang traditional songs and I made matzoh balls (from a mix), and the charoses. This was not a veggie seder, as we have had in the past - I bought the entree from a gourmet market (delicious brisket and chicken) and people brought lots of side dishes - potato pancakes and more.

Passover recalls the exodus from Egypt. The Hebrew name for Egypt is Mitzrayim, meaning “a narrow place.” Each Passover, we have an opportunity to note our own current journey in life. We can acknowledge any narrow places we are stuck in – physically, emotionally or mentally - and we can welcome the wider spaces that we are transitioning into. Liberation and freedom are ongoing qualities of life.

We had used stones from our yard to hold down the 2-page Hagaddahs on each place setting (fans overhead had blown them about) so I used the stones in ceremony. We let the stone be our Mitzrayim, our narrow place, placing into it that which holds us back, and then we acknowledged moving through to liberation by tossing the stones back out into the yard!

As I have often done, since graced many years ago with a vision of Miriam, I played flute for an interpretive "Miriam dance" by a lovely young Swiss woman, Jayanara, here studying at Rising Tide Spiritual Center. Then her equally lovely boyfriend and I drummed while she and others danced. We handed out percussion instruments and everyone joined in making music, even my mom.

We ended the evening with a reading from the Velveteen Rabbi's Passover Haggadah: It is traditional to end a seder with L’shanah ha-ba’ah b’Yerushalayim —Next Year in Jerusalem! The root of the word Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) can be read as Ir Shalem (“City of Wholeness”) or Ir Shalom (“City of Peace”). Even if we don’t perceive ourselves as being in exile from the literal Land of Israel, we may find ourselves in exile from the wholeness and unity which only connection with our Source can provide. Next year, wherever we are, may we – and Israel - all be whole and at peace.

And then all that has divided us will merge
And then compassion will be wedded to power
And then softness will come to a world that is harsh and unkind
And then both men and women will be gentle
And then both women and men will be strong
And then all will live in harmony with each other and the earth
And then everywhere will be called Eden once again. —Judy Chicago

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On a less fun note, an old friend of mine from when I studied Aikido and meditation in California, Marty Weiner, took leave of this life this past Saturday, by his own choice. I honored him too while playing Miriam's Song on my flute.

Tantra on Huffington Post

(I just wrote this as a comment to an an article/post on The Huffington Post, about Tantra. It was too long so I am posting it here in its entirety.)

Lots of comments to this post. Some object to a connection between sex & spirituality, others are concerned that the teachings presented here (in the Huffington Post article) aren't pure Tantra. At the end of the day, or the year, or the lifetime, what matters most is that we have loved. Even the Dalai Lama has said that life is about experiencing happiness. If we can find ways to bring more love and happiness into relationships by drawing on some principles of ancient wisdom, so much the better for all of us.

Oddly, the spiritual training most pertinent to my leading Intimacy Retreats for couples is twelve years of dedicated, daily training in Aikido. Yes, a martial art, and yes, Aikido is indeed more about spiritual awakening than about fighting. And no, Aikido is not about sex. (It’s a martial art, not a marital art!) One thing I learned in Aikido is that when my partner (not considered an "opponent").. . when my partner in Aikido extends energy toward me, I can blend with that energy, I can enter into such a connection with that partner, that, literally, for that moment, we become intimately part of something larger. Through a process of centering, I encounter a larger sense of being that encompasses us both. This is also experienced with my husband, not on an Aikido mat, but in our more physically intimate bedroom time together. This feeling is what most people would call spiritual. Many today call it tantric sex.

Ten years ago, when we created a modified Qigong practice that we call “Tantra Tai Chi,” I had some reservations at first to using the name. But as the years have passed, and restaurants and bands also use the name Tantra, I have become more accepting of its use in the public vernacular.

I’m a certified instructor a moving exercise originated by a westerner only 40 years ago. He named it T’ai Chi Chih®. When I began teaching, I was warned by a teacher from a more ancient lineage that this could be dangerous. Since one of the places I taught was the Manhattan AIDS project, I had to laugh. Dangerous?

I have huge respect for those who delve deeply into powerful spiritual traditions. Yet perhaps it is in the light-hearted yet meaningful sharing of principles from those ancient traditions, that their value is further increased and maintained.

Practices taught at weekend workshops do not generally lead to rigorous and lengthy training. On the other hand, they encourage a lifetime of continued - and enjoyable - practice. The merging of meditation and sexual pleasure, the ongoing activation and expression of love and intimate presence, these are the rewards that even a watered-down and maybe slightly skewed teaching of Tantra can provide us with.

Happiness is contagious and I hope we all catch it.