I just spent a weekend shoot with my dear partners – the remaining two artists of our Yogea dragon “trindem” in a beautiful tree house in Carmel, called Love Nest. While shooting a dozen targeted Yogea routines, we knew that we had to create a Love meditation there. The wooden deck of the house was actually nestled in the crowns of the trees. You really felt cuddled in nature’s lap there. As I was creating the mudra and short breathing before the meditation it began to drizzle. And it felt like being tickled by love.  As we were wrapping up the final Namaste mudra it began to pour. And it felt like being purged by love.

As I sat in meditation amidst this bounty and lush, I really experienced the transformational power of love and it reminded me of what my Sufi teacher once said “True Love is the ultimate remembrance and surrender to the beloved”. His name was Adnan Sarhan. His lectures were devotional dances into the mystical dimensions of love. He drummed for love, he sang for love, he danced for love always glorifying love as the guiding passion – the deep yearning for the Beloved of the soul.

This yearning for the Beloved lies at the heart of all spiritual teachings, for it is this profound longing, which transcends the desire for romantic love, the nourishment of parental love, and the multiple marvelous varieties of human loving that calls us to the Source. Our Sufi teacher used to help us bridge the realm between self and other by bringing the extraordinary into the ordinary through a ritual called Zikr. In this ritual of communion we would chant: “I am, We are, This is me” until we evoked a recollection of our truest self.

The quest for the Beloved weaves through all faiths. The passion of St. John of the Cross for the Divine Lover,is one of the most ecstatic statements of the mystery of human loving. It recalls the yearning of Isis for Osiris in the Egyptian mystery, of the love songs of Orpheus and Eurydice in the Orphic mysteries, of the spiritual and fleshly Eros in the Songs of Songs. The search for the Beloved and the ecstatic joy of oneness are central to Sufi mystics, and the Hassaid is never more himself that when caught up in an rapturous dance of love with God. In the Gospels, both gnostic and orthodox, union with the Divine Lover is the metaphor for the mystery of personal transformation and human consummation. When I think about it, Christianity arose amid a tide of spiritual Eros upon the bleached and empty shores of Roman civic religion. The selfless service of every Bhakti Yogi in Hinduism and the tantric teachings of Buddhism are all caught up in the yearning for the Divine lover.

The ultimate Bhakti yogi for me is Mother Theresa. I experienced a profound moment of deep, insatiable, unconditional love when I spent a day in her Kolkata sanctuary. For me she is the ultimate Saint of Love– a beacon of devotion and selfless service. The power of her love transcended the physical plane, because it was sheer devotion and communion with her higher self. The force of life, she said is the greatest force, the ultimate healing power that we own; the energy that nurtures the Sun, starts and the Universe. It never fails us. When something goes wrong in life we only consider it wrong because we don’t see the larger picture of things. We get a little closer to stepping outside the cycles of duality. We are gradually breaking through the mistaken belief that there is anything out there that we need. Being eternally one with the same Source that constantly creates and recreates the Universe, we have everything that we could possibly need inside us. All that we so adore in others, we are it. We are that we are for who we are, for what we believe in, for how we weave of beliefs into a beautiful, compassionate and humble reality. So we can share it with others, so we can co-create it together. For me her vision contains the seed of all faiths, virtues and blessings.

I still say her humble prayer every morning, which goes: “We are God Seeds, Star Seeds. Grounded in spiritual reality we become Loveseeds, and our capacity for growth and deepening becomes virtually infinite.” Since growth goes on in the infinite world, and the archetype of the Beloved is continuing to grow as well, we also must work to develop our potential in this depth world, to do what Jesus referred to as “laying up treasures in heaven”.  These treasures make up the ecology of our inner world – the world of our beloved. Our Beloved and divine guide knows the patterns, forms, and places where the vast latencies and psycho-spiritual wisdom lies. In this way love grows reality.

I still remember lovingly, how I used to sit in my grandpa’s lap and get enchanted about the Story of Odysseus, weeping on the shore of Calypso’s island, staring at the sea and yearning for HOME to unite with Penelope. I can still taste the salt of these tears. It’s sea salt and salt of LOVE…

Relationship Meditation: Love Nest

This Yogea meditation helps you taste the palette of love – physical, platonic and devotional – as you explore the power of relationship with yourself, with others and the Universe. A brief breathing and mudra practice immerses you in a capsule of remembrance when you invoke your light body and spark its creative genius. Vivid imagery takes you on a trip into your internal landscape to trace the imprints of your most virgin experience of love. Stretching your consciousness beyond the mundane you get to access the fabric of the Universe – woven by higher love frequencies. Inspiring affirmations land you back on the Earthly plane and help you reconsider your relationships – so they can thrive in pure love. Beaming love you remember who you are. You experience how love grows reality.