Opening the Heart and Mind

​The practice of loving kindness has been part of my daily meditations. I have started including those in hospitals, ICUs and those taking care of them. They are only a mile away from where I sit, in the comfort of my home. There are a lot of people staying at home and suffering from disease in my neighborhood and everywhere around the globe. There are a lot of people grieving losses of dear ones, jobs, financial security…I open my heart to all.

I would like to express my gratitude to my dear friend and mentor, Eric Gustafson, for inspiring me to do this daily.

Opening the heart and mind these days can be scary.

I face thoughts about my own mortality, the potential of a change at any moment, the possibility of my job as a yoga instructor and health educator with Kaiser Permanente not coming back anytime soon, the changes in relationships in my life that seem unavoidable and painful. The impermanence of life is in plain sight…This will also pass.

I feel that opening the heart and mind is the only way; feeling everything and allowing, accepting, staying present. It is the only way to stay connected with the felt sense of being, the Self. The broader picture of existence sustains me and yet this broader picture cannot exclude the painful and unpleasant. I can no longer run away from the undesirable by avoiding it and I can no longer run after the things that give me temporary relief. The price is too high. The separation anxiety from the source, the Self, is too high a price. I think it might be the root of all anxiety.

I invite you to take a chance and start opening up. Risk this house of sticks we have build for ourselves and extend out into the spaciousness of consciousness. Meditation and prayer are like running a purifier in the polluted air of the mind. We are all interconnected. We do this for each other.

You are welcome to join me for guided meditations on Sunday evenings at 5:30pm.

We might be alone but we are in this together.

-Diana Meltsner
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti

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