Distinctions

This invitation brings with it an opportunity to connect anew with aspects of our life, both inner and outer. In so doing, we open the possibility of being disrupted, which can feel myriad ways: like a splash of cold water on our face, being wrapped in a warm blanket, or the surge of energy that comes from feeling loved. In all these cases, what we have done is turn toward ourselves more fully and with more wakeful attention. We are more completely meeting the life within us, and, with this freshly found connection, Life itself can more easily flow through us. It’s as if the flow has been pooled by a dam and our attentiveness to ourselves brings down the barrier.

Theologian and mystic Raimon Panikkar says it this way:

The sense of the real dawns upon us when we really live. We live authentically when we experience Life purified from all its accidents. Modern civilization with its acceleration and its success in bringing about external comfort without effort makes it difficult to experience such moments in which we sense the real in that inexpressible way, transcending ideas, sentiments, time, space and all the egoistic individualism…In short, we experience the real when we live Life and are not distracted by its operations.

—from The Rhythm of Being: the Unbroken Trinity, p. 80

In this time of new developments and shifting guidelines, the operations of life are continually changing. Many of us are left to figure out how we can live in a world where support systems are either no longer in place or have shifted dramatically. We are being introduced to our lives freshly and are determining with new eyes what is important, what gets attended to, and what doesn’t.

As we meet our external life with creativity and resilience, there is also an opportunity to turn toward our inner life —our feelings, sensations, reactions, etc.—with a similar newness. What could be possible for us if we were to turn toward all of our life and meet it with the brilliance, heart, ingenuity and vulnerability we all possess?

As we do this we turn toward truths that have been waiting for us, and we open to receive the gifts they are offering.

With love,

• Find a comfortable place to lie on the ground either inside or outside.
• Gently become aware of your surroundings.
• Next, bring your attention to your breathing, noticing the inhale and exhale.
• On the inhale, breathe in the word ‘space.’
• On the exhale, breathe out the word ‘relaxation.’
• As you do this, feel the contact of your back on the ground and allow yourself to breathe and feel into the support of the ground.
• Start with three minutes and work up to ten.

I Am, You Anxious One

Rainer Maria Rilke

I am, you anxious one.
Don’t you sense me ready to break
into being at your touch?
My murmurings surround you like shadowy wings.
Can’t you see me standing before you
cloaked in stillness?
Hasn’t my longing ripened in you
from the beginning
as fruit ripens on the branch?

I am the dream you are dreaming.
When you want to awaken, I am that wanting:
I grow strong in the beauty you behold.
And with the silence of stars I enfold
your cities made by time.

The Guest House

Rumi

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

It is certainly a different world than it was when we were last in this space together. How are you finding yourself? Of course the answers to that will be multifaceted—each one of us is living in the tension of multiple conflicting experiences and emotions. No doubt you have been doing the hard and important work of supporting your loved ones and your clients in all of this. What are you doing to take care of yourself? What resources have you found, practices have you revisited, insights have you reached?

We thank you for the ways you’ve supported us by providing free coaching, your participation in virtual Town Halls with suggestions and offers of help with the business, the writing you’ve shared, and simply the presence you’ve been as a global community. It is one that is deeply felt. It was especially awesome to have over 130 of you gather for the Graduate Learning Lab last weekend to explore bringing your voices more powerfully to the world. We look forward to seeing you at future events.

We also want to share a couple of new offerings with you! We hope Integral Team Coaching and Coaching Supervision will be supportive in developing your being and your repertoire. Our move to online offerings—though in some cases are a temporary response to world events—feels like a promising one.

As always, we’d love to hear how NVW can support your ongoing self-generation.

Love,

Sahar and Adam

In Loving Memory

Beloved graduate and faculty member Richard Levi died on April 24. Richard did his PCC in San Francisco in 2011 and served on the faculty as a Pod Guide several times. A dream of his had been to serve as Mentor Coach and at the time of his passing he was serving in this role in a San Francisco PCC that began in December 2019. Students, clients and colleagues knew him for his compassionate heart, warm presence, thoughtfulness, humor, and creativity. He was dedicated to supporting others in living the most fulfilled lives possible. His departure leaves an emptiness in our hearts and community, and we will aspire to embody the kindness and generosity he brought to everything. There will be a remembrance gathering on May 15—if you would like to attend please contact us for details.

Congratulations and welcome to our new graduates!