Heartwood Sangha is pleased to announce that Lama Rod Owens will offer teachings and guidance the weekend of March 31 to April 2. An author, activist, and authorized Lama in the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, Lama Rod calls himself a “Black Buddhist Southern Queen.” A leading voice in a new generation of Buddhist…

“I will soothe you and heal you, I will bring you roses. I too have been covered with thorns.” ~ Rumi …I understand your struggles because I have them too. I’m hoping you can sense empathy in my touch and in my words. And you, of course, are more than your thorns. We can heal when we accept our thorns and celebrate our…

May the winds of heaven blow softly in your ear and tell you how much you are loved. ~Adapted from an Irish blessing I feel Love in the trees and from the bees, in the wind and when birds sing. Robin Wall Kimmerer, in her book Braiding Sweetgrass, writes at length about this nurturing Nature love and ways we can recipr…

“Trauma is personal. It does not disappear if it is not validated. When it is ignored or invalidated the silent screams continue internally heard only by the one held captive. When someone enters the pain and hears the screams, healing can begin.” ~ from Emerging With Wings by Danielle Bernock     Photo by Getty Images…

The full Buck Moon is July 13, 2022 at 1:38 PM in Chicago. It’s a Super Moon. The velvety antlers of male deer which first begin to sprout in early spring finish growing as summer peaks. They form pointed tips and harden into their final glory. The sight of their magnificent racks against the summer sky led to the name…

Below is Sarah Westbrook’s “Heart Treatise,” given as part of her speech at Heartwood’s Spring Event: Planting Seeds of Health & Hope: Emerging Strong from Covid. The treatise is part vow to oneself, part Covid era Manifesto. The HEART has been described as a GARDEN by almost every spiritual tradition. Why? How is a ga…

Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving. It doesn’t matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. come, even if you have broken your vows a thousand times. Come, yet again , come , come.” ~ Rumi Photograph by Genaro Servín, Pexels Wouldn’t it be nice to accept all parts of ourselves and feel welc…

When my daughter was very little, she used to cover her eyes, and pretend that I couldn’t see her. She’d giggle with delight as I walked around the room saying, “Where’s is she?! Oh, my goodness, she disappeared!!” Then all at once she would yank her hands down, regaining ‘visibility’ and squeal with delight at my awed…

You’ve got a sacred body! To me that means it is imbued with Spirit; it means it IS Spirit. You could say that listening to your body is prayer. During a Lyrical Healing session that’s what happens; We listen to You. We listen to your body and your words, your heart and your head. It is all worth tending to. Because he…

“The best thing to do when it is raining is to let it rain.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Photo by Josh Hild (Pexels) What does it mean to let it rain when it’s raining? (Or snow when it’s snowing 😉 My answer points to a core tenet of Craniosacral therapy. Yesterday I was feeling agitated, angry, and distressed. I went t…