Letters to My Friends

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    Letters to my Friends


    You can order "Letters to My Friends: A No Guarantees Guide to Awakening" online at Amazon. For wholesale orders, please contact New Leaf Distributing Company, or call 1-800-326-2665.


    Read what friends have said about "Letters to My Friends: A No Guarantees Guide to Awakening."

    LOVE THIS WRITING! I laughed out loud and smiled a lot. Anna

    I have been reading your book since we met at Breitenbush, and wanted you to know that this one really resonated with me. I am weeping joyfully at my desk. Aaron

    Tonight, right now, I'm home after teaching my class (an early night mind you, only 1:00 am when I'm usually home around 2:30 am). Anyway, I read THE WHOLE THING!!! And I laughed. And I said "Holy Cow!" because I'm a southern atheist. "This guy is onto something, and witty too! And I think he's right!" Paula

    It is so good to hold the fruit of your tree in my hands. It is beautiful and I am reminded that I am that as well. I will digest it and send it out into the world in whatever ways Spirit would have me do so. I am willing. Much love to you my friend. Meg

    Oh, the world is full of trivia, but not, alas, full of people seeing the spiritual relevance of hens, aardvarks, and peanut butter. That would make for much better evening news than the poor fare we get now. Lisa

    Wow! Your writing is so gorgeous. I much appreciate all the authenticity, truth and fun. I really appreciate it...so sweet! Gina

    I cherish this book! I will share it with my daughter. Rose

    I can't tell you how valuable it is to me for you to share your thoughts and feelings so openly. I am hungry to learn about all parts of this life journey and your experiences help instruct me. Thank you for that courage and willingness to serve. Nirlima

    You are a gift, a gift to humanity. Thank you for your beautiful openness and heart-reaching honesty. Margaret

    Thank you being magnificently honest and inspiring. Marny

About

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Teachers


  • Hal Zina Bennett is a spiritual guide in every sense of the word. He encouraged me to keep writing when I no longer believed in myself or my voice. And his books on spiritual writing are the best I have read.

  • Raphael Cushnir is a master of Divine order. And he is a remarkable man. He is warm and friendly. He teaches a structured approach to awakening, something I need because sometimes I am like a little bee, never staying in one place for long.

  • Noah Levine, the author of the bestseller, "Dharma Punx," told me wants to be like me when he gets old! First he will have to become a hippie, which not likely, given his views somewhat less than flattering comments about hippies. He is obviously jealous of hippies with hair. But that is another story.

    Noahpic

    Noah brings a profound compassion to his teaching. He is also wise, and oh so funny. And even though I am old enough (barely) to be his big brother, he is the teacher and I am the student.


  • A close friend of Eckhart Tolle, Moni Vangolen is one of the most loving people I have ever met. She calls me Sweet One, but she is the Sweet One.

  • I love Karen McPhee. She introduced me to myself. She is my teacher and friend. I owe her more than I will ever be able to repay. Even if I never see her again with my eyes, I will always see her in my heart.

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The secret of Nirvana

Now I will share with you the secret of all life, and I will share it freely.

I know what Nirvana is.  And I know how to go there.  This is what Nirvana is: A dance, a smile, a hug, a laugh, a song, good food, a warm bed, loving friends, a kiss, snow on the mountain top, gentle eyes, the sweet mummer of the river.

And this is how you go to Nirvana:  Love your self utterly and without reserve.

Are you angry?  Be angry and love yourself.  Hold yourself.  Comfort yourself.  Heal yourself.

Are you lonely?  Be lonely and love yourself.  Hold yourself.  Comfort yourself.  Heal yourself.

Are you a spiritual being having a human experience?  There is still hope for you.  Do not despair.  Love your flesh, love your blood, love your bones.  Embrace your weakness and find strength.

Are you frustrated because you do not meditate the right way?  Then embrace the wrong way.  Or wash the dishes.  Smiling while washing the dishes is a powerful meditation.  Do your thoughts race?  Then race with them and laugh.  Or fight them and frown.  Either way is fine, but one feels better.

You are not broken.  You do not need fixed.  You will be told a million times that you are broken, and a million times you will be told you need fixed.  Not true.

Words like perfect are silly.  Words like spiritual are worse than silly.  What is simply is.  Take your spiritual practice and do it wrong.  Do it as wrong as you can.  Set up camp in wrongness, bed down, and stay put.  Soon, you will laugh because that will be the only thing you can do.

There you have it-Nirvana.

And here is a mantra that the Goddess Bernice shared with me in a prayer by the river.  This will remind you of how to get to Nirvana.  Please try not to do it right.  Let your thoughts wonder.  Sit slouched, or sit straight.  Glance at a pretty woman or a cute man.  Be sad.  Be happy.  If you cannot do it wrong, keep trying.  Soon you will succeed.  Here is the mantra.   It is a big secret.  Please share it with everyone you meet.

Luv, Luv, Luv, Luv, Luv, Luv, Luv, Luv, Luv,  Luv, Luv, Luv, Luv, Luv,  Luv, Luv, Luv, Luv, Luv,  Luv, Luv, Luv, Luv, Luv,  Luv, Luv, Luv, Luv, Luv,  Luv, Luv, Luv, Luv, Luv,  Luv, Luv.

A warning, if you chant this mantra, be careful about looking people in the eyes because you will fall in love with them.  And they might fall in love with you.  And, horror or horrors, you might fall in love with yourself.  After you do so, you are free to call yourself an illusion, but not before then.

Blessings,

John

Baba Ram Jahn:  Do you have any idea what he is saying?

Questioner:  No, but I think he is saying that as long as I do not mind that I do not know then I will be happy.

Baba Ram Jahn:  Then that must explain why I am so happy.  I long ago gave up thinking I should know anything.

Questioner:  But I still want to know things!  Does that mean I am doomed to be unhappy?

Baba Ram Jahn: No, only if you think it is wrong to want to know things. Be who you are and love who you are.

Questioner:  That should be easy.  I am adorable.  I know I am because you have told me this many, many times, again, and again.  And you could not tell me these things unless you believed them about yourself.

Baba Ram Jahn: Yes, my Child, we are very adorable.  We are supposed to be adorable.

Bow to the Inner Heart


  • JOHN CONLEY: Bow to the Inner Heart

    The chants on this CD are meant to fill your heart with joy. But more than that, they are meant to be used. Otherwise, how can they do their work? Chant them while you drive, while you shop, while you smile, and while you weep. Make them yours.

Her Heart

  • Her Heart

Kirtan Walas


  • Heather and Benji of Shantala! opened my heart and poured love into it. They sing with voices of pure joy. In song after beautiful song, their message is always the same, and that message is Love.

  • My heart soars with sweet Gina Sala.She is magical and to sing with her is to become magical.

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    When I chant with her, my heart speeds to distant inner lands where I meet, of all people, myself! She is a star on a dark night. And her joyous light inspires me. I am honored to call her friend.


  • Ty Burhoe is a master of the inner beat. He is a wild shout of rhythm wrapped up in a gentle man. His music both moves me to dance and moves me to Stillness. Jai Ma!

  • Jai Uttal walks his talk, or rather his song. He is humble and kind both on the stage and off the stage. And his music is sublime with its blend of traditions both east and west.

Meet My Friends

  • Meet some of the wonderful friends I meet. These are friends who have enriched my life: Amit Goswami, Meg Coyle Irsay, Jane Puckey.

Friends

  • Dan the Guitar

Paula Byrne


  • My friend and teacher, Paula Byrne, is one of the most incredible people I have ever known. From the first day I met her, I felt loved and appreciated. I was new to the world of ecstatic dance, and Paula was leaving to teach in Hawaii.

    She said, "You can come with me!" And I said, "I don't have enough money." And she said, "Then I'll take you in my suitcase!"

    Yes, she is a flirt. But so am I, and I know when I meet a kindred heart. So give her a chance to flirt with you, and you will fall in love with her just as I did. I can almost guarantee it.

    The_divine_paula

    Paula has recently set out on her own as a dancing wild woman, meaning she will teach us to dance a wild dance too! Or, in less poetic language, she is teaching solo now. Visit her at One Dance-Moving Body and Spirt. Let her open your heart as she did mine.

Ecstatic Dance


  • If I lived in Washington, I would want to live in Olympia because then I could dance at Waves Studio with Sara, Amara, Liz, Kari and their wonderful community of dancers. More loving and caring friends I have never met. Jai Ma!

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