You might be surprised to hear that I met my “soul” in a federal prison. I started teaching meditation at a nearby facility Februrary 2014 and I kept choosing to spend more and more time behind the walls. Why? you ask..well, I am coming to realize that I am my most authentic self there. I pray to be of service as I enter and so I act with clarity of intention. I have no one to impress. There are no ulterior motives. I am not hiding behind a persona. I have no history with these people. I may never see them again after this class is completed and therefore there are no expectations of a future relationship.
I am serving without hopes of anything in return. And yet, I receive everything.
We practice in the present. We sit in stillness; allowing our center to draw forth and shine. It is simple and raw and unaffected.
It is there amongst the concrete and metal bars, I experience incomparable beauty in a place deemed by much of the world as ugly and forgotten. To me, it is the place I feel the most at home away from home.
encounterillumination 