Intro to Inner Peace
On: my visit to Bhutan + a free live gathering December 13th
It’s late September and I’m two hours pruned in the hydropool of a hotel in Thailand. The last time I was in Asia was 11 years ago…passing through sacred sites in India and visiting my uncle in Afghanistan. This time, I am quietly exhaling into the impossible contortions of Thai massage, hunting down Wat Pho balm, training and meditating inside my room, preparing for a journey that was only a dream throughout my life.
It’s a wonder how a quest through Bhutan with a circle of innovation and creative leaders fell into my lap, but it’s easy to question the mystery. It’s easy to see the miracle of an answer to a forgotten childhood longing. An invitation that met me in the tender space of a deeply inward journey, and one I couldn’t pass up. What was more difficult to pinpoint was: why am I going at this time?
Why do we do anything really? Is it because it’s what we’ve been told to do? Is it because we secretly hope to have some sort of reward: the high of revelation and connection? Or perhaps it’s because of a deep compulsion…oft attributed to past lives, an impressionable encounter, or a primal priming for certain affinities? Whatever the case, I believe it’s important to have some kind of “why” when taking leaps into new territory.
For example, studying and practicing disciplines that can help develop my meditation practice satisfies a curiosity for where the end of suffering might reside. Not because of some selfless pursuit, but because I really really need my own drama to end.
The more I trod along, the more those reasons start to transform. Sometimes there are setbacks. Pursuing spiritual study isn’t flawless or without traps; it’s possible to get hurt. And this is why teachers are so crucial. Both those we seek out in the world, and the inner teacher we begin to draw closer to as we walk these paths more diligently. Sometimes we need a big cleanse, and sometimes we are tested in how clean we can stay after getting the demons and donuts kicked out of us.
At some point it doesn’t become a choice, it becomes like a vital organ that keeps us running. Ahead of arriving in Bhutan, I clarified that I wanted to understand how better to be of service in this world. Bhutan has an aura that is difficult to describe without mythologizing the region. It is a country ruled by a democratic monarchy devoted to service and envisioning sustainable and compassionate futures for humanity. I arrived with a group of visionaries and builders who opened their hearts to be humbled by this land so vast in spirit.
There are few straight roads in between Paro and Thimphu. As a mountain girl, I appreciated the winding ways we arrived atop cliff-hanging temples and monasteries. I appreciated the brief moments of space, the rush from one blessing to the next, the continued clarification for why I was walking this dream…with these people…at this time in my life.
There is no short answer. There are few ways to even attempt to explain the impact of this visit. To stutter through the highlights~ private concert with Yo-Yo Ma the first night (dream within a dream!), guides who protected my meditation time in temples as others shuffled in and out, a friend who graciously let me pool tears into him at Tiger’s Nest, another guide that hugged me goodbye and sincerely whispered in my ear to “please be happy,” and an afternoon discussion with His Majesty the King of Bhutan on his vision for the Gelephu Mindfulness City.
I find it fascinating how a “Westernized” and secularized version of Buddhist principles in the mindfulness movement has returned to the Himalayas so circuitously. Though Bhutan is not the largest or most influential Buddhist nation, it is one of the world’s only majority Vajrayana Buddhist nations. My discussions with the people of Bhutan showed me a hunger to share their way of life, desire for connection across traditions and upliftment of a spirituality that resonates globally not just locally. While Bhutan has a more measured and controlled way of allowing people in, it is done so to preserve their culture, environment and everyone’s well-being through happiness. That elusive and medicinal state. The project of GMC, among many, is to unite the world under a new model of urban development that sustains happiness for all. That’s a start-up I can get behind.
The experiences and insights on this quest weren’t just ceremonial or intellectual, they were grounded in a wisdom that comes from alignment with values rather than the velocity we are so accustomed to in the Western and Digital world. Although my life has slowed exponentially and I’ve withdrawn my energy from many things, it allows me to move quickly and easily through many dimensions. Slow isn’t what we think. Ancient isn’t outdated. Storing energy doesn’t have to be “selfish.” We are in an age that demands so much of us, yet to defy this is seen as a sacrifice. Paying attention to the rumbling of the earth and the chaos in mass consciousness, refusal and reclamation of ones sovereignty is a helpful, though mighty, first couple steps in living through the lens of gain not loss.
For as much of my life as I can remember, I’ve danced around this notion of peace. Why do we choose violence so easily, why do we claim peace but never practice or sustain it, if more people could know it or feel it would we actually cherish it? What Bhutan, the land and the teacher, helped me realize is that peace is not some penultimate state, but a companion that walks with you if you know how to summon it.
I had to go through finding my own peace taking the next step to better be of service. Part of that is 1:1 sessions which are still happening. If you’ve been hesitating, now’s the time to take advantage of a pay-what-you-choose model!
And if you made it this far, then the continuation of that are offerings like this:
Intro to Inner Peace
In the spirit of these meandering musings, I’d like to invite you to a free live digital gathering on Saturday December 13th for an event called, Intro to Inner Peace. I personally feel there are very elementary foundations people can build in order to more effectively use whatever tools, meditation paths, therapeutic modalities, healing skills etc. are of interest to them. It’s both serious and very unserious…where does one even begin to introduce this vast idea?? Join me next weekend and maybe you’ll get a sense of how I started and how that might benefit you.
There will be more in the future in case you can’t make it, and no- there won’t be a recording!
This session will help illuminate:
A clearer understanding of what the “search for peace” actually means
Practical pathways drawn from wisdom traditions and how they’ve been modernized
A simple, grounded method you can begin practicing immediately
A space to reconnect to yourself without pressure or performance
Thanks to the team at COLLINS and Abroad for coming together to offer this unique quest to Bhutan that will be with me forever <3