Exhaling, taking a moment to actually allow my heart to break open.
I am willing at this moment to cultivate the awareness of some small spark of light, a light in my soul for being absorbed in the quality of ease. This inner peaceful experience arises from my practice to go inward and breathe into my life force. I can remember that humanity is kindness and compassion even as my eyes and ears witness war raging right now in Ukraine.
War is such a disconnect from the essence of our true nature. We are living in the shadow of ourselves, and how painful it is to be living the horrors of turmoil caused by this aggressive display of false power. So many families are uprooted; so many people are fleeing the only home they know to escape the violence of war.
The heaviness of the situation is being lived in our own neighborhoods. We are all connected as one global humanity. People are dying, and we are all suffering. This battle being fought on Ukrainian soil is also being waged internally.
The teachings of yoga from the wisdom of the Mahabharata, in the Bhagavad Gita, illustrate the struggle and suffering caused by our own internal battle. The moral dilemma and despair about the violence and death against one’s own family. Today the landscape of Russia and Ukraine is this exact picture of the story of the Gita. Families have to take a side and fight their own kin, many with relatives living and existing in both lands. Just a week ago, most were living peacefully in these two nations, and they now are having to make the cruel choice of harming their own kin. The pain of this extends around the world.
The text offers tools for us to look into our inner landscape and acknowledge our own struggle with the opposites. To witness the battle between our identity and our soul. How can I maintain a quality of peace as the world is raging? The mind is seeking balance but it takes a willingness to come inward. How can we cultivate stillness and harmony when the outer world is spinning? I ask myself what is the right action now?
One tool is chanting. “Om shanti, shanti, shanti.” When chanting, sound becomes light, the light becomes space, and within this space, there is the possibility for the heart to open. The quality of peace is within us. The ripple moves out into the world and our presence can heal.
We chant shanti three times. Shanti is the vibration to bring about the ease of 3 different types of problems. First, adhidaivika are the problems that arise from the forces over which we have no control as in natural disasters from mother nature. The second problem, adhibhautika, arises from beings around us as in war or abuse of any kind. The third problem, adhyatmka, is caused by factors centered on ourselves such as our own worries, fears, and doubts. The mantra helps us to still the roaming mind and allow for freedom from agitation from these disturbances.
Chant “Shanti” three times. It is always done in threes. Each time becoming deeper. The first time for purifying the body, the second time for the mind, and the third time for the heightened spiritual experience of touching the soul of humanity. To chant is to pray for the peace of all beings in the world.
Let us all come together and use the mantra as an opportunity to practice our own peaceful ceasefire. As we can still the mind, we begin to move into the next right action. Here are a few organizations that I have researched that are providing ways to help:
Ukraine’s Voices of Children Foundation & Longwood Care combine efforts to support children and families affected by the war with GoFundMe.
Save the Children is raising money for the Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund. Save the Children has been operating in Ukraine since 2014, including in the conflict-impacted regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. Currently, teams are working with Ukrainian migrants and asylum seekers in refugee camps in north-eastern Romania and assessing needs in Poland and Hungary. 7.5 million Ukrainian children and families are in mortal danger.
CARE is raising money for its Ukraine Crisis Fund, which is aiming to reach 4 million with immediate aid and recovery, food, water, hygiene kits, psychosocial support, and cash assistance — prioritizing women and girls, families, and the elderly.
Please comment below if you know of other ways to help.
In love and light,
Laura Jane