Welcome to the Yoga Church Sunday Sermons.

November 4th, 2018

Back in September, a yoga church community member asked me how we can love people we have contempt for. If you’ve been following along then you know her question sent me down a rabbit hole of exploration…

This week I have the fourth, and final (for now!), sermon about love. I seriously didn’t mean to write a 4-part series about love. But my heart just couldn’t leave the topic. If you follow me on instagram, you may have seen the photo I posted last week of a huge maple leaf held up against the sky. I took the photo to capture a beautiful image of light. I did this for the same reason I haven’t been able to stop exploring love.

Our world is struggling right now. There is so much division and suffering. We need more Light! We need more Love! I don’t know about you, but I often feel lost. I don’t always know what to do… So I take pictures of Light and write sermons about Love.

We can’t control what other people do, but we can decide what we do. This is a somewhat obvious statement, but I think it’s important to remember. When everything is falling apart around us our first reaction is to try and “fix-it.” We want to go out into the world and “do something.” This is good! But it’s external. And our external work will only be effective if we’re also doing some internal “fixing.”

This week’s sermon explores the topic of self-love. It asks us to think about how we talk to ourselves in the privacy of our own minds. In it, I share a bit about my own experience of painful self-judgement. I share how I was able to lower the volume on some of my damaging thought patterns, and I offer you a simple practice to transform your own habits of mental self-criticism (whatever form they come in).

Love as an Inner Sanctuary

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Over the past few weeks I’ve been writing and thinking and preaching about love. Love and contempt. Love and sacrifice. Love and attention. I’ve asked us to think deeply about who we love and how we love them. I’ve asked us to think about who we don’t love and why. I’ve asked us to do honest self reflection and to take action. I’ve asked us to reach beyond our comfort zones to do the hard work of learning to love better.

But after all this, there’s one thing still stuck in my mind. One thing that hasn’t been named in all of this exploration. Self love. What happens when our contempt is directed inward? What happens when it’s our own mind, heart, or body that we deem unclean? What happens when we’re unable to make sacrifices for our own health and well-being?

The sad fact is, even if we’re not suffering from full fledged self-hatred, many, if not most of us experience some sort of self-judgement on a daily, or even hourly, basis.  As a yoga teacher I spend a great deal of time studying thoughts and the habits of thinking. In my work with yoga students and yoga therapy clients I come alongside people as they explore their own thought patterns. Through the years I’ve noticed some commonalities. Many people feel like they live at the whim of their thoughts. When they start to pay attention to the functioning of their mind they begin to realize that the sensory mind has more control over their actions and feelings then it probably should. And some of the most common thoughts running through their minds are thoughts of self-doubt, self-judgement, anxiety, and fear. We often speak to ourselves—in the privacy of our own inner minds—in ways that we wouldn’t allow others to speak to us. In ways that we would never speak to someone else.

This may be a common experience, but it isn’t something to simply shake off as a normal part of being human. What we think about is important. Because our thoughts, especially the ones we think over and over and over again shape our experience of life and our perception of the world. The Buddha says that “All we are is the result of what we have thought.” What you think about shapes who you are and what you become. I have a voice inside me that I’ve started calling “the mean voice.” The mean voice can be really mean. But let me tell you, for a couple of reasons, she’s a lot less mean than she used to be. First, I let the mean voice out. Please understand me, I’m not being metaphorical here. I literally voiced, out loud, the things the mean voice was saying.

Things can get intense locked inside our minds. But when we bring them out into the light of day we’re able to look at them differently. I’m inviting you into the practice of speaking or writing down your thoughts—verbatim. Next time you notice your mind filled with self-judgement start talking out loud or get out paper and write down what you hear. This process of bringing out the mean voice (or whatever you want to name your inner critic and please do name it, it’s helpful) gives you space to analyze the words without getting lost in them. When our mind is just thinking on autopilot we can forget that we’re not actually our thoughts.

I want to make sure you hear me: You are not your thoughts. Our thoughts are just one part of us. Other parts of us include our stomach and it’s hunger, the weird sensation we feel when we hit our elbow—or funny bone—just right so that we feel the ulnar nerve, the emotion of excitement, the hormone of cortisol pumping through our endocrine system, our eye color, and on and on. We are really interesting and complex creatures and thoughts are absolutely part of who we are. But they are not WHO we are. Yoga sutra 1.4 tells us that we spend most of our time—most of our life—lost in the ever changing movement of our minds. This isn’t good, but it’s especially bad if the ever changing movement of our minds is lost on a loop of self-doubt, self-judgement, anxiety, and fear.

So please, let those thoughts out. Once I forced my mean voice to speak in the real world, I was able to respond differently. And I was able to put the mean voice up against other voices in my life. I’m blessed with an amazing, deeply empathetic best friend and once, when we were in the bathroom together while she was drying her hair, I found the courage to tell her how I talked to myself in my own head. Tears welled up in her eyes, she put the blow dryer down, I think she touched my head or pointed at me or something, and said: “You’re not allowed to talk to my friend like that.”

It was a powerful, transformative moment for me. One that highlights the importance of cultivating relationships in which we can share our vulnerabilities. Because love is always multi-directional. In my practice I’m always trying to love the world better. But through my practice I could see the ways I wasn’t loving myself. With this awareness I continued practicing and eventually I found the courage to admit this lack of love out loud. I continued practicing and was finally able to admit it out loud in public—at least in the public of the bathroom with my best friend. And through this action of articulating pain out loud I was offered love. And through the action of receiving love I was able to create the habit of a new inner voice. A voice that stands guard against the mean voice.

In order to love the world, we have to love ourselves. But in order to love ourselves, we have to love the world. As I said, love is multi-directional. It’s active. It’s a current. And while love is always, already within us, sometimes we have to more intentionally place ourselves within its flow.

Author and minister Wayne Muller wrote: “All we are, said the Buddha, is a result of what we have thought. He might also have added: All we are is a result of what we have loved. What we love draws us forward and shapes our destiny. Our love teaches us what to look for, where to aim, where to walk. With our every action, word, relationship, and commitment, we slowly and inevitably become what we love.”

This brings me back to the practice of pratipaksa bhavanam—cultivating the opposite. We don’t have control over much in this life, but we do get to decide where our attention goes. So let me be a voice for you, as my friend was a voice for me: You are worthy of love, kindness, and self acceptance. You have permission to tell your inner mean voice it’s not welcome anymore. You have my encouragement to take up the practice of directing your attention toward love. The practice of cultivating self-love instead of self-judgment. The practice of cultivating self-acceptance instead of self-doubt. The practice of cultivating inner faith and trust instead of anxiety and fear. The practice of cultivating connection with the love always, already within you. The divine spark of love that exists as an inner sanctuary within your heart. 

Before I go, I want to offer you one concrete way to take up these practices:

  1. Make a commitment to pay attention. When you notice yourself lost down the rabbit hole of self-judgement, pause and say thank you. Be grateful that you noticed.
  2. In this pause of gratitude, decide with intention to cultivate something different. Turn your attention toward love. You could turn your attention toward the love you feel for your pet, for a friend, for your partner. For the beauty you see in the tree outside your window. It could even, simply, be for the gratitude you feel for interrupting your habitual thoughts of judgement.
  3. Take a moment—even just a breath—and choose to direct your attention toward love.
  4. And then move on with your day. Do this over and over and over again. Because as Wayne Muller said: “Our love teaches us what to look for, where to aim, where to walk. With our every action, word, relationship, and commitment, we slowly and inevitably become what we love.”

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

  • Have you ever paid attention to your thought patterns? Are you aware of what you think about regularly? Are there any thoughts that seem to run on a loop in your mind?
  • How do you speak to yourself in the privacy of your own mind? Is your inner voice kind? Anxious? Critical?
  • What direction are your most common thoughts leading you in? Is this the direction you want to go?
  • Have you ever attempted to verbalize your inner thoughts out loud? If so, what was the experience like? If not, does it sound interesting? Have you ever shared your common inner thoughts with anyone else? A close friend? Or partner?
  • I often say: “Love is always, already within us.” Do you believe me? Do you feel connected to the spark of love within you? Do you have any practices that help you cultivate and deepen this connection? If not, would you like some? (seriously, let me know!)

Over the years I’ve created a lot of self-portraits—they can offer a useful path to self understanding. For this week’s artwork I decided to share a small piece of a larger painting I made a while back.

We are actually Light. But we forget. We get lost in the ever changing, ever swirling movements of our mind. One of the most important parts of personal practice is taking time to remember the Light always within and around us.


Share your thoughts

We all benefit from the wisdom of spiritual community. And community means more than one voice, so please add yours to the conversation.

COMMUNITY COMMENTS

We all benefit from the wisdom of spiritual community. And community means more than one voice, so please add yours to the conversation. What did this week’s sermon and reflection questions spark in you?

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7 Comments

  1. Nancy November 4, 2018 at 8:38 am - Reply

    Love. Acceptance. Being open to “what is”, and go with the flow. Start with noticing, without criticism of others. And start with noticing and naming thoughts in myself, without criticism of myself. I think a lot of this is at the beginning, at the “noticing” part. And then acknowledge, thank the thought, and move on. Kind of like meditation, you thank the thought, then get back to meditation. Same could be said about self. And daily life.
    Thank you for the opportunity to explore these concepts, Summer.

  2. Chanel November 4, 2018 at 9:21 am - Reply

    Hi, Summer,

    Thank you for this sermon. I have a practice that I can offer. It comes from a book called The Mindful Path to Self Compassion by Christopher Germer. Germer is a Buddhist psychologist and this book promotes both mindfulness and loving kindness. There is also a large focus on acceptance of the negative feelings we experience, instead of pushing them away or judging ourselves for them. If we stop to examine our feelings and thoughts when we are feeling bad, we’ll often notice that we judge ourselves for having the bad feeling. We move from some version of “I feel bad” to “I AM bad.” What Germer (and others) recommends is that we notice the feeling, label it if we can, accept it, and offer ourselves loving kindness in the form of the metta phrases “May I be safe/May I be happy/May I be healthy/May I live my life with ease.”

    I’ll give one small example. I used to get really mad at myself for getting irritated in traffic. I would think something like “This traffic sucks I’m going to be here forever and my neck is killing me.” Then I would think “You shouldn’t think that way, you’re not the center of the universe. You’re so selfish.” Basically this message is “It’s not okay to feel what you’re feeling and you’re bad for feeling it.” With the practices I’ve learned from this book, now when I’m stuck in traffic, this pattern might look more like: “I feel impatient and I’m in pain because my neck hurts.” Then I repeat the metta phrases to myself. I used to try to think up my own because I’m skeptical about what health and happiness even mean, but what I’ve learned is that it’s not the words that matter so much as the intention behind them. I use the metta phrases to offer myself loving kindness after I’ve named what I’m thinking and feeling instead of judging myself.

    You can also offer the metta phrases to others. I can offer another small example. I used to get really annoyed at people who would eat in classes. I’m just kind of sensitive to the noise. I don’t like that about myself. I would think “You have no right to be annoyed by that.” I believe that people have the right to eat, even in class! Of course. So when I would get these intense feelings of irritation I would think “They have the right to eat. You have no right to feel this way.” Do you think I felt less annoyed? No. I felt even more agigitated because now I also felt ashamed and guilty in addition to being annoyed. Now, I try and do something more like: “I feel annoyed.” Then repeat the metta phrases to myself. Then I also repeat the metta phrases but offer them (in my head) to the other person. May she be safe, may she be healthy, may she be happy, may she live her life with ease. I also try to offer others some empathy as well as the metta phrases. In traffic, they must be in a big hurry. In class, she must be hungry (duh) and didn’t have time to eat outside class. I think it helps to keep in mind that it’s really the intention of offering compassion and loving kindness and not so much the exact words that you use, because you really don’t know what is going on with other people and why they’re doing certain things. But you can choose to respond in loving kindness. I also don’t think we have to let people off the hook for their bad behavior. Sometimes in traffic I think “He must be in a big hurry. May he be safe and slow down.” I still want that person to slow down because I think they’re making the situation more dangerous for everyone. But I can’t make them slow down. So I try to offer myself and the other person compassion, and maybe even some humor.

    I’ve offered some examples of somewhat minor day to day stressors, but I have done this practice with other more serious things going on as well. Of course, it’s harder. One thing I like about it is that you don’t have to think of the exact right words to think. Sometimes it’s a jumble of “Sad. Grief. Anger. Ashamed. May I be safe. May I be happy. May he be safe.” It’s really more about the intention to be loving to yourself and others. Remembering that makes it easier to practice when things are more intense.

    Chanel

    • Summer November 5, 2018 at 12:48 pm - Reply

      Oh Chanel, this is AMAZING! Thank you so much for taking the time to write it out and share it with us. Your examples speak directly to the context of real life and they’re so useful. I’ve already sent a few folks back to the page to read this… Again, thank you!

  3. Gale Turco November 4, 2018 at 12:50 pm - Reply

    Today’s message really spoke to me, Summer. Thank you!

  4. Jennifer November 5, 2018 at 9:25 am - Reply

    This was very meaningful to me, in the middle of a week when I’ve been particularly down on myself. That sentence your friend offered, “You can’t speak to my friend that way” cut straight to my heart. I’ve felt the same way about other friends who speak so badly about themselves… but had never redirected that statement toward my own shadow voice.

    These sermons are a balm and a blessing. Thank you so much, dear one.

    • Summer November 5, 2018 at 12:46 pm - Reply

      Yes, it’s always easier to tell someone else’s mean voice to be nice isn’t it? I’m so glad my friend’s wisdom spoke to your heart!

  5. Sally November 7, 2018 at 4:26 pm - Reply

    Hello-Thank you so much Summer for this powerful 4 part message!! I was behind with the sermons and watched the last 3 in.a row. What Chanel had to share was amazing also. Thank you! With a background of abuse I believe I learned “self-loathing” as a matter of course. Through the practice of noticing during the past several months with the specific focus of loving myself–I have found that my intention is cultivating Love from the platform on loving myself. My practice integrated intention of accepting first my body and my own body. In finding the place of sanctuary in my own heart, I returned to that place with the faith that Jesus was with my every feeling and emotion guiding me to a deeper understanding of love. However, it began with loving myself and even embracing myself with a loving heart. It took practice each and every day–my intention now is in embracing the Love of God and a personal human deity in Jesus. My self loathing had diminished to the point that I no longer associate with others whom have judgments or hold me to negative patterns of behavior I exhibited in the past that I have more than been accountable for. Now, with the advice from Chanel, I will integrate compassionate thoughts into the equation. I also need the approval of others less and notice rejection no longer holds “power” for me. I also Thank you for offering a way to develop self love in a deeper capacity.

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