Heart Warrior

What does it mean to be a warrior of the Heart?

Tired Eyes? Click below to hear Dingo read the blog.

What does it mean to be a ' Warrior of the Heart'? This phrase stirs in me such a myriad of emotions and concepts. It opens a powerful and vivid cosmos of contradictions between the notion of war and the soft and sacred tenderness of such an intimate place as the heart . Yet when I dig deeper, I sense in this phrase the warrior like courage, patience, and unconditional discipline it takes to stay close and present to my heart's true song.

And when I take a word like ' Courage ' and break it down into 'Cour-rage' ( cœur being french for 'heart' ) - Suddenly I am aware of the 'Rage of my Heart.'

My practice in recent years has been Bodhicitta - an ancient Buddhist practice awakening my heart's compassion to the suffering in this world by softening the armor around it and working directly with the pain and sadness present rather than distracting myself or bypassing these uncomfortable energies.

Those who train wholeheartedly in awakening unconditional and relative Bodhicitta are called bodhisattvas or warriors—not warriors who kill and harm but warriors of nonaggression who hear the cries of the world.

Pema Chödrön

And yet I find myself moving forward from one goal to another, carrying a heart that fills with the suffering of this world. Accepting that 'life goes on' as I apathetically and indirectly participate in the destruction of our ecosystems and biodiversity. As I awkwardly insulate myself from racism, social injustice, gender inequality, corruption, warmongering, etc. Until, like the air filter in my car, my heart becomes so clogged that I simply lie on the ground, overcome with grief in an eerie muted stasis.

We all carry grief, sorrow, anger, and sadness in our hearts and we are all broken in our own beautifully unique ways. That is why this work is so crucially important. That is why in ceremony Ben and I are called to ask you to feel into your heart AND not back down. When we come together in a community, our healing is magnified. And as warriors the sword Ben and I carry is sound, our shield is mumma cacao and our courage comes from your willingness to open. We intend to hold you safe while you journey home, to your heart. To bravely approach the wounds with the courage of a warrior and to love them into wholeness.