THIS BEING HUMAN is a reader-supported publication. INNER NECCESSITIES is a sub-newsletter which serves the function of a social-media post. If you have the means and you value this work, I’d be so grateful if you’d consider becoming a paid subscriber. This will help me sustain these offerings and continue writing.
We’re packing a lot of beneficial material into our upcoming Sowa Rigpa spiritual-healing retreat next weekend at Menla March 27 - 30 (ie: trauma-healing, soul-retrieving, Tibetan bla massage, healing meditations, Nejang yoga and deep work with the five elements) and in the evening sessions we will be focusing on mantra. We’ll learn how to use our own voices to help heal our own voices, bodies, and minds, and how we can even use the voice (and Sanskrit syllables) to essentially call back lost parts of ourselves and our souls. These are very simple practices, but the effects are profound. And I think we all realize the importance--and benefit--of simple SIMPLICITY these days. Capitalism has made our lives complicated. But we are, in essence, quite simple and powerful enough without needing to add so many layers of complexity. So we will learn and practice simple healing mantras from the Tibetan tradition, and we will also spend time with the Ali-Kali syllables in Sanskrit.
In Sowa Ripga, there is a branch of healing (called mantra-healing) which uses specific Tibetan and Sanskrit mantras to initiate healing states, remove subtle-body blockages, and restore balance and energetic flow at physical, mental and subtle levels. With mantra-healing, we are using the vibrations of the mantra to affect the vibrations of our own physical, mental and subtle body systems, with the aim of restoring balance, maintaining health, cultivating states of peace, and preventing future illnesses and imbalances.
During the evening program of this retreat, we will practice healing mantras together as a group (singing them in the call-and-response style of traditional kirtan) in order to further purify our channels and open up the chakras.
On Sat 3/29 there will be a public kirtan open to the community.
This retreat is a program of deep-self care; of rejuvenation; of re-learning how to gently return to our true selves; of practicing simple methods that can activate the profound states of healing and bliss that exist within us all. This retreat is a precious opportunity to learn how to reclaim sovereignty over your own physical health and mental well-being and to understand--at a subtle level--what it means to become co-creators of our own realities. Plus, Menla is a truly magical place--the land of the Medicine Buddha--where the land, air, water and trees all support your well-being. Together, through these practices, we can rediscover and reclaim our vital essences and our authentic selves. And, as the great Gabor Mate often says, authenticity is a survival need.
WHAT IS THE “INNER NECESSITIES” NEWSLETTER, AND WHY?:
Dear Readers: In January 2025, as the world titled on its axis, I decided to start sharing shorter posts here—the kind of short bursts of insight or inspirationand images that I usually share on social media. As many of you know, things are shifting quite dramatically in the social media realm, and I am not sure I want to remain connected to a platform like Meta, which does not have pure motivation at its core. We need to stay mindful of the energy we are transmitting at all times, and I want to stay aligned with an energy that comes from a place of truth. I’ll share these shorter posts on the sub-newletter “INNER NECESSITIES.”