Author: Alain Herriott

“Our feelings are our most genuine paths to knowledge.” —Audre Lorde

Within us, locked inside our fears and beliefs, are our true feelings.  When allowed to blossom we experience genuine knowledge, the knowing that we are fully complete within our own self.  ~Alain & Jody Herriott

Joining with the formed and the unformed is a journey of infinite discovery; it is also an act of understanding the art of creation that springs forth from it.  While we discover that we truly are everything, we also discover that we are the void.  All things spring from it and all things return to it, yet we choose to stay and play in the manifest for a time, experiencing all the possibilities and playing the game of life.  To awaken to this way of being is an evolving process.  We build on each day’s awakening until we finally realize that we are there and the playground of life becomes even more amazing.  ~Alain & Jody Herriott

“Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.” —Thich Nhat Hanh, Stepping into Freedom: Rules of Monastic Practices for Novices

There are many ways to achieve presence and finally to awaken.  Some people use breathing, watching, counting and feeling it; that opens you too.  However it is only a step.  Feeling our feelings is what finally bridges the gap from having to do things to remain present.  This act will finally allow us to Be, for through feeling we experience the integration of body and mind and the rest is simply there. — Alain & Jody Herriott

“I’m one of my sensations.” — Alberto Caeiro, The Collected Poems of Alberto Caeiro

As we go about life many forget that we are beings of sensation, it is the primary way we relate to everything.  When we are caught in the Drama of life we forget that we can transcend our fears.  If we go into our feelings we realize who we are — transcendent beings, infinite, capable and at peace.  ~Alain & Jody Herriott

When you can see through the mist of Maya to the Self, the mist has not disappeared. You have just learned to see through it.  — Shyamananda

Knowing yourself.  As you experience presence the veil parts and you are able to know your world for the first time.  Yet to those around you everything looks the same.  Such is the nature of parting the veil of Maya.  We know who we are and nothing is ever quite the same again.  ~ Alain & Jody Herriott

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

How perfectly said.  Some will go within and some will go outside themselves to find out who they are.  Both roads lead us home but in both cases presence is the key.  So travel, go beyond in whatever way feels best to you but go; it is a fabulous journey.  ~Alain & Jody Herriott

Joining with the formed and unformed.  The Tao te Ching says ….”caught in desire you see only the manifestations, free from desire you realize the mystery, yet mystery and manifestations arise from the same source, darkness.  Darkness within darkness the gateway to all understanding.”  As we join, we realize the mystery and we simply are.  ~Alain & Jody Herriott

We are always talking about feeling and its unwinding.  We find that feeling our feelings leads to a state of being often called enlightenment.  This means balance is simply there.  Freedom and satisfaction lie within it.  From this place of balance we wish you a happy holiday season, one where you allow the feelings to unfold and joy and gratitude and a fully balanced life are yours to enjoy.  ~Alain & Jody Herriott

The act of creating reality is always happening.  We create our world every day.  Some creations are fun and some are not, yet we judge each aspect of every creation.  We talk about it and tell others how good or bad our day (the creations) has been.  This is how most of us live in the world, in what is called Maya, the illusion of the senses.  When we allow ourselves to feel, our limitations unwind and creation changes.  We unfold our resistances and judging begins to drop away.  And creation, fun creation, happens more and more, for when we are in harmony with ourselves, creation comes into harmony too.  ~Alain & Jody Herriott

“The master keeps her mind always at one with the Tao;  that is what gives her her radiance. …. How can it make her radiant? Because she lets it.” #21 Tao te Ching 

So much is said about the Tao and what it means and how to apply it.  To keep it simple let us say when one is open we experience a sense of flowing inside and balance is experienced.  As this evolves we become radiant.  When we question or evaluate the radiance it stops, for the mind is like a wall that blocks our passage.  By letting ourselves be, the radiance continues and the rest happens all by itself.  ~Alain & Jody Herriott