Embodying Change
Celebrate with me: birthdays and 101 subscribers!
Hello friends!
Thank you! You did it! After two years of publishing Drip, Drip, Drip on Substack, I now have 101 paid subscribers out of a total of 12,665 subscribers. I didn’t know it was a thing but as soon as Drip hit 100 subscribers, Substack sent me an email telling me I was a Best Seller and offered me lots of advice to keep growing. And, to be honest, your support really does motivate me to keep going.
And to that end, I’m going to extend the discounted price for the yearly membership price until Sunday, August 31. When you sign up for the yearly membership you also automatically receive a discount for my four annual online mindfulness retreats. This is my effort to support you by making it easier to commit to a meditation practice.
I started this Substack because, well, I’d been sending out newsletters to my students for over 15 years. During that time, I wrote a book called May I Be Happy and nearly 200 magazine articles. I wrote a monthly column in the Shambhala Sun, now called Lion’s Roar. I wrote the first vinyasa column for Yoga Journal followed by the beginner’s column and then the masters column. I wrote for a column in Real Simple for three years and numerous other pieces in Tricycle Magazine, Natural Health, Self, Cooking Light and Yoga International.
My work was primarily that of teaching yoga and meditation, but writing has always been part of my work, too. So it felt natural to expand my reach from an OM yoga school newsletter to a wider audience that might be interested in meditation and Buddhist wisdom.
I wanted to show how Buddhism can enrich everybody’s life—no incense, bells, or fancy mudras necessary. Unless you are an ordained monk, shaving your head and winding rosaries around your wrist are not just show-offy—they are beside the point. Instead of calling attention to yourself, we can learn to pay attention to others.
If you are an ordinary person, like me, who goes to the grocery store and gets grumpy trying to find a parking spot and falls asleep in front of the TV and doesn’t always think kind thoughts about your neighbor, Drip is for you. We can have an ordinary life yet not feel stuck. What I have learned from my guru is that an ordinary life is a fantastic way, if not the best way, to practice dharma. Drip is my effort to share this wisdom in a way that is relevant and hopefully, helpful to you.
Reaching 101 paid subscribers has inspired me to reflect on my past as a writer and in that process I came across one of my favorite pieces. Lions Roar commissioned me to write this small piece—less than 500 words, which is not so easy—as part of a round-up of writings on impermanence.
Since my birthday was just a couple weeks ago it also struck a chord for me. I wrote it when I was 58 and now I’m 72! Some women I know like to take a picture of themselves in a bikini on their birthday and post it on instagram. Me, I like to roll out this little piece of writing and think about it. It makes me smile and I hope it will make you smile, too.
P.S. Happy Birthday to Ben Heath, too! He is the guy behind the scenes who makes Drip, Drip, Drip look good and he also suggests good titles. Feel free to say Happy Birthday to him in the comments!
Embodying Change
It wasn’t easy to find the right spot for my Tibetan OM tattoo. My first choice was the little space between my inner ankle and heel. But my tattoo artist put the kibosh on that idea, telling me up front that the skin in that area is tough; the tattoo wouldn’t heal well and in the end, I’d look like I had a jailhouse tattoo.
Damian was a serious tattoo artist and he inspired my confidence. Like taking a waiter’s recommendation for the best meal on the menu, I let him advise me as to the best options near the inner ankle/heel. He suggested going just above the ankle or higher up toward the more fleshy part of the outer calf. Or I could consider such popular sites as the sacrum or back of the neck.
These last suggestions received an immediate no. Feeling like I was mature enough at 58 years to finally get a permanent mark on my body, I wasn’t going for a secret tattoo only known to my lover or the other yoginis in my studio changing room. I wanted my tattoo to show!
I put on my glasses to more carefully consider my options. This is the same body that I touch every day in the shower, that I stretch and twist every day on the yoga mat and that I usually dress in at least three different outfits before finally settling on the clothes for each day. But with my glasses on—whoa! My hands were looking way too much like my mom’s and she’s 85. My upper arms were out of the question, looking strong but squishy, too. And I wasn’t crazy about my calves, either.
Using a finger to keep my glasses on my face as I bent over, I took a closer look at the top of my feet. Even they were getting wrinkled and dry. For a moment, I thought, maybe I am just too old for this; my body is too crinkly and blubby and flakey and wrong. Then I got a grip. My feet have wrinkles because I’ve been articulating my phalanges and stretching my metatarsals all day for the last 40 years. And it’s winter and my feet are dry and so what?
I took off my glasses and told Damian to put the OM on the top of my right arch. It cracked a little bit during the healing process, especially where my foot bends as I stand in a fierce Warrior One Pose. But when I come out of that pose, the top of my foot smoothes out again, clearly exposing the symbol of OM; the union of Body, Speech and Mind. How perfect that my tattoo flexes, stretches and changes just like the rest of me.
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Practice Opportunities
Lifting the Gaze Retreat in Taos, New Mexico!
ONLY TWO MONTHS FROM NOW! We love retreating at the Mabel Dodge Luhan House in Taos. But 2025 will be our last year there. If you are thinking about it, I say go for it! Please feel free to send me any questions or concerns—just respond to this email.
This retreat will be all about meditation practice. How does the practice of shamatha, mindfulness meditation, actually impact your life? What is the technique and how does it relate to my thoughts and actions off the cushion? A daily dharma talk, short discussion and practice will help us integrate meditation into the wholeness of our life.
Great for beginning meditators or anybody who wants a refresher.
September 29 - October 3
30 min/day
12:15-12:45pm ET
December 1 - December 5
15 min/day
12:15-12:30pm ET
Paid subscribers, and Moon and Stars sangha members: You can redeem your $40 discount pricing using the button at the bottom of each retreat’s registration page.
Also, you can purchase both retreats (September & December) for $80:
If You Are Feeling Stressed, I Recommend:
This is for anybody. There are two full restorative yoga practices, with modifications and lots of inspiring teaching.
Cyndi Lee's Teaching Pranayama: The Basics will give yoga practitioners and teachers, bodyworkers, and health professionals the tools to enrich their own pranayama practice and learn how to effectively share it with their students, clients, and patients. This three-day training will include practicing and teaching breath awareness and breath manipulation techniques, such as sama vritti, ujjayi, nadi shodanam, viloma, and kapalabhati.
Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training: A Self-Guided 2-Part Program is a course Cyndi Lee designed to help meditators of all levels learn a new approach to meditation or refresh and deepen their existing practice. In the second part of the course, you'll learn how to teach meditation and listen to enriching dharma talks from Cyndi that will inspire both your practice and your teaching.
Some photos from last year’s Lifting the Gaze retreat!
This is a perfect post! Many reasons, but one I find important to me: embracing and loving the body. As I age I tend to look with a scathing eye at my squishy parts. They were a long time coming and arrived it seems overnight. After reading Breathe! You Are Alive and Breathing Mindfulness, I am working on feeling my breath in all parts of my body and my mindset has been shifting to one of Lovingkindness to those squishy parts. I’m kind of beaming right now just writing this to you. Not sure this a part of breathing mindfulness, but that is what is happening. As my guru, your words always pierce my heart in the best and most constructive and nonjudgmental ways.
A joyous happy birthday, Ben. You radiate kindness, compassion, stability, clarity, and strength. I am fortunate to have met you.
“What I have learned from my guru is that an ordinary life is a fantastic way, if not the best way, to practice dharma.”