018 | Love & Magic: A Book Reading with Meredith Rom

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Have you ever found that it's in the moments that you are totally happy and content with yourself, at peace with exactly who you are and what you have in your life, that you begin to manifest your desires?

Today I'm sharing one of the more fun and playful readings from my book,  Synchronicity. 

I was sitting in a chai shop having just arrived in a new town when a man walked in wearing all white with red puja dust on his third eye.  

I almost instantly fell in love with him... In this story you'll hear how I met Shankara, one of the main characters in the book.  You'll also hear more about the holy mountain of stillness and light, Mount Arunachala in the town of Tiruvannamalai, India.

To pre-order your copy of Synchronicity,  follow the kickstarter campaign here.  Specials thanks to the Crowdfunding Consultants at StartMotionMEDIA for helping me fundraise!

With love, 
Meredith

017 | Amma, Service & Finding My Voice: A Book Reading with Meredith Rom

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Last night I held my first book reading in Berkeley, CA at the community meditation house I used to live in.

The living room was packed, and at one point people were even spilling out into the hallway!  

What happened there, was pure magic.

I sang with the harmonium, told stories, answered questions from the audience and shared the first in-person reading from Synchronicity. 

It's amazing to think that only three years ago I never would have imagined my life would look like this.  Singing and telling stories in front of a group?  Me?  I don't know if I would have believed you!  

However, what I've learned about my fear over the years is that confidence comes from actually going out and DOING the things that scare us.  

Confidence comes from taking action.

It's only when we are in the non-action - the waiting and procrastinating that our minds run wild telling us stories that aren't even real.

Every time I've done something that scares me, it always feels like a crazy leap of faith, but every time I have made the jump, I have been met with so much love, synchronicity and magic. 

Today I have a new Synchronicity book reading to share with you!  It's all about Amma, service and finding my voice as a teacher.

In this episode you'll learn about:

• Teachings of Amma, the hugging saint and my experiences at her ashram 
• What it was like to teach English to hundreds of children at an orphanage in India
• My experience of teaching my first yoga class and discovering my authentic voice as a teacher

I'm curious what fear you have been hiding from?  What small step could you take to walk towards it?  Let me know in the comments below.

There are just 10 days left in the Kickstarter campaign! I am so grateful to everyone who has gathered together in support of this project. Really, I had no idea my heart could expand with this much love.

Warmly,
Meredith

Why I don't need to meditate in a cave in India for the rest of my life

A lotus flower thrives in a dirty, muddy pond.  It grows from the dirt and the muck, rises to the surface and blossoms into a bright, beautiful flower. In ancient hinduism, this was a metaphor for how to live a spiritual life.  The lotus flower represented the pureness and beauty of devoting one's life to spirituality, while the dirt and muck represented the material world.  The material world was something to rise above, in order to blossom into the heavens, to attain oneness with the divine.

For many years people linked the lotus flower with this metaphor, and thought, "I must rise above the material world in order to attain enlightenment and oneness with the divine."

Many sadhus and seekers left the material world entirely to meditate in caves in the Himalayas to find God.

Tantric Buddhism however, takes a perspective more similar to a botanist:  The lotus flower thrives on the dirt and the muck in the pond.  In fact, without the dirt and the muck, the lotus flower would not even exist.  

This was an entirely new way to look at the world for me.  I began to see the material world - the world I was born into  - as completely necessary for my spiritual progress.  The material world provided me with all the nutrients I needed to grow as a spiritual being.

I see it now, every time a situation arises where I have resistance or fear.  It's like the universe is gently pointing out the places where I need to grow.

 Before realizing how similar the Tantric Buddhist perspective on the lotus flower was similar to my own life, I went through a period where I thought I needed to live in India and devote my life to meditation in order to progress as a spiritual being.  But being born where I was, and after living for six months in India, I couldn't imagine a life only focused on that.  I also realized that path was comfortable for me, it wouldn't invite me to grow in the areas I needed to, and it would not be fully sharing my gifts with the world.

When I pondered the idea of becoming a yoga instructor however, I felt a huge amount of fear and resistance arise.  When I sat with this feeling, I also noticed a little bit of curiosity and even some excitement.  Since then I began to take small steps toward the things that scared me.  

When something new comes up = whether it be a hard conversation I don't want to have, or a setting I want to avoid - I notice my resistance to it.  I see this now as the universe asking me to go there, and when I do, I gain back my spiritual power.

Photographs by me, from the pond on the property I live on in Petaluma, CA