Why I'm Building a Community, Not Just a Practice

Paramhansa Yogananda said,

"If you want to grow spiritually, serve my work."

For years I read that as something for monks and people with more time than me.

Lately I've read it differently.

Service can start exactly where you are.

In my case that's a kitchen, a garden, a Monday night class in a church hall and a laptop on a Wednesday.

Nobody has to leave their life to do it.

Three things have become clear to me, and they're shaping what I'm building.

1. Begin where you are.
You don't need a retreat or a quiet week. I've led retreats and loved them, but the stillness doesn't depend on them.

You need one ordinary moment where you stop and turn inwards.

The stillness is already there. Most of us have never been given permission to go and find it in the middle of a normal day.

2. Find your people.
I've practised on my own for over thirty years, and I've also been taught in company.

I can tell you the two are very different. Sitting with others who are quietly turning in the same direction steadies you in a way that reading about it can't.

Yogananda called this satsang, which simply means good company on the path.

3. Stillness and conversation belong together.
Meditation is where we go inwards. Conversation is where we find out what we've been carrying, and hear that someone else has carried it too.

Each one needs the other.

Without the conversation, the practice can become a lonely thing you do in a corner.

Without the practice, the conversation goes round in circles.

I have gone around in circles for years. Some of the things and people I found in those years have stayed around and some didn't.

That is life.

(Asha has a lovely analogy about Karma and life circles that are like sticks of Blackpool rock. I will save that for another day!)

Through all the circling and spiralling, there has been one steady pull: towards stillness, and towards good company on the way there.

That's the aim behind Soul Support.

I want to create a place where tired, ordinary people can practise and talk honestly with each other, without performing or keeping up.

Inside Soul Support, there's a shared space called the Snug.

It has a spot for everyday chat and notices, a spot for questions (if you can answer someone's question, please do), and a bookcase of suggested reading, recordings and resources.

I'm not standing at the front of it as the expert.

I'm walking alongside you, and everyone arrives with their own experience.

I'll also be honest about my limits. I pop in a couple of times a week, but I'm not there live or on call.

That's deliberate.

It keeps the space calm, and it means the community belongs to the people in it, not only to me.

If this sounds like company you'd like, you're welcome. You can find out more on the Soul Support page

And if you're not ready for that, stay listening to the conversation here or on the mailing list.

Reading these blogs and replying with a thought is a good place to begin.

Take one quiet minute today wherever you are, and see what you notice.

With love,
Linda