Hello Loves,

I hope this day finds you well.

It is with sadness, gratitude and trust that I want to let you know that we have decided to close the Brooklyn location of Maha Rose. 

I hope you are doing okay and riding the waves of this year as well as possible. In speaking with friends, family and colleagues this week I'm amazed at how much we all are being squeezed, tumbled and stretched... Somehow I felt a little better knowing we all are going through it. All of us. In the washing machine of life, on high. All the dirt, all the shadows, coming to the surface, individually and collectively. We are all being asked to grow so much. 

When we say yes to the tumbling there is less suffering. When we say yes to the suffering it lessens. Feeling into the shadows. We move through things faster when we are willing. Willing to grow. Saying yes to all the curve balls life sends us. Trusting God. Even in the free fall. Even when the ground beneath us shakes.

We've had earthquakes here this past month. The earth is shaking. Resetting. We're all being reset, individually and collectively.

My teacher says, “For one who knows swimming, being in the ocean is a delightful game. But one who doesn’t know may even drown.”  We need to learn how to swim. We can learn. We must learn. I don't anticipate this year getting any easier. 

Is it an amazing time for spiritual growth? YES. Committing to the inner work we can make amazing progress internally. 

There’s always room to grow. There’s always more to learn and the more we understand that we are beginners the more we can be open to grow.

Life is the school and we are in times of accelerated growth. It’s humbling and challenging.

Always there is room to grow.

Always there will be mistakes.

May we stay humble.

May we meet this world with love.

May we meet these times with love.

May we meet one another with love.

May we meet ourselves with love.

Love,
Lisa and Maha Rose

Hello Loves,

Everyone deserves healing.

I hope you are doing well and that you are taking care of yourself. I pray that the pain and trauma being unearthed in each of us is bringing us to a better tomorrow. I pray that any pain you are experiencing at this moment will bring yourself and all beings to liberation.

Healing isn’t easy. In this time it feels like generations of ancestors are rising up asking for the healing they didn't receive. They say when we get on the spiritual path many generations before us and many generations after us benefit from the work we do. Spiritual work is not selfish. Healing work is not selfish. It benefits everyone, those close to us, and those not even close to us. 

When we are willing to do the work, miracles can happen. We’re being asked to heal a lot right now, all people, all colors, I see you digging into your histories, your hidden psyches, uncovering the wounded parts, the ugly parts, the parts we wish didn’t exist. This is an important part of the healing process. It’s a big part of healing: going in, seeing the ugly parts, releasing them, shifting the patterns. We’re doing it collectively and individually. 

There is work and healing that white people must do together. There is healing that black people can only do with other black people. Different wounds are healed in different ways. Different people heal in different ways. Some types of healing we need to go within our groups, with others who share our histories, traumas or patterns. Women’s work, men’s work, queer work, the work of the addict. We do work with those who understand our wounds and patterns.

Hello Loves,

I want to talk about Love. Capital L Love. I’ve had some real moments recently feeling the Love. Feeling moved by love. Nothing like a little (or a lot) of separation to make us appreciate the ones we love, the places we love and the people who move us.

I feel moved almost daily. There are many little moments of appreciation that are the sparkles in my days. There’s something about having so much taken away that really helps us appreciate the little things. It is actually making me want to take more things away. Strip it down even more. We didn’t need all that extra stuff. With the quiet, I hear more loudly the clutter of my mind. The ten thousand voices of the world all vying for our attention. That’s not where I’m finding the love. The news does move me. I’m moved by what we’re going through. What other people are going through. It’s all so real. Many chapters long, we won’t forget this period. We’ll remember how we felt. We’ll remember where we were, how we passed the time. No pressure. If it’s hard, it’s hard. We’ll remember that it was hard but that we got through it. But if there are moments of love, I want to remember those. So I’m writing them to you, to us, to remember.

If there hasn’t been much love, try looking for it. It’s a practice. Sometimes not. Sometimes love just comes, like grace. But other times we have to work harder for it. Loving ourselves, those we are confined with, our families, our neighbors, whoever. Sometimes it’s work. But it’s worth it.

We’re making it through. We’re learning. We’re growing. Sometimes two steps forward, one step backward. We can love ourselves through it all. We can keep sending love out into the world. We can keep praying for peace and for healing for everyone.

I love you, thanks for showing up however you are.

Love,
Lisa & Maha Rose

Happy New Moon Loves,

When I was 19 - 22 years old I lived in Mexico on and off for a few years. I thought I was going to live in Mexico forever. I wanted to build an arts center/commune/place... The dreams of a 20-year-old. It didn’t happen then and I let the dream go and moved on with other dreams and passions. Many years later, deep into my thirties, I met my husband. He had (has) a deep love for Mexico too and we began coming back and spending time here dreaming new dreams of recording studios, retreat centers, tropical food forest gardens… We spend each winter here some months but this year we stayed into the spring, into the now. In this weird new world, I’ve had moments of asking the Universe if we will ever leave.

These days are strange. Maybe time and movement will just stop and we will stay here forever. Maybe the dreams we had twenty years ago weren’t dreams but were deep knowings of things that were to come. 

These days have it all, high highs and low lows. Myself and the the people I talk to: We’re being graced both with moments of clarity and moments of grief and all the in-betweens. All the moments! We are in the magnifying glass. In the cooker. I pray we will come out purified, clearer, more grateful, more grounded. 

The new moon brings the shadows to the surface, fears, doubts worries: if you are feeling them, know they are coming up to come out. Say hello to them. Don’t attach to them. Don’t attach to any emotion. Let them pass through you. Watch them. Treat them kindly. Treat yourself kindly. We’re moving through the shadows. Just keep moving, gently, internally, through the emotional worlds, keep moving.

Our dreams, they don’t forget us. The shadows we have to move through, we must move through. If we skip a lesson it will come back to us. Keep surrendering. Keep praying. I am praying with you for peace and happiness and healing for all beings everywhere.

It’s worth moving through the shadows. I promise.

Love,
Lisa & Maha Rose

So much to learn. May we be open enough to get the lessons. May we be innocent enough to receive. May we heal ourselves and this planet. May we connect with nature. I’m growing some avocado trees and watermelons and hopefully papaya and orange and lemon trees too. Getting into the simple joys of life. Wondering how we can keep them. Wondering if we can keep some of the slowed down-ness of this time if and when things go back to “normal”. I don’t think they can really ever go back to normal. I hope not. I hope we get the lessons and move forward with new and more peaceful and connected ways of living.

How much of the old systems need to be destroyed so new ones can be birthed? Waiting and watching… These are interesting times. How much needs to be destroyed? It’s painful but necessary. Us humans, we don’t change unless we are forced to.

I love you. I’m with you in the mushy, watery, raw. Praying that we all survive and birth new beautiful worlds.

Love,
Lisa & Maha Rose

I hope you all are doing as well as possible and settling into this time. I feel like the initial shock has passed and the resiliency of humans is helping us to find some new “normals” for this time. Whatever you are feeling is valid. I hope you are being extra gentle and extra loving with yourself and whatever other humans are close by to you these days. I have days where I feel calm and grateful for this slowed down period and days where I feel all the other things! I know how good I have it and I remind myself to come back to gratitude and trust.

Faith is going to get us through this time. Faith is what gets us through any challenging times. Faith and surrender. This is what is happening. Ok. I may not like it but I can try to accept it. I trust the process of life.

Time still goes fast and in some time soon we will look back at this period and say “Wow." "Wow and that was _______________________!$#*(^#$%&!!! !” It’s like a graduate Ph.D. program we're in right now of life and spirituality. That’s really all I keep coming back to. It’s the spiritual teachings that will get us through the tough periods of life.

We can’t hold on to the things of the world because they are all temporary, and all passing. I’m quarantined at the beach,  an amazing place to be right now. Building sandcastles with my son and then watching the ocean come and washing them all back into the sea. Just like life. I’m a builder and I love to build. Maha Rose is my first baby and it’s been such a dream building her and watching her grow. I’m definitely attached to her and hope she stays for many years to come but I remind myself that she too will be washed back into the sea someday.

I think we will get through this time and come out on the other side. I hope we will and I thank you all who are coming to workshops and booking sessions and buying gift certificates. Your love and support are felt and so appreciated. I’ve taken a few classes and taught a few classes myself and it’s amazing the community, learning and experience that can be felt through technology.

Get your tools on. Reach out if you need help. Surrender as much as you can. Release the need to control. Ask for guidance. Ask for help. Keep praying. Keep praying. Keep praying.

We love you,
Lisa & Maha Rose

I don’t know what the future holds, it is a mystery to us all right now. But we can surely do our best to try to stay in the present moment, to stay in gratitude, to stay in prayer.

I felt a little stuck writing you this week. 

We decided last week to weather the storm from here in Mazunte, Mexico. It is just beginning to hit here and there are different speculations as to how hard, and if, and when. So, we’ve done the grocery shopping and are doing the social distancing and are battening down the hatches for the duration.

There are a million messages right now. Many beautiful and inspiring...

I appreciated something Nick Werber shared, that we are all the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren of survivors. We wouldn’t be here otherwise. Our ancestors survived worse times than these.

Many of us have better tools than our grandparents had and they made it.

In Mexico, there is less news. We don’t know the exact number of cases that are near us, but the shops are closing and the restaurants are closing. In Mazunte, it's an economy built mostly around tourism and the tourists are lessening. It’s also an economy where most people can’t afford to stop working.

I don’t know how to help here. It’s ok right now, but after two months, three months, I don’t know. I’m not afraid for myself but I’m afraid for the poor of the world. Over and over getting the short end of the stick.

I don’t have answers. I’m not sure how to help right now, but I want to. I love you Mexico and I’m here to ride this out with you. I hope we are all stronger and kinder on the other side. 

With love and gratitude and prayers for peace for all beings,

Lisa and Maha Rose

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bavantu

We’re in it. We knew things on earth were going to change and now they are. Let's slow down, take good care of ourselves and whoever else we can, be kind and pace ourselves. This isn’t a hurricane that passes through quickly. It’s a good, strong message from the earth that is going to stay, I believe until we really get the message.

How long will that take? Hard to say. The earth has been telling us to change our ways for a long time but we weren’t listening enough. I pray our leaders will listen now. There are many good lessons for each of us from this time on earth.

The hard times bring us closer to God and truth and love if we let them. Hold on tightly to the divine, pray, meditate. Spend some quiet time with yourself. I had a dream last night where I was remembering how much I like to spend time alone with myself.

The news is hypnotizing. There are a million messages coming at us all at once. But the best messages come from within.

Quietly with myself, in meditation and prayer I feel ok, ready for all that’s to come; trusting God, trusting nature and her process. Let’s use this time to pray and to rest and to dream of new ways on earth. This can be the quiet time we haven’t had in a long time...

There is wisdom and beauty to be found in the slowing down. I pray that we all find what is hidden in this challenge for each of us.

Hello Loves,

Wash your hands and pray for peace.
Wash your hands and pray for balance.

The world is out of balance. It’s not a new idea. It‘s interesting the things that get our attention.

May this virus bring our attention to all that is out of balance, internally and externally.

My friend was saying how fear inspires us to pause. The energy of fear contracts. For a society and a world that’s going so fast in directions that aren’t the best directions, a pause can be a good thing.

Pause and assess.

If we don’t slow down the destruction of our planet we may get slowed down by a force larger than us. The Universe knows how to do this. Nature knows how to do this. If we don’t change our ways they may get changed for us.

My teacher says to pray for peace. Pray for our planet.

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bavantu
May all beings be happy.

We’re here for you. We know these times are hard. We’re all in this together. Don’t be afraid to commune and connect with others. Don’t stay at home reading too much news. Love. Pray. Pray for peace.

Loving you,
Lisa and Maha Rose

Hello Loves,

We’re living in times filled with fear. I’ve gone through a few of my own recently. Certainly, the collective consciousness is a fear-based one: all the things that could go wrong or kill us... this is most of what we hear about.

We will die. We will get sick and we will die eventually. Maybe the thing we are afraid of will get us. Maybe something else will. Getting sick down here this year I really felt how the fear surrounding the sickness was worse than the actual sickness.

I’m looking at you fear.

Hello Loves,
Coming down to Mazunte this year I felt extra magic, extra love and gratitude for this yearly pilgrimage. I didn’t expect to get dengue. I didn’t expect that magic. And it’s been a harder magic to accept. When I got stung by a scorpion I stayed very objective, “what an interesting experience. But getting dengue has been a fear of mine. All the mosquito borne illnesses strike fear in me. My husband and a few others have gotten it this year also. It’s something I never wanted to happen to anybody ever. We’re fumigating and telling people to bathe in repellent. Besides that it’s hard to know what else to do. I’m praying a lot. “Bless and protect” is my mantra.

It’s an uncertain time in the world. Being in a physical body is uncertain. Anything can happen. All the things do happen. I have moments when I’m sick of feeling amazed that we all live through the things we do.

We’re strong, us humans. And resilient. In some ways we have no choice. This is what we’ve signed up for with life in a human body.

Praying for health, happiness and safety for all beings everywhere.
Love,
Lisa & Maha Rose