Mantra ““Gentle stillness is my true strength.”

Opening Reflection:

Tonight, as you sit on your mat, meet yourself just as you are—tired, uncertain, or quietly strong. In this room, let us remember the power that lives not in striving, but in returning, again and again.

Buddhist teachings call this virya: a courage that does not shout, but endures—rooted in compassion. It is the gentle strength to begin anew, the steady persistence of a flower pushing through stone, the breath that rises even when the world feels heavy.

Here, we do not battle with life. We greet it. We gather not to conquer, but to listen—to soften the parts of ourselves hardened by worry or fatigue. Together, we discover that gentleness holds its own kind of bravery, and true courage is always touched by kindness.

Tonight, let your presence here be enough. Breathe deeply with those around you. Let gratitude grow for the community that holds you, just as you are, no conditions, no demands.

As you leave, carry this softness into your life—let your courage be gentle, your patience wide, and your gratitude fierce. Notice the small places where you can begin again, and let each breath remind you: you are not alone.

Topic 1: Courage Begins with Staying
Short Talk:

Courage is not always about charging forward. Sometimes, it’s choosing to remain—to sit quietly with discomfort, to breathe through uncertainty, to refuse to abandon yourself when things feel hard. My mom always says, “This too shall pass.” Even pain is transitory.

There’s a quiet ache that whispers, “You’re falling behind. You’re not enough.” True courage is meeting that voice with gentleness, and choosing to grow anyway.

To grow where you are planted is not to settle, but to draw strength from the present. It means seeking nourishment right here, in imperfect conditions. You stop waiting for the world to align, and instead begin with breath, with patience, and with trust align yourself.

Metaphor:
The Frangipani That Blooms Before the Rain
The frangipani, or plumeria, is a tropical tree that blooms even during dry seasons; sometimes before its leaves return, and before any rain falls.

In Hawaiian culture, its blossoms are used in leis as a gesture of welcome, love, and renewal.

We are like that tree. Even when life feels dry or bare, we hold beauty within us. Courage is blooming anyway. Not because the world is perfect, but because you are willing to try.

Quotes:

“I have not ceased being fearful, but I have ceased to let fear control me.” – Erica Jong

“Where your fear is, there is your task.” – Carl Jung

“Lean into what’s making you uncomfortable.” – Shane Parrish

“Courage is the love affair with the unknown.” – Osho

Topic Two

This week marks the one year anniversary of losing our beloved teacher, Marybell. I still think of her almost every day. Over time, I’ve realized that grief does not mean love has ended. Grief is love transformed—what remains when presence becomes memory. It’s love with nowhere to go but inward, quietly shaping us from within.

Tonight, our practice becomes a sanctuary to hold that love, through breath, through movement, through reverence. If you are carrying grief, let yourself honor it as the purest form of love. We do not move on; we move with it. In this way, love stays alive—not just in the past, but here in the present, woven into our living.

Metaphor:
Sea Glass on the Shore
Grief is like sea glass, tumbled by waves and time. At first, it is sharp and painful to the touch. With years and tides, it softens—never disappearing, but becoming part of us, shaped into something beautiful by the currents of life. Every wave is a memory, every glimmer a piece of love transformed by loss. When we look down and see sea glass in our hand, we know that love endures, changed but never gone.

Quotes:

“Grief is the price we pay for love.” – Queen Elizabeth II

“What is grief, if not love persevering?” – WandaVision

“To weep is to make less the depth of grief.” – Shakespeare

“Our task is not to seek perfect love, but to remove the blocks to love’s presence.” – A Course in Miracles

Topic 3: Resilience Is Softness with Roots

Short Talk:
Strength is not always found in force or volume. True resilience is often gentle—an openness that endures, a quiet willingness to begin again, even after disappointment. Resilience is the flexible courage to stay open, to meet life’s harshness with softness, and to trust in growth even when the world feels unyielding.

Real strength does not come from being rigid, but from being rooted. It is the grace to persist, to draw nourishment from the smallest crack of possibility, and to reach toward light no matter how rocky the path.

Metaphor:
The Flower Growing Through Stone
I remember hiking in Sedona through a boulder field—rocks everywhere, hardly any soil. In the midst of this rugged landscape, I looked down and, to my amazement, saw a single yellow wildflower, defiantly blooming from a split in the stone. Against all odds, it had sunk its roots deep and chosen to blossom right there.

The world around it was hard and unforgiving, yet it opened its petals anyway, finding enough light and water to thrive. Its roots reached for what it needed in the most unlikely place. That flower’s resilience wasn’t about overpowering the stone, but about finding a way through—soft, persistent, quietly powerful.

We are like that. Resilience is not about force, nor is it about waiting for the perfect place to grow. Perfection is a myth and reality is our soil. Instead, resilience is the quiet promise to keep reaching for the sun, no matter how hard the ground. When we meet life’s storms, may we remember the flower’s lesson: let your roots run deep, let your heart remain soft, and trust that you can bloom even where you never expected.

Quotes:

“In the midst of winter, I found there was within me an invincible summer.” – Albert Camus

“Still I rise.” – Maya Angelou

“Flexibility makes buildings stronger imagine what it can do for your soul.” – Carlos Barrios

“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” – Maya Angelou

Topic 4: The Present Moment Holds Everything
Short Talk:
The present moment doesn’t need to be perfect to be sacred. This breath, right now, is enough. It’s the only place where peace can begin.

Metaphor:
A Single Flame on a Match
A single flame doesn’t light the whole room but it shows the next step.
The present moment works the same way. You don’t need all the answers. Just one moment of presence. One breath. One step.

Quotes:

“Be here now.” – Ram Dass

“When breath control is correct, mind control is possible.” – Sri Pattabhi Jois

“Life is a balance of holding on and letting go.” – Rumi

“The future depends on what you do today.” – Mahatma Gandhi

Topic 5: Honor Through Living Fully

Short Talk:
One of the most beautiful ways to honor what we’ve lost, or what we’ve lived through, is to live well—not despite our pain, but because it shaped us. Every act of kindness, every mindful breath, becomes an offering to those memories. When we choose to be present, our living becomes a tribute.

Life is not measured by the years in your life, but by the life in your years. When we live fully, we carry forward everything and everyone we’ve loved. That’s how love continues, rippling out through each moment we inhabit.

Metaphor:
The Heirloom Quilt
I remember wandering into a tiny secondhand shop in Santorini, Greece, where the shopkeeper crafted quilts and pillows from scraps of old, discarded clothing—some pieces dating back nearly two centuries. She told me each square was stitched with its own story of laughter, grief, and resilience. When you wrap such a quilt around yourself, you’re not just staying warm—you’re being held by all the lives and moments that came before.

Let your memory be a quilt, pieced together by all your life’s experiences, both good and hard. Carry those stories with you, and in living fully, honor every thread.

Your life is that quilt. You are made of many stories. And now, you carry them forward.

Quotes:

“The best way to predict the future is to create it in your mind, then manifest it with your actions.” – David Scott

“Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” – Joshua J. Marine

“Do not let your fire go out… in the hopeless swamps of the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all.” – Ayn Rand

“Certain things catch your eye, but pursue only those that capture the heart.” – Ancient Indian Proverb

Closing Practice:
Come into stillness.
Place one hand on your heart, one on your belly.
Feel the breath.

Inhale: I am rooted.
Exhale: And I am becoming.

Let each breath honor all that you’ve carried and all that you still hope to become.
Let this be enough.