“Think of your mind as a vast forest. Within this forest, there are paths you’ve walked many times—some lead to places of light and peace, while others take you through dark, thorny underbrush. These well-trodden paths are like the patterns of our thoughts and reactions, especially when we face triggers. It’s tempting to avoid the darker paths, to stay only where the light filters through the trees, but true healing isn’t found by avoiding the shadows.

Buddhist principles teach us that the way out of the forest is not by avoiding the darker paths, but by walking through them with awareness. When you encounter a trigger, it’s as if you’ve stumbled upon a familiar, difficult trail. But this time, instead of turning back, you have the opportunity to navigate it differently. With each mindful step, you move through the pain, the old patterns, and the stories that have held you captive. You emerge from the underbrush into a clearing of your own making—a new ending, a new beginning.

As we practice today, let’s embrace the idea that healing comes not from avoidance, but from facing and transforming our challenges. With each breath, with each pose, we step off the old path and carve out a new way forward, guided by the light of awareness and the strength of our spirit.” – David Scott

Pema Chödrön:
“Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.”

Rumi:
“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”

Carl Jung:
“I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.”

Joseph Campbell:
“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.”

“In the face of our deepest wounds and fears lies the opportunity for transformation; it is within the lessons of our pain that the light of understanding enters, guiding us to choose a path of healing and growth, where we become who we are meant to be.” – David Scott

“Imagine your mind as a serene lake. Each thought, each emotion, is like a pebble that gets tossed into the water. When the lake is still, the pebbles create gentle ripples that eventually fade away, leaving the water calm once more. But when the mind is agitated, when it’s crowded with too many distractions or surrounded by negative energy, those pebbles create waves that disturb the surface and obscure the clarity beneath.

Buddhist teachings remind us that the company we keep, the energies we invite into our lives, are like the hands that toss those pebbles. Surround yourself with the energy of love, peace, and mindfulness, and your lake remains clear and reflective, allowing you to see the depths of your true self. But if you let in the chaos, the anger, the distractions, those waves will obscure your vision and disrupt your peace.

As we begin our practice today, let’s set an intention to choose our companions and thoughts with care, to invite in only those that bring calmness to our inner lake. In this way, we create space for clarity, peace, and the deep, still waters of wisdom to emerge.” David Scott

“Be present as the watcher of your mind- of your thoughts and emotions as well as your reactions in various situations. Be at least as interested in your reactions as in the situation or person that causes you to react.” – Eckhart Tolle

“Feel what it is like to just be. “To be” is not an instruction to be carried out. You are not “going to be” or “become.” Discovering you are effortless existence, there is nothing to construct or change. There is nothing to add.

You are already complete just as you are. Isn’t it now becoming obvious? Be one with the knowledge.

You are now in the natural, ego-less space – unbound. Take a little time to confirm, digest and assimilate your experiencing.” – Mooji

“Avoiding triggers isn’t healing. Healing happens when you are triggered and you are able to move through the pain, the pattern and the story and walk your way to a different ending.” – Vienna Pharaon

“The moon does not fight. It attacks no one. It does not worry. It does not try to crush others. It keeps to its course, but by its very nature, it gently influences. What other body could pull an entire ocean from shore to shore? The moon is faithful to its nature and its power is never diminished.” – Deng Ming-Dao, Everyday Tao: Living with Balance and Harmony

We are like a moon, the surface of our soul is cratered with reminders of the impact our lives encountered with others along our journey, we have a bright and a dark side, while our shape never really changes, we appear to change dramatically by the perspective of how others see us and the light reflected on us.

“Diamonds are only created by coal that endures tremendous pressure and forces, trying to crush and destroy it. If it survives, then the coal transformed into a diamond, one of the toughest substances found on earth. While the strength of a diamond is impressive, the light that shines through it is what truly makes it special. Have perseverance overcoming the struggles you are facing in your life right now. Instead of allowing them to crush you, help them to transform you into a diamond with unstoppable inner strength and light that shines through you illuminating your world with your inner beauty.” – David Scott

“The Light that YOGA sheds on Life is something special. It is transformative. It does not change the way we see things; it transforms the person who sees.” – B.K.S. Iyengar

“Your smile and eyes are the lamps, and love is the oil that fuels them; when this inner flame burns bright, it illuminates your soul with a radiant glow.” – David Scott

“Nothing glows brighter than the heart awakened to the light of love that lives within it.” – Guy Finley

“Real knowledge is to know and compassionately understand the extent of everyone’s ignorance.” – David Scott

“Compassion is to look beyond your own pain, to see the pain of others.” Yasmin Mogahed

“Our sorrows and wounds are healed only when we touch them with compassion.” Jack Kornfield

“Forgive others, not because they have earned it, but because you deserve the peace that comes with letting go.” – David Scott

“We don’t need to agree on everything to treat each other with kindness. When faced with the choice between being right or being kind, always choose kindness.” – David Scott

“You can accomplish by kindness what you cannot by force.” – Publilius Syrus

“When you understand that hurt people, hurt people, it’s a lot easier to offer them compassion. It doesn’t condone what they’ve done. It just makes it easier soften your anger and break the cycle of pain.”

Loneliness

“The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.” – Mother Teresa

“As you evolve into your higher self, the journey may feel long and lonely, but remember, you’re shedding energies that no longer resonate with your destined path. The toughest walk is often the one you take alone, but it’s also the walk that forges your greatest strength.” – David Scott

“A meaningful silence is always better than meaningless words.”

“Not everyone you lose in life is a loss. Sometimes in order to find peace, you have to let go of the connection with the people, places, and things that create drama in your life but do not make you stronger.”

“People know your name, not your story. They’ve heard what you’ve done, but not what you’ve been through. So take their opinions of you with a grain of salt. In the end, it’s not what others think, it’s what you think about yourself that counts. Sometimes you have to do exactly what’s best for you and your life, not what’s best for everyone else.”

“The ones who notice the storms in your eyes, the silence in your voice and the heaviness in your heart are the ones you need to let in.”

“Open your hands if you want to be held.” – Rumi

“If I have harmed anyone in any way either knowingly or unknowingly through my own confusions, I ask their forgiveness. If anyone has harmed me in any way either knowingly or unknowingly through their own confusions, I forgive them. And if there is a situation I am not yet ready to forgive, I forgive myself for that. For all the ways that I harm myself, negate, doubt, belittle myself, judge or be unkind to myself through my own confusions, I forgive myself.”