WARM DHARMA FLOW

Theme: The Handprints We Leave Behind

Mantra
I am clear as the sky.
No storm defines me.

OPENING REFLECTION

Welcome.

As we settle onto our mats tonight, take a moment to feel the ground underneath you.

Let the breath slow down.

And maybe ask yourself three questions.

Who am I.
Why am I here.
Where am I going.

We spend so much of our lives answering that first question with temporary things.

What we do for work.
Our age.
Our relationships.
What happened yesterday.
How we happen to feel today.

But Buddhist practice asks us to look a little deeper.

Thoughts and emotions are experiences passing through us. They are not the whole of who we are.

You have lived through thousands of emotions already.

Happiness came and went.
Fear came and went.
Sadness came and went.

And yet, through all of it, there has always been a part of you capable of noticing what was happening.

Tonight we practice returning to that place.

Not trying to stop the weather.

Just remembering that we are something larger than the storm.

Our mantra.

I am clear as the sky.
No storm defines me.

TOPIC 1
THE SKY WITHIN US
You Are More Than This Moment

When something difficult happens, it can quickly become our entire reality.

We do not just say, I am experiencing anxiety.

We say, I am anxious.

We do not say, I am going through a difficult period.

We begin to believe, my life is difficult.

Mindfulness creates a little space between what we are experiencing and who we are.

That does not mean denying what we feel.

The storm is real.

But the storm is not the whole sky.

So if something feels heavy in your life right now, you do not have to push it away tonight.

Simply remember.

This is something I am experiencing. It is not everything I am.

As you begin moving tonight, notice whatever you brought into the room.

Do not fight it.

Just quietly remind yourself.

This is here. But this is not all of me.

Metaphor
Imagine sitting on an airplane during a gray, stormy day.

The plane climbs through thick clouds. Everything outside the window is dark.

Then suddenly you break through them.

Blue sky.

Sunshine.

The storm did not disappear.

You simply rose high enough to see that it was never everything.

Quotes
You are the sky. Everything else is just the weather. Pema Chodron

Learn to watch your drama unfold while at the same time knowing you are more than your drama. Ram Dass

The stiller you are the calmer life is. Rasheed Ogunlaru

Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know. Pema Chodron

To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders. Lao Tzu

TOPIC 2
WE ARE TERRIBLE WEATHER FORECASTERS
Worry Without Becoming Worry

Once the mind sees a storm, we become forecasters, but not very good ones.

We start predicting what might happen next.

We imagine conversations that have not happened.

Problems that have not arrived.

Outcomes we cannot possibly know.

And somehow our forecast usually calls for rain.

The mind believes it is protecting us by preparing for every possibility.

But worry has a strange habit.

It asks us to suffer something today that may never happen tomorrow.

Buddhist practice does not ask us to stop planning or preparing.

It simply teaches us to recognize the difference between preparation and worry.

Once we have done what we reasonably can, we come back to the life that is actually happening.

Because this breath is real.

This moment is real.

Tomorrow’s storm may never arrive.

When your mind travels ahead tonight, gently ask.

Is there something I need to do right now, or am I simply worrying.

If there is something to do, do it.

If there is not, come back to your breath.

Metaphor
Imagine you are about to leave the house and cross the causeway.

You check the traffic app before you go.

Fifteen minutes, it says.

So you check again.

Then again a few minutes later.

Then once more right before you walk out the door.

The traffic has not changed.

But you have spent the last ten minutes of your morning somewhere other than where you actually are.

We sometimes do the same thing with our lives.

Quotes
If the problem can be solved, why worry. If the problem cannot be solved, worrying will do you no good. Buddha

Worrying does not take away tomorrow’s troubles, it takes away today’s peace.

Suffering usually relates to wanting things to be different than they are. Allan Lokos

There is nothing else in the world that can trouble you as much as your own thoughts.

A quiet mind can hear intuition over fear.

TOPIC 3
THE HANDPRINTS WE LEAVE
A Life Continues Through What It Touches

There is another question worth asking.

If everything changes, what remains.

Buddhism teaches impermanence.

Nothing we possess stays ours forever.

Our bodies change.

Our roles change.

Eventually, even our time here ends.

But impermanence does not mean our lives do not matter.

Quite the opposite.

Because while we are here, we touch other lives.

And some of those impressions continue long after the moment that created them has passed.

Teaching yoga has taught me this.

You do not always know which sentence someone will remember.

You may say something in class and forget about it five minutes later.

Someone else may carry it home and remember it for years.

We rarely know the reach of the small things we do.

As we continue moving, think about two things.

Whose handprints helped make you who you are.

And whose life might be a little different because you were here.

For the next few minutes, as we move together, think about the handprints that brought you here and the handprints you are leaving behind.

This song is called Handprints on the Walls of Time.

Metaphor
Imagine walking deep inside a cave in Spain.

You shine a light onto the wall and see the outline of a human hand.

Someone placed their hand against that wall more than sixty thousand years ago and pigment was placed around it.

We do not know their name.

We do not know what they worried about.

We do not know who they loved.

Some researchers even believe that particular handprint may have belonged to a Neanderthal.

But after all that time, the hand remains.

And in the simplest possible way, it seems to say.

I was here.

Maybe that is what we are doing every day.

We leave handprints on people.

On our children.

Our friends.

Our students.

Someone we encouraged when they needed it.

Someone who became a little stronger because we believed in them.

Someone who felt less alone because we took the time to listen.

Most of those handprints will never have our name written underneath them.

But that does not mean they disappear.

Quotes
What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments but what is woven into the lives of others.

If I have seen farther than other men, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants. Isaac Newton

The things that matter most in our lives are not fantastic or grand. They are moments when we touch one another. Jack Kornfield

People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. Often attributed to Maya Angelou

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us. Albert Schweitzer

TOPIC 4
YOU MAY NEVER SEE THE RESULT
Right Action Without Attachment

There is something difficult about leaving handprints on the world.

We may never know what they become.

We want to see the result.

Did my kindness matter.

Did they hear me.

Did I make a difference.

Was all that effort worth it.

But both Buddhist practice and the Bhagavad Gita remind us that our responsibility is the action.

We cannot own the result.

That can feel frustrating.

But it can also be incredibly freeing.

You do not need proof that every good thing you do mattered.

You simply need to decide what kind of person you want to be while doing it.

We do not control where the handprint lands.

We only control the hand we extend.

Do one good thing this week without checking whether it worked.

Encourage someone.

Help someone.

Call someone.

Tell someone what they mean to you.

And then let it go.

Metaphor
Imagine opening an old book from school.

Inside you find a handwritten note from a teacher.

Maybe it simply says, you have something special, keep going.

The teacher may have written hundreds of notes like that and completely forgotten yours.

But you did not.

We never know which small gesture another person will carry for decades.

Quotes
You have a right to your action, but never to your action’s fruits. Bhagavad Gita

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. Aesop

If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else. Booker T Washington

Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love. Mother Teresa

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. Mahatma Gandhi

TOPIC 5
LEAVE THE HANDPRINT, RELEASE THE OUTCOME
Letting Go

And this brings us back to where we began.

The sky changes.

People change.

Our lives change.

Eventually, every pose tonight must end.

We cannot hold onto any of it.

But letting go does not mean something did not matter.

This is one of the beautiful paradoxes of Buddhist practice.

We can love something deeply without needing to possess it forever.

We can give everything we have to a moment and still allow that moment to end.

We can leave our handprint and continue walking.

Maybe freedom is not leaving no mark behind.

Maybe freedom is giving ourselves fully while we are here, and then releasing our demand to control what happens afterward.

Before you leave tonight, ask yourself.

If I leave a handprint somewhere tomorrow, what do I want it to feel like.

Kindness.

Patience.

Courage.

Love.

Then live that answer.

Metaphor
Imagine placing your hand against a door as you hold it open for someone walking behind you.

You do not stand there afterward admiring what you did.

You do not ask whether they appreciated it enough.

You simply hold the door.

They walk through.

And then you continue on your way.

Some of the most meaningful things we do in life can be that simple.

Quotes
Our journey is about being more deeply involved in life and less attached to it. Ram Dass

Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. Thich Nhat Hanh

You only lose what you cling to. Buddha

Expect nothing and appreciate everything.

The little things. The little moments. They are not little. Jon Kabat-Zinn

SAVASANA CLOSING

As you rest, let everything become quiet.

Nothing left to accomplish.

Nothing left to prove.

Tonight we began by remembering that storms pass.

Thoughts pass.

Emotions pass.

Even chapters of our lives pass.

But while we are here, we touch one another.

Long before anyone knew our names, someone helped create the path that brought us here.

Someone loved us.

Someone taught us.

Someone encouraged us.

Someone opened a door.

Someone left a handprint.

And now it is our turn.

Maybe a meaningful life is not measured by how long our name is remembered.

Maybe it is measured by how much love, kindness, courage, and compassion continued moving through the world because we were here.

You do not need to know where your handprints will lead.

You only need to be mindful of what you leave behind.

And when storms come again, remember.

The storm is passing.

The sky remains.

Rest here.

Nothing to hold.

Nothing to prove.

Just this breath.

Just this life.

And the quiet understanding that being here matters.

CLOSING MANTRA

I am clear as the sky.
No storm defines me.

Pause.

One final breath.

Then.

Leave a beautiful handprint.