We come back again to safety, connection and respect this week– this time with inquiry questions to consider these qualities for yourself. Consider a time in your life where you know something about these 3 qualities, some place with a palpable sense of these qualities. What is that felt sense of being met in this way for you? How do these come up in your practice? How are you practicing safety, connection and respect with your own self? How might you cultivate each of these more?

First Lesson- By Philip Booth

Lie back, daughter, let your head

be tipped back in the cup of my hand. 

Gently, and I will hold you. Spread

your arms wide, lie out on the stream

and look high at the gulls. A dead- 

man’s-float is face down. You will dive

and swim soon enough where this tidewater 

ebbs to the sea. Daughter, believe

me, when you tire on the long thrash

to your island, lie up, and survive.

As you float now, where I held you

and let go, remember when fear

cramps your heart what I told you:

lie gently and wide to the light-year

stars, lie back, and the sea will hold you.