On the Road: Day 22, Interviews, The Heart Sutra & Getting On Stage

Home to a rush of daffodils, tight hugs of my children, the waft of daphne that intoxicates and sunny days intermixed with hailstorms. Spring.

I now do a series of national interviews on the radio that take me from Wisconsin to Virginia (home of the Eagle Cam, which is one of the most fascinating things I've watched in years), New York to the Carolina's, Portland (Love Iris on KGON) to LA.

My impression, after talking about Found for 22 days is this: people are good. People are open. People want to hear the story of the hero's quest that takes a lost child home to mother and BEYOND. I am really touched and heartened.

I am also deeply touched by the three women (and two daughters of one woman) who have joined me in my call to do 100,000 Heart Essence mantra and dedicate it to Japan. This was inspired by HH Dalai Lama's call to monks in Japan. I thought, "hey, we can do this." Kate Comings at Evening Star Jilly joined me first and then came Elizabeth Stevens with her two daughters (which one is your blog E?) and now Kirsten over at Write on Thyme.

We are now at 10,000 mantra and I decided "that's it," and recorded the full Heart Sutra, which I learned a few years back while studying at Spirit Rock meditation center. The Heart Sutra is an ancient text dated to the 1st century BCE. If you wish to add this audio to your practice, in order to have some container for your mantra--do it. Listen to the point the mantra begins and then pause and recite until your time is up. Then start it up and let the conclusion wrap the practice up for you.

CLICK HERE TO PLAY

NOTE: You do not need to add the Tay Ya T'Ha at the beginning. Simply do the mantra GA TE GA TE PA RA GA TE PA RA SUM GA TE BO DHI SO HA. Sitting for a few minutes, one can gather mantra adding into the hundreds. I do this about five or ten minutes a day, or during yoga, or even while I've driving. Why not? My mind is all over the place anyway--why not focus the mind for the benefit of others?

I've added a mantra at the beginning, that increases the power of your mantra practice by one billion (according to the great master who passed this mantra to me). I use this mantra prior to any practice I do. Most often I do the Green Tara practice every morning. So I just have been adding the Heart Sutra mantra as part of that.

Tomorrow I will be one of six storytellers on stage at Portland's Mission Theater, giving a spontaneous story under the heading of BROKE: BONES, WALLETS & HEARTS. I hope to see you there, books will be signed at the end of the show. Love to Portland's Back Fence for inviting me.

The Spring Craft Class in Portland is open for a few more writers. Join us beginning April 4th. And an on-line SKYPE class will also be starting up on April 3rd (thanks for the nudge Ginni). You'll have to contact me via this site, jennifer@jenniferlauck.com, for info on that.