Sacred Practices for Challenging Times by Andrew Harvey

The fierce and brutal crisis we find ourselves in — and that threatens the entire world — is at once a severe warning and a glorious opportunity. It’s a warning that if we do not change and put love and wisdom into action, the human race will die out and take a great deal of the natural world with it. Yet it’s also an opportunity to embrace the challenge of the times and turn deep into spiritual practices to fuel radiant sacred action that could birth a new humanity and a new world. With his understanding drawn from all the major mystical traditions, Andrew will lay out his vision of this crisis, explore the five kinds of sacred practices necessary for staying aligned with the Divine, and introduce his map of sacred activism.

In this module, you’ll be given:

• An understanding of the inner meaning of the global crisis
• A knowledge of the five different kinds of sacred practices
• A lucid map of what sacred activism is and how it can work

Andrew will present his vision of what he calls the “cool” practices, which are foundational to the birth of the divine human and sacred activism. These cool practices connect the practitioner directly to the infinite, spacious and brimming dynamic peace of Divine Being and to the strength, wisdom and equanimity in all circumstances that radiate from them.

SESSION 2: IMAGELESS MEDITATION (FEBRUARY 21)

In this transmission, Andrew will concentrate on imageless meditation that awakens Divine awareness, and share a meditation with images drawn from the Tibetan tradition that helps us unite with the wisdom-mind of the cosmos.

In this class, you’ll be given:

• A knowledge of why cool practices are foundational
• Clear instruction drawn from the major traditions on how to meditate
• Two core cool practices that can be used in any situation to ground and calm the sacred activist

SESSION 3: THE NAME OF GOD TO CLEAN THE HEART (FEBRUARY 28)

This sacred transmission of the cool practices will deliver to the practitioner what Andrew considers the most powerful way to connect to Divine peace — the saying of the Name of the Divine in the heart, known as Remembrance in Sufism and Nama Japa in Hinduism. Drawing on the testimony of Rumi and other great Sufi mystics, Kabir, Ramakrishna and Christian mystics, Andrew will present not only the philosophy behind the power of “the Name,” but also the sacred technology that makes clear how this great mystery works to awaken fundamental knowledge of Divine reality. You’ll be given four practices of the Name, drawn from Buddhism, Sufism, Hinduism and Christianity.

In this class, you’ll be given:

• A comprehensive introduction to why saying the Name is so powerful
• Instructions drawn from the major traditions on how to best practice saying the Name
• Four essential and transformative heart mantras

The second category of essential practice is what Andrew calls “hot” practices, which are practices of the heart that arouse the clear, golden compassionate passion of the Mother, the embodied aspect of Divine Being. Hot practices keep the heart vibrant, juicy and flowing with love in even the most shattering of circumstances, and so connect the practitioner consciously to the dynamic energy of the Divine.

SESSION 4: THE PRACTICE OF THE SACRED HEART (MARCH 7)

In this transmission, Andrew will offer two great practices: that of the Sacred Heart, adapted from Christian mystics, and the Hindu Tantric practices that enable the practitioner to transmute outrage into fierce, focused, compassionate energy.

In this class, you’ll be given:

• A vision of why hot practices are essential for keeping the heart alive and dynamic
• Detailed instruction in the laws and processes of hot practices
• Two ultimately powerful hot practices that help transmute exhaustion, heartbreak and outrage into joyful, compassionate energy

SESSION 5: THE TIBETAN PRACTICE OF TONGLEN (MARCH 14)

In this transmission, Andrew will concentrate on what he experiences as the essential hot practice for sacred activists: the Tibetan practice of Tonglen, adapted here for practitioners on all paths. Andrew received the transmission of Tonglen from great Tibetan masters, who explained that Tonglen is the world-healing practice of taking in the pain and suffering of the world and transmuting it into joy, peace and bliss, which the practitioner then releases into the world. Even in the worst and most challenging situations, the practice of Tonglen enables you to work with divine compassion to transform reality.

In this class, you’ll be given:

• A vision of how to sustain enlightened compassion, even for those who act in opposition to your vision and action
• An understanding of how Tonglen works to transform reality
• A special universal vision of Tonglen that works for healing oneself, healing others and healing the suffering of the world with transformative grace

The third category of essential practice is that of prayer. Prayer to the larger Self, of which all of us are part of, is known in all traditions as a powerful way of invoking divine grace and aligning oneself with the will of the Divine in any situation.

SESSION 6: PRAYERS OF PROTECTION (MARCH 21)

In this transmission, Andrew will focus on a category of prayer that is essential in these dangerous times, that of protection: protection of ourselves and our own nature, protection from the dangerous designs of others, protection from sabotage of our sacred activism, and the protection of the destructive forces that are part of the alchemy. The difficult work of sacred activism cannot be done without conscious and constant invocation of divine protection. Directly experiencing such protection builds fierceness, peace and enduring hope.

In this session, you’ll be given:

• A clear understanding of the power and seduction of the distractive forces
• A vision of why divine protection is essential and how it can be invoked in ways appropriate to any situation
• Five powerful protection practices drawn from Christianity, Islam, African Shamanism and Hinduism

SESSION 7: PRAYERS OF SELFLESS SERVICE (MARCH 28)

In this transmission, Andrew will concentrate on two magnificent prayers that, when practiced intensely together, not only evoke and form the enlightened warrior-midwife self but keep it noble, wise and passionate in whatever difficulties arise. The first prayer is the fourfold Bodhisattva vow from Mahayana Buddhism that commits you to the work of service fueled from sacred consciousness. The second prayer is the Prayer of St. Francis, the greatest prayer of the Christian tradition, which helps you birth in yourself selfless wisdom and passionate compassion of divine love consciousness.

In this session, you’ll be given:

• A vision of the inner wisdom and compassion of the sacred warrior-midwife
• The sacred technology of prayer that sustains, empowers and expands this vision
• Two divine prayers that you can draw transforming soul-power from at any time

The fourth category of essential practice is sacred body practice. We are being challenged by this world crisis to birth the Divine not only in heart and mind but also in our very cells so that our body becomes strong and vibrant enough to rise to any challenge from an increasingly divinized full self.

SESSION 8: HEART YOGA
DISCOVERING YOGA AS A CRUCIBLE FOR DIVINE TRANSFORMATION (APRIL 4)

In this transmission, Andrew will concentrate on sharing the Heart Yoga he created with the great yoga teacher, Karuna Erickson. Heart Yoga fuses sequences of traditional asanas with music, inspiration from sacred text, and mystical light practices to enable yoga to serve as a crucible of divination. He’ll share in detail the 7-part body prayer at the core of Heart Yoga that enables you to experience and embody the stages to divine embodiment in service to justice and compassion in the world.

In this module, you’ll be given:

• A vision of the necessity of treating the body as a sacred temple
• The sacred technology of yoga that speeds up the divination process
• A simple 7-part body prayer that births the light in mind, heart and body

SESSION 9: SACRED DANCE
DISCOVERING DANCE AS A CRUCIBLE FOR THE BIRTH OF THE DIVINE HUMAN (APRIL 11)

Drawing on his work with both Gabrielle Roth and the great Iranian sacred dancer, Banafsheh Sayyad, Andrew will concentrate on sacred dance as a magnification of the divine dancer who created the world — and to demonstrate that there’s a way to cellularly experience and embody the energies and powers of divine joy in a time as dark as ours. Celebration and sacred dance can individually and collectively provide hope, courage, ecstasy and confidence as it has for millennia in Indigenous cultures.

Andrew will present the version of Gabrielle Roth’s 5Rhythms united with Rumi’s Path of Divine Love that he was working on with Gabrielle before she passed away. He’ll also be presenting the work of Banafsheh Sayyad, which offers a simple and universal way of whirling that connects directly to the Divine and fills your whole being with its subtle fire.

In this module, you’ll be given:

• A divinized version of the five rhythms of Gabrielle Roth
• A simplified and universal version of whirling
• An understanding of celebratory dance as special to our inner and outer health and survival

The fifth category of essential practice is shadow work. As the human shadow erupts in all aspects of our global crisis, we are challenged to do both archetypal and personal shadow work at a far deeper and more transformational level than ever before. The rewards of such shadow work are extraordinary: greater compassion for ourselves and others, greater wisdom about the forces of destruction in us and others that need to be made conscious and transformed, and more flexible and skillful means to deal with whatever challenging situation arises.

SESSION 10: WORKING WITH THE ARCHETYPAL SHADOW OF THE CRISIS (APRIL 18)

In this transmission, Andrew will concentrate on making as lucid as possible the five archetypal shadows that our current global dark night is radiating: disbelief, denial, dread, disillusion and death. He’ll explore each in detail and offer an effective way of working with them, both individually and in dyads, using a special version of Tonglen.

In this module, you’ll be given:

• A comprehensive vision of what shadow work in these times entails
• A depiction of why archetypal shadow work is essential in sacred activism
• Sacred technology that helps your work on your own and others’ shadows in compassion and joy

SESSION 11: HANDLING THE PERSONAL SHADOW (APRIL 25)

In this transmission, Andrew will present in detail what he experiences as the five main personal shadows that collude with and support the dark forces of the archetypal shadows: narcissism, addiction to comfort and security, fear of standing up to telling truth to power, obsession with personal rather than universal suffering, and the golden shadow which projects on others the unlived great qualities in ourselves. Each of these shadows will be described in depth and in their disempowering interconnection.

You’ll also be given a sacred practice drawn from the Christian mystical tradition which will enable you to transmute these shadows and discover the “Dark Gold” — treasures, insights and energy — that lie hidden within each of them.

In this module, you’ll be given:

• A clear vision of our contemporary human shadows and the way they fuel the global dark night
• A characterization of how the five personal shadows trap us until they are made conscious and transformed
• A mystical practice which can help you work on your human shadow with the joy and clarity of your divine self

In this transmission, Andrew will present his vision of the world crisis as a Kali-event, with Kali, the Hindu goddess also known as the Dark Mother, dancing on every level to destroy what no longer serves us and to compel us to create in and with her grace a new world. Drawing on ancient Hindu text, Andrew will present the four stages of Kali’s dance — ominous, dangerous, severe and lethal — and show how we are now in the third stage and need to employ a calm urgency.

Powers of sacred activism must be employed to avoid the terminal disaster of the fourth stage. Andrew will concentrate especially on how he believes the evolution of love in action needs to be organized in what he has called Networks of Grace — groups of between six and 15 people to inspire and encourage each other to locally and globally put love in action.

In this module, you’ll be given:

• As precise a vision as possible of Kali and her purposes
• A clear vision of where we are in Kali’s wild dance
• A vision of how to not only form Networks of Grace, but how to keep them vibrant and sustain their effectiveness in challenging conditions