TEA AND ZEN - THREADS

THE GEOMETRY OF RESISTANCE AND SURRENDER

There is a hidden architecture in the way we live and respond to the world …..a kind of spiritual geometry that shapes our inner landscape.Resistance is angular. It has edges and corners, built of muscle, memory, and fear. It shows up as tension in the jaw, the held breath, the clenched hands. It says, “No, not this,” and erects invisible walls to protect what feels threatened. Like a square, it gives structure and boundary, but it can become a cage if we never learn to open the door.Surrender, by contrast, is curved. It is the circle, the spiral, the arc. It is not collapse, but release ….. the softening of what no longer serves. In surrender, the breath deepens. The body opens. The heart listens. There is movement again…not away from pain, but through it. It says, “I trust what I cannot yet see.”Between these two …. resistance and surrender ….. is a sacred tension. One teaches us where we’ve been hurt and wounded. The other shows us how to heal. Both are necessary. But it is surrender that transforms resistance into wisdom.To live spiritually is to become aware of the shapes we take on….. and to choose, moment by moment, which geometry serves our soul.Nigel Lott teaandzen.org Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe
In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel  TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY                                                                                                                                                                  DONATE

SACRED RETURN - A Reflection

There comes a moment, amid the depths of suffering, when something within me begins to soften. The resistance that once gripped so tightly starts to release….not because the suffering has disappeared, but because I begin to remember something far deeper than the travail itself.For years, I have witnessed this rhythm within myself. When trauma resurfaces, when suffering stirs again, a wave of overwhelm often arises. Yet, in time…a quiet shift takes place. I cease to fight it. I begin to lean not into the suffering itself, but into the space around it. A space that has always been there: a sacred realm of love, of peace, of light that exists beyond the darkness.This process has unfolded as a form of sacred art….the art of surrender. It is not a passive giving up, but a conscious releasing. A deliberate choice to trust the deeper current, even when the surface feels storm-tossed.And what happens next often feels like grace. As I surrender, I begin to receive….insights, clarity, healing….flowing like light through the cracks. It is as though, in softening to what is, I open the door to what has always been: the alchemy of transcendence, and a love beyond measure.In these moments, I see that suffering is not simply travail….it is forgetting. And healing is the process of remembering. Remembering that truth has never left. That the soul was always whole. That, as Ram Dass so beautifully said, “It’s less than a blink of an eye away at any given moment.”Sometimes, when the suffering, the remembrance of trauma is overwhelming, that other realm seems impossibly distant….like it is buried beneath countless lifetimes. Yet over time, I have learned to recognize its nearness more swiftly. Even when trauma returns, even when PTSD flares, there is always a thread I can follow back…a sacred muscle memory of presence in my heart.And these days, it seems I return to truth more quickly. I surrender more willingly. I trust the path through the fire because I know where it leads: Back to the Light. Back to Love.Nigel Lott teaandzen.org Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe
In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel  TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY                                                                                                                                                                  DONATE

TRUE POWER

To reach into another’s life with the intent to extract, control, or cause pain is not an act of power…..it is an expression of quiet despair.It is the grief of a soul that has fallen into forgetfulness, losing its remembrance of the Infinite within, and so reaches outward, grasping for fragments of light in another’s field.Believing itself starved of energy….of love…..it attempts to feed upon what it perceives to be missing. But this is the great illusion: that love can be taken, that radiance can be stolen.Nothing seized through fear can ever nourish the spirit. No illusion of control can replace the living truth of one’s own divine spark. For the wellspring of true power lies not in conquest, but in communion.Not in the taking, but in the sacred recognition of what already flows within. And what has been forgotten can be remembered….if the heart is willing to turn inward, and listen once more to the song of its origin.Nigel Lott teaandzen.org Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe
In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel  TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY                                                                                                                                                                  DONATE

Remembering Bob

It has been one year since Bob stepped beyond the veil. Not into absence, but into mystery. Not into silence, but into the deeper music that only the heart can hear.Those who walk the earth with quiet wisdom often leave behind more than memories…..they leave imprints of the eternal. Bob was such a soul. Gentle in presence, rooted in truth, and touched by something beyond this world.Though his body is no longer among us, the soul does not vanish. It unfolds. It expands. It watches and walks with us from just beyond the edge of sight. We feel Bob in the rustle of leaves, in dreams that linger, in the sudden warmth of sunlight on a hard day, and a pint of Fullers London Pride. In the way our hearts still steady at the thought of him.Mystics have long said that death is not the end, but a return…..a homecoming to the Source. And those who live with love leave trails of light that never fade.So today, we honor Bob not with sadness alone, but with reverence. With trust in the unseen. With the quiet knowing that his journey continues….closer than breath, wider than time.Bob, may your soul soar through the great Mystery.May your presence whisper through the stillness.You are with us, always…..in light, in love, in the deep heart of all things. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe
In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel  TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY                                                                                                                                                                  DONATE

A MEDITATION ON LOVE AND LIGHT

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In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel  TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY                                                                                                                                                                  DONATE

Negotiating from the Ground of Truth

In every interaction, whether personal or global, the power to negotiate well begins not with the other….but within ourselves. True strength arises from being in full integrity with our own truth, grounded in clarity about who we are and what we stand for.To negotiate from strength is not about dominance or force, but about self-awareness. It means knowing, before entering any dialogue, what we are truly willing to say yes to…..and, just as importantly, what we must say no to. This inner alignment creates a stable foundation from which our words and energy carry weight, presence, and clarity.This becomes especially vital when engaging with individuals who, for various reasons…..trauma, conditioning, or rigid belief systems….cannot operate in the realm of nuance. These are people who see the world in absolutes: black or white, right or wrong, win or lose. With such individuals, there may be no shared middle ground to explore. Therefore, if we are not rooted in our truth, we risk being swept into their polarity, losing ourselves in their rigidity.To prevent this, we must enter conversations with the full awareness of our boundaries. Saying no is not an act of aggression, but of love…..both for oneself and for the other. Boundaries spoken with calm conviction create safety, clarity, and even healing. They remind everyone involved that love does not mean abandoning the self, and compassion does not require self-sacrifice.Negotiating from a place of inner strength is a sacred act. It allows us to meet others with openness, but not at the cost of our truth. It invites honest connection while protecting the integrity of our soul. When rooted in love and clarity, our no becomes just as powerful…..and just as holy….as our yes.Nigel Lott teaandzen.org Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe
In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel  TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY                                                                                                                                                                  DONATE

A Spiritual View of PTSD and Dysautonomia

There are places within us that no scan can see, no test can measure. These are the sacred chambers where spirit whispers and trauma leaves its mark…not only in memory, but in the very breath, pulse, and rhythm of the body, mind, and soul.For me, the journey with complex PTSD became more than emotional pain. Over time, it spiraled into something deeper….something less understood, what the world of science names dysautonomia. But even that word, though clinical, cannot hold the vastness of what it truly is. In my case, it was an extreme sacred imbalance, a soul’s cry echoing through every system of my body.Science tells us that the autonomic nervous system is designed to maintain balance…..a seamless flow between stillness and action, alertness and rest. But when trauma is held for too long, when pain remains unspoken or unseen, that flow is disrupted. The signals misfire. The body forgets how to regulate itself. And yet, what science cannot fully explain is the energetic and spiritual impact of trauma….the way it imprints itself not just on the brain, but on the very essence of our being.And this is what I’ve come to understand: there are many conditions….mysteries of the body….that medicine cannot fully explain, if at all. Because they are not rooted solely in biology. They are rooted in spirit. The symptoms may carry medical names, but the cause is soul-deep.No medical model could restore the inner harmony I had lost. Healing came only when I turned inward, toward the light within. Through aspects of prayer, meditation, energy work, nervous system regulation, stillness, and communion with the unseen….and at times, sheer blind courage….I began to remember an ancient truth:Science may study the body, but spirit is what restores it. The two are not separate. They are one breath, one flame, working together to bring us back to wholeness.After nearly forty years of deep exploration, I have developed cutting-edge healing practices that have largely restored me….practices that merge science and spirit, helping to rewire the nervous system, heal the body, and awaken the soul.If you feel called to this path, I invite you to connect with me. Whether you are seeking healing, understanding, or transformation, I would be honored to share the wisdom and practices that have brought me back to life.Reach out, and let us walk this sacred path together.Nigel Lott teaandzen.org +1-206-769-6725 Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe
In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel  TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY                                                                                                                                                                  DONATE

THIS MOMENT

This moment this Love comes to rest in me,many beings in one being.In one wheat grain a thousand sheaf stacks.Inside the needle's eye a turning night of stars.-RumiNigel Lott teaandzen.org Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe
In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel  TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY                                                                                                                                                                  DONATE

THE MORNING POEM

ALL I KNOW IS LOVEA billion times God has turned manInto HimselfYou stand in line for theHighest giftFor His generosity cannot end.But best to bring an instrument alongWhile waiting in the cold desertAnd make some dulcet soundsTo accompany the palms’ swaying armsThat are casting silhouettesAgainst the sky’s curtainFrom our fire.Remind the Friend of your desireAnd great patience.A billion times God has turned manBack into Herself.We all stand in lineFor the highestGift. Get full access to Tea and Zen - Threads at teaandzen.substack.com/subscribe
In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel  TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY                                                                                                                                                                  DONATE

CONTEMPLATION

Love is the breath of the soul, the eternal current that flows through us, guiding us home. When we root ourselves in Love….pure, unconditional, infinite….we become vessels for creation, and everything we touch begins to reflect that light.
Nigel Lott teaandzen.org
sanctuary-teaandzen.org
In the quiet between heartbeats a whisper calls you home, you are not broken you are becoming. These threads of silence and sound are letters from the threshold, offerings from the edge of stillness. Nigel  TEA AND ZEN - MAIN LIBRARY                                                                                                                                                                  DONATE