Touchstones: Essays on Spirituality and Healing

By Dr. Robin S. Shapiro

In this collection of essays and poems, Dr. Robin Shapiro captures the depth of the struggles and the triumphs of a healing journey. Using her own healing path as a canvas for her words, Robin offers solace and encouragement to all who are seeking health, wellness, and happiness. Her experiences in medicine have provided rich soil for understanding the nature of compassion and skilled listening, as the people she cares for and teaches heal their lives.

Throughout TOUCHSTONES, there is something that will resonate with the reader and touch those wounded places that need a soft space to land. Robin creates a healing landscape with her stories and places it on the heart as a salve that mends us in the broken places.

TOUCHSTONES is a call to action... Since everything is impermanent and everyone is impermanent, healing must unfold now... TOUCHSTONES will help the reader become more aware of how precious this human life is and move in the world in a way that can bring about inner peace...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 21, 2012
• ISBN: 9781469173863

Dr. Robin S. Shapiro

Dr. Robin Shapiro is best known for her contribution to the field of Integrative Medicine. As a pioneer of mind, body, and soul approaches to wellness, Robin incorporates both Western and Eastern methodologies at her school, BE WELL AMERICA, in Barnegat, New Jersey. As a longtime student/teacher of Qigong and hands-on meditations, Robin brings a unique quality to the dojo. She is meticulous in her teaching, with a sense of humor that helps people to become their best selves. As a sought-after keynote presenter, Robin has delivered lectures around the country, inspiring audiences to Be Well. Robin shares a cozy home near the beach with her husband Neil and their dog Casey. Her Son, Jeff, lives a bicoastal life in New Jersey and California. As the author of Riding the Wind: Healing the Whole Person and numerous articles, Robin is currently working on her third book entitled Waiting in the Parking Lot: A Mother’s Journey. Robin can be reached via her website e-mail. Contact www.bewellamerica.com to get in touch with her. She is available for private gatherings and for conference presentations.

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Copyright © 2012 by Dr. Robin S. Shapiro.

Copyedited by Fatimah Imam

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012903578

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Contents

Dedication

Foreword

Touchstones

I’d Like To Tell You All A Story.

The Pink Geranium

It’s Never Too Late

To Play The Violin

Sand Castles

I See You

You Are My Sanctuary . . .

All Of You

Suffering Made Of Grief

The Garden

All Of A Sudden

My Authentic Self Whispers . . .

If I Had The Opportunity

December Sunset

Before The First Touch

Discipline

Spiritual Dna

Be The Change You Wish To See In The World

Beach Lover’s Holiday

Pass Over The Brisket

Filling And Emptying

The Ancient Voice

Healing From The Inside Out

Ancient Wings

Sacred Road

Princeton Chapel

Finally, Grief

Weeping Hearts

The Man In The Moon Is A Lady

Thanksgiving Blessing

The Autumn Leaves

After Bernie, 1988

Enlightenment In The Produce Department

The Ocean Chased Me

A Little Haiku

Monkey In The Middle

Compassion

Four Directions: Prayers

For My Tribe

The Five Remembrances:

The Five Facts

When The Universe

You Are My Teacher

The Five Remembrances or the Five Facts was referenced from Thich Nhat Hanh, who included these words spoken by the Buddha in his book Friends on the Path. Only the listing of the Five Remembrances was referenced from his book. The prose was written by Robin Shapiro.

Dedication

Dedicated to all of us

To the Great Mother who allows us to continue to stand upon her without throwing us off

To peace in our time

To healing

To love

L’chiam! To life!

Foreword

Namaste. Welcome to the Circle of TOUCHSTONES. Please take your place and make yourself comfortable. Don’t worry; there’s always room for one more in the Circle.

In TOUCHSTONES, Dr. Robin Shapiro opens her life and her life’s work for all to share. As long as she has been practicing, Robin’s door has never been closed to anyone seeking her help, be it spiritual or medical. When you are speaking to her, your voice is the only voice she hears. Each of her students is her only student, and each practice member, her only one.

We seekers who are fortunate to come together at her school meet in a Sangha, a group of like-minded people ( like-minded and yet as different as any melting pot), eager to help one another. We’re there to listen, to encourage, to catch someone if they are falling, to be silent and just listen. Sometimes, that is the most important thing. Robin listens, and she remembers . . . everything.

We meet in a Circle, a never-ending ring of Sisterhood. We pour ourselves into the Circle that can hold all things. We know that our words are safe and never judged there. We are free in the Circle of Sisters, and now, you too are welcomed in.

We practice Qigong (chee-gung), a kind of moving medicine, in harmony, as one. The long-practiced student and the novice are equal in the Sangha. We can only do this because we have been guided by a Wisewoman. We watch as she moves so naturally through a form, and we listen and we begin to move too. Soon the chi is flowing in the room, and it is palpable. From Robin it emanates to us, and we feel it and we understand the medicine and the healing. We know the power of the chi. The room is full of moving medicine traveling from Teacher, from Sister to Sister, back to Wisewoman. The Circle continues, the healing and chi flows, and we are infused with knowledge. Have we been taught, or have we been shown how to understand? This is what you will find in the pages of TOUCHSTONES—gentle guidance and healing knowledge.

Of all of her accomplishments, and there are many, I believe Dr. Shapiro would list Teacher first. The title certainly rests softly and most naturally on her. Robin never pushes—well, almost never. She understands that we can only learn what we are ready to know. She never stops encouraging us to lift our eyes and look further.

As you will discover on each page of this book, there is a gem of wisdom waiting to be discovered. Sift through them and find your own TOUCHSTONES, sacred words you can rely upon to bring you to a safe and mindful place. Compassion, truth, impermanence, clarity of mind, peace of Spirit, purity of heart and intention, all TOUCHSTONES, all here within these pages for you to claim as your own. The ones that are yours are the ones that shine brightest for you. Let yourself touch and be touched by them.

This is not a book that you must begin on page one and continue to the last page. There is a feast here, but it need not be ingested in one sitting. Think of it more as a Grand Buffet, and begin with dessert if you like. A few poems, a short essay, take your time with them. Take a walk in The Garden or Princeton Chapel. Read Autumn Leaves to gain some important insight about the path the writer walks.

If you are a student of self-enlightenment and have come to realize that it does not disturb you that all things are temporary, you may want to start with the Five Remembrances and the Five Facts.

However you decide to take these works into yourself, take your time. Read and read again, and I promise, you will be rewarded. You will find jewels, TOUCHSTONES, everywhere.

Brooke Dalton Folino

Honored Student

2012

Touchstones

ESSAYS ON SPIRITUALITY AND HEALING

This collection of essays and poems springs from an inner self that has grown from being a fractured soul into a healing presence. Writing, as a healing process, is also a holy experience. It is an act in response to witnessing life and the extraordinary ways in which it unfolds. This book is meant to inspire the reader to examine the healing journey and then step onto the path or continue on the path to the healed self. There are no hidden meanings in these words. There are no Zen riddles or brainteasers. The words set forth in these pages are a simple expression of a healing heart.

Choosing to share these feelings and insights is a choice that feels like a privilege. I have had the good fortune to lecture all over the United States regarding things natural based on the healing processes that human beings deeply need. My audiences have always been moved by these presentations. In turn, I have been moved by thousands of people reflecting back to me their needs and understanding of healing as a process, not an event. If we are not about healing our lives, then what are we doing here? The healing journey is never travelled alone. We, the collective souls of the human family, accompany one another on this sacred journey. Even though we cannot intimately know all who travel with us, we must acknowledge that the whole planet needs healing. We must raise one another up, shining our light on one another’s problems, and water the seeds of compassion and peace in everyone, in all parts of this world.

Take your time reading these essays and poems. You will find some that seem to have been written just for you. And you will find others that you wish to share with a particular someone. My hope is that these words touch you in the broken places and help you to heal in soft and gentle ways. We are all facing this interesting time in history with some fear and anxiety. Let these words help you to be a light unto yourself, as well as a light for all who walk with you on this path called Life. My heart opens wide and then wider to all of you as you take my hand, using my words as your TOUCHSTONES, moving you toward health, healing, and happiness.

Two hands together in a deep bow of gratitude to you all, for all that you are, and for all that together we may become.

Be Well,

ROB

I’d Like To Tell You All A Story.

Walking in town one Indian summer afternoon, I happened upon a poster in the old post office window. The poster announced the Wizard Wonder coming to our town. The poster was inviting all to come and see the amazing feats that the Wizard would perform. The time set for this performance was