Generally speaking, we regard discomfort in any form as bad news. But for practitioners or spiritual warriors—people who have a certain hunger to know what is true—feelings like dis­appointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we’re hold­ing back.

The hub of the wheel is the one thing to reach, the motionless depth of yourself. That alone is the true cave (guha) that alone gives to the guha of rock the marvelous solitude, which it radiates like a mirror.

At dawn, I get out of bed, walk carefully across creaking floor boards so as not to wake my family, and sit on a cushion in the living room. I close my eyes and focus on my breath, counting each exhalation until I reach four and then starting over again at one.