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Insights from Danna Faulds’ Poetry and Meditation Practice
The Question That Changes Everything
I was reading Danna Faulds when this simple question stopped me: What’s true here?
That’s it. Three words. A whole practice.
For five years, she used this question to fuel and focus her daily meditations. Every morning. Every sit. What’s true here? The poems in her collection What’s True Here emerged from that inquiry. From sitting still and asking. From letting the layers peel away until something real remained.
“This collection of poems and prose pieces were all written in the last five years. Those years have been especially rich in experience, challenge, delight, connection, learning, forgetting, and remembering again.”
Experience. Challenge. Delight. Connection. Learning. Forgetting. Remembering again.
That’s life. All of it. The highs, the lows, the territory in between. And through all of it, one question: What’s true here?
The Practice of Coming Back
“I’m a once-reluctant meditator who now won’t miss a day.”
Meditation gave Danna reliable access to a vivid inner life and creative voice. But she started reluctant. Like most of us. Resistant. Skeptical. Wondering what the point was of sitting still when there’s so much to do.
Then something shifted. The practice became essential. The kind of thing you build your day around. The anchor. The return.
Research shows what she discovered through experience: meditation changes your brain. Studies on meditators reveal higher levels of mindfulness, self-compassion, and overall wellbeing. Lower levels of psychological symptoms, rumination, thought suppression. Improved emotion regulation. Greater peace.
The benefits increase with extent of practice. Ten minutes a day. Twenty. Thirty. The changes are measurable. The shifts are real.
But it starts with showing up. With settling in. With asking: What’s true here?
Forgive Yourself, Now is the Only Time
“Forgive yourself. Now is the only time you have to be whole. Now is the sole moment that exists to live in the light of your true Self.”
You keep waiting for the perfect moment. When you’ve practiced enough. When your meditation is deep. When your prayers are sincere. When you’ve finally cleaned the refrigerator and stopped chewing your fingernails.
Do you value your reasons for staying small more than the light shining through the open door?
You deliver your litany of sins like a child’s collection of sea shells, prized and labeled. You say you’re unworthy. Afraid. Impure. Imperfect.
“Perfection is a prerequisite for anything but pain.”
What if you stopped believing in your disbelief? What if today was the day of your awakening?
Meditation invites you to release the endless list of what’s wrong with you. To step across the threshold exactly as you are. Messy. Uncertain. Human.
Research confirms this: mindfulness reduces rumination—that endless loop of what you should have done, who you should be, how you’ve failed. When you practice returning to the present moment, you train your brain to release the past and stop rehearsing the future.
This is the only moment you have. This breath. This heartbeat. This chance to be whole.
You Are Already Connected
“You are connected through breath, connected by the very essence of your being, because you believe or know or practice, but because your soul is always plugged in, always whole.”
Your spiritual practice earns you access to the divine. Your meditation proves you’re worthy. Your discipline creates the connection.
Except that’s backward.
“Without having to do anything in particular, you are the bridge between the infinite and this transient realm of form. Your connection is something you can win or lose, and while you must choose to be aware of it, the divine is there, inside and out, ever present, whether you feel it or
You already are what you’re trying to become. The work is remembering. Revealing. Coming home to what was always true.
Studies on long-term meditation practitioners show changes in self-referential processing. The sense of a separate, isolated self begins to dissolve. What emerges is a felt sense of connection—to yourself, to others, to something vast and loving that holds everything.
This is what mystics have said for thousands of years. This is what the research is beginning to measure. This is what happens when you ask, again and again: What’s true here?
The Soul Longs to Be Known
“Despite illness of body or mind, in spite of blinding despair or habitual belief, who you are is whole. Let nothing keep you separate from the truth. The soul, illumined from within, longs to be known for what it is.”
You are broken. You think you need fixing. You carry your pain like evidence that something is fundamentally wrong with you.
What if that’s the lie?
“Undying, untouched by fire or the storms of life, there is a place inside where stillness and abiding peace reside. You can ride the breath to go there.”
The breath is always there. Always available. Your way home to the part of you that’s whole.
Research on mindfulness shows how: focusing on your breath activates the parasympathetic nervous system. Reduces stress. Calms the amygdala—the fear center of your brain. Strengthens the prefrontal cortex—the part that regulates emotion and makes wise choices.
But more than that: the breath becomes your teacher. Each inhale: Yes. Each exhale: Letting go. Each cycle: A journey and a coming home.
Studies show that meditation increases gray matter in areas associated with learning, memory, and emotional regulation. Over time, the practice literally reshapes your brain. But the deeper change? The recognition that you were whole all along.
“Release everything that is your true nature. What’s left, the fullness, light and shadow, claim all that as your birthright.”
Settle in the Here and Now
The mind wants to be anywhere but here. Replaying yesterday. Rehearsing tomorrow. Planning. Worrying. Spinning stories about what might happen or what should have happened.
Danna’s practice invites us back: Settle in the here and now.
Just this breath. Just this moment. Just this exactly-as-it-is present reality.
Research on mindfulness reveals that the mind wanders about 47% of the time. Nearly half your life spent somewhere other than where you actually are. And studies show that mind-wandering is strongly correlated with unhappiness.
When you’re here, fully present, even difficulty feels different. Even pain softens. Even grief has space to move.
The practice creates what researchers call “decentering”—the ability to observe your thoughts and emotions from a witnessing perspective rather than getting swept away by them. You become the riverbank, watching thoughts float by like leaves on a stream.
Over time, this creates cognitive flexibility. Emotional resilience. The capacity to stay steady when life gets hard.
Ten minutes a day. That’s what one Harvard study found. Just ten minutes of daily mindfulness practice decreased depression symptoms by nearly 20%. Reduced anxiety. Increased positive attitude. Enhanced motivation for healthy lifestyle changes.
All from asking: What’s true here? All from settling in. All from choosing to be present with what is.
All You Ever Longed For
“All you ever longed for is before you in this moment if you dare draw in a breath and whisper ‘Yes.’”
What you’re searching for is already here. Right now. Available. Waiting.
The peace you think you’ll find when your life gets less chaotic. The joy you’ll experience when you finally achieve the thing. The love you’ll feel when you meet the right person.
It’s here. Now. In this breath. In this beating heart. In this moment of being alive.
But you have to say yes. You have to risk being present. You have to dare to stop searching long enough to notice what’s already true.
Neuroscience research on meditation shows changes in the default mode network—the brain regions associated with self-referential thought and mind-wandering. Experienced meditators show decreased activity in these regions and increased connectivity between areas responsible for present-moment awareness.
Translation: the more you practice being here, the less your brain pulls you away from here. The more you return to now, the more now becomes your home.
What you’ve been seeking? It’s been seeking you. What you’ve been longing for? It’s been here all along. What’s true? You already have everything you need.
The Practice Itself
It’s a practice, this choice to be still and know what you know while allowing the ocean of your unknowing to scour the mind’s shoreline until awareness is laid bare and the subtle sound of breath vies with silence for your attention.
You sit. You breathe. You ask: What’s true here?
Thoughts arise. Emotions surface. Sensations appear. You notice. You witness. You let them pass.
Studies on intuitive inquiry meditation—the Chan (Zen) practice of asking “Who am I?”—show that this kind of self-inquiry changes brain activation patterns. Long-term practitioners develop cognitive flexibility. Equanimity. The capacity to hold doubt and curiosity without needing immediate answers.
The practice cultivates a flexible and detached mental state. You remain doubtful and skeptical toward what is perceived and believed. You learn to question. To wonder. To explore.
What’s true here?
Sometimes the answer is pain. Sometimes joy. Sometimes confusion. Sometimes clarity. Sometimes nothing at all except the sound of your breath and the silence that holds everything.
The practice is showing up anyway. Asking anyway. Sitting anyway. Trusting that the inquiry itself is enough.
The Light Shining Through
You value your reasons for staying small more than the light shining through the open door. You hold your excuses like treasures. Your fears like armor. Your unworthiness like proof.
What if you dropped it all? What if you stepped through? What if you discovered that the light was always there, always waiting, always yours?
Studies on loving-kindness meditation and self-compassion practices show measurable increases in positive emotions, life satisfaction, and feelings of social connection. They show decreases in self-criticism, depression, and anxiety.
The research confirms what the poets and mystics have always known: you are worthy of love. You belong here. You are enough.
The question is: Will you believe it? Will you choose to live from that truth? Will you ask, moment by moment, breath by breath: What’s true here?
The Breath as Teacher
“I breathe in All That Is—Awareness expanding to take everything in, as if my heart beats the world into being. From the unnamed vastness beneath the mind, I breathe my way to wholeness and healing. Inhalation. Exhalation. Each breath a ‘yes,’ and a letting go, a journey, and a coming home.”
The breath is always happening. Whether you notice it or you’re lost in thought. Whether you’re present or a thousand miles away in your mind.
But when you bring your attention to your breath, something shifts. The nervous system calms. The heart rate slows. The mind settles.
Research shows that breath-focused meditation activates the vagus nerve, which regulates the parasympathetic nervous system—your body’s natural relaxation response. Just a few minutes of conscious breathing can reduce cortisol levels, lower blood pressure, and decrease inflammation.
But the breath teaches more than relaxation. Each inhale: receiving life. Each exhale: releasing what you hold. Each cycle: a reminder that you are always in process. Always changing. Always becoming.
Mindfulness of breath strengthens attentional stability. Reshapes self-referential thinking. Reorganizes emotional patterns. Over time, these micro-changes create profound transformation.
The breath becomes your anchor. Your way home. Your teacher in the art of letting go.
Truths to Carry With You
What’s true here? Ask this question. Every day. Every moment.
Forgive yourself. Now is the only time you have to be whole.
You are already connected. Your soul is always plugged in.
The breath is your teacher. Ride it home.
You are whole. Despite illness, despair, or habitual belief.
Perfection is a prerequisite for anything but pain.
Release everything that is your true nature.
Settle in the here and now. This is where life happens.
All you ever longed for is before you in this moment.
The light shines through the open door. Will you step across?
Mind-wandering creates unhappiness. Presence creates peace.
The practice is simple. Show up. Breathe. Ask.
Your reasons for staying small matter less than the truth.
The soul, illumined from within, longs to be known.
You can ride the breath to stillness and abiding peace.
Each breath is a yes and a letting go.
The divine is there, inside and out, ever present.
Ten minutes a day changes your brain. Changes your life.
Meditation is a practice. Keep choosing. Keep returning.
The inquiry itself is enough. You ask the question.
What’s true here? The answer lives in this moment.
The Practice: A Simple Guide
Morning Sit
Find a quiet place. Set a timer for ten minutes. Sit comfortably with your spine straight.
Close your eyes. Bring your attention to your breath. Notice the inhale. Notice the exhale.
When your mind wanders—and it will—gently return to your breath. No judgment. Just returning.
After a few minutes, silently ask: What’s true here?
Listen. Feel. Notice. Allow whatever arises. Thoughts. Emotions. Sensations. Silence.
You’re seeking an answer. You’re creating space. You’re practicing presence.
When the timer sounds, take a deep breath. Open your eyes. Carry the question with you.
Throughout the Day
Pause. Notice your breath. Ask: What’s true here?
In moments of stress. In moments of joy. In the ordinary in-between moments.
The question becomes your practice. Your anchor. Your way home.
Resources for Going Deeper
Danna Faulds’ Books:
- What’s True Here: New Poems and Other Writings
- Go In and In: Poems From the Heart of Yoga
- Breath of Joy: Poems, Prayers, and Prose
- Into the Heart of Yoga: One Woman’s Journey (memoir)
Where to Find Her Work:
- Kripalu Center Shop (What’s True Here)
- Kripalu Resources on Danna Faulds
- Best Poems Collection
- Goodreads Quotes
Meditation Research & Resources:
- NIH: Mindfulness for Your Health
- APA: Mindfulness Meditation Research
- Harvard Health: 10 Minutes of Daily Mindfulness
- NIH Study: Effects of Mindfulness on Psychological Health
- Neuroscience of Mindfulness (Wharton)
Mindfulness Practices:
- Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) – 8-week program developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn
- Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) – Combines mindfulness with cognitive therapy
- Free meditation apps: Insight Timer, UCLA Mindful App
Self-Inquiry Meditation:
- Research on Intuitive Inquiry Meditation (Chan/Zen practice)
- Buddhist Meditation Pathways (beyond conventional mindfulness)
“What’s true here? Ask this question every day. Every moment. This is the practice. This is the path. This is the way home.”
The breath is waiting. The light is shining. The door is open.
Step through.
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