January 29 – The path we’ve travelled
Dear Friends, So now that we’ve zipped through four weeks of material, and we’re nearing the end of January, I thought we could take a step back and have a big picture of what we’ve been cultivating this month. 1 – What’s your why – setting an intention can help us stay oriented in our practice and life 2 – Mindfulness is… – I presented my definition of mindfulness – in the course of this month, how have you refined your understanding of mindfulness? 3 – How did the rose ever open its heart? – kindness is an essential part of our mindfulness practice, allowing us to open to our inner goodness, and to meet experience with less resistance 4 – Taking your seat – some posture pointers for meditation 5 – Exhale and inhale – mindfulness of breathing 6 – Embodied awareness – bringing mindfulness to the body in…
January 8 – Step by step
Dear Friends, In times when I find my mind is agitated – from world events or inner turmoil – I find it useful to give myself more room and a more physical way for the agitation to move through the body. Then I may be able to settle into a sitting meditation. Talk about Walking Where am I going? I’m goingout, out for a walk. I don’tknow where except outside.Outside argument, out beyondwallpapered walls, outsidewherever it is where nobodyever imagines. Beyond wherecomputers circumvent emotion,where somebody shorted specsfor rivets for airframes ontoday’s flights. I’m taking offon my own two feet. I’m goingto clear my head, to watchmares’-tails instead of TV,to listen to trees and silence,to see if I can still breathe.I’m going to be alone withmyself, to feel how it feelsto embrace what my feettell my head, what wind saysin my good ear. I mean to letmyself be embraced, to let…
January 9 – With quiet eyes
Dear Friends, Kamala Masters starts her talk, “Equanimity-Seeing the World with Quiet Eyes“, with a quote from Howard Thurman: How may we work in the world courageously and intelligently, on behalf of a decent world, without despair and complete fatigue? What are the resources available for … rehabilitation and renewal? That [we might] be able to look out on life, with all of its cruel vicissitudes and transcendent joys, with quiet eyes and a tranquil spirit. ~ Howard Thurman, Deep is the Hunger: Meditations for Apostles of Sensitiveness (1951) Kamala comments on this quote: We can enjoy that rested heart, we can also see clearly in that restfulness. There’s an inner quiet, a balance, a spaciousness that has to do with seeing the world with quiet eyes. There’s a deep connection that we continue to have with the world. It’s not aloof; it’s not disconnected from what’s happening. … It’s…
January 31 – Month end recap
Dear Friends, Today is the last day of the 5 day retreat with Adrianne Ross, so I’ll be back to the land of technology later this afternoon. I thank you for your patience! Meanwhile, here’s a reflection for today! I look forward to catching up with your responses. It’s hard to believe we’re at the end of January! It’s been a busy month, with lots of opportunities for exploration. I hope you’ve found some practices that resonate with you. Today, I’ll briefly recap some of the key points and practices that we’ve covered. Start with intention – we started (and ended) the month by exploring intention; it’s a great thing to reflect on – at the beginning of the day, at the beginning of a meditation, whenever. Complete the day/meditation/whatever with a review or dedication. It’s a way to affirm the skillful things you did, and to reconnect with our…
January 11 – Midweek recap
Dear Friends, We’ve covered a lot of ground these past few days, so let’s take a moment to recap. We started by talking about intention – setting an intention for the year, the day, a meditation practice, a chore – and we also looked at closing the day, practice, etc. with a dedication. We reviewed a few different mindfulness practices: Mindful of breathing (How do you know that you’re breathing?) Body scan Choiceless awareness (What’s obvious?) Walking meditation – both the formal practice, and a broader form that can be used in daily life We looked at forming habits with the cue, routine, reward cycle, and considered how we could find a cue for a mindfulness routine, and then notice the reward to reinforce that cue for next time. We also discussed noticing joy can become a habit, where we can stop, notice, appreciate, and share. We’ve discussed a couple of…
January 7 – Walking
Dear Friends, Walking meditation. There are plenty of instructions on how to do the formal practice. An older article in Tricycle collected thoughts on walking from a number of respected teachers: Walking: Meditation on the Move Achaan Chah, Sylvia Boorstein, Yasutani Roshi, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Thich Nhat Hanh, Joan Halifax, Bruce Chatwin, Henry David Thoreau, and Matsuo Basho on walking meditation https://tricycle.org/magazine/walking-meditation-move/ If you’re looking for a guided meditation for a formal walking meditation, check out this one: http://www.diydharma.org/walking-meditation-sharon-salzberg (It’s not actually Sharon Salzberg leading the meditation, but I presume she must have written the script that the person is reading.) A less renowned individual blogged about her walking meditation experience a couple of years ago… 🙂 https://www.sharonsalzberg.com/ministry-of-silly-walks/ (I’m better at walking meditation now!) There are so many places in life that we walk. We walk through our homes. We walk from the car to the grocery store. We walk in the grocery store.…