Charlotte Center For Mindfulness // Podcasts: Recent Episodes
Lindsay Bridges
This meditation is opening to a beautiful place that exists right in the heart of any moment– just as it is, easy, challenging and everything in-between.
What happens when we feel like we are being told that we “should” be compassionate even towards people we find the most challenging– whether someone in our personal life or in the world? If we misunderstand compassion as excusing harmful behavior, of course our “innards” will rebel! When we instead begin to feel into the fierce openheartedness of strong courageous compassion, we start to see how much more effective we become in responding wisely to harmful behavior.
In this meditation we explore what happens right at that moment when we wake up from the mind drifting and the rich potency of this moment for teaching us about refuge, release, relief and letting go.
BIRD WINGS
Your grief for what you’ve lost lifts a mirror
up to where you are bravely working.
Expecting the worst, you look, and instead,
here’s the joyful face you’ve been wanting to see.
Your hand opens and closes and opens and closes.
If it were always a fist or always stretched open,
you would be paralyzed.
Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and
expanding,
the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated
as bird wings.
-Rumi
From The Essential Rumi
Trans. Coleman Barks with John Moyne
This is a second sharing on the importance of bringing a light playful attitude into our heart/mindfulness practice. As one researcher points out:“Play lies at the core of creativity and innovation and allows us to be free of the constraints of time and to experience a diminished consciousness of self.
It allows us to explore new ways of thinking and behaving so that we are not locked into a rigid way of doing things, are open to variation, see things in a different way, and gain new insights. Play allows us to break down barriers that separate us from others and fosters connection with others.”
Thanks to Still Water Mindfulness Practice Center for a beautiful article on play and mindfulness:https://www.stillwatermpc.org/dharma-topics/the-power-of-play/
Part one of sharing: Here
This is a practice of releasing into a silence that is our way to a wholeness, healing and freedom that is our home.
In this sharing, we explore a practice suggested by the poet and writer Colette Lafia regarding the importance of play. As she names, play has particularly qualities that we can forget or get pushed aside as we age, qualities that are very important for deepening our relationship with all.
This meditation explores opening and relaxing into a beautiful space that awareness is always offering.
This sharing is based on a great story regarding a thief and his encounter with a Buddhist master.
Mindfulness has this beautiful potential of bringing our body, mind and heart together in harmony with whatever is here right now.
It is so important for us to know our country’s history and celebrate the movements we have made in the direction of healing and wholeness.
It is also so important to know where there is still so much more work to do and make a commitment as best as we are able to name the need for this work.
Note: one correction– more than one third of the 8 Fold Path involves ethical principles. Wise Speech, Wise Livelihood and Wise Action are the three ethical or Sila factors of the 8 Fold Path.
In this meditation, we explore letting go into a connectivity with the Earth which gives rooting and uplift both.
This sharing examines the useful similarities of learning to train and dog and a human mind both– all about mindfulness and mammal biology.
This meditation explores the 3 beautiful steps offered by Sayadaw U Tejaniya for all of moments of practice, and therefore, life.
This week’s sharing is based on a short story with the teaching, “Thank you, I am grateful for everything.” What are ways of relating to this teaching that are useful for you? What are ways that are not useful for you?
Finding an attunement to a moment of practice– no matter what we are feeling in our internal world– that is useful for our freedom and “thank you” begins to naturally arise.
Paradigm shifts are when we come to understand that what we took as a reality is, in fact, not the deeper truth of things and it startles our systems enough into seeing the ourselves, each other or the the world through a whole new lens. Feeling into paradigm shifts helps shed light on the basic shift we are uncovering with our mindfulness practice.
In this meditation we explore the different feel of being caught in the reactive mind and those moments, no matter how small, when the body, mind and heart are in attunement. This attunement is what we are pointing to as “mindfulness,” and when we are aware of it, it has a natural sense of coming home. Again.
Please note: the mild echo is only in this podcast and has been fixed.
This sharing explores teachings from the book, Difficult Conversations. This book examines the ways conversations we care about can so easily get “hijacked,” and ways to help us stay grounded in having the conversation we want to have instead.
The is a meditation on bringing care to our internal “bad student”– i.e. meeting the part of us we want to get rid of, the part we see as disrupting our meditation. This willingness to meet our troublesome, annoying, distracted, angry, worried, tired, or any other version of the “bad student” is ultimately the path of our freedom.
This is a practice of grounding in the physicality of here and now in a way that naturally allows a connecting with our experience in alignment with our deepest values. This basic practice of the Arriving Sequence comes from Phillip Moffit. It is a beautiful practice, useful not only in formal meditation but also as a means of re-grounding in all of life.
We explore three necessary steps for a healing, empowering acceptance that more deeply engages us with meeting life as it is.
How does welcoming things as they are– not as we want them to be, but as they actually are in this moment now– open to healing? This meditation is a chance to explore working with a radical, freeing “welcoming” of our own selves as a first step.
Acceptance is a mind/heart quality that is so easily misunderstood… What is the difference between a reactive (i.e. fight/flight/freeze) misunderstanding this quality and an empowering opening to life? How might engaging with “acceptance” actually release some old story that holds us back and thereby free us for a transformative new understanding of life and how we might most powerfully engage?
We use the Arriving Sequence (Arriving, Being Available, Aligning) to ground ourselves in order to open to an exploration– what does it mean somatically, emotionally with curiosity to be accepting in this moment now?
Contemplating our “elemental” nature is a powerful way of breaking apart a sense of a separate self and understanding how fundamentally we are part of a flow of all things.
This meditation again explores the “Arriving Sequence” from Phillip Moffit and Dharma Ground. These 3 steps of 1) arriving, 2) being available and 3) aligning with our values and what inspires us is such a useful practice for formal meditation and for life in general.
In this version of a loving-kindness practice, we pay particular attention to how we meet our moments of distraction.
Night time worries, sleeplessness and morning “dread” are all prevalent as we deal anxiety in our changing world. In this sharing, we will explore a neuroscience based understanding of why this is so common and how mindfulness practice offers a clear antidote. Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don’t open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are a hundred ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
— Rumi
One useful way to settle into a practice is to use the breath to attune or “resonate” compassionately with whatever is present in the body/mind/heart.
This sharing invites a grounded reflection on the 2 basic fears of impermanence: that we can’t hold on to what we want and that what we don’t want will last forever.
Through a meditative inquiry, we explore how insight into the naturalness and ever moving flow of change offers a path of release for working with these fears.
A mountain meditation is a beautiful opportunity to explore a sense of a calm abiding mountain strength unmoved by the the endless natural changes of passing seasons, years and eons of time. It helps teach us about tapping into that kind of mountain calm abiding strength for flowing with the endless natural changes of our own lives.
Wise understanding of the true nature of impermanence is akin to learning to swim in the ocean’s ever changing waves.
Please note: technical difficulties throughout this podcast. We are working on it.
We tend to think of ourselves as solid separate entities but just a bit of investigation into our true nature we find we are part - physically, not metaphorically - of a flow of changing elements related to everything else around.
Last week we looked at Bhikkhu Analayo's understanding of sati or mindfulness as a good friend always available to us. This week, we come back to this with a personal reflection or contemplation practice for examining-- what do I do when seeking to be "mindful?"Right away from the moment of waking up in the morning our good friend sati can already be there, as if waiting for us. She is ready to accompany us throughout the rest of the day, encouraging us to stay receptive and soft, and open, soft and understanding. She never gets upset when we happen to forget about her. As soon as we remember her, she is right there to be with us again. -Bhikkhu Analayo, Satipatthana Meditation
Being aware of the physical elements of Earth, Air, Sun and Water in the body can be an opening to seeing into a more intimate relationship with ourselves and all around us that is naturally wise and compassionate.
This sharing draws from teachings of Andrew Olendzki's lovely short article, What's In A Word, Sati, from Tricycle and Bhikku Analayo's book, Satipatthana Meditation, both of which make clear that our usual understanding of the word mindfulness is inadequate for opening the true radical transformative potential inherent in the opening of a "mindful" mind.(Please excuse my misnaming of Bhikku Analayo as Ajahn Analayo in the talk. thanks!)
Drawing from a teaching from Bhikku Analayo, respected Buddhist scholar and monk, on a feminine nature of mindfulness, this meditation is an opportunity to explore mindfulness as an open, understanding receptivity to whatever arises:Right away from the moment of waking up in the morning our good friend sati can already be there, as if waiting for us. She is ready to accompany us throughout the rest of the day, encouraging us to stay receptive and soft, and open, soft and understanding. She never gets upset when we happen to forget about her. As soon as we remember her, she is right there to be with us again. - Bhikku Analayo, Satipatthana Meditation(Please excuse my misnaming in the meditation of "Ajahn Analayo" instead of "Bhikku Analayo.")
Drawing from the poem, What It Is, this meditation explores noticing the judgmental mind and its story, as well as the possibility of settling back into a radical wise accepting love."It is nonsensesays reasonIt is what it issays loveIt is calamitysays calculationIt is nothing but painsays fearIt is hopelesssays insightIt is what it issays loveIt is ludicroussays prideIt is foolishsays cautionIt is impossiblesays experienceIt is what it issays love"-Erich Fried
"..To every grain that enters: 'Welcome.'To every parting mote: 'Be blessed.'"From: Earthworms, poem by Lynn Ungar, www.lynnungar.comPlease note: no accompanying talk.
Classical Zen Story shared by Tara Brach in Radical Acceptance:An old woman had supported a monk for twenty years, letting him live in a hut on her land. After all this time she figured the monk, now a man in the prime of life, must have attained some degree of enlightenment. So she decided to test him.Rather than taking his daily meal to him herself, she asked a beautiful young girl to deliver it. She instructed the girl to embrace the monk warmly—and then to report back to her how he responded. When the girl returned, she said that the monk had simply stood stock still, as if frozen.The old woman then headed for the monk’s hut. What was it like, she asked him, when he felt the girl’s warm body against his? With some bitterness he answered, "Like a withering tree, a rock in winter, utterly without warmth.” Furious, the old woman threw him out and burned down his hut, exclaiming, “How could I have wasted all these years on such a fraud.”How does this story land for you? What is to be learned from that old woman that's relevant to you in your life? Please note: some audio distortion throughout podcast. Apologies.
What happens when we totally let go of an evaluation of our meditation as a “success or failure," or it “working” for me or not “working” for me? In opening to the dance of energy in this human life, we can’t help but learn a wise compassion to what it means to be human and a spacious awareness that can hold it all.
Medical Sociologist Aaron Antonosvsky studied the relationship between stress, health and well-being focusing on people who had survived extreme stress with an intact sense of coherence. His work provides another beautiful lens into the resiliency building skillful of offering generosity and service in the world.
Learning how to skillfully work with fear, anxiety, worry or any other difficult emotion is fundamental for resilience in challenging times. One way to do this is by exploring compassionate action, or what Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander call "Being a Contribution."
The Buddha taught the Metta or LovingKindness Meditation as an antidote for fear. In this meditation we explore grounding in the elements of the body to turn with compassion to whatever needs to be met.
Generosity is considered a fundamental practice of mindfulness. How do we practice with a spirit of generosity towards our own selves in our meditation practice itself? Please note: no accompanying talk for this podcast.
This is a sharing of how mindfulness became an unexpected core part of my own spiritual journey and path into and out of practice as a physician.
This is a meditation on Fredrick Buechner's beautiful words."...Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace."
The Tibetan teacher , Shabkar, said: To meditate without kindness is simply to inflict hardship on yourself.What does this mean for you in this practice, right now? Please Note: The meditation ends at 18:10 and starting 18:11 is a small talk regarding the quote above.
The softness of bamboo and water offer interesting teachings on strength and resilience. In this sharing we explore how bamboo houses and water can inform even the intensity of something like anger.
The radical turn of mindfulness meditation is to meet whatever is here, instead of worrying about how to "fix" ourselves to stop whatever is coming up. This practice explores "The Welcoming Prayer." If "God" language doesn't work for you, please feel free to substitute as best for you.The Welcoming PrayerWelcome, welcome, welcome.I welcome everything that comes to me in this moment because I know it is for my healing.I welcome all thoughts, feelings, emotions,persons, situations and conditions.I let go of my desire for security. I let go of my desire for approval. I let go of my desire for control.I let go of my desire to change any situation, condition, person, or myself.I open to thelove and presence of Godandthe healing action and grace within. ––– Mary Mrozowski 1925-1993
Gravity is a mysterious connecting force that is always available as an anchor. In this meditation, we open to a contemplation on the relation between time/space/gravity and this moment now. Please note: there is no accompanying talk for this meditation.
Gratitude is confidence in life itself. In it, we feel how the same force that pushes grass through cracks in the sidewalk invigorates our own life. -Jack KornfieldIn this sharing we explore both the openings and challenges of gratitude practice ending with an Inquiry Practice.
Gratitude can be a useful resource, but is not always accessible. In this practice, we start where we are, experimenting and exploring the region of gratitude.
here are different ways of relating to the "tigers" we encounter in this life. In this sharing we explore two possibilities.“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” ― Viktor E. Frankl
This is a practice in noticing how mindfulness naturally arises on its own and how to tap into that arising skillfully.
Please note: no talk this week.
Continuing with last week’s theme based on the short talk and meditation from Yongey Mingur Rinpoche, we explore ways of uncovering insight into our own basic goodness through an Inquiry Practice.
Based on the meditation from Yongey Mingur Rinpoche, this is a practice with seeing into our basic goodness.
his reflection considers the strengthening qualities of joy, love, and happiness in the face of very challenging times. I draw heavily from a beautiful short talk and meditation by one of my favorite teachers, Yongey Mingur Rinpoche, on Insight Timer.
From the Dhammapada, translated by Thomas Byron:
Live in joy, in love , even among those who hate.
Live in joy, in health, even among the afflicted.
Live in joy, in peace, even among the troubled.
Look within. Be still. Free from fear and attachment, the sweet joy of the way.
This meditation draws heavily from a short talk and guided meditation by Yongey Mingur Rinpoche:
“Looking for happiness is love.
Looking to not have a problem is compassion.
Self love, self compassion are right here right now— please appreciate that.”
“Don’t meditate to fix yourself, to heal yourself, to improve yourself, to redeem yourself; rather, do it as an act of love, of deep warm friendship to yourself. In this way there is no longer any need for the subtle aggression of self-improvement, for the endless guilt of not doing enough. It offers the possibility of an end to the ceaseless round of trying so hard that wraps so many people’s lives in a knot. Instead there is now meditation as an act of love. How endlessly delightful and encouraging.”
Bob Sharples, from Meditation: Calming the Mind
Dipa Ma, the beloved teacher of Sharon Salzberg, Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield and others summed this very simply:
“Meditation is love.”
How do we embody this in our practice now?
Please note: no talk this week.
I took five weeks away from CCM for “family need.” What I quickly learned was that I needed the time out of my usual pace of life just as much as anyone in my family. Today’s sharing is reflections on what time and space can open.
There is a normal ebb and flow in all parts of life, including our meditation practice. We can learn to move with the naturalness of opening and closing by allowing body, breath, and senses to be a home anchor as needed.
This talk explores the Buddhist concept of citta and draws heavily from the beautiful talk available on Dharmaseed, Making a Suitable Home for the Heart, by Chas DiCapua.
This meditation uses a phrase for practice from Thich Nhat Hanh:
May I have compassion and understanding for myself just as I am.
In this sharing, we explore one of the poems from the beautiful book, The First Free Women: Original Poems Inspired by the Early Buddhist Nuns, by Matty Weingast. When used as practice for examining our own relationship with our mind, life and practice, these poems are powerful possibilities for insight.This sharing involves an inquiry practice with the poem:Victor:When everyone else was meditating, I’d be outside circling in the hall.Finally I went to confess. I’m hopeless, I said. The elder nun smiled. Just keep going, she said. Nothing stays in orbit forever. If this circling is all you have, why not make this circling your home? I did as she told me, and went on circling in the hall.If you find yourself partly in and partly out – if you find yourself drawn to this Path and also drawing away – I can assure you, you’re in good company. Just keep going. Sometimes the most direct path isn’t a straight line.
This meditation includes the poem Victor, from the beautiful book, The First Free Women: Original Poems Inspired by the Early Buddhist Nuns, by Matty Weingast:Victor:When everyone else was meditating, I’d be outside circling in the hall.Finally I went to confess. I’m hopeless, I said. The elder nun smiled. Just keep going, she said. Nothing stays in orbit forever. If this circling is all you have, why not make this circling your home? I did as she told me, and went on circling in the hall.If you find yourself partly in and partly out – if you find yourself drawn to this Path and also drawing away – I can assure you, you’re in good company. Just keep going. Sometimes the most direct path isn’t a straight line.
How mosquitos move through a raindrop is a powerful metaphor for the attunement of mindfulness.The Mosquito Among the Raindrops byTeddy Macker
The mosquito among the raindrops…
It’s equivalent to getting hit, says the scientist, by a falling school bus.
And hit every 20 seconds.
And the mosquito lives.
In fact she doesn’t even try to avoid the drops.
No zigzagging, no ducking. No hiding under the eaves.
How does she do it?
No resistance to the force.
She hitches a ride on the blow,
a stowaway on that which brings her down.
She becomes “one with the drop,”
knowing that to fly again
she must fall.
“Don’t meditate to fix yourself, to heal yourself, to improveyourself, to redeem yourself; rather, do it as an act of love, of deepwarm friendship to yourself. In this way there is no longer any needfor the subtle aggression of self-improvement, for the endless guiltof not doing enough. It offers the possibility of an end to theceaseless round of trying so hard that wraps so many people’s lives ina knot. Instead there is now meditation as an act of love. Howendlessly delightful and encouraging.”
Bob Sharples, from Meditation: Calming the Mind
Noticing how the mind can confuse a stick for a copperhead can teach much about three basic truths of reality as named by Buddhist psychology.
This is a meditation in using noting practice, skillfully to acknowledge validate and return home again as needed.
When we don’t pause long enough to really know what’s here, the mind will fill in the holes with its own information from its stores– and it often does this with the worst case scenario, or in a way that covers up what we might not want to see… So this is one more reason that practicing moment to moment mindfulness with what’s here is so important in our lives.
This practice explores how noting helps us get more clear as to what’s really here.
What one takes in by contemplation, one pours out in love. –Meister Eckhart
The Way It Is, Lynn Ungar
One morning you might wake up
to realize that the knot in your stomach
had loosened itself and slipped away,
and that the pit of unfulfilled longing in your heart
had gradually, and without your really noticing,
been filled in—patched like a pothole, not quite
the same as it was, but good enough.
And in that moment it might occur to you
that your life, though not the way
you planned it, and maybe not even entirely
the way you wanted it, is nonetheless—
persistently, abundantly, miraculously—
exactly the way it is.
Once there was a wise old sage, and people would travel a long ways to receive his teachings. He always taught one thing, a mantra to say to everything in life: Thank you, I am grateful for everything.
One time a man received this teaching and said it with everything for a year. At the end of the year, he was still irritable, impatient, frustrated and tired. So he traveled back to the wise old sage, shared his story and asked what to do now. The sage said, “Thank you, I am grateful for everything.” The man almost broke down in frustration and then suddenly laughed, saying, “thank you I am grateful for everything,” and left free.
What changed? How do you make sense of the shift that happened for this man? Understanding the essence of this shift is how we open in the direction of the true authentic healing of mindfulness.
How we meet the moment of waking back up, makes all the difference in our practice. This city meditation is an opportunity to deeply explore that moment of re-awakening.
Today we continue to look at how re-anchoring in moment to moment awareness is a powerful practice in finding a better way to navigate any day. This talk draws from Tara Brach’s practice of Four Remembrances: Pausing, Yes to Life, Turning toward love, and Resting in Awareness.
This meditation draws from Tara Brach, teaching on four remembrances for practice:
Pausing, saying yes to life, turning towards love, resting in awareness.
What It Is
It is nonsense
says reason
It is what it is
says love
It is calamity
says calculation
It is nothing but pain
says fear
It is hopeless
says insight
It is what it is
says love
It is ludicrous
says pride
It is foolish
says caution
It is impossible
says experience
It is what it is
says love
Erich Fried
This talk explores how bringing moment to moment mindfulness into daily life has nothing to do with “being good!” and everything instead to do with “being sane”.
in this practice, we explore opening to the wholeness of what’s here, the gratitude and release as well as the contracted and reactionary.
We were grateful this week to have David Viafora and Jessie Raye from Greatwoods Zen Retreat Center guest lead again this week. Unfortunately we were not able to record their first visit, but this week’s sharing works fine as a stand alone. They shared from Thich Nhat Hanh’s teaching called the Seven Mantras of Love. These are:
Darling, I am here for you.
Darling, I know you are there and it makes me happy.
Darling, I know you suffer.
Darling, I suffer, please help.
This is a Happy Moment.
Darling, you are partly right.Darling, how may I best love you?Here is also a link to Thich Nhat Hanh sharing about six of these:https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/the-six-mantrasJessie’s poem can be found here: When You Are Old Enough(Meditation: 00:00-25.15, Talk 25.20-End)
How a brutal motorcycle trail race teaches us all about being alive and using our practice to wake up.
This meditation again draws from the Somatics work of Amanda Blake and Embright Organization, and is offers a strong way to use the body as a rooting anchor of support.
Today’s sharing on safety is an inquiry practice into the qualities that make a friendship a safe place and how these qualities are manifesting, or not, in our mindfulness practice.Note: One quality named was “perspective”. It needs to be acknowledged that a friend offering a larger perspective on an issue can be either helpful or unhelpful— depending on how it is offered…
Opening up to the shared physical nature of our being is an avenue for contemplative experience of safety, connection, and respect.
This time we look at a reliable sense of safety more through the lens of neuroscience/modern psychology as well as introduce the Buddhist practice of lovingkindness– which was originally taught as an antidote to fear.
Discourse on Good Will
From teachings of the Buddha, complied by Jack Kornfield
May all beings be filled with joy and peace.
May all beings everywhere,
The strong and the weak,
The great and the small,
The short and the long,
The subtle and the gross:
May all beings everywhere,
Seen and unseen,
Dwelling far off or nearby,
Being or waiting to become:
May all be filled with lasting joy.
Let no one deceive another,
Let no one anywhere despise another,
Let no one out of anger or resentment
Wish suffering on anyone at all.
Just as a mother with her own life
Protects her child, her only child, from harm,
So within yourself let grow
So a boundless love for all creatures.
Let your love flow outward through the universe,
To its height, it’s depth, it’s broad extent,
A limitless love, without hatred or enmity.
Then, as you stand or walk,
Sit or lie down,
As long as you are awake,
Strive for this with a one-pointed mind;
Your life will bring heaven to earth.
How do we learn to meet ourselves, just as we are, in a way that provides an internal sense of safety?Erich Fried, translated by: ANNA KALLIO
It is nonsense
says reason
It is what it is
says love
It is calamity
says calculation
It is nothing but pain
says fear
It is hopeless
says insight
It is what it is
says love
It is ludicrous
says pride
It is foolish
says caution
It is impossible
says experience
It is what it is
says love
We look again at the necessary nourishment of an internal sense of safety that is not dependent upon having things be the way we want them to be– this time primarily from a spiritual standpoint, drawing from leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Dalai Lama, and the writings of Etty Hillesum.
Please note: Bad audio distortion from 13:49-14:10.
This meditation draws heavily from Amanda Blake of Embright Organization and the field of somatics. Much as we would know we can rely on the support of a strong mature tree, this mediation uses the imagery of learning how to lean back and rest upon the tree of our spine.
We come back again to safety, connection and respect this week– this time with inquiry questions to consider these qualities for yourself. Consider a time in your life where you know something about these 3 qualities, some place with a palpable sense of these qualities. What is that felt sense of being met in this way for you? How do these come up in your practice? How are you practicing safety, connection and respect with your own self? How might you cultivate each of these more?
First Lesson- By Philip Booth
Lie back, daughter, let your head
be tipped back in the cup of my hand.
Gently, and I will hold you. Spread
your arms wide, lie out on the stream
and look high at the gulls. A dead-
man’s-float is face down. You will dive
and swim soon enough where this tidewater
ebbs to the sea. Daughter, believe
me, when you tire on the long thrash
to your island, lie up, and survive.
As you float now, where I held you
and let go, remember when fear
cramps your heart what I told you:
lie gently and wide to the light-year
stars, lie back, and the sea will hold you.
Again, drawing from the field of Somatics’ understanding that an inner sense of safety, connection and respect are foundational for our well-being, we use the body as a focus in cultivating these qualities within ourselves.
Just as sunlight, water and soil are basic nutrients for plant life well-being, safety, connection and respect are basic nutrients for our own human well-being. In this sharing we explore how we might offer this kind of nourishment towards our own selves in order to be more available for meeting these needs in our world.
This meditation considers how opening in the direction of safety, connection and respect is useful in our formal practice.
This week we explore inquiries around the challenges that arise in practice and what skillful ways we might be learning to work with them.
Your hand opens and closes, and opens and closes.If it were always a fist or always stretched open,you would be paralyzed.Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding,the two as beautifully balancedand coordinatedas birds' wings.-Rumi
Chenoos are Native American mythological angry monsters. Looking at a Chenoo story from Joseph Bruchac is a beautiful lesson in how we might use mindfulness to meet both our anger and fear.
From the Tao Te Ching, translated by Ursula LeGuin:...Hard and easy complete each other long and short shape each other high and low depend on each other note invoice make the music together before and after follow each other... The things of this world exist, they are; you can't refuse them.
Today was an opportunity for an inquiry exercise to explore the intersection of mindfulness practice, spirituality and prayer. This includes how Thich Nhat Hanh’s poem, Call Me By My True Name, might be considered as a prayer.
Today’s sitting practice includes a body scan Informed deeply by wisdom and kindness for what’s here.
We continue our exploration“connection with spirit,” which Polyvagal Theory names of as one of the 4 foundational connections needed for human well-being. Today we look at this through the lens of prayer. Where might these words, prayer, devotion, sacred get hung up for you? Where might they be useful in pointing to an aspect of mindfulness practice worthy of your cultivation? How might you invite this into your practice?Helpful Resource: Thich Nhat Hanh, The Energy of Prayer
This practice is about greeting what is here, not trying to force ourselves into what we think should be here instead. What does that look like for you?
Drawing from Suleika Jaouad, Jon Batiste and Rumi, we look at how we can be wise and compassionate with the challenges that arise.
Bringing curiosity to whatever happens:Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.-Frederick Buechner
Drawing from a sharing from Byron Katie about doing the dishes, we look at learning to love whatever we need “to do.” We can use this to skillfully navigate the joys, the sorrows, the challenges and the mundane in a way that life becomes a practice of care.
This is an opportunity to practice being receptive to your own being.Koshin Paley Ellison: Being receptive is essentially being open to learning from everything. Some people hear this and are frightened. Others hear it and are excited … But true receptivity is a lot harder than it seems. And yet, if you can stay open to the lessons that are the most difficult to grasp, you can learn to swim, not drown, in the ocean of life.
This sharing draws from Sheryl Chard’s practice, Constellation of Belonging, from grateful.orgYou belong. Everywhere. Yes, you—with all your history, anxiety, pain. Yes, everywhere—in every culture, community and circumstance, you belong in this body. You belong in this very moment. You belong in this breath…and in this one. You have always belonged. -Sebene Selassie That we belong is a given fact. -Br David Steindl-RastIf you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe. -Carl SaganIndependence is a political term, not a scientific one. -Evolutionary Biologist, Lynn Margolis
In this sit, we open to exploring all of what’s here in this moment, not just the often very small story of “who we are vs who should be…"
This session explores how a meditation on a “triggering” children’s movie helped me see how the compassion in the term “compassion fatigue” is probably not compassion at all... Please note: slight distortion from 00:00-03:00 and briefly around 15:00
We can learn to use a practice of skillful pendulation in our sitting practice, and in the whole our life as a means of grounding with challenge. This is a practice of flowing with a natural movement of coming and going, contraction and release, breathing in and breathing out, tides moving in and out, day moving to night and back to day, movement of seasons, and the up and down of bird wings.Rumi, translator-Coleman BanksThe Essential Rumi:Your hand opens and closes and opens and closes.If it were always a fist or always stretched open, you would be paralyzed.Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding,the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as bird wings.
This sharing explores the congruency between refuge in the Dharma and modern behavioral medicine, particularly drawing from Judson Brewer's gears model for habit change.If you want more information on Judson Brewer, please see this Ted Talk.
Revisiting the poem, “What It Is“ is an opportunity to explore even deeper opening into what is here with compassion and wisdom.
This talk again explores the Buddhist practice of taking refuge in the Dharma. Dharma refers to an inherent knowable wholeness in all things— a concept that is palpable and useful in everyday life when we look for it.Note: there is a background static sound in the first 2 minutes of the talk and again for around a minute starting at 10:30. This is not present for the majority of the talk.
What It Is (English translation of Was es ist)Written by: Erich Fried.Translated by: Anna KallioIt is nonsensesays reasonIt is what it issays loveIt is calamitysays calculationIt is nothing but painsays fearIt is hopelesssays insightIt is what it issays loveIt is ludicroussays prideIt is foolishsays cautionIt is impossiblesays experienceIt is what it is says love.
In this sharing, we look at the Buddhist concept of "Taking Refuge." This can be understood in many ways, one of which is through a deep examination of feedback pointing to wholeness in the natural world as well as within our own bodies. No need to be Buddhist to appreciate the beauty and usefulness of this understanding of the way of things.For the video How Wolves Change Rivers, see here.
A meditation to help remind us that home is always already here and available in each moment now.Tasting Mindfulness, Jon Kabat-ZinnHave you ever had the experienceof stopping so completely,of being in your body so completely,of being in your life so completely,that what you knew and what you didn’t knowthat what had been and what was yet to come,and the way things are right nowno longer held even the slightest hint of anxiety or discord?It would be a moment of complete presence, beyond striving,beyond mere acceptance,beyond the desire to escape or fix anything or plunge ahead,a moment of pure being, no longer in time,a moment of pure seeing, pure feeling,a moment in which life simply is,and that “is-ness” grabs you by all your senses,all your memories, by your very genes,by your loves, and welcomes you home.
This sharing looks at specific practices for integrating our practice into daily life-- even when daily life is 5 failed attempts to get your car towed...Click here for the handout. If you want to learn more about polyvagal exercises, Polyvagal Exercises for Safety and Connection, written by Deb Dana is a good place to start. There are also numerous YouTube videos available demonstrating these exercises.If you are unfamiliar with the "Flipped Lid" concept, this comes from a brilliant "Brain/Hand Model" from Daniel Siegal, MD. Here he describes it to parents, but the concept is useful for all of us: Daniel Siegal Hand/Brain Model.
The word yoga has a definition of “to yoke“. In this sitting meditation, we are practicing a kind of yoga, or yoking, of body, mind and heart.
There is a tradition beautiful Buddhist practice of taking refuge. In this practice I expand on that practice with a broadened understanding of taking refuge.
Join me for a sharing of an old Zen story about a head cook and his unexpected soup and how this story is so useful for being skillful with our mistakes, including those involving racial bias awareness.
There are many different flavors to "efforting" -- some useful and some not so useful. What is it like to intention explore a balanced soft effort that allows you to stay engaged with your practice, without over-efforting and contracting.
A dream about engaging the right kind of effort inspired this exploration of different kinds of "efforting" -- everything from not enough effort, to punishing grunt work effort, to a soft, open, trusting effortless effort.
So often we burden our meditation practice with loaded expectations of what it should look like and what should happen if I am a good meditator. But in reality every meditation is an open invitation to lay down those expectations and meet what is here. Just as it is. Without needed it to be any different. Without needing to change or fix anything. Maybe even with a sense of wonder and awe that we can even perceive what is here...
I share how our beloved cat, Ana, who has been in "hospice" care for a while, died sometime during the night, and how a serendipitous find of Licity Collins and her beautiful music and writing spoke to the tenor of my day and the mystery of letting go into the current of the universe.
Here is the link to read her story and listen to her 22 min musical meditation called "Currents." Note her generosity in freely offering this beautiful sharing and her link to donate in support of her work if you wish.
In this meditation we explore a formal practice for strengthening a resource of "taking in the good."
As our continuation of resourcing for challenging times, we examine "Taking in the Good" primarily through the teaching of Rick Hanson, PhD.
In this meditation we explore using an anchor of self-kindness for opening to what is here and now.
Watching my cats this week was a lesson in the practical grace of taking in the good. We explore this and end with the ABC Gratitude practice of Br. David Steindl-Rast.
We are often taught that we should follow an ethical code in order to "be good." But there is a completely different way of approaching ethics, not as a "should," but rather as a resource, a foundational strength for living in challenging times.
We start with a short body scan and then move into an exploration of life's unfolding energy moment by moment
Today we continue an exploration of strengths and resources for meeting challenging times with a look at developing a compassionate way of understanding all behaviors, our own and others, in this world. Note: I'm working to improve the audio with our new set up. Thanks!
In this podcast, we look at when to let go through the lens of the 8 Worldy Winds, and how to let go through a radical re-framing of welcoming.
This meditation explores the interplay between goodwill, compassion, letting go and welcoming the moment just as it is.
Let go a little, get a little peace. Let go a lot, get a lot of peace. Let go completely, get complete peace. A. Chah
Sounds good, but how do we really let go?
We explore how intentional small acts of kindness begin to add up to change the quality of our day and tenor of our life.
This week concludes our study of the foundational teaching of Buddhist psychology in the Four Noble Truths, as we study Wise Action-- meaning learning to take a step, whether large or small, whether directed towards care for others or self-care, that is aligned with our deepest values and with what gives our lives a keen sense of meaning and purpose.
"Wise livelihood" has no easy answers, but that in no way means we give up. There is a moral complexity that is important that we wrestle with. We do this with a clear intention to do the best we can while knowing we won’t ever find perfect answers.
In this meditation we explore what is it like to when tension is present in the body/mind/heart and open in skillful ways right with what is here. Note: there are more than usual background sounds in this recording. I edited out as much as I could and apologize for the bits that remain... Thanks!
Meditation can be a respite, a place we can lay down our loads for a bit and offer a healing hospitality to our own beings.
One framing of mindfulness that I have always appreciated is mindfulness as a spiritual re-parenting of our own selves. Drawing from a talk on parenting by Chris McKenna at Google, we explore how a foundational base for parenting is as important as a foundational base in our relationship with our own being.
In this Body Scan meditation, we explore how waking up to the present moment sensations in the body is a a compassionate act of care.
In this sharing, we explore traditional teachings from the Buddha 2,600 years ago on wise speech.
In this meditation, we practice opening to the felt energy in the body, below the storylines of what's happening, to anchor, open to compassion and anchor back in the refuge of the breath.
In Buddhist psychology, ethical conduct is clearly understood as the path out of suffering, a gift for both for ourselves and others. In this sharing, I explore Wise Speech and its relationship to this gift of freedom.
Wise Speech is a practice that supports all of our relationships. We strengthen the foundation for this practice in our meditation by paying attention to our internal speech patterns going on all the time and noticing the possibility of bringing a compassionate wise response and care to this internal talk-- instead of just buying into everything the inner voice says. One note-- I had an active cat in part of the meditation. Please forgive the background sounds I wasn't able to edit out... Thank you.
Today we explore the understanding of "not-self" that opens a natural doorway to compassion. We end with the poem from Thich Nhat Hanh, Please Call Me by my True Names.
In this practice, we explore a samadhi, or concentration practice, using the breath as the object of focus.
Samadhi practice, sometimes translated as concentration practice, has been described as a gathering or unifying of the mind. When cultivated, this kind of practice can bring a deep settling to the mind that is useful in all aspects of life.
Sowing the seed, my hand is one with the earth.
Wanting the seed to grow, my mid is one with the light.
Hoeing the crop, my hands are one with the rain.
Hungry and trusting, my mind is one with the earth.
Eating the fruit, my body is one with the earth.
-Wendall Berry
A wandering holy man is asked what his work in life is. He replies, “I’m a farmer… This body of mine is my field. I sow good thoughts and actions, and in my body I reap the results.”
In this practice, we start with a short body scan and then move into the breath as an anchor that can "teach us how to be interested in the present moment and how to develop persistence in staying connected to the present moment." (Mark Nunberg)
Today we explore how simple bare attention of mindfulness to breath helps us gain wisdom into the nature of reality-- in particular, wisdom of impermanence.
In this meditation we explore opening with a bare, non-judgmental attention to the present moment just as it is, whether in settling into an anchor or bringing a compassionate wise acknowledgment to distraction
In this sharing, we focus on the simple non-judgmental bare attention of mindfulness within the context of the whole of the 8 Fold Path.
In this meditation, we explore our hands as a primary anchor, including exploring the elements of Earth, water, sun, air making up the substance of our hands.
In this meditation, we again explore what allows a balanced effortless effort and compassionate mindfulness.
In this continuation of the 8 Fold Path, we look further into the ways a wise and balanced effort and mindfulness support us not just in meditation practice, but also in life.
In this sharing, a continuation of the 4th Noble Truth, we begin to explore the meditation factors of the 8 Fold Path, particular how these factors weave together in a very practical usefulness in our lives. Drawing from a panic attack on a high ropes course, it becomes clear that if we practice enough with these factors, they begin to show up spontaneously in skillful ways that are in service of our life.
In this meditation, we explore the interweaving of wise effort (not too tight, not too loose), mindfulness and qualities of the heart. These together are a way of coming into a skillful attunement to the present moment in a way that allows a natural opening.
From Sharon Salzberg's, "The Kindness Handbook, A Practical Companion":
Spirituality is the movement from our prison of self blame and self preoccupation to an inclusive and open engagement with all of life. In many ways a spiritual path is essentially about connection -- a deep connection to our own inherent capacity for wisdom and love no matter what, a connection to a bigger picture of life no matter what.
We can easily go from morning until night disconnected, not only from genuine connect contact with others, but also from more fundamental and loving aspects of our own hearts. Spiritual practices of meditation, generosity, service, and lovingkindness not only turn this tendency around towards genuine connection, they also become the manifestation of a free mind.
In this sharing, a continuation of the 4th Noble Truth, we explore the 3 basic aspects of Wise Intention of goodwill, compassion and renunciation or letting go. In particular, we look at how these 3 aspects are interrelated and support each other in offering an energy to work with the immediacy of any moment in our life.
In this meditation, we begin with grounding in the body through the physical elements and then explore the skillful or wise intentions of goodwill, compassion and letting go.
Today we start with the "wisdom" factors of the 8 Fold Path (Fourth Noble Truth), wise view and wise intention. We focus on wise view this week with the understanding that kindness and compassion are an intrinsic part of the wise factors. I draw from a beautiful talk by Jill Shepard which is on Dharmaseed if you want to hear more:
Jill Shepard Dharmaseed
Please join me for a short contemplation and practice with a poem from John Welwood:
Forget About Enlightenment
Sit down wherever you are And listen to the wind singing in your veins. Feel the love, the longing, the fear in your bones. Open your heart to who you are, right now, Not who you would like to be, Not the saint you are striving to become, But the being right here before you, inside you, around you. All of you is holy. You are already more and less Than whatever you can know. Breathe out, Touch in, Let go.
By: John Welwood
The 4th Noble Truth is all about a path that leads out of suffering. At its essence, it is about developing skillful habits, named in the Eightfold Way, that support us in living a life that brings greater well-being, and ultimately has the potential to lead to the end of suffering. Today is an overview perspective, and next week we begin to look into the details.
In this practice, we start with allowing a settling to the system with use of a primary anchor and then move to practicing with a changing moment by moment choiceless awareness.
Today we use the anchor of the breath to explore an expanding stability and continuity of awareness that supports our life.
Today we look at a very practical application of the first 3 Noble Truths. This is through the lens of Judson Brewer's model of shifting gears for understanding our stress inducing habits.
Join me for a short sharing and meditation from Thich Nhat Hanh's book, True Love:
We have to learn the art of transforming compost and flowers. Look at the flower: it is beautiful, it is fragrant, it is pure; but if you look deeply you can already see the compost in the flower. With meditation, you can see that already. If you do not meditate, you will have to wait 10 days to be able to see that. You look deeply at the garbage heap with the eye of a meditator, you can see lettuce, tomatoes, flowers. That is exactly what the gardener sees when he looks at the garbage heap, and that is why he does not throw away his waste materials. A little bit of practice is all you need to be able to transform the garbage heap into compost and the compost into flowers.
The same is true of our mental formations, which include flowers like faith, hope, understanding, and love; but there’s also waste material like fear and pain. The flowers on its way to becoming refuse, but the refuse is also on its way to becoming a flower. This is the non-dual duality principle… : There is nothing to throw away.
Please join me for this shorter sharing and meditation recorded from the Monday Mid-day Meditation.
Today I draw from Philip Simmon's book, Learning to Fall:
We have all heard poems, songs, and prayers that exhort us to see God in a blade of grass, a drop of dew, a child's eyes, or the petals of a flower. Now when I hear such things I say that's too easy. Our greater challenge is to see God not only in the eyes of the suffering child but in the suffering itself. To thank God for the sunset pink clouds over Red Hill — but also for the mosquitoes I must fan from my face while watching the clouds. To thank God for broken bones and broken hearts, for everything that opens us to the mystery of our humanness. The challenge is to stand at the sink with your hands in the dishwater, fuming over a quarrel with your spouse, children at your back clamoring for attention, the radio blatting the bad news from Bosnia, and to say "God is here, now, in this room, here in this dishwater, in this dirty spoon." Don't talk to me about flowers and sunshine and waterfalls: this is the ground, here, now, in all that is ordinary and imperfect, this is the ground in which life sows the seeds of our fulfillment. The imperfect is our paradise.
Let us pray, then, that we do not shun the struggle. May we attend with mindfulness, generosity, and compassion to all that is broken in our lives. May we live fully in each flawed and too human moment, and thereby gain the victory.
I recently finished a retreat in which every meditation started with the instruction to "get comfortable." In this practice today, we experientially explore the wisdom and compassion of this teaching in all moments of practice.
In continuing our exploration of the 4 Noble Truths, we move on today to the 3rd Noble Truth-- there is a path out of our suffering. Teacher Ajahn Sumedho says this about studying the 3rd Noble Truth:
Do not feel as though you have to embrace any particular teacher’s interpretation of [the 3rd Noble Truth]. Instead, let it be an open question, a mystery, and live the question: what is possible in the way of freedom for me, right now, in this moment, just as I am.
We finish our exploration of the 2nd Noble Truth today, a foundational teaching of Buddhist psychology (which is how I relate to these teachings-- a beautiful study of the mind that is infinitely practical for learning how we can let go of suffering). In today's session, I draw again from Phillip Moffit's book, Dancing with Life.
The Second Noble Truth states that the most proximal cause of our suffering is clinging, craving or greed. In this talk, we look at the importance of orienting ourselves with curiosity and interest in growth as opposed to self-judgment for being "greedy." Understanding what is underneath the reactivity of greed can allow the natural responsiveness of heart to support the need for growth and change.
In this meditation, we move through the senses and body to ground our awareness in heart and Earth. At one point, I name what is on the exact opposite side of the Earth from where I sit in Charlotte NC, USA. If you are somewhere else and want to know for your location, here is a place you can find out: Antipodes Map
We continue our exploration of the 4 Noble Truths, a foundational teaching of Buddhism. These teachings are a powerful study of the mind-- what causes suffering and what relieves suffering. An old story called the Monk and the Samurai makes a great introduction to the 2nd Noble Truth.
The 2nd Noble Truth is that the most proximal cause of suffering is clinging. Sitting meditation is a powerful place to explore ways in which this might be true for you and how to work with the clinging mind.
This week I share a talk I gave for a program from Temple Beth El. The invitation was to talk about healing the mind from religious, spiritual and mindfulness perspectives.
This week we we continue our exploration of the First Noble Truth through a story from Rachel Naomi Remen's My Grandfather's Blessing. In this story she draws on 3 useful questions which she suggests short daily contemplation:
What surprised me today? What moved me or touched me today? What inspired me today?
From guest leader Colleen Faltus:
In this week's meditation we explore the wisdom of the body. As Valerie Kaur says, "One of the most vigilant spiritual practices is finding the seconds of solitude to get quiet enough to hear the wise person inside us." Quieting our inner and outer worlds provides the much needed peace and calm to hear the wise words of our bodies. In this session, we explore how to tap into our inner wisdom and listen carefully to what our bodies are telling us.
Today we had a guest speaker, Colleen Faltus, who shared beautiful resources for using our breath, body or movement for tapping into the wisdom of the body.
Today we start our exploration of the Four Noble Truths with the first one-- in life, there is suffering. While seemingly simple and straightforward on the surface, learning to reckon with this truth has a radical potential for transforming how we meet life in all of its complexities and realities.
The teacher asked his students, does it hurt more to be shot by one arrow or two? Of course, two. The first is what has already arisen, what is unavoidably already here. The second is the one we shoot into ourselves in reaction to the first. In this meditation, we use an anchor for grounding and support for exploring opening with wisdom and kindness to the first without contracting into a suffering story of the second.
In our continued exploration of Buddhist psychology, today we explore the myth story of the Buddha’s life and how it relates directly to understanding our own personal causes of suffering and the path to our healing.1-13-21
We need to look deeply in order to see our true nature and the true nature of the Earth. We need to look deeply to see that we are the Earth. With this insight, love will be born. Our love and understanding will heal us and heal the Earth. -Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh offers beautiful "Touching the Earth" meditation practices. This meditation is a modified version.
This meditation offers an invitation to explore 2 of the "Three Marks of Existence"-- impermanence and the interrelatedness of impermanent arisings.
In this sharing, we look at the last of the 3 Marks of Existence-- the reality of suffering in life. This is so easily misunderstood as pessimistic or a negative view on life. But in practice, when we follow the radical potential in this teaching, we begin to understand how a clear, wise seeing of suffering present is a natural doorway to compassion.
In this talk, we explore what's referred as one of the three "mark of existence," the concept of non-self. We look at it through the lens of a translation that I prefer, "nothing exists in and of itself, without dependencies," and in particular not only on the widened ethics that arise naturally through this understanding, but also a certain quality of joy that opens to us when we understand the world and all that is in it in this way.
In this meditation, using the breath, we explore the quote "nothing exists in and of itself, without dependencies."
Today we start with a short vignette on dandelions from Anthony de Mello's book "The Song of the Bird, followed by a sharing by Michael J Fox and how he works with having Parkinson's.
I don't look at life as a battle or as a fight. I don't think I'm scrappy. I'm accepting. I say "living with" or "working through" Parkinson's. Acceptance doesn't mean resignation -- it means understanding that something is what it is and that there's got to be a way through it. I look at it like I am a fluid that's finding the fissures and cracks and flowing through.
...
Optimism is really rooted in gratitude. Optimism is sustainable when you keep coming back to gratitude, and what follows from there is acceptance. Acceptance that this thing has happened, and you accept it for what it is. It doesn't mean you can't endeavor to change. It doesn't mean you have to accept is a punishment or penance, but just put it in its proper place. Then see how much the rest of your life you have to thrive in, and then you can move on.
Michael J Fox
Acceptance doesn't mean resignation -- it means understanding that something is what it is and that there's got to be a way through it. I look at it like I am a fluid that's finding the fissures and the cracks and flowing through. -Michael J Fox
Today we explore the old story of Two Monks and the Lady as a way of deepening our understanding painful ruminating thought and how to cut through that habit.
It is very helpful to begin to see how the unconscious mind categorizes all moments in some version of pleasant, unpleasant or neither pleasant or unpleasant, also called feeling tones. If we are not aware of this process, then the feeling tone can set off a cascade of reactivity. Learning to catch the feeling tone of any given moment opens the possibility of a choice in how to respond to any feeling tone arising. This meditation practices with learning to see into the feeling tone of any moment.
In this sharing, I draw from Shinzen Young's teachings on equanimity as non-self-interference and a radical permission to feel. We look at this in very practical ways of what does this mean for a moment of tangled reactivity and how to work in real life with these concepts with some skillfulness.
When feelings are experienced with equanimity, they assume their proper function as motivators and directors of behavior as opposed to driving and distorting behavior. - Shinzen Young
In this practice, we open to letting thoughts be thoughts, feelings be feelings, body sensations be body sensations without adding to a story about any of them. This practice is very useful for learning a skillfulness with untangling our reactivity in life.
Autobiography in Five Short Chapters is a much beloved poem from Portia Nelson. In my years of working with this poem, my understanding of it has radically changed, and that has been so helpful with orientating myself in a useful way with the world as it is:
I
I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk I fall in. I am lost ... I am helpless. It isn't my fault. It takes me forever to find a way out.
II
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don't see it. I fall in again. I can't believe I am in the same place but, it isn't my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.
III
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in ... it's a habit. my eyes are open I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately.
IV
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.
V
I walk down another street.
-Portia Nelson
My additional chapter:
III
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in ... it's a habit. my eyes are open I know where I am. It is my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.
Eyes open in the darkness of the hole is often where the deepest learning is possible...
In this meditation, we practice with opening the sense doors-- sight, sound, touch, smell, taste and mind-- for grounding practice.
This meditation draws from a poem by Mary Oliver, I Have Decided:
I have decided to find myself a home in the mountains, somewhere high up where one learns to live peacefully in the cold and the silence. It’s said that in such a place certain revelations may be discovered. That what the spirit reaches for may be eventually felt, if not exactly understood. Slowly, no doubt. I’m not talking about a vacation.
Of course, at the same time I mean to stay exactly where I am.
Are you following me?
In this podcast episode, I draw from a beautiful book called, Learning To Fall, by Phillip Simmons. Simmons was diagnosed with ALS at age 35 and given 5 years to live. He wrote this book at 9 years on the "blessings of an imperfect life."
In this meditation, we start with standing movements to release tension and connect with breath and body. This is followed by a short sitting practice.
This week we look deeper at the movement from worry to care-- worry, as a fear based reactivity and care, as a wise strong compassionate connected responsiveness. This movement is a powerful support in challenging times. I share Joseph Bruchac's version of The Chenoo, a story of a man-eating ice giant from the far north and a young woman who faced him, as a metaphor for understanding both the reactivity and responsive sides of ourselves and where our deepest strength lies.
When I say it’s you I like, I’m talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see, or hear, or touch. That deep part of you that allows you to stand for those things without which humankind cannot survive. Love that conquers hate. Peace that rises triumphant over war. Injustice that proves more powerful than greed.
So, in all that you do in all of your life, I wish you the strength and the grace to make those choices which will allow you and your neighbor to become the best whoever you are.
Fred Rogers
In this talk, we explore practices to support ourselves in the midst of a challenging Election. These include resourcing in the good, intentional planning with media consumption and practicing with "Don't Know Mind." Here are some of resources I would like to share:
How to Survive Election Night and Beyond: https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/election-day-toolkit/
Stability in the Storm, A Pre-Election Day Meditation Sit with Sharon Salzberg, Mon 11/2 at 7p: https://www.dharma.org/spe20/
Don't Know Mind and the Election of Our Lives: https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/dont-know-mind-election/
In this final week before the Election, grounding and resourcing practice can be an important support to our well-being. This meditation starts with some gentle stretching and then moves into a sitting practice. Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace. - Fredrick Buechner
For this short sharing and meditation, please have some small bit of food available, such as a couple of raisins.
Contemplations before eating from Thich Nhat Hanh:
This food is a gift of the earth, the sky, numerous living beings, and much hard and loving work.
May we eat with mindfulness and gratitude so as to be worthy to receive this food.
May we recognize and transform unwholesome mental formations, especially our greed and learn to eat with moderation.
May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a way that reduces the suffering of living beings, stops contributing to climate change, and heals and preserves our precious planet.
We accept this food so that we may nurture our brotherhood and sisterhood, build our Sangha, and nourish our ideal of serving all living beings.
Excerpt from St Francis and the Sow, by Galway Kinnell The bud stands for all things, even for those things that don’t flower, for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing; though sometimes it is necessary to reteach a thing its loveliness, to put a hand on the brow of the flower and retell it in words and in touch it is lovely until it flowers again from within, of self-blessing.
In this sharing I explore lessons from both the Virginia International Raceway and Thich Nhat Hanh on opening to life well in all conditions. The Two Promises from Thich Nhat Hanh: I vow to develop understanding in order to live peacefully with people, animals, plants, and minerals. I vow to develop my compassion in order to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals.
This is a shorter sharing and practice with the sound of silence. This is a practice that has been offered in many meditation and spiritual traditions from around the world. Much of my sharing is drawn from a book by British monk, Ajahn Amaro called "Inner Listening." The book is a lovely short read that is available for free download at:
Inner Listening
In this longer combined talk and meditation, we will more deeply explore the practice sometimes called "the sound of silence." It is a practice that has been offered in many meditation and spiritual traditions from around the world. Much of my sharing is drawn from a book by British monk, Ajahn Amaro called "Inner Listening." The book is a lovely short read that is available for free download at:
Inner Listening
Jack Kornfield offers the observation that at the end of life, our questions become very simple--
Did I live fully?
Did I love well?
Meditation becomes a opportunity to learn to live into these questions now.
We think sometimes of compassion as a quality that we "should" be accessing if we are "good." There is a totally different way of understanding compassion instead as that quality of being that brings us sanity, strength, courage and even ease in the midst of difficult situations.
There is a radical freedom offered in practice when we learn to open in all conditions. From the book, "Thoreau's Ecstatic Witness," comes this account of Henry Thoreau from his sister, Sophia, in his last couple of months before dying of tuberculosis in his early forties: One friend, as if by way of consolation, said to him, “well, Mr. Thoreau, we must all go.” Henry replied, “when I was a very little boy I learned that I must die, and I set that down, so of course I am not disappointed now. Death is as near to you as it is to me." ... I feel like saying that Henry was never affected, never reached by it. I never before saw such a manifestation of the power of spirit over matter. Very often I heard him tell his visitors that he enjoyed existence as well as ever. He remarked to me that there was as much comfort and peace in perfect disease as in perfect health, .… The thought of death, he said, could not begin to trouble him.
It is very helpful to feel into how a true open mindfulness or loving awareness doesn't discriminate or have preferences for what it is knowing in awareness. In this practice, we explore feeling into the relationship of loving awareness, preference and no-preference.
Join me for this short reflection and meditation on the usefulness of goodwill in challenging times.
In this short meditation, we give time for our eyes to rest and relax into spacious awareness
Compassion arises naturally as the quivering of the heart in the face of pain, ours and another’s. True compassion is not limited by the separateness of pity, nor by the fear of being overwhelmed. When we come to rest in the great heart of compassion, we discover a capacity to bear witness to, suffer with, and hold dear with our own vulnerable heart the sorrows in beauties of the world. Jack Kornfield Loving compassion is like sunlight, awakening and bringing joy to beans. It’s beauty is like a rainbow, lifting the hearts of all who see it. Tarthang Tulka
Compassion arises naturally as the quivering of the heart in the face of pain, ours and another’s. True compassion is not limited by the separateness of pity, nor by the fear of being overwhelmed. When we come to rest in the great heart of compassion, we discover a capacity to bear witness to, suffer with, and hold dear with our own vulnerable heart the sorrows in beauties of the world. Jack Kornfield
This week's post is the first of three parts exploring bringing mindfulness into heart of our relationships.
Join us for guided movement practice followed by a short sitting practice. We explore the intention of goodwill, letting go and compassion through it all.
I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself. -Maya Angelou
To be at home in a world where everything changes means to embrace a radical understanding of home. Join us for a short teaching and practice
In this sharing, I consider the art of pendulation, i.e. using pleasant and neutral sensations to resource us for meeting our challenges.
In this meditation, we practice the art of using pleasant and neutral sensations to resource us for meeting our challenges.
In this podcast I share a short reading from Jody Green on meeting the challenges of Zen Koan, "Every Day is a Good Day" and the lessons from our new cat, followed by a short meditation.
When things are challenging, we need strong skills to be with ourselves in the midst of the challenge. This is part 2 of last week's podcast, but I include a small re-cap if you missed last week. Thanks!
In this body and heart practice, we allow space for our awareness to deeply settle in the body and then explore expanding circles of compassion from this grounded space.
This week we start an exploration of ways to be with ourselves in practice when it is just hard to be with ourselves. Learning to "track" is a very useful place to start.
Join us for this sitting meditation where we explore grounding in the body with gravity and breath. Thanks!
"Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens."
-Kahlil Gibran
In this short sharing and practice, we explore the attitudes or qualities of goodwill, compassion and letting go in support of a life well lived.
We need strong refuge points for our awareness in order to support ourselves in the midst of life. This meditation is about strengthening that knowing of refuge within ourselves.
In mindfulness meditation, we teach how to be aware of the breath as an anchor or refuge, and in our current world, to invite awareness into the breath is to invite again awareness of “I can’t breath…” That fact needs to be met with a lot of care and compassion. This week we open to an awareness of George Floyd's plea for breath and how it can inform us through our practice how to come into a stronger, more compassionate and responsive relationship with ourselves and our world. Helpful resources are listed below.
From Rumi (translator?):
I said: what about my eyes?
He said: Keep them on the road.
I said: What about my passion?
He said: Keep it burning.
I said: What about my heart?
He said: Tell me what you hold inside it?
I said: Pain and sorrow.
He said: Stay with it. The wound is the place where the Light enters you.
Resmaa Menakem: www.resmaa.com, My Grandmother’s Hands, https://onbeing.org/programs/resmaa-menakem-notice-the-rage-notice-the-silence/
Ruth King: www.ruthking.net, Mindful of Race
Tara Brach podcast: www.tarabrach.com/courageous-presence-racism/
Join us for this short teaching and sitting practice. Today we continue the exploration of a quote from Abraham Heschel, "Self-respect is the fruit of discipline. A sense of dignity grows with an ability to say no to oneself." In particular, we look at how "bite-sizing" the moment helps open a workable choice point for growing this fruit.
Also from Rumi (trans. Coleman Barks):
We are the mirror as well as the face in it.
We are tasting the taste this minute of eternity.
We are pain and what cures pain, both.
We are the sweet cold water and the jar that pours.
I hope you enjoy this 13 minute sitting practice on awakening to and befriending the present moment.
Sometimes we are holding tension in the body that benefits from movement before sitting. Join us for this combined longer standing and sitting meditation on befriending the present moment.
This week we explore three short Nasruddin stories and how they are useful for understanding our practice. If you are not familiar with Nasruddin, he is a trickster or wise fool character from the Sufi tradition. These stories are much loved for the unexpected yet revealing "twist" always present.
For this short morning meditation, we explore the beautiful quote from Abraham Heschel: "Self-respect is the fruit of discipline. A sense of dignity grows with an ability to say no to oneself."
Please join us for a guided sitting meditation on grounding and re-centering through body and 5 senses.
Today's offering is a bit like a patchwork quilt of odd pieces that have been present in my heart over the last week that, at least to me, come together in an interesting pattern or whole. These include research about joy in babies, thoughts on what makes a good day in the midst of deep suffering, and a poem from Kabir-- I Said to the Wanting-Creature Inside Me.
Join us in this sitting meditation as we explore accessing the four foundational qualities of the heart: goodwill, appreciative joy, compassion and equanimity.
Mindfulness teacher Christina Feldman says, when practicing with the heart qualities, "it’s not the feeling that matters most, but rather the intention." This simple insight is freeing for practicing with strong heart even when we are not "feeling it." This week we explore this beautiful insight.
Today I draw upon the wisdom of Darlene Cohen in her article, "One Button At a Time" about working with chronic physical pain and how beautifully those teachings apply to chronic emotional pain as well.
Join us for the last in our series on Don Miguel Ruiz's book, The Four Agreements.
6/10/20
We are the mirror as well as the face in it. We are tasting the taste this minute of eternity. We are pain and what cures pain, both. We are the sweet cold water and the jar that pours. -Rumi
In this meditation, we take the time to acknowledge whatever pain and hurt might be present, and then to ground and re-center our own nervous systems in order to make ourselves more present in a healing way in our world .
For this week of so many layers of pain and hurt in our nation, we take the time to acknowledge the pain, to ground and re-center our own nervous systems, and to look at ways to help support healing in our world by not being part of the problem.
Please enjoy this sitting meditation that begins with grounding in body and breath, and then moves into insight questions contemplating agreements of care with ourselves. If you would like to join the live group, we meet Wednesdays at 930A ET on Charlotte Center for Mindfulness YouTube channel.
(5-27-20)
This week is part 2 of the second agreement- Don't Take Anything Personally- from Don Miguel Ruiz's book, The Four Agreements.
(5/22/20)
"I long as does every other human being to be at home wherever I find myself." Maya Angelou
Please enjoy this short teaching and body scan based on being at home within ourselves.
(5/22/20)
Please enjoy this sitting meditation that begins with grounding in body and breath, and then moves into insight questions to contemplate around life. If you would like to join the live group, we meet Wednesdays at 930A ET on Charlotte Center for Mindfulness YouTube channel.
(5/20/20)
Today we look at the 2nd Agreement from Ruiz's book, The Four Agreements-- don't take anything personally.
(5/20/20)
Today we look at the first agreement from Don Miguel Ruiz's book, the Four Agreements and how it relates to a need for deep self-acceptance.
(5/13/20)
Please enjoy this sitting meditation exploring the physicality of the 4 elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water in the body, using this physical nature of body as a resource for grounding. If you would like to join the live group, we meet Wednesdays at 930A ET on Charlotte Center for Mindfulness YouTube channel.
(5/13/20)
Enjoy this sitting meditation from the Community Drop In Group on goodwill, empathy and letting go-- three basic foundations for all of mindfulness practice. If you would like to join the live group, we meet Wednesdays at 930A ET on Charlotte Center for Mindfulness YouTube channel.
(5/6/20)
Today we explore the archetypal story of Cinderella and how it relates to the basic attitudes of meditation of goodwill, empathy and letting go.
(5/6/20)
Today's teaching on the poem Birdwings from the poet Rumi, and knowing how to swim safely in riptides.
Please enjoy this guided mountain sitting meditation from our Wednesday Morning Community Mindfulness Drop In on 4-21-20. If you would like to join the live group, we meet Wednesdays at 930A ET on Charlotte Center for Mindfulness YouTube channel.
(4/21/20)
This week we explored an Akido Story from Terry Dobson and how it relates to our own moment to moment life and practice. (4/14/20)
Today we are looking at the quality of curiosity as inspired by the Unwinding Anxiety app. This is a beautiful app for very practical mindfulness based skills for working with anxiety that can make a big difference.
(4/1/20)
In this sharing, we explore the insights of the old Brothers' Grimm story, The Water of Life, and how these insights relate directly to our lives.
(2/11/20)
Sometimes you hear a voice through the door calling you, as fish out of water hear the waves, or a hunting falcon hears the drums. "Come back, come back." This turning toward what you deeply love saves you. -Rumi
In this podcast we explore re-invigorating our practice as a means of turning towards what we deeply love.
(2/4/20)
Boundless joy, not to be mistaken for frenzied exultation, is delight in others’ happiness. It banishes jealousy and stabilizes our capacity for engagement. -Anne Klein
Today’s sharing is about tapping into the joyous capacity of the heart in order to strengthen and ground ourselves in the midst of challenges.
(1/20/20)
This week I share reflections on the 1st Women’s Summit at the Mecklenburg County Detention Center, and the power of reclaiming our choice of how to orient in any moment.
(12/21/20)
This is the last session related to our exploration of Non-violent Communication, a powerful means, from Marshall Rosenberg, for learning to listen and speak with clarity, wisdom and compassion in alignment with our values.
(12/01/19)
“Allow your weakness to become your strength and you will be fine in your life.”
This week I share a story and the Welcoming Prayer.
(12/3/20)
A beautiful visit to my home church this week inspired deep contemplation on gratitude.
(11/26/19)
This is a continuation of our exploration of Non-violent Communication, a powerful means, from Marshall Rosenberg, for learning to listen and speak with clarity, wisdom and compassion in alignment with our values.
(11/19/20)