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 … Continue reading Sitting Meditation- Four Remembrances [5.22.24]
in this practice, we explore opening to the wholeness of what’s here, the gratitude and release as well as the contracted and reactionary.
Continue reading Sitting Meditation- Just Being Here [5.15.24]
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. … Continue reading Seven Mantras of Love Part 2 [5.8.24]
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.
Continue reading Sitting Meditation- Sitting with the Tree of Your Spine [5.1.24]
Opening up to the shared physical nature of our being is an avenue for contemplative experience of safety, connection, and respect.
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 … Continue reading Sitting Meditation- The Interwovenness of Compassion and Safety [4.3.24]
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.
Continue reading Sitting Meditation- Leaning Into the Tree of Our Spine [3.27.24]
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.
This meditation considers how opening in the direction of safety, connection and respect is useful in our formal practice.
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 birds’ wings. -Rumi
Continue reading Sitting Meditation- Openings and Closings: Greeting it All