This week (and next) there were no weekly gatherings, but we did have the chance to watch a video with Tara Brach in which she describes three attitudes that support our practice of waking up.
A key spiritual inquiry is, “In this moment, what most serves awakening?” Rather than a particular s...
On the first day of 2019, we explored three perspectives using VOICE (Voice of Innate Clarity Exercise). We began my considering this quote from Shunryu Suzuki, the author of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind:
Usually our mind is very busy and complicated, and it is difficult to be concentrated on what...
After sitting we read about a simple mindfulness practice you can do throughout the day to come back to focus and centre. Here's a bit from the Simple Meditation and Relaxation book by Joel and Michelle Levey:
Since the habit of mindlessness is stronger than the habit of mindfulness, throughou...
Our regular sitting meditation is a mindfulness practice that works with breath and noticing our thoughts. This week, we dove into goodwill (sometimes called loving-kindness or compassion) meditation. Recent research shows that goodwill meditation has quite a different effect on the brain and that i...
This week we read a 10% Happier article about the term "witness" that's sometimes used to describe a certain state of mind. Then we explore it using VOICE (Voice Of Innate Clarity Exercise) to work with The Judge, The Witness, and The Wise Heart.
Here's how the article begins:
You may have not...
This week we applied mindfulness to a video by Seán Doran that combines an ethereal soundtrack with realtime footage from the International Space Station as it completes one 90-minute orbit of the Earth from about 250 miles above the surface.
After each of the two 10-minute segments we viewed...
After our usual sitting and walking meditation, we explored Byron Katie's process for working with thoughts called The Work. This straightforward technique employs four questions to help us see our thoughts, opinions, and emotions more clearly.
When we look more deeply into what we find chall...
We used VOICE (Voice Of Innate Clarity Exercise) to explore the perspectives of clarity and of not knowing. What does it mean to be clear about something, to have clarity? What is it like to not know? Can we be OK with that?
After sitting, our topic this week is Obstacles. What do we come up against when meditating? How can we work with what shows up? Should that be a capital O?
We read an an article by Judy Lief that described the ways in which our meditation practice (and our life) benefit from obstacles, and how...
After sitting, we watched a TEDx video featuring Angel Kyodo Williams,"It's Not About Love After All". She explores how the word love is applied to mean different things, what Williams learned about the nature of love from bell hooks, and the ways in which justice and love are linked.
She a...