Homework

I will be in the Meditation Hall from 6:30-6:45pm before each class for questions. Come if you like then or at 6:45 when class begins.

1. Sitting: For a minimum of 10-30 minutes per day. Do your best! Keep your meditation simple —

2. Gratitude Practice: E-mail or text your buddies 3 things you are grateful for each day. Can be anything.

3. Please also share with your “practice buddy” 1 thing about Forgiveness that you noticed or explored 3-4 times this week.

4. Notice & Open to forgiveness stories.

5. Bring to mind, someone you feel anger, bitterness, resentment towards—yourself, spouse, partner, parents, children, teacher, boss, co-worker, friend, neighbor—anyone or any situation that agitation arises in your heart. When you bring this person or situation to mind how does it feel? Are you holding on to any resentment? (Recollect or use the points below to assist you in the process of opening to the resistance)

Let yourself feel all the barriers you have created and the emotions that you have carried because you have not forgiven, not forgiven yourself, not forgiven others. Let yourself feel the pain of keeping your heart closed. Breathe softly into the heart.
• Acknowledge any unwillingness you have to forgive the person or situation. Let yourself experience the degree to which you prefer to hold on to your resentment, anger, bitterness, even when you see how it closes you down and how you resist your openness by choosing to stay stuck in a kind of hardness.
• Bring a nonjudgmental awareness to how you resist forgiveness. Seeing clearly enables you to experience resistance for what it is. Open to and soften into any resistance. Gently turn towards any resistance
• Experience in your body how your unwillingness to forgive feels. As best you can, stay with the physical experience of resistance. This allows a sense of spaciousness to gradually develop in which the resentment can start to loosen.
• Begin to see your judgments as thoughts rather than accepting them as objective truths.

Establish your daily mindfulness practice:
Please make the intention to sit and meditate daily for a minimum of 10 minutes. Choose a time of day that works for you, and be flexible if you need to change that, but commit to a daily practice of sitting and relaxing your body, and quieting your mind. Find a comfortable place in your home or office, you could sit on a cushion on the floor or on a chair. Find a time when you can be alone or in a space where you can practice in relative silence. Please use a timer, so you’re not guessing at “how much longer,” and practice meditation in silence.

Start by relaxing and softening into the body, coming into the present moment. You may choose to work with breath or sounds if breath doesn’t work for you. Remember to practice with the qualities and attitude of friendliness, warmth, and curiosity.

As you meditate, begin by settling into the body; aware of sitting and the sensations of sitting such as the body making contact with the mat or the floor, or your sitting bones on the cushion or chair. Then gently bring the attention to rest on the breathing either at the nostrils, the chest area or the abdomen, using the breath as an anchor. This practice is a practice of remembering, so when your mind wanders and you notice it wandering or you wake up from the story/trance you are in, delight that you are awake, ground in the body and gently, simply escort the attention back to the breath, sounds, or contact points. Every time you bring your attention back to the present moment, you are developing mindfulness.

Mindfulness in daily life: Choose one activity you engage in daily—a simple, routine activity, and commit to integrating mindfulness into that activity every day. Such as: brushing one’s teeth, taking a shower, driving. This means doing just this activity while doing this exercise – for eg, not listening to music at the same time. Be as present as best you can. When the mind wanders, simply come back to the activity. This practice is in addition to your daily formal sitting practice.

Reading
Overwhelmed by Climate Change? Try Re-Framing Your Impact
The reading this week is optional – the focus this week is on exploring your experience of climate change directly through your practice.

Practice
Continue to meditate every day. At least twice this week, try to practice meditation outside. See what you notice – this can be sitting, standing, or walking meditation. Pay particular attention to emotions that come up during your practice and keep working on connecting with sources of support and resource in your practice.

Meditation
Here’s the guided meditation practice I led if you’d like to continue working with it: Week 3 Meditation.mp3

Inquiry
How do you connect with sources of support, refuge, guidance, and wisdom that are larger than yourself?

Additional resources
Here is the Shantideva prayer we ended our session with:

Shantideva Prayer

May I be a protector to those without protection,
A leader for those who journey,
And a boat, a bridge, a passage
For those desiring the further shore.
May the pain of every living creature
Be completely cleared away.
May I be the doctor and the medicine
And may I be the nurse
For all sick beings in the world
Until everyone is healed.

Just like space
And the great elements such as earth,
May I always support the life
Of all the boundless creatures.
And until they pass away from pain
May I also be the source of life
For all the realms of varied beings
That reach unto the ends of space.

Reading
The reading this week is an excerpt from Dr. Kim TallBear’s essay titled A Sharpening of the Already Present: Apocalypse and Radical Hope. You can click here to read or listen to it. Please read or listen from the “Not My Apocalypse” section to the end. If you are listening, it starts at 8 min 45 sec. It’s about 15 minutes.

For those who are new to insight meditation, you may want to read:
• Chapter 11: Brief Instructions for Sitting Meditation (in The Issue at Hand by Gil Fronsdal).
and/or
• Chapter 5: The Practice (in Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana).

Meditation
Try to meditate every day this week, for any amount of time. Continue resourcing yourself with your practice. You can practice with insight meditation (working with an anchor) or the benefactor practice we did this week.

Inquiry
What do you see as a root cause of the harm created by climate change?
What do you hope for? What gives you hope?
How do you resource yourself? Where do you connect to sources of energy, renewal, and guidance?

Reading
Chapter 1: A Song of Fire and Ice (pages 1-8) in A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth by Henry Gee.
Chapter 3: What Meditation Is in Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana. Optional but especially recommended for those who are new to meditation practice.

Meditation
What’s A Meditation Anchor? – Lama Rod Owens
Guided breath meditation – Zac Ispa-Landa – Jan 20, 2019 – Harvard iBme Retreat

Inquiry
Attune to the changing nature of things and see what you notice. Where do you observe change? Can you become aware of change in places you haven’t noticed before? See if you can notice it directly. Try paying attention to the dynamics of change at different scales and dimensions (big/small, fast/slow, inner/outer, physical, mental, etc.) What does attuning to change bring up for you?

Please continue practicing gratitude and allowing, letting self-judgement be seen and released.

In addition, practice seeing grief and all expressions of grief as belonging to nature. Grief does not define who you are. Try to uncouple the sense of self from these mental states and experiences.
Don’t compare – just open and allow without claiming. Allow grief to come and go of its own accord.

We are continuing with the practice assigned last week: to practice gratitude (with a gratitude friend if possible) and to bring compassion to moments of grief. Compassion is the willingness to care.

As well, this week, take up the practice of non dwelling, non resistance, and non judging; allowing sensations of grief to be experienced. Practicing non dwelling means to release thoughts without condemning the thoughts that are occurring. It means to let go of what the grief is about and be present with the grief as it is, especially the expressions of grief in the body. Please be aware of its changing nature.

The home practice is to meet whatever expressions of grief arise within you, with care and compassion. Grief can reveal itself in a variety of ways: fear, anger, anguish, despair, or irritability. See if you can bring awareness to the form of grief present for you personally.

One way to express compassion to oneself is with the use of phrases: “May I care for this pain, may I care for this sorrow.” Or you can kindly ask, “What can I do for you, sweetheart?” These are meant to companion yourself through the difficult moments.

New Home practices***
Please Have FUN with the Home practices & your buddy groups! (quotes at end)
Next class 6/9/23.

1) ***Sit every day. Try sitting for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day. (more if you are able) Please practice your meditation in silence. During this month, devote one daily mediation session to compassion practice (Someone you love, yourself, all beings) How does this affect your daily life? You can use phrases from class, your phrases, a word or the essence of compassion that we talked about in class. (some phases below #6) ***

2) Gratitude Practices:
Write down, 3 things you are grateful for each day. Can be anything. Text or Email them to your buddies, 3 things you are grateful for each day.

3) *Read the Brahmavihara info once a day. (placed at the end of this home practice)

4) ***Compassion or Karuna- is a heart-mind that is motivated by cherishing other living beings & a wish to release them from their suffering. Compassion practices purifies the heart-mind from separateness- Each day inclining the heart towards compassion for others & oneself. First step in compassion practice is to recognize, open to, acknowledge that pain and sorrow exist Everywhere. Takes great courage to open to suffering. We are “warriors” of tenderness & gentleness. Cultivating the willingness to listen deeply to sorrow, a commitment to stay connected, to open, to be a fearless receptive presence. Recall that a drowning person cannot save another drowning person–Compassion allows us to float on the current of suffering. Compassion nurtures caring & connection with the person suffering & that is what keeps us from drowning.

5) ***Compassion: Reflections & Practices Talk over with Buddies
Reflections:
• Reflect on: What allows you to open your heart with connection?
• Reflect on: What stops you from letting go of separation?
• Reflect on: What do you need to learn about compassion to be free?
• Reflect on: Suffering is reactivity- a non-acceptance of what is-& how it obscures the natural ease that we are.
• Reflect on: If compassion allows suffering to unwind?

***Daily Life Practices:
• What ways can you cultivate an open heart of connection or practice compassion with yourself or others? Make a list. Try a couple on your list.
• Mindfulness & compassion are undertaken one step, one person, one moment at a time. Without this understanding we become overwhelmed by all the problems & suffering worldwide. Every conscious act no matter how small contributes to healing. Remember we are not in charge, And it is never too late to begin again!- we can only begin now, where we are now and plant the seeds for all that lies ahead. This caring, tenderness love, grows out of practice- whether it is for a child, parent, neighbor, institutional racism, climate change- each action, each step is like breathing, a practice of the heart.
• Our capacity to be a cause of suffering and our capacity to end suffering live within us. The invitation is to nurture all that contributes to the end of suffering. Try a few of these in the moment & see what you learn: Can you transform your heart and mind in the moment? Can you understand the transparency of division & separation? Can you liberate your heart from ill will, fear, cruelty? Can you find the steadfastness, patience, generosity, commitment not to abandon anyone or anything in this world? Can you listen deeply with the heart of compassion?

6) ***Compassion Phrases: Pick from below, create your own, use one word, essence of Compassion.

I care about your suffering, care enough to be close
May wisdom & love protect you always
May you be at ease with these challenging conditions
May you be free from suffering and the roots of suffering.

May you/I be held in compassion
May you/I be held in tenderness
May your/my pain and sorrow be eased
May you/I be at peace. (find peace)
May all your suffering & struggles be held in great compassion

May You, I , All beings):
care for this pain,
care for this sorrow
be at ease

be held in tenderness, & in compassion
your/my suffering & struggles be held in great compassion
your/my pain & sorrow be eased
you/I be at peace

be free of your/ my pain and my sorrow.
hold your/my pain with tenderness and compassion.
forgive your/myself for past mistakes.
love yourself/myself just as you/I am.
be kind and patient with yourself/myself / and others.
be safe and protected.
be free from anguish / and the causes of anguish

***The Brahmaviharas (sheet): (Divine abodes, divine homes) By reflecting & practicing these qualities in your life & in meditations, you can establish the brahma-viharas as your home. The brahmaviharas are a gift of love that the Buddha himself realized & embodied. This is an opportunity to practice this path by which we learn to develop skillful intentions, attitudes, mental states & let go of unskillful ones. Cultivating an awakened life means aligning ourselves with a vast vision of what is possible for us. The brahmaviharas are tools for sustaining our experience of that vision.
• Loving kindness (metta): friendliness, unconditional warmth, caring. Metta is a generosity of heart that wishes well-being, happiness to all beings. (Including yourself) The practice of metta uncovers the force of love that that can uproot fear, anger, guilt, The culmination of metta is to become a friend to oneself and to all of life.
Near enemy, a quality that looks like metta but isn’t, is attachment;
Far enemy, the opposite, is hatred.
• ***Compassion (karuna): described as a quivering, tenderness of the heart in response to suffering. It is the strong feeling of wanting to alleviate pain & suffering. Compassion is born out of the wisdom of seeing things as they are. Compassion also arises from the practice of inclining the mind, of refining our intention.
Near enemy is pity. Far enemy is cruelty.***
• Appreciative joy (mudita): joy that that is filled with contentment & depends upon our capacity to take delight. We rejoice when we see others happy, we rejoice in their happiness & their well-being becomes our own. Rather than believing that happiness is a limited commodity and the more there is for somebody else, the less there’s going to be for us. Appreciative joy is the understanding that someone else’s happiness doesn’t threaten our happiness. It actually enhances our own happiness.
Near enemy is exuberance. Far enemy is envy.
• Equanimity (upekkha): balanced, spacious opening to all aspects of life. Meeting each experience with nonattachment, non-discrimination with strength & softness. Equanimity understands things as they are. It’s knowing that no matter how hard we want somebody to be free of suffering, we’re actually not in control of the unfolding of the universe. This understanding shouldn’t make us pull away, but rather, can give us the strength to sustain our caring, because it’s not all tied up with our own agenda and our own sense of demand.
Near enemy is indifference. Far enemy is reactivity, Impulsiveness.

7) Notice in sitting practice and daily life when:
• any of the above intentions, attitudes, states of heart or mind are present in your body, heart, mind. Even for a moment.
• any of the above they are not present even for a moment.
• any the near and far “enemies” are present.
• Please be gentle with this exercise.

8) QUOTES FROM CLASS:
Thomas Merton, “Do not depend on the hope of results. You may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless & even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you start more & more to concentrate not on the results but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself.”
The Talmud: “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”

New Home practices***
Please Have FUN with the Home practices & your buddy groups!
Next class 5/12/23.

1) ***Sit every day. Try sitting for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day. (more if you are able) Please practice your meditation in silence. During this month, devote one mediation session to compassion practice (Someone you love, yourself, all beings) How does this affect your daily life? You can use phrases from class, your phrases, a word or the essence of compassion that we talked about in class. (some phases below #6) ***

2) Gratitude Practices:
Write down, 3 things you are grateful for each day. Can be anything. Text or Email them, 3 things you are grateful for each day.

3) *Read the Brahmavihara info once a day. (placed at the end of this home practice)

4) ***Compassion or Karuna. Karuna is the Pali word which -translates as the heart that trembles in response to suffering, to pain. It’s a movement of the heart. It is the strong feeling of wanting to alleviate pain & suffering. The Buddha described this feeling as a quivering or tenderness of the heart. Compassion is the spontaneous response of an open heart. Compassion arises when we come close to suffering. When we open to the suffering of ourselves or others.
The courage of compassion is said to come from equanimity. Because we feel compassion in response to seeing pain, we need equanimity to be able to open to the pain. In order to not deny it or pretend it’s not there, or repackage it so it sounds or looks better, we need to actually see it for what it is. We also need courage by opening to willingness to care for pain and sorrow with a caring connection.

5) ***Compassion: Reflections & Practices Talk over with Buddies on phone, zoom, in-person
Reflections:
• Reflect on: What is compassion? What allows you to be compassionate? What stops you from being compassionate?
• Reflect on: What does suffering have to do with compassion? What does acceptance have to do with compassion? Does letting go have anything to
do with compassion? If so what are we letting go of?
• Reflect on: What does it mean to be willing to turn toward your pain or other peoples pain with compassion?

***Daily Life Practices:
• What ways can you cultivate an open heart of connection or practice compassion with yourself or others? Make a list. Try a couple on your list.
• Notice when there is a willingness to meet: irritation, impatience, frustration, suffering and when there isn’t. What is happening in those moments?

6) **Compassion Phrases: Pick from below, create your own, use one word, or the essence of Compassion.
May You, I, All beings:
care for this pain,
care for this sorrow
be at ease

be held in tenderness, & in compassion
your/my suffering & struggles be held in great compassion
your/my pain & sorrow be eased
you/I be at peace

be free of your/ my pain and my sorrow.
hold your/my pain with tenderness and compassion.
forgive your/myself for past mistakes.
love yourself/myself just as you/I am.
be kind and patient with yourself/myself / and others.
be safe and protected.
be free from anguish / and the causes of anguish

***The Brahmaviharas (sheet): (Divine abodes, divine homes) By reflecting & practicing these qualities in your life & in meditations, you can establish the brahma-viharas as your home. The brahmaviharas are a gift of love that the Buddha himself realized & embodied. This is an opportunity to practice this path by which we learn to develop skillful intentions, attitudes, mental states & let go of unskillful ones. Cultivating an awakened life means aligning ourselves with a vast vision of what is possible for us. The brahmaviharas are tools for sustaining our experience of that vision.
• Loving kindness (metta): friendliness, unconditional warmth, caring. Metta is a generosity of heart that wishes well-being, happiness to all beings. (Including yourself) The practice of metta uncovers the force of love that that can uproot fear, anger, guilt, The culmination of metta is to become a friend to oneself and to all of life.
Near enemy, a quality that looks like metta but isn’t, is attachment;
Far enemy, the opposite, is hatred.
• ***Compassion (karuna): described as a quivering, tenderness of the heart in response to suffering. It is the strong feeling of wanting to alleviate pain & suffering. Compassion is born out of the wisdom of seeing things as they are. Compassion also arises from the practice of inclining the mind, of refining our intention.
Near enemy is pity. Far enemy is cruelty.***
• Appreciative joy (mudita): joy that that is filled with contentment & depends upon our capacity to take delight. We rejoice when we see others happy, we rejoice in their happiness & their well-being becomes our own. Rather than believing that happiness is a limited commodity and the more there is for somebody else, the less there’s going to be for us. Appreciative joy is the understanding that someone else’s happiness doesn’t threaten our happiness. It actually enhances our own happiness.
Near enemy is exuberance. Far enemy is envy.
• Equanimity (upekkha): balanced, spacious opening to all aspects of life. Meeting each experience with nonattachment, non-discrimination with strength & softness. Equanimity understands things as they are. It’s knowing that no matter how hard we want somebody to be free of suffering, we’re actually not in control of the unfolding of the universe. This understanding shouldn’t make us pull away, but rather, can give us the strength to sustain our caring, because it’s not all tied up with our own agenda and our own sense of demand
Near enemy is indifference. Far enemy is reactivity, Impulsiveness

5) Notice in sitting practice and daily life when:
• any of the above intentions, attitudes, states of heart or mind are present in your body, heart, mind. Even for a moment.
• any of the above they are not present even for a moment.
• any the near and far “enemies” are present.
• Please be gentle with this exercise.

Please Have FUN with the Home practices & your buddy groups! Next class 4/14/23. If you don’t have buddies, try to find the e-mail with a buddy survey that came out in Jan after the workshop. Fill it out, & e-mail it back. 

1. Sit every day. Try sitting for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day. (more if you are able) Please practice your meditation in silence. During this month, devote one mediation session to formal loving kindness (yourself, benefactor, good friend, neutral person, difficult person, all beings) How does this affect your daily life? You can use phrases from class, your phrases, a word or the essence of kindness. (phases below) ***

2. Gratitude Practices: Write down, 3 things you are grateful for each day. Can be anything. When Buddies are assigned: Text or Email them, 3 things you are grateful for each day.

3. **Read the Brahmavihara info once a day. (placed at the end of this home practice)

4. Metta or holistic kindness: Metta is the Pali word which translates as loving kindness, friendliness, holistic kindness. lives-including ourselves! Be open with a friendly heart to yourself and to everyone. Remember: Metta is a deep friendship with life.  (Three Metta suttas are attached to the HW letter for all who want them.)

With good will for the entire cosmos,
Cultivate a limitless heart:
Above, below, & all around,
Unobstructed, without hostility or hate
Whether standing, walking,
Sitting, or lying down,
As long as one is alert,
One should be resolved on this mindfulness.
This is called a sublime abiding, here and now.

5. Metta: Reflections & Practices Talk over with Buddies on phone, zoom, in-person

Reflections:

• Reflect on: Please give some thought to what points of view you could draw on that would help you have greater good will or loving kindness towards others. What aspect of another person can you consider that would incline you to feel friendlier toward them? Please write up a list of 5 points of view, reflections, or attitudes that would help you have more kindness towards others.
• Reflect on: What would it be to live in this world w/o contention? What would it be like to experience life w/o demanding it to be other than it is? To care for the well-being of others regardless as to whether or not they meet our expectations, or fulfill our desires?

• Reflect on: The depth of trust, to trust yourself so fully that you know metta will flow to all beings: to those that we like as well as those we do not like, those who have helped us and those who have hurt us regardless of preferences. To cultivate loving kindness or friendliness as a gentle invitation to soften our hearts, to connect deeper with all of life, to abide in the wonder of an unconflicted relationship to all things and all beings.

***The Brahmaviharas (sheet): (Divine abodes, divine homes) By reflecting & practicing these qualities in your life & in meditations, you can establish the brahma-viharas as your home. The brahmaviharas are a gift of love that the Buddha himself realized & embodied. This is an opportunity to practice this path by which we learn to develop skillful intentions, attitudes, mental states & let go of unskillful ones. Cultivating an awakened life means aligning ourselves with a vast vision of what is possible for us. The brahmaviharas are tools for sustaining our experience of that vision.

Practices: PICK one practice from the list below for 2 weeks. Try another for the next 2 weeks. Share what you learned with your assigned buddy group.

1. In Daily Life Practice: When you are in public situations, privately practice generating intentions of good will, well wishing kindness, friendliness, loving kindness to the people around you. How does this affect you?
2. Choose a person who is neutral (not strong liking or disliking) to you For 5 days focus your loving kindness practice on generating whatever goodwill or loving kindness toward this person that you can. Notice if and how your attitude toward this person changes over those 5 days.
3. Choose a person you are not getting along with. For 5 days focus your loving kindness practice on generating whatever goodwill or loving kindness toward this person that you can. Notice if and how your attitude toward this person changes over those 5 days.
4. Noticing times during your days when your heart is at ease, in connection with life. Love every day, as many minutes as you can, take the t risk to love life. Love all of life while walking the dog, while exercising, everywhere you are, whatever you are doing- you can be silently cultivating a intention of care & good will. Every moment when you drop obsessive preoccupation with self concern & judgments of the inadequacies of ourselves or of others, you open to a vast, still & loving truth beyond words, beyond contention.
5. Noticing times when you experience moments of the mind settling down, make a point of noticing the absence of ill will. Once recognized, practice keeping this experience, the absence of aversion, in mind as the meditation object. See this absence of ill will as love. Do your best to sense its goodness and beauty, & cultivate a deepening appreciation for it. Notice its capacity to expand to fill the space of the body and mind. Notice as other people come to mind that this kind & compassionate presence is also willing to include them.- Mark Numberg

***Metta Phrases: Pick from below, create your own, use one word, or the essence of metta.

May (I/you/all beings):

be safe and protected
be peaceful
live with ease and with kindness
live in love and in compassion
be safe, peaceful, and free of suffering
be filled with loving kindness
be happy
be safe from inner & outer harm
be healthy
be well in body and mind
be strong and confident
be at ease and happy

• Loving kindness (metta): friendliness, unconditional warmth, caring. Metta is a generosity of heart that wishes well-being, happiness to all beings. (Including yourself) The practice of metta uncovers the force of love that that can uproot fear, anger, guilt, The culmination of metta is to become a friend to oneself and to all of life.
  Near enemy, a quality that looks like metta but isn’t, is attachment;
  Far enemy, the opposite, is hatred.

• Compassion (karuna): described as a quivering, tenderness of the heart in response to suffering. It is the strong feeling of wanting to alleviate pain & suffering. Compassion is born out of the wisdom of seeing things as they are. Compassion also arises from the practice of inclining the mind, of refining our intention.
  Near enemy is pity. Far enemy is cruelty.

• Appreciative joy (mudita): joy that that is filled with contentment & depends upon our capacity to take delight. We rejoice when we see others happy, we rejoice in their happiness & their well-being becomes our own. Rather than believing that happiness is a limited commodity and the more there is for somebody else, the less there’s going to be for us. Appreciative joy is the understanding that someone else’s happiness doesn’t threaten our happiness. It actually enhances our own happiness.
  Near enemy is exuberance. Far enemy is envy.

• Equanimity (upekkha): balanced, spacious opening to all aspects of life. Meeting each experience with nonattachment, non-discrimination with strength & softness. Equanimity understands things as they are. It’s knowing that no matter how hard we want somebody to be free of suffering, we’re actually not in control of the unfolding of the universe. This understanding shouldn’t make us pull away, but rather, can give us the strength to sustain our caring, because it’s not all tied up with our own agenda and our own sense of demand
  Near enemy is indifference. Far enemy is reactivity, Impulsiveness.

6. Notice in sitting practice and daily life when:

• any of the above intentions, attitudes, states of heart or mind are present in your body, heart, mind. Even for a moment.
• any of the above they are not present even for a moment.
• any the near and far “enemies” are present.
• Please be gentle with this exercise.

 

Home practices*

Please Have FUN with the Home practices and your buddy groups! Next class: 3/10.

1. Sit every day. Try sittig for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day. (more if you are able) Please practice your meditation in silence. (Newer to practice 10 minutes a day– & check out CIMC’S Beginner Drop-in, Way of Awareness) Begin your meditation with 5 minutes of loving-kindness towards yourself. Notice how it affects the rest of your meditation?

2. Gratitude Practices:
Write down, 3 things you are grateful for each day. Can be anything. When Buddies are assigned: Text or Email them, 3 things you are grateful for each day.

3) **Read the Brahmavihara sheet once a day. (placed at the end of this home practice)

4) Metta or holistic kindness: Metta is the Pali word which translates as loving kindness, friendliness, holistic kindness. It is an all-inclusive befriending, a fearless kindness, an open-heartedness, love as care, benevolence, empathy. It is a radical shift in our way of being present and rests upon a dedicated intentional practice. A heart-mind abiding in kindness. The Buddha described this way of being in the world as an attitudinal commitment we can bring to all moments, situations, relationships in our lives-including ourselves! Be open with a friendly heart to yourself and to everyone. Remember: Metta is a deep friendship with life.
a) To Begin:
• Recognize this quality.
• Get to know it. See it clearly. Investigate it.
• When Loving Kindness is present, we want to highlight it.
b) Then Continue:
• Pay attention when meeting people throughout the day.
• Notice when Loving Kindness arises & when it doesn’t.
• What obstructs Loving Kindness when it does not arise?
c) Next, go deeper:
• Notice when attachment is present with Loving Kindness.
• Notice when expectations are also present with Loving Kindness.
• How does this feel?
• How are these mixed feelings are different from Loving Kindness?

1) Metta: Reflections & Practices: (Talk over with Buddies)
Reflections: Some from class
• Reflect on: some of the significant acts of goodwill or loving kindness that you have offered to yourself. What made these significant for you? How did they make you feel? Did they motivate you in any way? What did you learn from experiencing these acts of goodwill toward yourself?
• Reflect on: some of the significant acts of goodwill or loving kindness that you received from others. What made these significant for you? How did they make you feel? Did they motivate you in any way? What did you learn from experiencing these acts of goodwill?
• Reflect on: some of the more significant acts of good will or loving kindness that you have offered to others. What made these significant to you? How did you feel doing them? What did you learn from doing them?

6) PICK One practice from the list below for 2 weeks. Try another for the next 2 weeks. Share what you learned with your assigned buddy group.

a) Practice: Seeing yourself with Kindness– If only we could see what others see, it would be easier to be kind to ourselves- what would you see if you tried looking at yourself through the eyes of someone who cares about you or loves you? Practice this this week. Recall the lovely qualities this person sees in you. (No buts!) And Take in the caring or love. We are all good enough. Goodness is inside of you!
b) Practice: What you like– Spend 3-5 minutes in front of a mirror looking at the image in front of you. Notice any judgments, reactions. Instead of feeding them, acknowledge them & let them go. In a heartfelt way, say aloud to yourself at least 3 good qualities you have. Like:“ You really care about others”, “You are funny”, “ You love your children, or pet(s)” Don’t try too hard- A glimpse of appreciation is great!
c) Practice Being present for all the acts of kindness that come your way each day. Someone in your house hugs you, take in the kindness. Your pet cuddles or licks you- take in the kindness & love-your co-worker expresses appreciation- Be there for it. When a friend greets you with delight on zoom, phone, In person they are communicating their kindness & caring for you. Don’t miss it. A stranger holds a door for you or someone waves as you pass them on the street- that is communication filled with warmth & friendliness- feel it, look for small & large expressions of kindness
d) Practice: Taking kindness & caring– Cultivating kindness for ourselves. Kindness is taking good care-of your body, heart mind, nourishing them with healthy foods, exercise, rest, quiet time, creative self-expression, play, etc. Do it out of kindness and love instead of obligation- appreciating, loving & caring for yourself –Is it possible to speak kindly to yourself?
e) Practice: Being aware of moments when something good expresses itself through you-an intention-an action of kindness or compassion. Such as: to call a distressed friend, to make food for a sick friend, to offer help a neighbor, co-worker, to give a donation etc.

***The Brahmaviharas (sheet): (Divine abodes, divine homes) By reflecting & practicing these qualities in your life & in meditations, you can establish the brahma-viharas as your home. The brahmaviharas are a gift of love that the Buddha himself realized & embodied. This is an opportunity to practice this path by which we learn to develop skillful intentions, attitudes, mental states & let go of unskillful ones. Cultivating an awakened life means aligning ourselves with a vast vision of what is possible for us. The brahmaviharas are tools for sustaining our experience of that vision.
• Loving kindness (metta): friendliness, unconditional warmth, caring. Metta is a generosity of heart that wishes well-being, happiness to all beings. (Including yourself) The practice of metta uncovers the force of love that that can uproot fear, anger, guilt, The culmination of metta is to become a friend to oneself and to all of life.
Near enemy, a quality that looks like metta but isn’t, is attachment;
Far enemy, the opposite, is hatred.
• Compassion (karuna): described as a quivering, tenderness of the heart in response to suffering. It is the strong feeling of wanting to alleviate pain & suffering. Compassion is born out of the wisdom of seeing things as they are. Compassion also arises from the practice of inclining the mind, of refining our intention.
Near enemy is pity. Far enemy is cruelty.
• Appreciative joy (mudita): joy that that is filled with contentment & depends upon our capacity to take delight. We rejoice when we see others happy, we rejoice in their happiness & their well-being becomes our own. Rather than believing that happiness is a limited commodity and the more there is for somebody else, the less there’s going to be for us. Appreciative joy is the understanding that someone else’s happiness doesn’t threaten our happiness. It actually enhances our own happiness.
Near enemy is exuberance. Far enemy is envy.
• Equanimity (upekkha): balanced, spacious opening to all aspects of life. Meeting each experience with nonattachment, non-discrimination with strength & softness. Equanimity understands things as they are. It’s knowing that no matter how hard we want somebody to be free of suffering, we’re actually not in control of the unfolding of the universe. This understanding shouldn’t make us pull away, but rather, can give us the strength to sustain our caring, because it’s not all tied up with our own agenda and our own sense of demand
Near enemy is indifference. Far enemy is reactivity, Impulsiveness

5) Notice in sitting practice and daily life when:
• any of the above intentions, attitudes, states of heart or mind are present in your body, heart, mind. Even for a moment.
• any of the above they are not present even for a moment.
• any the near and far “enemies” are present.
• Please be gentle with this exercise.

The Courage of the Heart –Living the Brahmaviharas- Home practices*

1) Sit every day. Try sitting for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day. (more if you are able) Please practice your meditation in silence. (Newer to practice 10 minutes a day- & check out CIMC’s Beginner Drop-in, Beginners workshop, Way of Awareness.)

2) Gratitude Practices:
Write down, 3 things you are grateful for each day. Can be anything. When Buddies are assigned: Text or Email them, 3 things you are grateful for each day.

3) Setting A YearLong Intention, Vow, Dedication:
Finish writing your yearlong intention, vow, dedication. (What is my motivation to come into this Brahamavihara practice? What is my aspiration in life? What is my intention/vow right now?) Then put it someplace where you keep special things. Then, as you go through the year, let it be your compass, your underlying direction, in spite of changing outer circumstances. Let it carry you.

4) The Brahmaviharas: (Divine abodes, divine homes) By reflecting & practicing these qualities in your life & in meditations, you can establish the brahmaviharas as your home. The brahmaviharas are a gift of love that the Buddha himself realized & embodied. This is an opportunity to practice this path by which we learn to develop skillful intentions, attitudes, mental states & let go of unskillful ones. Cultivating an awakened life means aligning ourselves with a vast vision of what is possible for us. The brahmaviharas are tools for sustaining our experience of that vision.
• Loving kindness (metta): friendliness, unconditional warmth, caring. Metta is a generosity of heart that wishes well-being, happiness to all beings. (Including yourself) The practice of metta uncovers the force of love that that can uproot fear, anger, guilt, The culmination of metta is to become a friend to oneself and to all of life.
Near enemy, a quality that looks like metta but isn’t, is attachment;
Far enemy, the opposite, is hatred.
• Compassion (karuna): described as a quivering, tenderness of the heart in response to suffering. It is the strong feeling of wanting to alleviate pain & suffering. Compassion is born out of the wisdom of seeing things as they are. Compassion also arises from the practice of inclining the mind, of refining our intention.
Near enemy is pity. Far enemy is cruelty.
• Appreciative joy (mudita): joy that that is filled with contentment & depends upon our capacity to take delight. We rejoice when we see others happy, we rejoice in their happiness & their well-being becomes our own. Rather than believing that happiness is a limited commodity and the more there is for somebody else, the less there’s going to be for us. Appreciative joy is the understanding that someone else’s happiness doesn’t threaten our happiness. It actually enhances our own happiness.
Near enemy is exuberance. Far enemy is envy.
• Equanimity (upekkha): balanced, spacious opening to all aspects of life. Meeting each experience with nonattachment, non-discrimination with strength & softness. Equanimity understands things as they are. It’s knowing that no matter how hard we want somebody to be free of suffering, we’re actually not in control of the unfolding of the universe. This understanding shouldn’t make us pull away, but rather, can give us the strength to sustain our caring, because it’s not all tied up with our own agenda and our own sense of demand
Near enemy is indifference. Far enemy is reactivity, Impulsiveness

5) Notice in sitting practice and daily life when:
• any of the above intentions, attitudes, states of heart or mind are present in your body, heart, mind. Even for a moment.
• any of the above they are not present even for a moment.
• any the near and far “enemies” are present.
• Please be gentle with this exercise. We are starting slowly.

HAVE FUN!

6) Book & Guidelines: Try the classic – “Loving Kindness, the Revolutionary Art of Happiness” written by Sharon Salzberg (for those who want a book)

Agreed upon Guidelines for Yearlong Program. Practicing the ways below, together, every month can support us in our everyday lives thru noticing our immediate reactions. Remembering that we have an opportunity to pause, check in, & choose how we respond.
• Show up. Pay Attention. Speak your truth without blame or judgment. Let go of outcome and be open to outcome.
• All perspectives are welcome here. Notice your reaction to what is shared and have that be your practice in that moment.
• Everything we do here is voluntary. It is a courageous & generous act to share. It is a compassionate & generous act to deeply listen.
• Speak about what’s alive for you in this moment from your heart, your own experience, refrain from intellectual or philosophical sharing or long story telling, notice if may be judging or blaming another’s perspective. Is it possible to talk from a place of kindness and love?
• Notice what arises as you speak. Are we in touch with what is true and alive or we wanting to impress, to feel important, to be liked?
• Listen deeply; notice what arises within you as you listen. Where do we go when someone says something we agree with? When we hear something that triggers us?
• Please be lean of expression, meaning be mindful to stay on point vs. going tangential. We are a large group, and it would be good to hear from as many voices as possible. WAIT “Why Am I Talking?”
• If you’ve already spoken, think twice before choosing to speak again as it would be good to hear from those who have not yet
• Please refrain from offering advice unless it is specifically solicited or unless you ask the person’s permission.
• Please honor confidentiality. If you need to share with others out-side of this circle, please share from your own direct experience not that of other members in the sangha.

May 9 Homework – Kate Beers

The Wisdom of the Body

Your body is always present:

1. Think of a time when your mind and thoughts told you one thing but your body reactions told you something else. For example, denying you are angry to yourself and others but your body reactions reveal that you angry.

2. Take sometime to discover and experience your own body sensations. For example, when angry, perhaps your jaw tightens, your breathing becomes forced, your eyes narrow, etc.

3. List a few words that reflect your deepest values; and, using them as a mantra, discover your body sensations. For example, Integrity; kindness, gratitude, grace.
Let yourself appreciate how your mind/body is fully connected.

References:
Awake Where You Are: The Art of Embodied Awareness by Martin Aylward
The Wakeful Body: Somatic Mindfulness as a Path to Freedom by Willa Blythe Baker

Website:
Dialogue between John Makransky, Lama in Tibetan Buddhism and Richard Schwartz, Family systems therapist and founder of Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Becoming Our Compassionate Self: Integrating Parts of Ourselves into the Process of Spiritual Awakening
A Conversation Between Internal Family Systems and Tibetan Buddhism

April 11 Homework – Kate Beers

Bring kindness to your body

Suggestions:
• Metta / Body Scan
• Gentle Yoga
• Massage

Reference: Sharon Salzberg – Aging Wisely

Discover your own embodied wisdom

Meditate on a word or words that reflect a deep value and note your own body sensations. Allow yourself to experiment. Stay with words that fully resonate in your body. Let go of words that may feel conflicted. What do you discover?

Examples:
Gratitude, kindness, compassion, grace, integrity, authenticity, love, etc

References:
Martin Aylward – Awake Where You Are: The Art of Embodied Wisdom
John Makransky – Awakening Through Love: Unveiling Your Deepest Goodness

Our body is the first of the four foundations of Mindfulness – from the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha’s Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness.  Often it’s our body where we first notice signs of aging, of becoming an elder.

The practice of acceptance, of ourself, of our body, of kindness towards ourselves, even our losses, is crucial. To accept, to witness ourselves, without judgement, and with care; to love them, to lean towards them, to embrace them.

Thich Nhat Hanh in his book No Mud, No Lotus, talks about the Sallatha Sutta, the Arrow sutta. The first arrow is that which happens, causes pain; the second arrow is fired by our own selves, is our reaction, our storyline, our anxiety.  We add to our suffering with these second arrows.

Sharon Salzberg as she was turning 70 wrote a Tricycle article, Aging Wisely, with much the same themes – what happens to the body as we age as the first arrow, and “our tendency to rehearse some catastrophe, and thereby live it several times.” This rehearsing as the second arrow.  One way to work with these, a doing a body scan along with the loving-kindness meditation; may each part of the body be happy.

Ruth King, in a Tricycle podcast, writes about kindness. “Kindness is a decision, a decision to incline the heart toward goodwill for all beings.”

Narayan tells of a Zen teaching:

A student asks his Zen master: How to be happy. The teacher replies:  Complete unrestricted cooperation with the unavoidable.

Nancy Mujo Baker – “Living Without Why,” from Meister Eckhart. Without “why me, why now, why this?”  Depersonalize the suffering that is innate in nature – the First Noble Truth: There is suffering.  Personalizing our suffering is another form of second arrow.

How do we cooperate with those hard parts?  What can we count on, rest in, to see us through, to sustain us.  We come back to the first foundation, to our body, to our breath, to our center.

TNH poem – This Body is Not Me:  (first lines)

This body is not me; I am not limited by this body,
I am life without boundaries.

Rumi poem –

I am not this hair
I am not this skin.
I am the soul
That lives within.

February 14, 2023 Homework

Focus on bringing metta or loving -kindness into both your meditation and at other times, perhaps using one of the traditional phrases. Examples: (create your own phrases)
May I and all beings live with loving-kindness
May I and all beings have ease of heart
May I and all being live with peaceful hearts

Refresh your practice. Always an invitation to re-commit to a daily practice of sitting meditation even if it’s for a short time. Increase your sitting to 20-30 minutes or more.

Remember how helpful it is to start with the body: a few minutes of gentle stretching or yoga shifts your energy and eases you into meditation more easily.

Simple exercise: breathing in metta, breathing out and sending metta to others

Reflections from the talk on Metta – loving kindness

Thich Nhat Hanh:
“Love is made of four elements: loving-kindness (metta), compassion (karuna), joy (mudita) and equanimity (upeksha). If your love contains these elements, it will be healing and transforming, and it will have the element of holiness in it. True love has the power to transform any situation and bring deep meaning to our lives.”
–From his little book How to Love

Love is a verb – it’s the energy of the heart

Unconditional love: Tulku Thondup’s book titled: The Heart of Unconditional Love: a Powerful New Approach to Loving-Kindness Meditation

“The good heart practice”
We can simply do what’s called ‘good heart practice,” called sampa zangpo in the Tibetan tradition.Tibetan Buddhist masters consider it the most important thing on the spiritual path, the dharma in a nutshell… It’s the universal dharma that can set our heart free from the constraint of self-centeredness, and from the inner poisons, like hatred and envy.” Anam Thubten

Rumi quotation:
“Always check your inner state with the lord of your heart.
Copper doesn’t know it’s copper until it’s changed to gold.
Your loving doesn’t know its majesty until it knows its helplessness.”

Thich Nhat Hanh:
“You need your own love very much. You have to be there for yourself . When you sit for meditation, you practice love.

January 10, 2023 Homework

Heroism, Courage, Love and Fear

Olivia Hoblitzelle: “The later years are most heroic.”

Heroism often requires effort and courage.
How do we remember to be the Heroes of our own lives?
How do we respond to our fears?

Metta – Love or Loving-Kindness – one of the four Brahmaviharas, the four Immeasurables, the Divine Abodes. The Buddha gave his Metta Sutta as the antidote to fear.

Metta as the antidote to fear. To confront Fear with Courage requires Love.

Here are some traditional Metta Sutta and phrase variations. Find or create what works for you.

May all beings be happy.
May they live in safety and joy.
All living beings,
Whether weak or strong,
Tall, stout, average or short,
Seen or unseen, near or distant,
Born or to be born,
May they all be happy.
– From the Insight Meditation Center in California

Some sangha versions:
May I be happy. May I be safe. May I be free.
May we be happy. May we be safe. May we be free.
May all beings be happy. May all beings be safe. May all beings be free.

May all beings be safe
May all beings be happy
May all beings have strength of heart.
May all beings know ease of well-being.

Poem by Michael Leunig:
Love and Fear
There are only two feelings, Love and fear;
There are only two languages, Love and fear;
There are only two activities, Love and fear;
There are only two motives, two procedures,
Two frameworks, two results,
Love and fear, Love and fear.

Krishnamurti: “Fear is an extraordinary jewel … which has dominated human beings for forty thousand years and more. And if you can hold it and look at it, then one begins to see the ending of it.”

Rumi poem: The Guest House – last stanza:
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

Even fear is a guest to be welcomed and treated honorably, an extraordinary jewel, a guide. To be welcomed and offered Metta. An extraordinary practice.

Galway Kinnel poem extract, from Flying Home:
From then on, love is very much like courage,
perhaps it is courage, and even
perhaps
only courage.

Reflections:
– Is the word “heroic” meaningful to you? Useful? In what way? Or not at all?
– Was there a challenging situation where you felt afraid, and managed to remember love, find courage?
– How might you have witnessed courage in another/

Homework for Elders:
Most important is your daily meditation practice. Focus especially on bringing awareness to subtle mood/emotional states.
Sometimes helpful to label: “worried” “content” “frustrated,” etc.
Pause practice: stop several times during the day, tune into your body, your feelings, and breathe with loving awareness

3rd Foundation of Mindfulness: emotions

Ajahn Chah: “Anything which is troubling you, anything which is irritating you, that is your teacher.”

“The Guest House” by 13th-century Sufi mystic Rumi (searchable online)

6 Steps for dealing with emotions
1) “welcoming practice” or “handshake practice”.
2) “Entertain them all” Invitation to investigate. Bring awareness to the body; come to the breath.
3) Bring awareness to emotions is a process of purification:
4) Meditation: most important ally: creates space. Every emotion has its wisdom — something positive to be discovered. “like a tiny flame of love in the heart waiting to guide you”
5) Expand your field of awareness: Tune into vast field of interconnectedness.
6) Metta/lovingkindness: “May I/you be free of fear and have ease of heart.” Whenever you turn your attention away from self to others, heart feels lighter. Transforms darkness of separation into feelings of connection

Hafiz, Sufi mystic, called it: “the encouragement of light”

Isabel Allende: “We all have an unsurpassable reserve of strength inside that emerges when life puts us to the test.”

Follow up to Emma’s’ presentation:
Link to Google Groups Tutorial
Link to join Elders Group
Link to join other Google Groups

Key points for review:
• “This Precious Human Body:” key contemplation in Buddhist tradition
• View: body as a mandala– a sacred universe
• Experiencing “the body in the body”
Reference to the subtle body, or the energy body
Includes chakra system from yogic traditions
Breath: bridge between the physical & subtle bodies

• Honoring the body before yoga, tai chi, chi gong, etc. (the words I use)
Hands in namaste: “With great respect and love I bow to this body, abode of pure awareness, vehicle for awakening.”

Feel free to experiment with phrases that feel right to you.

Pain meditation with Stephen Levine:
https://www.livingdying.org/softening-pain-meditation/

Grace and Grit: A Love Story, by Ken and Treya Wilbur

The Wakeful Body: Somatic Mindfulness as a Path to Freedom, by Lama Willa Blythe Baker
Hevajra Tantra says: “Great wisdom lives in the body”

Homework: Find ways to practice mindfulness of the body through your day

Remember the “Pause Practice:” stopping for 3-4 breaths, dropping awareness into the body.

Experiment with taking more time with the body scan at the beginning of meditation, or returning to it, as a way to bring awareness down into the body.

Remember to open, soften, and embrace whatever is happening and send kindness and compassion to your body.

Homework:
Bring careful attention to the nature of thoughts arising in meditation:
Do thoughts tend to go into the past or toward the future?
Notice when there is clinging/attachment or aversion.
Identify recurring mental habits that cause the most distraction, stress, suffering.
What quality do you need to cultivate in working with the mind?

Three resources:
Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness
Bhante Gunaratana, The Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English
Joseph Goldstein, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

Click here for the Elders Sangha listserv/google group.

Click here to learn more about kalyana-mitta groups at CIMC. 

Play with the concept of centering, finding your center

Notice how meditation strengthens that, even if the mind is busy

Recommit to your practice: both sitting meditation and cultivating mindfulness throughout the day

Reflect on the phrase “the courage to suffer.” How do we find meaning in suffering, and where does our practice come in?

Remember to pause: stop! and simply come to the body and breath, centering yourself.

Quotes:      “A mandala is a secret realm… Let’s each try to regard ourselves as a mandala, the sacred dimension that is made up of many sacred components….Because we are this living, intricate mandala made of so many components, we are ready to fall apart at any given moment…

This Mandala, this sacred universe, is who we are… This realization — knowing that there is no singular self in each of us, and instead we are this complex, beautiful, living

Mandala —  is very liberating. It can give rise to courage, love, and joy in our hearts”

                                                              Anam Thubten 

 “There was no need to be ashamed of tears, for tears bore witness that a (person) had the greatest of courage, the courage to suffer. What is to give light must endure burning.”  Viktor Frankl

 

Google link for Elders Sangha:  http://groups.google.com/group/cimcelders?hl=en

Link to sign up for CIMC Newsletters: www.tinyurl.com/cimcaffinitygroups

Five Wisdom Treasures: Reflections on Practice

1) Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay)
“Approach your practice with a joyful heart. For me, breathing in and out is a great joy. Organize your practice so it is very joyful.”

2) Thay “Bring a unique dimension of love and devotion to your practice. You need your own love very much. When you sit for meditation, you practice love.”

3) Inspiring our practice: how do you do that? Know all your sources of inspiration: teachers, teachings, books, friends, situations, nature, etc.

4) Cultivating the quality of acceptance toward whatever arises either in meditation or during the day. A spontaneous mantra: “accept the losses”

5) Thay’s response to someone in pain: “Trust in the energy of mindfulness to hold everything that arises… Your wounded heart, your pain – that’s what brings you to the heart of the Buddha.”

Contemplate and experience the subtle power of Thay’s phrase “the energy of mindfulness”

Richard Rohr: “Your True Self is Life and Being and Love. Love is what you were made for and love is what you are.”

Homework:
** Choose a couple of ways to inspire your practice.

** If your meditation practice has been intermittent, make a commitment to deepen it. Even 5-10 minutes a day (best at the same time and in the same place), is better than no meditation at all.

** Remember: you can come home to yourself at any moment by simply pausing and tuning into the preciousness of your breath.

** When challenged by difficult circumstances or emotions, remember Thay’s phrase “the energy of mindfulness” and trust that it is stronger than the pain.

Remembering wise view: see impermanence of everything
Seeing world as play of consciousness
Everyone is a holy mystery:
Lakota Chief Noble Red Man
“Everyone is sacred. You are sacred. I am sacred. Every time you blink your eye or I blink my eye, God blinks Her eye. God see through your eyes and my eyes. We are sacred.”

Hello Sangha Friends,

This month, we’ll be cultivating our readiness – through role-play and discussion – for difficult conversations with family members, teachers, and really, any white person with whom we’re engaging with in conversations about whiteness.

Many of us have experienced how difficult, frustrating, and draining conversations with family and community members about race and whiteness can be. That is why we tend avoid them, choosing to engage in anti-racist work in compartmentalized parts of our lives. But with White Supremacist violence on the rise and ongoing state-sanctioned violence against BIPOC folks, there has never been a more important time for us to call our people in. When we call other white folks in, we not only challenge ourselves and expand our comfort zones, we play a role in challenging the delusions and misperceptions white folks have been conditioned with, giving them an opportunity to grow with us and help them understand their shared stake in dismantling white supremacy.

In addition to embodied practice, meditation and discussion, we’ll be role-playing situations using the following prompts, which we invite you to reflect on in advance of our meeting:

Prompt #1: You’re at a family dinner, and a relative asks you what you’re doing on Sunday. How do you explain what the White Awake Sangha does? How do you respond to their questions and/or opposition? The relative responds to you using one or more of the following phrases:

• “I don’t have implicit bias, I’m not unconsciously racist. And I don’t think that you’re racist – and you’re being unkind to yourself by calling yourself a racist.”
• “I don’t have white privilege.”
• “I don’t identify as white, I’m Jewish/Irish/Italian.”
• “How can you talk about race if there aren’t any People of Color?”
• “That sounds like segregation. I marched in the 60s and we were fighting against segregation.”

Prompt #2: You’re in a meditation class led by a white teacher. A student who appears South Asian shares the following: “I feel like I’m just not good at this mindfulness thing, I have such a hard time focusing my mind and feel ready to give up. Do you have any advice?” The teacher says, “Don’t give up, your people have been meditating like this for thousands of years. It’s in your DNA!”
How do you respond? To whom?

As usual, we’ll meet for two hours, with breaks, breakout groups, and opportunities for open discussion. All are invited, regardless of their level of experience investigating race and whiteness, and no registration is required. We look forward to seeing you there!
If you have any accessibility needs order to participate in our meeting, please email me at: beilahbross@gmail.com, or simply come and let us know what you need when you arrive.

Warmly,

Alex, Beilah, Ben, Gina, Sherry, and Valerie

Hello Sangha Friends,

It has been devastating few weeks, with one mass shooting happening right after another. It can seem we are caught in a neverending cycle of violence, trauma and grief. Please join us in offering karuna and metta to the victims of this violence, their family members, and all those impacted.

This Sunday June 12th from 5-7 PM is the next monthly meeting of the CIMC White Awake Sangha. We’ll use our time together to investigate our response to the most recent act of white supremacist terrorism: an attack on a supermarket in a largely Black neighborhood of Buffalo, New York – one of the worst racist massacres in recent American history.

We’ll honor and mourn those who were killed, reading their names aloud. We’ll hold space to explore our own bodily and emotional responses to the shooting – including possible feelings of grief, numbness, anger, and guilt – and we’ll engage in embodied practices to nurture and reset our nervous systems. Finally, we’ll spend some time identifying and connecting to the inspiration, courage, and resources we need to re-commit to our engagement in anti-racist action.

We’ll be working with the following prompts, which we invite you to reflect on in advance of our meeting:

• Recalling when you first heard or saw news about the Buffalo shooting, what sensations, impulses, emotions or images arise in your body? Does your body want to fight, flee, freeze or submit (play dead)? Is there a movement or sound your body would like to make that might help you discharge some of this trauma energy?
• Who or what inspires you in the work of uprooting racism and white supremacy? This might be a mentor, a benefactor, an ancestor, or anyone you look up to or whose story motivates you in this work.

As usual, we’ll meet for two hours, with breaks, breakout groups, and opportunities for open discussion. All are invited, regardless of their level of experience investigating race and whiteness, and no registration is required (zoom link below). Our goal is to build community as well as resilience, capacity, and commitment for the work of fighting systemic oppression in our hearts, communities, and (most especially) in our beloved Center. We look forward to seeing you there!

Warmly,

Alex, Beilah, Ben, Gina, Sherry, and Valerie