Our Moving into Meditation class continues to draw inspiration from The Five Invitations, Frank Ostaseski’swonderful book about living with the awareness that we’re going to die.  His book distills what he’s learned into Five Invitations we can answer in living a conscious life in connection with each other.  In today’s class we continued working with the fourth invitation:  to find a place of rest in the middles of things.  We also drew inspiration from Poet, peace activist and meditation teacher Thich Nhat Hanh who is affectionately referred to as Thay by his many students.   Nearly all of his teachings on mindfulness emphasize living in the present moment – the gateway to inner peace.  Both teachers emphasize the importance of relaxing into the present moment so that we can allow life to unfold and lessen our habitual struggles. Continue reading →

Our Moving into Meditation class continues to draw inspiration from The Five Invitations, Frank Ostaseski’s wonderful book about living with the awareness that we’re going to die.  His book distills what he’s learned into Five Invitations we can answer in living a conscious life in connection with each other.  In today’s class we explored the fourth invitation:  to find a place of rest in the middles of things.  Frank advises that: “. . . If we hope to find true rest, we need to see clearly the currents that disturb us. . . To make real change, we have to dive deeper to understand the specific ways that we’ve been conditioned throughout our lives.”    Our mindfulness practice offers us the time and space to understand our conditioning and how it drives us to distress.  Continue reading →

Our Moving into Meditation class draws inspiration from hospice counselor and author Frank Ostaseski and poets David Whyte and Mary Oliver.  British-American poet, David Whyte is a Whidbey Island local who also works to connect people in the workplace through his organization, The Institute for Conversational Leadership. He is a most inspiring speaker you can hear his TED talk, A Lyrical Bridge Between Past Present and Future. Mary Oliver is a treasured American poetic voice who won the Pulitzer Prize for her work in 1984 for her book of poems, American Primitive.  Both poets convey an evocative, poignant sense of being in those moments in which time seems suspended.  Their work surfaces in a spaciousness that allows for connection and creativity.  Cultural anthropologist and writer, Angeles Arrien, added her perspective on the essential experience of rest in our lives.

Continue reading →

Our Moving into Meditation class draws inspiration from hospice counselor and author Frank Ostaseski and poets Pablo Neruda and Rabindranath Tagore.  Frank’s compassionate voice is joined by Neruda’s experience of social activism in 1920’s Chile and later exile.  Tagore lived during India’s colonization under the British.  He was a prolific writer,  composer and educational reformer.   Both these creative geniuses won the Nobel Prize for literature.  Past and present voices  encourage us to keep our hearts open and realize our deepest humanity. Continue reading →

Our Moving into Meditation class continues to draw inspiration from hospice counselor and author Frank Ostaseski and poets Danna Faulds and Thich Nhat Hanh.  Danna is the other of six books of poetry.  You can find more of her inspiration at her Kripalu Center staff site.

Poets and healers seem to convey the “suchness” of meditation by painting auditory images that evoke feelings beyond words.

Continue reading →