The Columbia City Yoga on-line Moving into Meditation class met this morning. On this Mother’s Day we can take joy in reflecting on all the ways we been nurtured and have nurtured others.  We explored how mindfulness can enrich our lives with joy.

We continued to draw from Oren Jay Sofer’s  book: Your Heart Was Made for This: Contemplative Practices for Meeting a World in Crisis with Courage, Integrity, and Love.  Oren encourages us to bring mindfulness to the joys in our lives.

We heard from Jeanne Corrigal’s dharma talk:  Joy:  An Inner Wellspring. Jeanne is the guiding teacher for the Saskatoon Insight Meditation Community. Jeanne’s teaching is gently humorous and down to earth.  This talk draws on the many kinds of joy that can enrich our lives.  Jeanne also explains how the intentional cultivation of joy can be the gateway that leads to deeper states of calm and concentration.

We hard four haiku’s from Rosemerry Wahtola Trimmer.  Rosemerry freely gifts her poetry at her Hundred Falling Veils web-site.  Three simple lines express the joys that mindfulness makes accessible in every day live.

We drew from the tenth chapter of Kathleen Dowling Singh’s book, The Grace in Aging: Awaken As You Grow Older. Kathleen reminds us that devoted practice and sustained attention create the conditions for the experiences of contented ease and joy.

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The Columbia City Yoga on-line Moving into Meditation class met this morning. We explored how  resolve can bring aspirations to life.  This is a “heart training” or caring for  ourselves and our communities.  We are creatures born of causes and conditions.  We will all die some day.  Our actions and their consequences are what will touch the lives of  humans and the more-than-human world.  No effort is too small.

We continued to draw from Oren Jay Sofer’s  book: Your Heart Was Made for This: Contemplative Practices for Meeting a World in Crisis with Courage, Integrity, and Love.  Oren explores the importance of bringing resolve to our aspirations.  He describes his approach to resolve as “heart-training” with practical steps we can take in our daily lives.

We heard Mushim Ikeda’s views on resolving to bring our actions to the people with whom we share daily life.  You can hear her inspiring poet’s voice in the Lions’ Roar podcast program:  Fear, Forgiveness & Self Care.  Mushim is a poet, social activist and teacher at East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, California.

We heard from writer Koun Franz’ essay, Buddhism’s “Five Remembrances” Are Wake-Up Calls for Us All.   Koun Franz is a Soto Zen priest. He leads practice at Thousand Harbours Zen in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  We focused on the fifth remembrance concerning our actions and their continuing consequences.

We hard Maria Popova’s poem:  Spell Against Indifference.  This spell brings our attention to the fragility and impermanence of this beautiful world.  Even appreciating the rain can help us remember “all we know of heaven.”

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