The Columbia City Yoga on-line Moving into Meditation class met this morning.  We contemplated the need to look deeply at our stories and conditioning.  We can open our hearts and minds to the inspiration of Earth’s powers of healing and renewal.  We can engage our imagination and compassionate action to help restore Earth and her human and more than human inhabitants.

We heard a quote from Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke translated by Robert Bly.  You can read the complete poem at the Mindfulness Association website.

We heard from social activist and writer Rebecca Solnit’s Tricycle Magazine interview:  It is called  Life As It Is:  From Despair to Possibility.  We also drew from her book, Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility.

I referenced Roshi Joan Halifax’s comments about imagination in the program she and Tara Brach offered:  The Sacred Work of Bridging Divides.

Our guided meditation was inspired by Thich Nhat Hanh’s book, Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet.

We heard poet Jan Richardson’s invitation to “let there be an opening.” Jan is a poet, writer and artist.

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The Columbia City Yoga on-line Moving into Meditation class met this morning.  We contemplated the fifth of the Five Remembrances:  My actions are my only true belongings.  There is no way to escape the consequences of my actions.  They are the ground of which I stand.  We considered this ground to be compassion.  Looking deeply into our response to our impermanence and suffering we can touch each other.  We recognize a sixth remembrance: We are of the nature to give care and need care.

We heard from My Actions Are My Only True Belongings, a talk given by two senior meditation instructors.  Jaune Evans is part of the Every Day Zen community.   Chris Fortin is part of the Dharma Heart Zen community.   This talk was the sixth and final talk on the Five Remembrances.

We heard the Five Remembrances from the Anguttara Nikaya  translated by Zen meditation teacher and scholar, Thich Nhat Hanh.  The Anguttara Nikaya  is the fourth of the five Nikāyas, or collections, that comprise the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism. The Five Remembrances are contemplations which help us touch the nature of impermanence, overcome our fears and cherish the preciousness of life and relationships.

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The Columbia City Yoga on-line Moving into Meditation class met this morning.  We explored loving and witnessing.  We can offer our open hearted presence to ourselves, each other and more than human beings.  We come home to the world when we can gently remind ourselves:  “You Are Here.”

We heard Mark Nero’s words on love from Things That Join the Sea and the Sky:  Field Notes on Living.  Mark gently reminds us that there is no end to love.

We heard part of Andrea Mathieson’s essay, Listening for the Long Song, from her work Dark Matter: Women Witnessing.  You can find the entire essay at Kosmos Journal:  Listening for the Long Song: The Art of Earth Communion.  Andrea ends the essay with step by step instruction for “yin-listening.”

We heard Dane Anthony’s poem, Right Here.

We heard poet laureate Ada Limon’s poem Sanctuary.  Ada read this poem in her Tricycle Magazine interview, Returning to Wonder.

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The Columbia City Yoga on-line Moving into Meditation class met this morning.  We explored the relationship between our need for meaning and our capacities for love and wonder.  Love and wonder can help us to meet life  just as it is.  Love and wonder can be a practices that help us to bear suffering and perhaps, one day, be free.

We drew inspiration from the Ten Percent Happier interview, Why Your Brain Turns the Miraculous Into the Mundane – and How to Fix It.  This was a discussion between journalist and meditation teacher Dan Harris and poet and writer Maria Popova.  Maria is a scholar and curator of texts on culture, science and what it is to be human.  She and Dan explored how wonder can be a portal to meaning.  Wonder is unconditional.  Our capacity to love enables us to see each other as beings of wonder.

We heard Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer’s poem, Belonging. Since 2006, she’s maintained a poem-a-day practice. Since 2011, she’s posted those poems for all to enjoy.

The guided meditation is draws on the teachings of Roshi Joan Halifax, founder of Upaya Zen Center.

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The Columbia City Yoga on-line Moving into Meditation class met this morning.  We remembered our dear friend Karl this morning.  He and Ellen created a loving nest in which they welcomed and nurtured many of us.  We carry them both in our hearts feeling the grief of Karl’s passing and the beauty of his spirit.  We reflected on how we meet one another in the flow of giving and receiving.

We heard from the Tricycle Magazine essay, The Dance of Reciprocity.  Former Buddhist nun and meditation instructor Melina Bondy shared her experience of transforming her relationship to giving and receiving.  Melina shares her personal  experiences of caring and being cared for.  She invites us to consider the generosity we express when we can truly receive from others.

We heard Alberto Rios’ poem When Giving is All we Have.  The opening lines are “one river gives its journey to the next.”  To me, this expresses the life we inherit and then bequeath to one another.  It is a light that lives lifetimes – often in our acts of loving kindness and compassion.

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