The Yogabliss, Two Rivers/RiverTree Yoga on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning.  We reflected on how meditation is an “inherently relational” practice.

Mindfulness is more than developing concentration.  It is how we develop awareness of our selves, others and our shared humanity.  Guided meditation, inspirational poetry and prose inspired feeling and imagination, compassion and caring.

Mickey ScottBey Jones’ poem Invitation to Brave Space describes a circle of caring in which we “call each other to truth and love.” Micky ScottBey Jones, the Justice Doula, is an author, speaker & facilitator and the Director of Healing & Resilence Initiatives with the Southern-based collective Faith Matters Network. You can read more of her inspiring work at Sojourner’s Magazine.

We drew on Bryan Doerries’ interview with On Being’s Krista Tippett:  You Are Not Alone Across Time. Bryan is director and cofounder of Theater of War Productions.  Theater of War partners with institutions all over the world to bring theater and facilitate town hall discussions to people from all walks of life.  The plays are enacted by professional and lay actors.  Audience members are invited to share their personal reactions to the Greek tragedies and contemporary works that challenge our humanity.   You can learn more about Bryan and the groups work by listening to the interview.

We also drew on meditation teacher Oren Jay Sofer’s essay The Inherently Relational Nature of Mindfulness.  This is a very instructive essay about how the Buddhist path of spiritual development is intended to be practiced dynamically in relationship.

Relaxed Reflection

Our practice is so much about befriending ourselves and befriending others.  We can turn our attention to the sense of one another.   Each of our hearts drawn to this circle of caring . . . for companionship, inspiration, refuge, support . . . understanding . . . Take a moment to consider what drew you here today . . .  And then sensing this quiet connection . . . each of us taking time to slow down to bring presence and kindness to the truth of our moment to moment experience . . .  Feeling the energy of this deeper intention of showing up . . .  of strengthening the willingness to be present and respond to life with what’s needed . . .

Invitation to Brave Space by Micky ScottBey Jones

Together we will create brave space.
Because there is no such thing as a “safe space” —
We exist in the real world.
We all carry scars and we have all caused wounds.
In this space
We seek to turn down the volume of the outside world,
We amplify voices that fight to be heard elsewhere,
We call each other to more truth and love.
We have the right to start somewhere and continue to grow.
We have the responsibility to examine what we think we know.
We will not be perfect.
This space will not be perfect.
It will not always be what we wish it to be.
But
It will be our brave space together,
and
We will work on it side by side.

Mindfulness can become heartfulness in meditation and in daily life.  In meditation we develop self awareness and equanimity – the wisdom to know when we are out of balance and when we have the resources to call each other to more truth and love. The qualities of caring, curiosity, compassion and the willingness to help make our relational life possible.  We find the space to hear voices that struggle to be heard.  We have the difficult conversations of grieving and healing, reconciliation and repair.  

This is a space very like the one the ancient Greeks created which Theater of War founder Bryan Doerries describes:

. . . the word “amphitheater” in Greek means “the place where we go to see in both directions.” “Amphi-” — I see you, you see me; both directions.  . . . So we go to the amphitheater in the fifth century, B.C., to see each other, to see ourselves; to see that we are not the only people to have felt this isolated or this ashamed or this betrayed — not just because it’s being enacted onstage, but because people around us in this semicircular structure are all validating and acknowledging the truth of what we’re watching.

Bryan is reinterpreting an ancient art form in which we come together to acknowledge and honor our pain and suffering.  We are willing to be changed by what we hear and see.  In this brave space we take the risk of sharing our own experience of moral distress.  We have the right to start somewhere and grow.  Our practice can prepare us for this courageous healing.  This healing our world so urgently needs.

Oren Jay Sofer writes about The Inherently Relational Nature of Mindfulness, in meditation and our daily lives.  He suggests:

. . . adjusting our view—recognizing the inherently relational nature of this path and its practice.  . . .  bringing forth a firm intention to explore our relationships as a core part of our spiritual practice. From there, we deepen our understanding and practice of ethics, and learn to cultivate effort, mindfulness and concentration, all in real-time relationship.

Right now, we can imagine the many, many caring circles beyond ours . . . We can move our hearts through space and time imagining circles meeting on zoom, in fields and forests, in hospitals and shelters, in churches, synagogues and mosques, in prisons . . . Brave spaces within places in which healing is happening.  

We will not be perfect.
This space will not be perfect.
It will not always be what we wish it to be.
But
It will be our brave space together,
andWe will work on it side by side.