The Columbia City Yoga on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning.  This week we explored the qualities of empathy and compassion. We practiced a compassion meditation in which we directed caring and compassionate phrases to someone who is suffering.  The practice can help us turn toward suffering while offering our loving presence.  In the expansive presence of loving awareness we gain perspective as to what might serve to alleviate suffering.

We drew inspiration from mediation teacher and author Sharon Salzberg’s new book, Real Life: The Journey from Isolation to Openness and Freedom. In Real Life, Sharon encourages readers to live more expansively.   When we live expansively, we have room to experience both positive and negative emotions and to view them with openness and curiosity rather than restriction and resistance. When we are willing to experience emotion we develop our capacity to extend compassion to ourselves and others.

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The Yogabliss on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning. We explored walking the path of the Middle Way.  This is the practice of moderation which we develop by working with our aversion and craving. With relaxed awareness we can observe and feel the underlying energy of what compels us to lose our balance.   We bring compassionate awareness to our inner struggles.  Little by little we deepen our capacity to be present with difficulties.  We become more able to offer a compassionate response to our circumstances.

We drew inspiration from our recently named 24th U.S. Poet Laureate, Ada Limon.  You can hear her discuss her wonderful work in her On Being interview with Krista Tippett:  To Be Made Whole.

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The Yogabliss on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning.  We explored the cultivation of appreciation and joy.

We drew on the teachings of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh.  This great teacher valued community most highly.  We explored the Plum Village Begin Anew community supporting practices.

We heard Li-Young Lee’s beautiful poem of appreciation and savoring:  From Blossoms.

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The Yogabliss on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning.  We explored how we sometimes abandon parts of ourselves as undesirable.  We can have faith in the boundlessness of our natural presence.  It’s a space that can hold all parts of ourselves. We can quiet and calm the mind and hear from those parts of ourselves that have been buried or lost.  Faith and mindfulness can helps us realize our wholeness.

We drew inspiration from draw inspiration from The Five Invitations, Frank Ostaseski’s wonderful book about living a conscious, loving life knowing that one day we will die.  Frank is the cofounder of the Zen Hospice Project and Metta Institute.

We heard  poet Jane Hirshfield’s words about whole-hearted concentration.

We drew inspiration from meditation instructor Jack Kornfield’s book, A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life.

We drew on meditation instructor Tara Brach’s book, Radical Compassion.  This book offers guidance for working with strong emotions.

We heard Janet Gallagher Nestor’s poem, Belief.

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The Yogabliss, Your Heart Life on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning.  We practiced slowing down and being with what is. It seems like so many of my friends are dealing with difficulties these days. Difficulties that are painful and scary,  unpredictable and uncertain.  They are often beyond our control and leave us feeling vulnerable. Hearing about them has become like a mindfulness bell that stops me squarely in “I don’t know.”  Caring friends and mindfulness practice help me to “be with what is.”

Today we drew inspiration and guidance from meditation teacher Annaka Harris. She is the author of Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind.  Annaka teaches mindfulness to children and is author of children’s books. You can find a wealth of her writings and guided meditations on her web-site and the Waking Up app.  Annaka’s guided meditation, Being With What Is, really helped me during a stressful time this week.

We also heard poet Danna Fauld’s poem, This Is Enough.  The poem affirmed the teachings about “being with what is.”  It also reminds me that I can always begin again, each breath a new experience of the present moment.

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The Yogabliss, Your Heart Life on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning.  Today we explored how and where we place our attention.  We explored mindfulness through body awareness and slow movement.  Teachers, writers and poets helped us to contemplate the incredible value of loving awareness and compassionate presence.

We drew inspiration from Michael Stone’s book, The World Comes to You. Michael was a prominent Buddhist teacher and yogi, psychotherapist and writer.  I discovered him through his book, Yoga for a World Out of Balance.  Michael taught mindfulness as compassionate action.  He continues to be a great teacher for me. You can find a wonderful archive of his talks, videos and books curated by his spouse, Carina Stone and his students at michaelstoneteaching.com.  In today’s reading Michael describes mindfulness.  He reminds readers that “When you can really meet conditions as they arise, you are practicing non-harm.  You’re practicing creativity.”  Yes!  Mindfulness as Creativity!

We heard Erin Rabke’s poem, Permission Granted.  These few lines are powerful encouragement to slow down, “shed the skin of urgency” and savor the life we’ve been given. I discovered this poem in one of Erin’s newsletters.  She is cofounder of Embodiment Matters.  Erin has studied and taught embodied movement practices of more 25 years.  Erin is a gifted writer.  She is also a facilitator for Joanna Macy’s Work That Reconnects.

We drew from the tenth chapter of Kathleen Dowling Singh’s book, The Grace in Aging: Awaken As You Grow Older. In this section, Commitment:  Liberation from Deception, Kathleen focuses on the precious gift of our attention.  She reminds us  that “we’re here to learn from each other. . . . We’re here to share with each other, to comfort and be comforted, to be present with each other.”

We also received guidance from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s beautiful essay, Returning the Gift.  Robin is a “mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants.”  In today’s reading, Robin describes the reciprocal nature of attention:  what we give and receive from our natural world.

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The Yogabliss, Your Heart Life on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning.  We devoted our hearts and minds to appreciating our spiritual friends and the wisdom teachings of meditation teachers, poets and writers. We imagined the many people who have cared, nurtured and guided us to be sitting in our circle.

We expanded the circle by imagining who will be singing beautiful songs of love and compassion in the future.

We heard Sufi poet Rumi’s Search the Darkness, from  Love Is a Stranger Selected Lyric Poetry of Jelaluddin Rumi, translated by Kabir Helminski.

We practiced a guided meditation inspired by Oren Jay Sofer. We imagined our mentors, teachers, family members and friends sitting in a circle of care.

We heard Rainier Maria Rilke’s poem, My Life Is Not This Steeply Sloping Hour, from the Book of Hours translated by Robert Bly.

We heard one of Erin Geesaman Rabke’s blessings from her Embodied Beatitudes.  A more complete list from her “work-in-progress” is like a prayer of appreciation for our spirits.

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The Yogabliss, Your Heart Life on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning. We explored how meditation offers us the experience of being alone together.  We also reflected on how solitude offers us a chance to come to know ourselves more deeply.  This intimacy can also help us to recognize our interconnection with all of life.

In learning to be alone we find belonging.

We drew from the tenth chapter of Kathleen Dowling Singh’s book, The Grace in Aging: Awaken As You Grow Older. In this section, Solitude:  Liberation from Attachment, Release into Sufficiency, Kathleen encourages us “to transform loneliness to aloneness, far before the time of our death.”  She explores the nature of loneliness and “chosen aloneness.”  The solitude that we choose offers opportunities to recognize our ourselves as unique expressions of life.  In solitude we can also realize ourselves as inter-beings arising from innumerable conditions and relationships.

We heard Padraig O Tuama’s beautiful poem, How to [Belong] Be Alone.  Padraig is an Irish poet and theologian.  He presents Poetry Unbound a program produced by On Being Studios.  In his poem he explores the paradox of finding belonging in our aloneness.  He invites  us to live knowing we will die.  He invites us to listen to that part of ourselves that tells the more vital story of our life.  You can find a lovely animated version of the poem, “How to Be Alone,” on Youtube.

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The Yogabliss, Your Heart Life on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning. We explored the practice of silence.  We began, continued and ended with relaxation.  We cultivated an open receptivity while venturing deeper into silence.  The poets and teachers use words to point toward no words.  Awareness points toward our true nature and is our true nature.

We heard Kerry O’Brien’s poem Core from her collection Illuminate.  Kerry is an Irish poet who explores literature as a form of activism.  You can see and hear Kerry read her poem Dublin at her web-site.

We drew on Chan Dharma Master Hsin Tao’s teachings on silence.  You can read more about the practice of silence he teaches in his Tricycle Magazine article, Listening to Silence.  Master Tao invites students to: “Hear the silence in the mountains and rivers, the great wide earth, the sky. Eventually, the whole universe will fall into deep silence.”

We heard Still the Body by Sufi poet Kabir. The poem is from Beloved May I Enter: Kabir Dohas and Other Poems translated by Sushil Rao.  I love this poem because of the influence it has had on my favorite poet, Jane Hirshfield.  You can hear how the 15th century Sufi poet is alive in her poem:  Standing Deer.

We drew from the ninth chapter of Kathleen Dowling Singh’s book, The Grace in Aging: Awaken As You Grow Older. In this section, Silence: Liberation from Illusions, Kathleen explores the practice of inner and outer silence. She encourages students to “become silence by being silence [as one] becomes love by being love.”

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The Yogabliss, Your Heart Life on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning.  We explored the experience of embodiment sensing inside and outside our bodies.  We explored the experience of inter-being:  how we are born and sustained in mutual relationship with others.  We cultivated appreciation and love: for Earth, her human and more than human inhabitants and the ordinary miracles of being alive.

We heard one of Erin Geesaman Rabke’s blessings from her Embodied Beatitudes.  A more complete list from her “work-in-progress” is like a prayer of appreciation for our amazing bodies.

We heard Daniel Ladinsky’s translation of Hafiz’ poem Today from The Gift: Poems by Hafiz the Great Sufi Master.  You can find more of his irreverent and whimsical writings, including Buddha After Hours in a Bar, at his blog.

We drew extensively from Orrin Williams’ Humans and Nature essay, Skinfolk, Kinfolk, and the Kingship of Oneness. Orrin is a community advocate and educator.  His work focuses on making urban space more productive and more efficient, particularly in terms of feeding people and generating energy.  His essay embraces  a vision of kinship consciousness.

We drew inspiration from Toni Spencer’s beautiful poem Reciprocal Rhythm.  Toni is a Deep Adaptation Advocate, poet, mentor and teacher.  She “seeks to enable a richer engagement with the ecological, cultural and social issues of our times.”  You can learn more about Toni’s work and her seven week course, Living Deep Adaptation at her web-site.

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