The Yogabliss on-line Moving into Meditation classe met this morning.  Today we explored how mindfulness practice, especially mindfulness of the body, can help us to age with loving awareness and compassion. Every day we are invited: Awaken.  Love what is here.  No matter where we are on life’s journey the invitation is open.  The invitation to live in truth: to live for what really matters every moment we have left.  

Much of the practice centered around insights about aging drawn from Kathleen Dowling Singh’s wonderful book, The Grace in Aging: Awaken As You Grow Older.  Kathleen, a years long hospice worker, spiritual advisor and writer, died in October 2017.  Her children said simply that their mother would want us all to know that “she was an ordinary person dying an ordinary death.”  Her book is a treasure of practical insights and steps “to allow awakening to unfold – transforming predictable sufferings of aging into profound opportunities for growth in clarity, love, compassion and peace.”  I am aging as many of my dear ones.  I am grateful for this resource and hope to draw from in it in the months and years to come.

We heard Zen poet David Budbill’s poems about the importance and appreciating the ordinary beauty in our lives.  David’s poems are whimsical and wry sketches of our earthly existence.

We heard insights about life’s importance from Pema Chodron.   Ani Pema teaches meditation and Buddhist philosophy as it applies to everyday life.  You can find many of her teachings in various forms at her web-site

In her article, Meditation in Motion, meditation and yoga instructor Jill Satterfield encourages us to explore full awareness of our bodily experience to wake up and be with what is.

We ended with a poem from Rebecca del Rio’s collection, Prescription for the Disillusioned.

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The Yogabliss, Your Heart Life on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning.  We explored darkness and light as generative forces that enable us to grow and heal.

We heard the voices of young and old poets affirm the shadow we cast as a source of love and light. We can navigate the terrain of darkness with our compass of love.

We heard poet farmer Wendell Berry’s advice on how to know the dark. The poem is from his 1970 Farming: A Hand Book. He evokes a blooming and singing darkness. Perhaps this touches the generative aliveness of soil.  Soil that nurtures seeds. Seeds that will blossom in the light of new growth?  You can find more of his work at Mr. Wendell Berry of Kentucky.

The Yogabliss on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning.  We focused on letting go as the leaves are letting go in the days before Autumn Equinox.  We explored different ways of finding “the rest inside the unrest.”   These restorative practices give us a chance to slow down.  We create the space and time to tune into feeling alive and listening to our inner music.

Today’s guided meditation was inspired by Cheri Dostal Ryba.  Cheri is a yoga therapist who focuses on women’s pelvic health.  In her book Pelvic Yoga Therapy for the Whole Woman, Cheri writes “becoming aware without judgment or immediately “fixing” ourselves allows us to receive accurately, wholly.  From that baseline of clear perception, we can respond skillfully, lovingly, articulately.”

We heard Danna Fauld’s poem, Go In and In, from her collection:  Poems from the Heart of Yoga.  Danna offers a “poem of the week” on her inspirational web-site.

We heard Jennifer Williamson’s  beautiful poem, I Am Enough. Jennifer, a suicide loss survivor, offers grief support through her website, Healing Brave.

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The Yogabliss, Your Heart Life on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning.  We reflected on what it is to feel truly at home within ourselves.  As social beings an integral part of belonging includes the communities we find outside ourselves.  We experienced the hum of our shared humanity with breathing practice and empathic imagination.  We slowed our habitual forward momentum by giving ourselves more time to pause and to feel.  When we’re not rushing through life we can appreciate ourselves and each other.  Life’s magic and mystery are revealed.

We heard the wisdom of Buddhist teacher and writer Clark Strand.  As a former editor of Tricycle magazine he’s has written extensively about Green Buddhism, ethics and creative expression through Haiku. Clark encourages us to “meditate inside the life we have.”

We heard Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer’s beautiful poem Belonging.  Rosemerry encourages students to find creative expression “inside the life you have.” You can find articles, interviews, videos, audios about Rosemerrry’s work by going to the “about” section on her web-site.

We drew inspiration from activist and writer Starhawk.  She is founder of Earth Activist Trainings which center round permaculture and sustainability.  She described circles of support in which we experience community.  In community we can speak our passions and be heard.

We heard singer songwriter Carrie Newcomer’s poem Send Love, It Matters.  You can find her beautiful music on her YouTube channel.  For a treat watch her project You Can Do This Hard Thing.

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The Yogabliss on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning.  We explored the practice of embodying strong back and soft front.  We cultivated the inner resources of presence, equanimity, strength, openness, tenderness, and caring.  These qualities can help us to create a loving holding environment in which to experience life’s challenges.  We can expand this space to include others who are suffering.

This practice is inspired by the teachings Roshi Joan Halifax and Frank Ostaseski.  You can find a compassionate and rich exposition of these ideas  in the recent Upaya programs LOVE AND DEATH: Opening the Great Gifts.  You can access the online recordings and study resources by registering on the Upaya web-site.

We heard  Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer’s poem, Temple.  In her simple heartfelt words, Rosemary expresses love for her body.  She affirms its broken places, scars and wounds as worthy of caring and tenderness.

We heard somatic therapist Karine Bell’s views on cultivating intimacy with the body as a way of developing empathy for others.

We heard Joanna Macy’s teachings on beloved community from her Kosmos Journal article, The Community Awaiting Us.

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The Yogabliss, Your Heart Life on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning. We practiced mindfulness, forgetfulness and remembering.  We practiced coming back to ourselves, each other and the world again and again.  We explored sounding and finding our heart’s song.

We heard David Budbill’s poem, Apple Blossoms, from his collection Happy Life.  David’s work is inspired by his life in rural Vermont:  “cutting wood, putting a vegetable garden to bed and bird song.  Check out his web-site to survey his writings including: poems, plays, novels, stories, essays and a libretto for opera.  Much of his work reflected his deep caring about social justice.  He lived fully, mindfully, simply.

We heard Mary Oliver’s poem, Mysteries, Yes from her collection, Evidence. (You can also find it in the beautiful collection, Devotions.)  In this poem Mary insists on living with the beauty of mystery and the uncertainty of not-knowing.  And like so much of her work, she remains present and alive to the surprises of life’s full expression.

We drew inspiration from Maria Popova’s essay, Philosopher Martin Buber on What Trees Teach Us about Being More Human and Mastering the Difficult Art of Seeing Others as They Truly Are.  This is a beautiful writing about how we meet each other with love and presence.

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The Yogabliss, Your Heart Life on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning.   We cultivated Self compassion. In the safe space of loving kindness it may be possible to relax harsh judgments and fixed views. There is much to be discovered in that space. Creating breathing room around our pain and suffering can help to recognize what is truly needed.

We drew on Dr. Kristen Neff’s work which establishes the healing benefits of self-compassion practice.  You can find guided practices and compassion exercises at her web-site.

We heard Julia Fehrenbacher’s poem The Most Important Thing.  Julia is a poet, teacher, coach and sometimes painter.

We heard  Zen Master and teacher Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings. He dedicated much of his life to the practice and teaching of compassion and loving kindness.  You can find resources for the practice of mindfulness and articles and videos at the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation web-site.

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The Yogabliss, Your Heart Life on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning. We explored themes of intimacy and mystery.  We tuned awareness to experience of breathing within the body and in relationship to the world around us.  We ventured into mystery by letting go of the reflexive reliance on knowing.  We oriented moment to moment experience with curiosity, feeling and compassion.

We drew on the teachings of Frank Ostaseski as set forth by his wonderful book, The Five Invitations.  Frank is a mediation teacher hospice care trainer and writer.  Adopting a “don’t know mind” is one of the tenets of meditation and hospice care.  He encourages students and readers to cultivate  “undefended openness.”

Meditation teacher and writer, Tara Brach, echoes this counsel. She encourages us to feel the vulnerability that arises from living with life’s uncertainty.  Feeling is a path to authenticity and aliveness.  You can find her helpful books and audio programs at her web-site.

We heard  an excerpt from Ken Keyes’ poem Hokusai Says. You can find the complete poem at this Gratefulness.org web-page.  He calls on our caring and the willingness to let life live through us. Ken wrote fifteen books on personal growth and social consciousness issues.  You can read about his inspiring life at his Wikipedia entry.

We heard Sophie Strand’s invitation to lend our bodies to Earth’s healing. Sophie’s writing focuses on the intersection of spirituality, storytelling, and ecology.  We heard an excerpt from her essay, The Body Is an Ecodelic.  I found the excerpt posted on Sophie’s Instagram page.  (An “ecodelic” refers to an entheogenic or consciousness expanding plant.)

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The Yogabliss on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning.  We explored how our senses guide us into kinship.  In our “inter-relationships” we allow the world inside us. We also offer ourselves up to the world.  We bring intimate attention to this experience of being alive.  Deep listening can sustain us in the present as the past continues to live and our futures are formed.

We drew on the wondrous work of David George Haskell:   Sounds Wild and Broken.  We head from the Emergence Magazine interview:  Listening and the Crisis of Inattention.    This is a conversation that  “touches on the legacies of kinship that are present when we listen, and how deep experiences of beauty can serve as a moral guide for the future. ”

We heard from Mary Oliver’s poem, At the River Clarion, from her Devotions collection. Mary hears the river speaking to her.  “Said the river I am part of holiness.”  Like David, Mary calls for our intimate attention and deep caring.  Both writers encourage embracing our senses as a way of engaging the world.

Social activist Valarie Kaur reminds us that: “Deep listening is an act of surrender. We risk being changed by what we hear.”  You can “hear” Valarie’s vibrant voice in her film, Divided We Fall.  You can read her memoir, See No Stranger.

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