Category Archives: Meditation

Making Friends With Ourselves

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We had the third meeting of our Taking the Leap Meditation Book Group at Yoga Bliss yesterday.  We came together for gentle yoga practice, meditation and discussion of the next three chapters in Taking the Leap:  Getting Unstuck, We Have What We Need, Rejoicing With Things As They Are.

In our movement practice we followed the shifting fluid energy of sensory experience moment to moment, observing how thoughts can distance us from direct sensation.  We practiced labeling thoughts lightly as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral and returning to direct sensory experience.   We tried recognizing our distractions with an inner smile.

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Feeding the Right Wolf

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We had the first meeting of our Taking the Leap Meditation Book Group at Yoga Bliss yesterday.  We came together for gentle yoga practice, meditation and discussion of the first chapter in Taking the Leap:  Feeding the Right Wolf.  In this chapter, Pema tells the story of a Native American grandfather speaking to his grandson about cruelty and violence in the world.  He described how it comes about by saying it was like two wolves fight in his heart.  One wolf is angry and vengeful and the other wolf is understanding and kind.  When his grandchild asked which wolf would win the fight, Grandfather answered: “The one that wins is the one I choose to feed”.

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Constellation of Caring

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Tim’s Photo of the Whirlpool Galaxay

I like the word the constellation.  It conjures imaginings of the night sky:  vast, wondrous, mysterious manifestations of light that draw “me” out of “my self”.  Gazing inward and upward I experience being beyond knowing.  Out there alone together, together alone. Yes, another metaphor is coming on. I am part of a constellation of caring as family member, friend, body worker and human being.  We shine alone and together in a myriad of different ways, intimate and distant, radiant and dim.

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Pajama Days

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Our Many Faces Transcribed on the Rakan disciples at Otagi Nenbutsu-ji

Today I can breathe through my runny nose!  My chest rattles when I cough but the headache is gone!  Chills, fever, soreness gone!  For days I’ve been watching my body yield and engage with this illness – probably a virus that doesn’t belong – yielding to interesting periods of rest and wakefulness.  The desires for food, activity and distraction are silent.  Engaging with bouts of heat expelling the by products of the struggle with this unwelcome guest.    Yielding again to rest and restore that precious life force:  Prana.

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At the Banquets of Life, Bring a Big Spoon

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This is My Mom in the Day

This is Mom, early twenties, Ontario, Canada in a borrowed car looking glamorous.  Her family emigrated there from Belgium after World War II.  I just got off the phone with her.  She’s spent the last six months undergoing treatment for colon cancer:  multiple surgeries and chemotherapy.  I want to celebrate:  Today, I heard life in her voice!  She’s gradually emerging from the seclusion of fear and pain.  She described making and receiving calls, taking short walks and eating more regularly.  The little things are pretty big when you go without them.

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At the Crossroads in the Snow

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Red Velvet Buddha in the Snow

It’s hard to see that the Buddha is smiling even though it’s cold.  Isn’t that just like him?  The embodiment of equanimity.  I am humbly reminded that it takes practice.  In Taking the Leap Ani Pema Chodron urges us to practice for each other and even the survival of the planet.  She challenges us to recognize that we are always at a crossroad of choice.  She encourages us to have faith in our potential to disentangle ourselves from old habits and our ability to love and care about each other.  All it takes is a pause:  three conscious breaths.  That ‘s easy, isn’t it?

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