The Yogabliss, Your Heart Life on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning.  In today’s class we honored the passing of Buddhist meditation teacher Thich Nhat Hanh.  His students affectionately refer to him as “Thay.” We explored his teachings on turning fear into love. These teaching center on mindfulness, loving kindness, deep listening and loving speech.  Thay’s poetic voice made these perennial wisdom teachings accessible to people all over the world.

We drew heavily on his book, Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm.  He outlines four mantras or affirmations for transforming fear into love.  He outlines the steps for establishing concentration and bringing body and mind to focus as one.  Then, he offers mantras that affirm our emotional needs for connection and love.  His teachings reflects our inter-being:  we “inter-depend” on one another for our well being.

We heard Thay’s poem, Recommendation. Thay wrote his poem during the Vietnam war. His life and the lives of his students were at risk on a daily basis. Yet this poem encourages insight, compassion and forgiveness. You can read the poem and hear a beautiful musical rendition of it on the Plum Village web-site.

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The Yogabliss, Your Heart Life on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning. Today’s class focused on intergenerational healing.  We contemplated our place in the river of time:  who and where we came from.  We journeyed back to find a human or more than human ancestor who could offer us wise counsel.  We contemplated the ancestral places and inhabitants whose qualities we want to bring forth in our lives.  May we listen so that ” . . . we may learn all the ways to hold tender this land.”  The healing work we are willing to do today helps us to live with caring, compassion and love. These are the qualities we can give today and bequeath future generations.

We drew inspiration from Dr. Judith Rich’s article Healing the Wounds of Your Ancestors. Judith’s background is in Jungian and Archetypal psychology, also known as the “Psychology of the Soul”. Judith believes:  “If we break the chain of addiction, violence or other inherited, limiting beliefs, our children and their children and those who follow them are given access to possibilities not available to the ancestors. And thus, the entire lineage evolves.”  You can find more of her writings at her web-site.

We heard from bell hooks’ poetic book:  Appalachian Elegy.  bell was a life long social activist in the fields of class, feminism and antiracism.  She was a professor, a poet and described herself as a “Buddhist Christian.”  You can read about her fascinating life in The New York Times article: bell hooks, Pathbreaking Black Feminist, Dies at 69.  You can also find a series of her articles and interviews at Lion’s Roar magazine.  She is remembered saying:  “The practice of love is the most powerful antidote to the politics of domination.”

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The Yogabliss, Your Heart Life on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning. We reflected on the seeds of possibility that we carry. We took an imaginary journey in which we planted and tended our “heart-seeds.” These are seeds that spring from caring, gratitude, hope or love. We imagined where the seed was planted and how it flourished and grew to nurture other lives. You don’t always know how your heart’s seeds will land. So we bow and try to keep growing.

We heard Pat Brisson’s poem, The Cleverness of Seeds.  Among her other writing pursuits, Pat “coordinates Project Storybook, a program at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton, NJ, which allows incarcerated mothers to select, record and mail books and CDs to their children.”

We explored naturalist and educator, Yuval Ave’s article, Towards a Curriculum for ‘Belonging’.  You can find this beautifully illustrated article at Compassion Contagion’s web-site. Their work focuses on “the rise of ordinary active citizens across the country and their everyday acts of resilience and compassion.”  You can also follow Yuval’s wonderful photographs and writings on his Instagram Naturalist’s Column.

We ended with poet Rev. Margaret Anne Ernst’s Planting Instructions. You can find more of her writing at her blog, Planted More Deeply.  I really enjoyed her latest poem, How to Be a Good Citizen of the 21st Century – of course it involves planting seeds.

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The Yogabliss, Two Rivers/RiverTree Yoga on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning. We came together to move toward our heart’s light. We listened to heart song. I heard notes of gratitude and love as we entered the New Year together.

We drew on essayist and spiritual teacher Jeff Foster’s encouragement to honor our heart’s wisdom. Jeff is an astrophysicist on a spiritual journey.  He describes his teaching as being about “unconditional friendliness and infinite kindness. It’s about making it safe, finally safe for all of those unloved, un-met, unseen waves of the ocean of yourself to crawl out of the depths, out of the darkness, out of the corners and holes and crevices of experience and come into the light, blinking and full of wonder.”

We heard poet Joy Harjo’s poem This Is My Heart.  We heard an excerpt from her poem:  For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in Its Human Feet. You can listen to an amazing musical rendition from her performance I Pray for My Enemies.

We also heard from Port Townsend poet, Kathryn Hunt.  Kathryn draws from her experience as  “a waitress, shipscaler, short-order cook, bookseller, printer, food bank coordinator, filmmaker, and freelance writer”.

In our circle we’ve been drawing on the inspiration of poets and writers and our own heart wisdom.  We’ve been grounding ourselves with Earth stillness.  We’ve been feeling and moving with presence.  With the turning solstice we move toward light.  What better time to reflect on what matters most?  What do we want to bring forward?  What are we ready to let go?

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The Yogabliss, Two Rivers/RiverTree Yoga on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning.  We explored gifts of darkness by “wintering.” Slowing down, resting, shedding skin reveals tenderness. We embraced wholeness by tuning into the darkness and light.  This wholeness makes the living world possible.

We heard Francine Marie Tolf’s Praise of Darkness. This poem speaks to the inner wisdom we hold deep inside – an inner knowing that sometimes surfaces in the dark.

We heard poet farmer Wendell Berry’s poem, To Know Dark.  You can learn more about his life and work from the New Yorker interview, Going Home With Wendell Berry.

We drew inspiration from Katherine May’s book Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times.  I learned about Katherine in an On Being interview, How Wintering Replenishes.

We ended with Nathan Spoon’s poem, A Candle in the Night.  Nathan is an ally of the web-site Time Medicine where you can find slow, calm, connect and fast medicines in its “pharmacy.”

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The Yogabliss, Two Rivers/RiverTree Yoga on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning.  We focused on bringing presence to our innate sensitivity.  We explored ways of cultivating acceptance and appreciation; patience and nurturing.  The lotus flower symbolized our ability to allow Life to move through us.  We explored rhythms of opening and closing in breathing, feeling, moving and thinking.  We mirror Nature because we are Nature.

We heard Daniel F.  Mead’s poem:  If You Would Grow – Shine the Light Of Loving Self-Care On Yourself.  Daniel speaks to our ability to be as hard as nails and tender as flowers.  Like a blossoming flower, a true opening of the heart cannot be forced.   I found Daniel’s lovely poem at the UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness site.  I am sorry to say I couldn’t find any biographical information for Daniel. His poem has been referenced many, many times on the internet.  Thank  you Daniel for your encouraging words.

We drew from psychotherapist, author and soul activist Francis Weller’s Sun Magazine interview, The Geography of Sorrow.  He poignantly observes the relationship between grief and gratitude and the vital importance of keeping our hearts open.

We ended with Jennifer Paine Welwood’s poem Unconditional.  Jennifer encourages us to feel our loneliness, face our fears and grieve.  Paradoxically, this courage and willingness is our path to wholeness.

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The Yogabliss, Two Rivers/RiverTree Yoga on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning. We explored our inter-breathing with the world.  We reflected on all we take in and give out.  We considered the many kindnesses of Earth and Sun making our lives possible.  We are a constellation of relationships emerging moment by moment, breath by breath.

We drew inspiration from poet Arnoldo Garcia’s Meditation on the Breath.  Arnoldo’s work is inspired by Earth and social justice.  You can find more of his beautiful poetry at:  La Carpa del FEO: Fandango en East Oakland.

We heard Zen priest and poet Norman Fischer’s teachings on the self, relationship and compassion.  You can read more in the Tricycle Magazine article, We Are Our Relationships You can hear Norman’s recent Upaya dharma talk series, When You Greet Me, I Bow. This is also the name of his latest book of on relationships, culture and engagement.

We heard Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer’s poem, Belonging. Rosemerry teaches and performs poetry for addiction recovery programs, hospice and mindfulness retreats. Continue reading →

The Yogabliss, Two Rivers/RiverTree Yoga on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning.  Today we opened ourselves to the sky, the earth, the sun and the moon.  We freed our awareness, our breath, and our love.  We listened to the language of Body, heart and mind.  We embraced life.  I can’t say it better than Ross Gay’s Unabashed:  Thank you. Every day!

We heard Eagle Poem: Joy Harjo’s instructions on prayer.  The poem asks that we pray by opening our whole selves to nature.  The circling eagle is held aloft in moving circles of air.  We, too, are sustained by moving currents of breath.  We are nature and our lives are bound by the ongoing cycles of birth and death.

We heard Haemin Sunim’s thoughts about love.  Haemin Sunim is a Korean Zen Buddhist teacher, writer and founder of the School of Broken Hearts. In his book, Love for Imperfect Things, he writes that truly offering our attention is love. He believes “we can love completely, even without complete understanding.”

Poet Ross Gay writes about joy and loss almost within the same breath.  We heard from the essay on joy from his Book of Delights.  He observes how we are joined by an “underground union” and by the shared knowledge that everything and everyone we love will pass away.  We also drew from his poem, Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude.  It is a long lyrical poem that alternates between celebrations and sorrows.  This collection is full of images that are earthy and fertile, teaming with life.  You can hear the poet’s exuberant voice reciting Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude to the music of Bon Iver. (It’s really worth listening all the way through!)

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The Yogabliss, Two Rivers/RiverTree Yoga on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning.  Today’s practice was about appreciating our bodies.  We allowed felt experience  to draw our awareness more intimately to presence.  We experience feeling and time differently in the spirit of allowing.

The flowers of Being open in their own time given the right conditions.

We drew inspiration from Mark Nepo’s Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have.  Mark describes this work as a “spiritual daybook.”  I have drawn on its beauty for nearly twenty years.  

Sufi poet, Rumi, encouraged us to appreciate the wonder of embodiment in his poem, Bird Wings.  In Wild Geese, Mary Oliver reminded us “to let the soft animal of [our] body love what it loves.”

Our Embodied Awareness meditation was inspired by Alan Fogel’s excellent Kosmos Journal article:  Embodied Thinking and Embodied Feeling.  Alan is a somatic therapist whose work invites us to allow felt sensation to call our awareness home.  His article describes “the thinking and feeling components of Embodied Self Awareness.” He lists our bodies’ primary felt experiences and their related feelings.  It helped me to appreciate the different gifts of thinking and feeling.

We ended with a few 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.

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The Yogabliss, Two Rivers/RiverTree Yoga on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning.  We explored how the inner light of our awareness can help light our way through darkness. Our seeds of potential open and grow toward the light.

We move through this manifest world only in relation.  We change each other and in so doing we we are changed.

We heard Robert Penn Warren’s poem, the Heart of Autumn.  He describes the intimate and uplifting experience of taking in wild geese migration.  He describes how, unquestioning, they follow paths across the sky.  We struggle with knowing ourselves – and still – can lift our gaze and feel joy.

We drew from Tracy Wulfers’ Kosmos Journal essay, Meeting Mugwort.  She draws from Earth Wisdom by encouraging us to open, relax our protection so that we can grow.  In opening we can offer our life’s potential to the world.

We hard David Budbill’s ode to All of Us.  In the simplest lines he describes how we are expressions of what Taoists call the ten thousand things.  We come to being from the undifferentiated in relation to one another:  human and more than human beings.

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