Coming in January

New Series: Releasing Emotional Reactions by Ken McLeod
Listen in on a week-long retreat and learn three different intense, valuable methods for dealing with the immediacy of emotional reactions in the moment. We meet every Friday night in January except New Years.

Jan. 23, 1:00-3:00: An Afternoon with Mike Snider
If you missed his talk recently at One Dharma -- or even if you didn't -- here's a chance to listen to Mike's story of discovering the nondual view in everyday life. There will be time for asking questions in a casual atmosphere. A long-time member of the Grand Ole Opry, Mike might even bring his banjo and share a tune or two.

New Years Eve Celebration

December 31, 7:00 p.m. to ???

This New Years Eve is a blue moon (second full moon of the month), which is very rare, and it also coincides with a lunar eclipse, making it a rarified atmosphere in which to practice. Guests and newcomers are welcome. The evening will include:

• Mantra and Meditation - Energize your subtle energy system with chanting of Sanskrit seed syllables for the seven chakras, introduced earlier this year by John Casey, PhD. We'll also do Kuntuzangpo practice in English, a practice which is recommended at the changing of the year according to esoteric Buddhism, as well as other mantra recitation.

• Potluck - We'll break in the middle for a potluck dinner so those who are joining us from other places have time to get here. I'm providing traditional hopping john (black-eyed peas and rice with cheese on the side), sausage rolls, caramel cake, cookies, and tea. Bring whatever you'd like to share, vegetarian or non-vegetarian.

• Burning Bowl Ceremony - For years we have done this ceremony and have found it to be a meaningful way of making a transition into the new year. Using our indoor fireplace, we'll bring completion to the past and create aspirations that call us forth into the future, while staying nice and toasty at the same time! If you'd like to get started making your lists, see below.

• General Revelry with champagne at midnight! More snacks and sweets. Bring a sleeping bag and spend the night if you'd like.

Location: Home of Rita Frizzell in the Belmont/Hillsboro neighborhood, 1716A Linden Avenue, Nashville, TN 37212. 615-463-2374. See website for map.


Fire Bowl Preparation

Make lists on four separate sheets of paper:

1. Purify
List anything you would like to let go of so that you're not carrying old baggage into the new year. These may be attitudes, regrets, resentments, etc.

2. Rejoice
List blessings that you are grateful for from 2009.

3. Honor
Write down the names of any beloved ones who are no longer with us that you'd like to honor.

4. Aspire
Formulate intentions and aspirations for the coming year.

Bring your lists with you to the New Years Eve celebration, making sure each list is on a separate piece of paper.

Homework, Week Two -- Perfect Just As You Are

Part One: Make a list of those for whom you naturally feel compassion. In other words, someone who is suffering, and your heart opens to them. It can be categories of people or animals, such as laboratory animals.

Part Two: Each day do the lovingkindness practice in two steps: for the person whom you naturally already feel love toward, and for yourself. Start with a short sit to calm the mind, then do the practice for 10 or 15 minutes. You can do it on the spot as well. The essential instruction is to wish, "May they have happiness and the root of happiness." There are four stages of this:

• Contact with the lovingkindness you already feel.
• Encourage it by saying the aspiration.
• Notice what arises.
• Expand to a larger and larger circle of beings.

Part Three: Choose two days this week in which you intentionally do something kind. It can be just one kind thing. On that same day, notice kindness coming toward you.

Homework, Week One -- Perfect Just As You Are

This week's homework for our Four Immeasurables class has two parts:

1. Make a list of people or animals who, when you think of them, you spontaneously feel a sense of openness, tenderness, expansion... in other words, love. It can be only one person or animal, and they may be living or dead.

2. At some point during your daily sit, take at least two minutes and experience receiving love. You may think of a particular situation or experience in the past when you felt complete, unconditional love. Bring it to mind and sit in the experience of receiving love.

Pema Chodron mentioned that if you're visually oriented, you might want to see light rays coming from that person and absorbing into you. You may also consider adding Dr. Martinez' biocognitive technique of including a physical sensation. He recommends crossing your arms and caressing your arms with a gentle stroke of your hands. Another method that works well for me is to apply the palms of my hands -- one to the heart chakra and one to the throat chakra.

When I tried Dr. Martinez' method yesterday, the memory arose of lying down with my head in my mother's lap as she caressed my head. It was a vivid sensory and emotional experience, so it gave me plenty to work with. This morning, I tried the chakra method and a different experience arose. The important note is to make it a felt experience, not conceptual.

Then notice what arises for you in the experience of receiving love. Do you open? Shut down? Expand? Resist? Are there reactive emotions that arise? If so, bring them into your attention and breathe with them. Feel yourself supported in your chair, feel your back to the wall or chair, relax your jaw, and continue in the experience of receiving love.

And if you'd like, come Friday night ready to share what you're noticing. We'll receive the practice on cultivating lovingkindness at the next class. Have a great week!

Perfect Just As You Are: New class with Luminous Mind

Perfect Just As You Are
Buddhist Practices on the Four Limitless Ones:
Loving-Kindness, Compassion, Joy, and Equanimity

An 8-week series beginning Friday, October 23, 2009

Fridays, 7:00-9:00 p.m.
1716A Linden Avenue in the Belmont/Hillsboro
neighborhood of Nashvile | Click here for map

Following on the heels of our special event with Dr. Mario Martinez, our next series will focus on embodying the Four Immeasurables in our direct experience.

Our study will center around audio teachings by Pema Chodron in her brand-new series, "Perfect Just As You Are." We will listen to the teaching, discuss it together, and integrate the practice through meditation, with relevant books available for reference. Dr. Martinez will stay in touch to help us with any questions of how to integrate the practice using biocognitive techniques.

This series gives practical methods for integrating love, compassion, joy, and equanimity in our immediate experience. It is appropriate for anyone, no matter what spiritual path or lack thereof. Since the series is so accessible, new people can get something out of coming, even one time.

Description of "Perfect Just As You Are"

Spiritual practice, Pema Chödrön teaches, has nothing to do with self-improvement, since, as the course's title claims, you're already perfect right now. The limitless qualities of loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity are your deep-down, ultimate reality, and those are qualities that can't be improved upon.

If you're not feeling particularly kind, compassionate, joyful, or equanimous at the moment, take heart: the Four Limitless Ones are there like seeds, waiting to be cultivated through practice-and, being limitless, they're rich enough to be worked with for a lifetime. This intensive program of study and practice provides the tools you need to access these radiant states and to nurture their growth for sake of all beings, including yourself. Here's some of what you'll learn:

• How cultivating the Four Limitless Ones is the antidote to depression, irritation, and isolation
• Basic meditation instructions to get you started in the foundational practice
• A wealth of guided meditations for generating these radiant qualities to yourself, others, and the world
• Writing and reflection exercises to bring the Four Limitless Ones powerfully into real life
• A simple chant you can use to create love and good will around yourself
• Powerful on-the-spot practices you can use throughout the day, even when there's "no time to practice"

The program fits perfectly with any other kind of meditation you're doing or with other spiritual practices. And since no previous knowledge of Buddhism is required, it's also ideal for those new to spiritual practice.

The Truth About Gossip

I just ran across a great article from the 2006 Tricycle by Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "The Truth About Gossip." You can read it or download a pdf here:

http://www.tricycle.com/20september2009

Here's an excerpt:

Seven Tips for Giving Up Gossip

1. Recognize that gossip doesn’t undo the situation you’re talking about. It only puts in motion another situation based on negative feelings.

2. Know that comparing yourself to others is useless. Everyone has his or her own talents. In this way, give up jealousy and the wish to put others down.

3. Be aware of and transform your own thoughts, words, and deeds rather than commenting on those of others.

4. Train your mind to see others’ positive qualities and discuss them. This will make you much happier than gossiping ever could.

5. Forgive, knowing that people do harmful things because they are unhappy. If you don’t make someone into an enemy, you won’t want to gossip about him.

6. Have a sense of humor about what you think, say, and do, and be able to laugh at all of the silly things we sentient beings carry out in our attempt to be happy. If you see the humor in our human predicament, you’ll be more patient.

7. Practice saying something kind to someone every day. Do this especially with people you don’t like. It gets easier with practice and bears surprisingly good results.