Mindfulness of Emotions

This week I talked a bit on Mindfulness of Emotions.  From the Buddhist perspective you could say that emotions are psycho-biological phenomena.  They exist in the mind as well as in the body.  In fact, one perspective suggests they are first raw sensation, then form into thoughts. We can think of emotions as E-Motion.  Energy in motion.   Anger is a great example.  One can get a huge amount of housework done when one is really ticked off.  Lots of energy.

In mindfulness meditation, we train ourselves to 'stay with' the energetic experience without adding anything more to it.  When we can do that, strong feelings can move through us more quickly rather than sticking to us like velcro.

Liz passed along this comic, which offers an interesting angle on energy and emtotion:

When the Sun Comes Up

Just after sunrise by the river, if you close your eyes for a few minutes and open them again, you would think it's snowing.  Flying objects everywhere!  Quite the phenomenon. There's nothing like a bunch of back-lit bugs to start the day with a sense of awe.

Sunday, September 26th: Dharma Talk at the DC Global Mala Event

in 2006 some leading national yoga teachers created an event to bring attention to global peace and harmony.  Folks come from all over to practice 108 sun salutations and focus on our inter-connectedness.  The DC Global Mala is the second largest in the country (next to LA) and raises money to support those less fortunate. I'll be giving a dharma talk before we all move out to Meridian Park for the movement.  I don't think I've got 108 sun salutations in this body of mine, but I'll be there to watch and lend my support.  After the yoga flow there will be drumming, yoga demonstrations and all kinds of fun things.  If you've not been to Meridian Park on a Sunday afternoon you're missing something really cool.

This event is sponsored by Anahata Grace, a non-profit organization dedicated to 'yoga without borders.'

Here's a little blog posting I offered on their site.

And here's how you can register.  All moneys raised to go a wonderful cause.  You don't have to do the yoga to participate!

Late Summer Light

Shot of the Week

I though this shot was rather bland.  When editing it, suddenly it popped!

Skanky

Wow, is the Potomac skanky these days.  The dearth of rain has brought the levels down and between the stagnant water and the heat, the algae and underwater growth is flourishing.  Here's a little meditation on the underwater growth. Many of these river shots are the product of my morning meditations by the river.  Over time I start to notice things externally (as I do internally) that I had not noticed before.

This image is from a pond.  Last year about three old trees came down, exposing the pond to sunlight.  The result is a permanent cover of algae and growth.

Man ... Alive

This Saturday 50 or so men gathered for the Man Alive retreat - a day of mindfulness practices, inquiry and sharing.  A most inspiring day. We did mindful movement, sitting meditation, standing meditation and lying down meditation.

For the lying down meditation - a guided body scan - I invited folks to put their feet up on chairs so they could bring some relief to their lower back from all the sitting.

An older woman was in the lobby looking through the window, checking out the scene and asked Steve, our manager, "Is that a Lamaze class?"

Morning Light

A Second Taste of Fall

First Taste of Fall

Though it will be in the 90's all week, August always always drops a few hints of the changing times.  I notice the yellowing of the lower leaves of the weeds along the trails, a few leaves falling here and there when the wind kicks up, but this was the first dramatic sign of autumn:

Morning Light

One of many blessings is to live near the park and the river.  Another is to face east each morning.  Here are a few images from some morning wanderings in the low early light:

Sycamores

A downed Sycamore.  Like snake skin.

Force of Nature

Last week we got to experience the Big Storm up close.  Quite suddenly the wind kicked up and the house was pelted with limbs, leaves and dirt. Tree tops started moving in rather strange gyrating patterns. Two very large (80') Red Oaks were moving particularly violently and then BAM! the tops twisted right off and fell to the ground simultaneously. We were fortunate to get our electricity back about 13 hours later.

Walking as Practice

My morning meditation isn't what it used to be. I think spiritual practices evolve as our needs evolve.  Sometimes we need to cultivate concentration to steady and calm the mind.  Other times we need to forget technique - to lighten up and feel the space around things.

Most of my practice these days is Walking Meditation.

Specifically, Dog Walking Meditation.  Even more specifically, Old Dog Walking Meditation.

My almost 14-year old pup used to race in ever-widening circles around me as I hiked, biked, snowshoed or skied.

Now we walk in measured steps with long pauses.

With an old dog you can't go fast and you can't speed 'em up.

He has not lost his dignity.  Where he might have pursued the scent of a deer in the past he seems content to pause, lift his nose and with all four feet planted, track what's left of the smell.

He seems to savor each walk as if it was his first.  Or last.

Old Dog Walking provides an excellent mirror for me.  Sometimes I'm leaning into the day ahead and our slow pace builds up irritability and anxiety.  I catch myself again and again reaching for my iPhone like a twitchy gunslinger would go for his .45.

On the other hand, if I linger too long composing a photograph or stand with my eyes closed in the sun, he'll march right past me and keep going.  Because he's now deaf, I can't call him back.

So I do my best to match his pace.  Sometimes I count my steps to center my mind.  Sometimes I practice looking for something new - some detail I had not noticed before.  Sometimes I imagine what it will be like to do this walk without him. Each morning I try to savor the moments as he does, pretending this is my first walk ever.

Or my last.

A Few Images

I'm settling back here in the woods of Northern Virginia and head out each morning with the dogs around 5:30, generally before the sun is up.  Here are a few shots from recent ramblings.

Another dramatic morning:

My decidedly analog father making a digital leap, reading the morning news on my iPad:

The Still, Small Voice Within

It's been eight straight days of programs here at Kripalu Center.

When I moved up here from our funky ashram in Pennsylvania in 1983 I thought the building was either a prison or a hospital.  Turns out it was something in between.  After 23 years of total immersion, I now return five or six times a year to lead retreats and trainings.  (Before we took it over, this facility was a Jesuit training center which they never filled, failing to anticipate the 1960's.)

The first program, "The Still Small Voice Within:  Meditation, Focusing and Intuition Training," is five days of settling, sensing and inner listening.  A big component of the program includes speaking and attempted to describe that which is just coming in awareness. Paying attention in the spirit of meditation means we become aware of things we were not aware of before.  Describing our inner experience can help us clarify what's coming to the surface.  Sensing, inner listening, speaking, deep listening, all in an environment of social silence, good people and a healing environment led to a wonderful sense of shared intimacy.

I then launched into "The Energy Intensive:  Meditation, Yoga and Breathwork" with my fellow leader, Shobhan Richard Faulds.  This was three days, starting at 6:00AM and ending at 9:00PM.   While we explore social silence and 'settling practices' in this program we also move a lot of energy through movement, relaxation, meditation and breath.  The practice here is raising both "prana" and "chitta," or energy and awareness.  We do a powerful breathwork practice which releases deep-seated tensions and opens all kinds of new possibilities.

I'm always inspired by how quickly a group of strangers can come into a palpable sense of community.

On to Maine to visit my folks.

Images from the Week

Hang around long enough and something's gonna happen.  We were meditating in the early evening by the river and noticed a deer swimming across the Potomac.  It's a pretty grainy shot, but you can see the antlers off to the left.  It's not unusual to be kayaking in the Potomac and see deer hanging out on the islands.

And early, early in the morning, a Great Blue caught mid-launch.   This is a spontaneous reaction shot, but I really enjoy how the image captures the silhouette of the legs and feet - plus the framing, depth and mood.

I'm always on the lookout for the first signs of the next season.  No sign of fall yet, as the greens are still intense and vivid right now.

This week I did some video recording at the World Bank on instruction and training in mindfulness practices.  After we laid down the audio, some brave volunteers came in for some shooting for cutaway shots.  I appreciate the challenge of making a video series during which the viewer is instructed to close their eyes.

That's me in the foreground, comfortably nestled in Final Cut Pro while the director makes some adjustments on the set.

On Fear, with Visuals

This is so cool.  Barbara, an old compatriot from my ashram days, translates her son Doug's notes from my dharma talks into a graphic novel format! This is from a talk a while back on 'Working with Fear.'

(Thanks, Barbara and Doug!)

Images from the Week

There's a reason photographers get up and out early.  The low morning light can dramatically bring out textures and amplify colors.  Here are a few shots from this last week from early in the morning. Some mornings you can watch the sun burning off the haze.  Sunday was particularly dramatic.

Closer in ...

The Potomac can appear quite placid, yet the low morning light shows just how much is going on on and below the surface.

A spring and a small pond in the meadow.  A light drizzle, frogs and water bugs keep the surface in constant motion.

River Bend is just up-river from a heron rookery.  Here's a heron on it's morning commute.

Images from the Week

With the new hot weather come the bugs.  A shot from this morning of the ubiquitous waterbugs.

Riverbend Park floods easily, which makes the area so diverse and rich in strange and unusual flora and fauna.  But just below Riverbend one comes to Great Falls, which is granite.

A shot here of what grows around the crystal-embedded granite.  I love the textures.