Your Issues are in Your Tissues

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spacer-25A recent article in the Atlantic explores a study as to where people 'feel' emotions.  Not surprisingly there is strong universal correlation between an emotion and a location 'inside.'

This is the essence of Body-Centered Inquiry and Focusing.   You learn to move from 'the story' to where it lives on the inside.

Hanging out in the realm of thought and beliefs has a certain degree of effectiveness, but there is substantial evidence that addressing issues on the primary level of the 'felt sense' can be quite direct and transformational.

I'm excited my 6-CD training, Body-Centered Inquiry, will be out in April.  I'm endlessly fascinated by this training of shifting form the cognitive to the direct experience of here and now.  When we can do that, new possibilities open up.

Feel It Heal It

On Taking Refuge

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spacer-25Our New Year's Retreat traditionally ends with a reflection and ceremony on The Refuges."

In keeping with that theme, this week's talk explore the importance of identifying what is most important and how you can skillfully support your intention.

Part of living skillfully calls on your capacity to  realign your life when you are off course.

Awareness, Truth and Love are powerful resources.

  The blurb:  

With a new year ahead, it's helpful to refresh your sense of what is most important.  As you clarify your 'roles and goals' it can also be helpful to reflect on what it means to take refuge.  Where do you go when you are lost, tired and confused?

This talk explores the importance of identifying what you want and what you need.  It ends with a simple Refuge Ceremony, relfelcting on the power of awareness, truth and love.


  iTunes podcast here, online streaming here and stitcher here.

 

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Mindfulness Strategies for Transforming Your Relationship with Pain: 3-Part Video Series

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spacer-25I was privileged to be invited to speak by my friend Dr. Gary Kaplan of the Kaplan Clinic in McLean, VA on "Mindfulness Strategies for Transforming Your Relationship with Pain."

Here's the three-part series:

1.  The Science of Mindfulness:  It Works!

2.  The Mind is  Drunken Monkey Stung by Scorpions:  Formulas for Working with the Mind

3.  Mindfulness Strategies for Working with Trauma and Pain

Part 1 starts with an introduction with Dr. Gary and I launch in with an overview and some specific techniques you might try on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_DpgxcULJxM

  You can catch all three segments here at the Kaplan Clinic site.

Questions and Explorations

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spacer-25For an introvert, I've racked up a lot of hours talking, with over 50 talks and guided meditations on iTunes, Dharmaseed and elsewhere.

This week we went with questions about practice. We explored three short meditations that focus on ways to pay attention.  I've found these to be very helpful.

One is pure concentration, to narrow your attention down to one specific focal point, in this case the sense of the pads of the index fingers on the top of your thighs.  The second is foreground / background.  With attention on one spot, you notice everything in the background.  A third strategy is 'open awareness,' the effortless perception of the space in which all things arise and pass away.

We explored other questions as well, ranging from how to work with sluggishness to how we can bear the suffering of the world and cultivate compassion in the midst of it all.

The blurb:

An impromptu evening with questions and short guided experiencees.

1) How to work with sluggishness and sleepiness,2) mindfulness strategies for paying attention, from narrow to open focus, 3) the art of really letting go, 4) three basic fears, 5) bearing the suffering of the world.

 

iTunes podcast here, online streaming here and stitcher here.

Winter Boarding

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spacer-25In the 60s. Impossible to resist getting out on the river.

One thing I appreciate about being out in the middle of Potomac in the winter is how much vibrant birdlife there is and how much the different flocks relate to each other. They are also incredibly restless and not at all comfortable with the sight of a human being standing up and paddling a plank of plastic.

Paddling into the sunrise with mottled clouds overhead, I could not see into the water and the skeg got caught on a rock, lurching me forward a few steps and almost tossing me into the soup.

Really cold soup.
  iTunes podcast here, online listening here and stitcher here.

Grasping and Impermanence

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spacer-25When I was a kid, I noticed how 'old' folks would reminisce about the generations of dogs they'd had.  I had never gone through the death of a pet until later, when our first dog passed on.

Now I'm one of those geezers who has had numerous pets arrive and pass away.  Our current pup is a lively, expressive critter who startles at the slightest noise.  Recently, though, when I look at her I've been able to imagine her old and infirm, her inevitable destiny.

The realization doesn't make me sad.  I think I have enough wisdom to remember that she's bound to get old, sick and die.

Rather, the realization somehow opens my heart.  I more deeply appreciate her liveliness and kookie nature.

This is part of the theme of this week's talk, exploring the dance of grasping and impermanence.
  The blurb:  

Hang on and you'll get rope burn.  Let go and new possibilities emerge.

The nature of the mind is to want.  When you grasp how impermanence is a characteristic of reality, you can transform your relationship to the clinging mind.

You can then entertain the possibility of what life would be like in the unfolding moment in the absence of attraction and it's opposite - aversion.  This talk includes numerous short meditation.

 

iTunes podcast here, online streaming here, and stitcher here.

News Flash: I Won't Make it to the Capitol Hill Class Tonight

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spacer-25After much gnashing of teeth, I've decided it's best to not make the trip to St. Mark's on Capitol Hill tonight.

Out here in the boonies of Northern VA, we're back on a long, narrow lane with some steep hills that still have ice on them.  The water will be black ice later.

We've been without power for about 15 hours and have multiple trees down in the area.

Sorry to miss this gathering!  I was looking forward to being back with old and new friends.

Stay safe!

This shot is from earlier today, removing debris from our drive ...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiFYu85lbjw
  iTunes podcast here, online listening here and stitcher here.

Transforming Your Relationship To Pain (Part 1)

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spacer-25Special AUDIO: This talk explores how pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.  

You'll learn the fundamentals of how pain works. After a few minutes of energizing movement led by guest yoga teacher Jovinna Chan, you'll explore two pragmatic meditations for shifting your relationship to unpleasant sensations.  

 

iTunes podcast here, online listening here and stitcher here

Back on the Water

December, and a perfect day to take the paddleboard down to the river. Stiff gusts and choppy waves, but semi-tropical conditions. I worked my way upstream and rather than letting the current take me back, had to work hard against a southerly wind.  What a treat to get back out there with the Canada geese, the newly arrived coots and our resident swan.

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Aspiration and Wise Action

J teaching - Version 2 At 50,000 feet you can grasp the enormity of things.

On the runway, you see the details.

This week's talk explores three elements that align the 50,000 foot view with the details on the ground.

Imagine your thoughts, speech and actions aligned not only with your intention, but with the laws of nature.  Imagine knowing your life is aligned in a way that cultivates a greater sense of ease and well-being.

This is the dance of "Wise View," "Wise Intention" and "Wise Effort," components of the road map laid out in Buddhist philosophy in the Eightfold Path.

This week's blurb:

Paying attention to three fundamental elements can make a huge difference in your life.

Wise View aligns you with reality.

Wise Intention aligns your attention with what is deeply and unalterably true and important in your life.

Wise Action aligns your thought, speech and efforts.

So often we forget what is most important and fall into to a life of reactivity, anxiety and fear. Pausing deeply and exploring how these three elements interact can not only support you in feeling more balanced, but can lead you to greater and greater happiness and inner peace, no matter how turbulent your life may be at times.

iTunes podcast here, online streaming here, stitcher app here.