Category Archives: cushion to community

a bodhisattva votes

radical bodhicitta

img_20181106_123205_4654115151159827933340.jpgThis Election Tuesday is momentual for me personally as I get to support two amazing women in my life in their campaigns for office — my cousin Shauna Dunnings, who’s running for Probate Judge, and my friend from high school Elissa Slotkin, who’s running for the 8th District U.S. Congressional seat!

(I also went to junior school with a third woman who is a candidate for another local judicial office.)

Heartened and hopeful as I am, the reality is there are elected officials who still refuse to acknowledge the humanity of marginalized and oppressed communities and actively create policies that continue to jeopardize our well-being on every level.

So these words from adrienne maree brown are a timely centering prayer and the soulful lyrics from Jill Scott’s song My Petition (which I’ve been playing on repeat lately) captures a sliver of my current mood.

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touching the earth: adopting a beloved park

Old Stomping Grounds, New Refuge

As a child growing up in this Southside neighborhood, I have a lot of memories playing and swimming at Moores Park.

In recent years, it has become a place of refuge where I’ve hosted free walking meditations at the labyrinth each spring and summer. This year, 3 Jewels Yoga has officially adopted Moores Park through the City of Lansing Park and Recreation’s Adopt-A-Park program!

On June 12, Sangha participated in our first mini “cushion-to-community clean-up” and will continue our efforts to maintain the beauty of this park and the labyrinth through the practice of environmental stewardship after every meditation.

#WalkingTheLabyrinth | 12 June (“Do-Over” after the previous Sunday was rained out)
Official #AdoptAPark Letter
A Bowl of Dandelions
Exuberance
Sharing Dandelions
The Gifter of Flowers
#TouchingTheEarth

 

Landmarks to the Labyrinth

The Labyrinth is nestled in the lawn just a few steps off the Lansing River Trail, where its path funnels in from the Beal Avenue parking lot. It is bordered by two black benches and, perched above on a hill to the south of it, is a Pavilion (which can be rented out for parties).

Trivia + other points of interest: The Grand River, Michigan’s longest river, runs along the northern perimeter of Moores Park. This segment of the river is intersected by the Moores Park Dam, which provides power to the city’s oldest power plant.  Also sitting across the riverbank is the GM car assembly plant.

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special event {6/18}: 18th annual allied media conference

amc16

On June 18th, I’ll lead a healing session at the Allied Media Conference in Detroit. This opportunity has given me pause to pick up an old thread + follow it back to the faded memory of my former life as a graduate student at NYU, where I studied media through a sociological lens — examining race, gender, culture, representation + impact — and earned my M.A. from the Tisch School of Arts/GSAS.

Now, I have the deep honor of helping to cultivate a healing justice practice space for artists, educators, activists, and radical media-makers + offer them an immersion in mindfulness to foster compassion, skillful understanding + authentic connection.

Learn more about the AMC Conference: http://www.alliedmedia.org/amc

teaching empowered with mindfulness

a couple years ago, i volunteered to teach yoga and mindfulness to elementary schools in my district. when the coordinator shared the announcement that i (and a fellow yoga teacher friend) would be offering 30-minute sessions for 4 weeks, she was met with overwhelming requests from teachers who were eager to introduce these calming, focusing practices into their classrooms. that spring, i was able to teach about 45-50 kids in 3 classrooms at 2 different schools.

since then my focus of my programming has been rooted deeply in the call for spiritual self-care that fosters compassion, skillful understanding, authentic connection and healing justice. and, as such, focused on serving adult practitioners.

but i was happy to accept the invitation from Lansing Schools Education Association to participate in its Teaching Empowered Rally on Saturday, May 7, where i offered two mini-movement demos.

i had oodles of fun co-creating adventures–stretching our imaginations into silly stories and bodies into silly shapes–and teaching my new little friends to wake up the bell and to listen closely to the sound as it faded.

the joy in sharing this practice with children for as  little as 20 minutes: the sweet connection that develops when we offer them our attention, care, smiles, laughter, and the freedom to make a contribution. bursting with energy and kindness, they helped arrange, reset, and roll up the mats; fed me snacks; hung out with me between sessions — sticking close by as i enjoyed a chair massage (where i could hear the middle of 4 siblings explain that she was waiting for ‘my yoga teacher’); and even took over my camera to get silly with the selfie stick and snap a dozen random photos!

when we nourish kids with the gift of our compassionate listening and empower them with mindfulness, they will shine.

 

On “Revolutionary Mothering” | The Laura Flanders Show

Celebrating the transformative power of compassionate parenting and mentoring! Bowing to mothers and all others who honor the humanity of the little ones in our lives.

 

dhamma for mama*

In this, my 6th year of motherhood, I am celebrating my power to radically design a life for my child that does not conform to anyone else’s standards or conventions. I am crafting a life that resists the call to pass on legacies of unexamined dysfunction and empty rituals embedded in played-out cultural traditions shaped and sullied by the whims of industry, technology, politics and religion. Shrugged off and unquestioned… because, well, it’s always been done that way.

Long before I imagined myself a parent, I stood in line at a roti shop on Washington Avenue in Brooklyn and chewed on the island wisdom I overheard from an elder:

Yuh doh raise chil’run. Yuh raise cattle and corn. Yuh teach chil’run an lead ’em…

I recall nothing else about that moment — what sparked his statement, who he was speaking to (if anyone at all…because in my experience with my…

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#MarchMindfulness2016: Seeds of Mindfulness

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As we enjoy the final days of March and the warmth of spring, I am feeling stretched by all the lessons that arose during this month spent renewing my commitment to compassion, understanding, and connection.

S T R E T C H E D and TESTED!

But those experiences only AFFIRMED what I know to be true:

Even in the hardest moments — after I’ve fussed and cussed through my frustrations (to good spiritual friends who listen deeply, see me clearly, honor my wholeness without co-signing my craziness, and respond skillfully with wise and loving support) — compassion calls me back again and again.

It offers a calming, centering grace that inspires me to seek the depth and breadth of understanding that in turn keeps my heart open to authentic connection.

“Sometimes we think that to develop an open heart, to be truly loving and compassionate,
means that we need to be passive,
to allow others to abuse us,
to smile and let anyone do what they want with us.

Yet this is not what is meant by compassion.
Quite the contrary.

Compassion is not at all weak.
It is the strength that arises out of seeing
the true nature of suffering in the world.

Compassion allows us
 to bear witness to that suffering,
whether it is in ourselves or others, without fear;
it allows us to name injustice without hesitation,
and to act strongly,
with all the skill at our disposal.

To develop this mind state of compassion…
is to learn to live, as the Buddha put it,
with sympathy for all living beings,
without exception.”

― Sharon Salzberg
Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness

Spring Series: Body As Nature

we inherited nature the moment we were born.
the moment we came into existence,
we entered the landscape of nature.
in fact, we are nature.
nature is form.
body is form.
body is nature.
nature is body.
~Zenju Earthlyn Manuel

3jewels.bodyasnature

Inspired by our Winter Immersion reading of The Way of Tenderness in which Zenju Earthlyn Manuel offers a rich contemplation on the body as nature, 3 Jewels Yoga Sangha will look deeply into practices that support understanding, healing, and renewing our relationship with the Body.

Join us for this 3-week series:
APRIL 3, APRIL 10, APRIL 17
11 – 12:30 PM
Heartdance Studio  | 1806 E. Michigan Avenue in #LoveLansing

RECOMMENDED STUDY RESOURCES

Check back for updates to this list!

On The Five Remembrances

I am of the nature to grow old; there is no way to escape growing old.
I am of the nature to have ill health; there is no way to escape ill health.
I am of the nature to die; there is no way to escape death.
All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change; there is no way to escape being separated from them.
My actions are my only true belongings; I cannot escape the consequences of my actions.
My actions are the ground upon which I stand.

 

On Impermanence

 

On Nourishment

 

On The Realities of The Body

#MarchMindfulness2016: Shine Bright

3jewels.golden

Shine Bright! has been my personal mantra and my sideline cheer for others. But, oh, has this been a hard-won lesson to live into!

I’ve learned to honor my gifts and skills, and the contributions I make within my circle of loved ones and within my community. Still it continues to be a practice around “enoughness”– giving enough, learning enough, being compassionate, understanding, open, patient, skillful enough.

Doubt knocks on the door. Yeah, that’s right — Doubt has finally gotten some manners and no longer shuffles in uninvited while I scramble to push it back over the threshold. Now, I choose when to answer and welcome it in for deep inquiry where I skillfully sit with the questions it has delivered. What is this? Is this true? What can you see clearly?

Turning toward the aspiration to “shine bright,” I realized through several recent experiences (either as witness or participant) that we fear shining brightly means we’ll cast a shadow over others. We worry that expressing our full selves with unapologetic radiance, confidence, and vision is an act of vanity, ego, or arrogance. We’ve been taught that humility is a virtue, so we play small to make others feel less insecure.

At the same time, we receive a million messages about the importance of self-esteem and self-love. This is the crazy-making cycle our culture perpetuates that gives rise to lingering Doubt, which breaks in, refuses to leave, and becomes an indignant squatter in our hearts and minds.

So I appreciated reading an article years ago in which the writer reframed “humility” as being grounded and connected. To him, being low to the ground (as the eytmology defines it) in no way suggested self-deprecating acts of meekness or inferiority.

Rather, he embraced an understanding of humility that drew upon a sense of strength and stability from the Earth in the very same way that worshippers of various faiths will offer their full body in prostration during prayer. Bringing our body close to the ground is an expression of gratitude and wonder for the Power that makes life possible. It is empowering and energizing — a reminder to stay connected in body, heart, and mind to our capacity to love, create, inspire, teach, lead, serve, empower, heal, and thrive. And to thrive requires fertile soil…and light!

 

 

#MarchMindfulness2016: Reduce The Noise | LetWhyLead.com

Reducing the “Noise” — or practicing mindful consumption, which we Buddhist practitioners celebrate as part of the 5 Mindfulness Trainings — enables us to filter out content that triggers our anger, fear, judgment, resentment, and overall suffering.

No, this is not about AVOIDING everything. However, staying #woke‪‬ (i.e. informed, conscious, enlightened, culturally competent) also means staying sane!

The benefits of pressing pause on the flood of external information:

We have space to reflect, listen deeply and respond skillfully (thoughts/feelings/actions) and are better able to water the seeds of compassion, skillful understanding, and authentic connection!

letwhylead

❤ JOIN 3 Jewels Yoga TO GENERATE COMPASSION, UNDERSTANDING + CONNECTION!

❤ RSVP + SHARE THE LINK BELOW for the 2nd half of this month-long celebration: 3 Jewels Yoga | March Mindfulness 2016

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‪#‎ShiningTheLight‬: Read the full article from Let Why Lead – 9 Practical Ways I Reduce Noise In My Life

 

#MarchMindfulness2016: The Power of Collective Energy

margaretmeadquoteLining Margaret Mead’s quote up alongside Thich Nhat Hanh’s, we can begin to understand our capacity as a spiritual community to multiply the compassion, skillful understanding, and authentic connection beyond the sacred time we spend together each week. Collectively, we carry this nurturing energy from the cushion into the community.

 

“The Sangha is made out of the work of individuals, so we have a duty to help create the energy of the Sangha.

Our presence, when it is mindful presence, contributes to that energy…

Don’t think that we sit for ourselves. You don’t sit for yourself alone, you sit for the whole Sangha–not only for the Sangha, but also for the people in your city, because when one person in the city is less angry, is smiling more, the whole city profits.

If we practice looking deeply, our understanding of interbeing will grow, and we will see that every smile, every step, every breath is for everybody. It is for our country, for the future, for our ancestors.”

~ Thich Nhat Hanh
“Go As Sangha” in Friends on the Path