Category Archives: cushion to community

The Women We Are [promo video]: Community Conversation “On Reconciling With The Body”

How can we cultivate the voice of self-love and devote ourselves to radical acts of self-care?
How do we tend to ourselves through the reality of our aging, changing bodies?
How can we learn to take refuge in our bodies and reclaim beauty, wellness, and strength in our own terms?

Join us on Thursday, 19 February, at 7 pm for a compassion-filled, community-centered conversation
on reconciling with the body and seeing ourselves whole!

The Women We Are is a documentary portrait project created by Amanda Grieshop.
Learn more about her work at Magpie Imagery.

spirit. human. black woman.

V shared a personal revelation —

spirit. human. black woman.2

she had come into an awareness of
her magnitude and design as a

spirit/soul
human/body
black + woman

in that precise order.

how necessary to acknowledge
being so much bigger than this body
and to cherish the fleeting human life span

of a woman
of hue and shape
of undeniable origins 

giving refuge and expression to
a boundless and indestructible force.

to celebrate her blackness —
a unique dna of history, culture, biology, and expression

is to nourish her body —
mindful of its resilience and fragility
its cycle of consuming, creating, destroying, releasing, renewing

is to honor the spirit —
a source of radiance, wisdom, compassion
empowering a life with purpose

[january 2014]

Continue reading “spirit. human. black woman.”

magic of the message: a sign of love

“aum + amen”

Buddhist-me can see the dharma in all things and appreciates skillful and compassion-centered wisdom from all faiths and philosophies. So when I spotted this sign on the way to Holt Farmers Market yesterday, I knew it was a message worthy to be spread!

Although I couldn’t find an affirming statement of inclusion on the church’s website, Q-Cross at MSU has created a list of affirming churches in East Lansing.

wpid-wp-1422194837920.jpeg

toward wholeness: nurturing interdependence {in honor of mlk jr}

We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality,

Tied in a single thread of destiny.

Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

brown gurls healing circle [18 jan 2014]

Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial “outside agitator” idea.

Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.

~Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
Letter from a Birmingham Jail
[April 16, 1963]

embodied practice: caring for ourselves + others

As sanghas around the globe are breathing deeply for our beloved Thây who is recovering from his recent hospitalization, I am remembering this beautiful practice that he teaches, which my dharma sister has shared with our community over the years: Second Body Practice.

“Our practice is not an individual practice.
We practice with other people, we practice with our Sangha.
The Sangha is also our body…
The practice of the second body is one way we take care of each other in the Sangha.”
— Thich Nhat Hanh

View/Download Thich Nhat Hanh’s article in The Mindfulness Bell Issue #24: Taking Care of Each Other.

 

[18 March 2020 | Content updated to include quote + link to the .pdf of the original article.]

 

[Project 60/50] Toward Wholeness: Race, Faith + Gender Matters in Mental Health

Project 60-50.Toward Wholeness

breathing beauty into the world: a mindfulness practice for children (who are learning to see with eyes of compassion)

Each day I rise, waking to a world of possibilities.

I breathe and smile, happy and ready to learn, grow and share.

I see the sky, sun, clouds above me.

I see the earth, plants, water below me.

I feel the air around me.

I breathe and smile, knowing that I am in the world and the world is in me.

I choose to see beauty in myself, my family, my friends, my neighbors, my teachers, my community, and all living creatures.

I choose to speak words from my heart that are true, helpful, inspiring, necessary, and kind.

I choose to act from my heart in ways that are helpful, healthy, inspiring, and kind.

Even when I do not feel or act my best (whether I am sad, scared, confused or angry), I remember to place my hands on my heart and breathe.

I smile, knowing I can begin anew.
I can ask for help and comfort from those I trust and love.

Each night, I rest, thankful for all that I learned and shared.

I see the sky, moon, stars above me.

I see the beauty all around me. I breathe and smile, knowing that I am in the world and the world is in me.

[originally written Fall 2012 + published on dhamma4mama* 2013]

This writing has multiple sources of inspiration:
  • My experiences as an aunt, mother, and substitute teaching assistant for a preschool program;
  • My experiences as a practitioner and teacher of yoga and meditation, which is rooted in my practice of Zen Buddhism in the lineage of Thich Nhat Hanh;
  • My dear friend TaNesha Barnes, who asked me some time last year to create an affirmation for Beyond The Surface, the critical thinking and social justice academy she literally built in her own backyard!  A 21st-century embodiment of Wonder Woman, TaNesha is a mother, entrepreneur (t. barnes beauty), educator and social justice advocate with a clear heart-driven mission to empower students to become “global thinkers for equitable living.” When she recently posted the draft version of this piece (typed one late-night and stored as a memo on my BlackBerry) on Facebook, I was not only honored that she announced it would be recited daily in her upcoming program, Breathing Beauty Rites of Passages for Black Girls, but also compelled to add some long-awaited finishing touches! I am so deeply grateful to have lived, learned and grown up with TaNesha over the last 19 years and, on this 50th anniversary of the March on Washington (#MOW50), am excited to continue collaborating with her on programs that merge spirituality and wellness with social justice.