sangha – Page 5 – tscottmiller

bearing witness | looking back, beneath + beyond

Our fall series, Bearing Witness begins this Sunday! Over the next few months, we’ll be looking back, beneath + beyond as we contemplate a range of queries as practices related to our encounters with joy, sorrow, in/justice, forgiveness and reconciliation.

11 am – 1 pm | Heartdance Studio

1806 E. Michigan Avenue

DANA/DONATION: $5

Doors open just before 11 AM. Centering begins @ 11:10ish. Doors are locked at 11:30 AM.

The new end time reflects the reality of how our time together has organically unfolded. So I’ve officially extended the practice an extra 30 minutes to allow more space to enrich our silence, connection and insight.

Whether arriving late or departing early, please enter and exit with mindfulness-–observing noble silence and, if possible, arriving/departing during the transition periods between practices.

when harvest is a feast for body, heart + soul

sun + breath + good spiritual friends + scratch-made yummies = harvest!

Thank you, loves, for sharing your gifts — hugs, hearts, laughter, presence, silence, curiosities, discoveries, baking/gardening/pickling talents…and so much more!

We’ll take refuge in the full embrace of Sangha on October 8th when our fall series Bearing Witness begins.

how we sunday | yantra bouquet

Love that this gorgeous bouquet serendipitously became the yantra for our meditation and contemplation:

Turning toward the joy and magic of harvest — reaping and celebrating the abundance we’ve earned in the form of clarity, truth and authenticity, love with wisdom, trust and accountability.

Thank you for these gifts, my friends!

bearing witness | on the delusion of colorblindness

Open ya eyes wide and see the truth of the skin I’m in. #TakeItAllIn

As a Dharma practitioner, I have cultivated Sangha on the sacred grounds of the Satipatthana Sutta (the Four Establishments of Mindfulness) and, in our gatherings, turn us again and again and again back to this foundational practice that teaches us to listen deeply,

see clearly,

and “remain established in the observation of the body in the body, diligent, with clear understanding, mindful, having abandoned every craving and every distaste for this life” [Majjhima Nikaya 10, as translated in Thich Nhat Hanh’s Transformation + Healing]. So too with the observation of feelings, thoughts/mental states and perceptions of whatever is in our field of awareness as we engage the world around us.

It is a spiritual discipline to help us acknowledge, take care of, and free ourselves from our attachments (what we cling to) and aversions (what we avoid). It is a spiritual practice that fosters discernment, accountability, transformation and healing.

Our skillful understanding of how connected we all are — the principle of interdependence — does not negate or override the commitment we make to:
Show Up, Notice, Pay Attention, Be Present, Hold Space, Cultivate Silence, Listen Deeply, Bear Witness.

We own our actions (thoughts, words + deeds). We are responsible for seeing and perceiving ourselves and one another clearly and in our wholeness. Skillful Understanding supports Skillful Thinking and Skillful Action.

To avoid seeing race/ethnicity is to cling to delusion. It is neither an act of compassion or generosity and not only hinders authentic connection but flat-out undermines our capacity for justice, liberation and transformative healing.

on spiritual accounting, resistance + boundaries

I usually tune out during commercials, but when I heard Iyanla drop this gem in a teaser for her new season of Fix My Life, I woke the hell up!

I know what resistance looks, sounds, and feels like (thank the goddess I’ve learned to own mine). And, as an empath, I’ve been admittedly agitated by recent encounters with folks harboring energies of delusion, denial, dissatisfaction and the inability to practice accountability about things that are within their sphere of influence. all of these qualities are manifestations of our resistance to spiritual growth.

If we are truly willing to do the work, then we can develop, expand and strengthen our capacity to change our perceptions — even though we may not have the power to (immediately) change our conditions or circumstances.

Spiritual accounting calls for an honest and loving look inward to:

discern the unresolved areas that are causing disparities between our thoughts, words, and deeds.
see our habit energies and patterns of behavior that keep us stuck in grooves that cause suffering.
tend to our wounds and move toward wholeness and healing.

I’m blessed with a circle of beloveds who hold each other down, lift each other up, and trust each other to lovingly say, “Hey, sis, your shadow is showing!“

What we won’t do is co-sign one another’s craziness!

It’s okay to not be ready, to have doubts ans fears. Where I’ve learned to draw firm boundaries is with those who wear the armor of unwillingness and who are committed to their stuckness. With them, I call on the tough-love wisdom I grew up hearing: “I can’t want [your wellness/healing/wholeness] more for you than you want it for yourself.”

Uninitiated healers often spend way too much time trying to minister to wounds that aren’t theirs to heal and guide those who aren’t theirs to teach. On this, I speak from hard-won experience.

So I’ll conserve my energy, guard my intuitive spirit, filter out the lesson from the agitation, and step waaay the hell back before the connection becomes toxic.

dirt + dharma | healing through transformation

a tree in transformation.

some may see it as a premature sign of fall and lament the coming season of harvest.

but this here is actually a sign of distress and, most importantly, of its inherent capacity for self-preservation by inducing its transformation in order to heal! its profound cellular wisdom illuminates the beauty in the process of surrendering to rebirth.

a lesson for those of us who seek, cultivate and advocate/facilitate transformative healing:

the healing of wounds happens in stages and at a pace that is determined by the quality of our attention and care as well as the conditions we create to optimize our healing.

it begins with developing the capacity to discern the source of our suffering and committing to the heartwork of lovingly tending to our wounds. and, because some scars never go away, recognizing that our healing continues beyond the restoration of wound to new tissue.

rather, we invite a complete transformation that — like the tree ridding itself of invasive pests that are feeding off it — involves shedding, releasing, eliminating, purging and, ultimately, being renewed. in body, heart, mind and spirit.

healing through transformation is a willingness to be changed by the process of healing!

“Many biologists believe that an early color change is an attempt of a tree to rid itself of insect pests, especially those that feed on the juices in the cells. These insects have evolved with these trees and shrubs, and understand that when the chemical process behind the leaves changing color begins, their meal ticket ends. Rather than feeding on other leaves, many will move on in search of a better food source…

In essence, leaves changing color too early is a defensive mechanism that allows the stressed out shrub or tree to eliminate at least one source of trouble.” ~ Kristi Waterworth

[from Gardening Know How: Early Color Change Of Foliage: What To Do For Tree Leaves Turning Early]

dirt + dharma

the strength of fingers, the might of earth.

gratified by the labor of tending + clearing the path.

where sweat meets dust, we see the body + soul at work.

the day’s lesson: let that shit go!

found/left behind: scattered rose petals. a mason jar with a forgotten sip. a book on philosophy…

“The logic of the rebel is to want to serve justice so as not to add to the injustice of the human condition, to insist on plain language so as not to increase the universal falsehood, and to wager, in spite of human misery, for happiness.” ~ Albert Camus, The Rebel

more gems from our sunday: zen mom life