justice, liberation, healing

soul care, liberation + legacy work in 2020

In August of 2019, I discerned it was time to take a sabbatical from community practice to focus on managing my grandmother’s care following a health crisis. Then “life and opportunity” showed up to affirm that decision when I was recruited to work with The Firecracker Foundation (where I am now one of the Co-Directors). So Sangha gathered for its final practice in November 2019 with the understanding that I would be on sabbatical to adjust to my new role while discerning when and how I would hold space during the spring.

March 2020, life and opportunity showed up this time in the form of a global pandemic to reaffirm how critical sacred rest is for fueling and fortifying one’s spiritual constitution. What followed next was devastating:

Black Folx. Murdered. By Police. Again. And Again. And Again. Without Remedy.

Police Killed 164 Black in 2020: Part I | Part II
#KnowTheirNames

Black Folx. Targeted. Stalked. Surveilled. Threatened. Accused. Attacked. Murdered. By Any White Man and Any White Woman who decided they didn’t have the right to breathe, to jog, to birdwatch, to bbq, to sell water, to walk into their own homes, to sleep inside their own beds…to SIMPLY EXIST. All Without Remedy. Racially-biased calls to the police. Racially-biased. Attacks. Racially-motivated. Murders. Racially-motivated. Hate Crimes.

The civil unrest in protest against white supremacy and the state-sanctioned murders of unarmed Black people stirred, amplified and crystallized the message that had already been emerging from the previously quieter months of rest, reflection, and restoration.

I am called and compelled to dedicate my energetic resources to the legacy work of justice, liberation, soul care and collective healing (via radical bodhicitta) in service of those who are disproportionately vulnerable to the harms of structural oppression. Namely, the Black, Indigenous, and Latinx youth I mentor, who are survivors of gender-based violence, along with others who embody multiply-marginalized identities.

My work will not include leading and facilitating Sangha at this time.

I will continue to offer 1-with-1 spiritual direction and will be establishing a separate website with those services. In the meantime, information can be found here.

This site will continue to function as a historical marker of my spiritual journey.

a bodhisattva votes

radical bodhicitta

This 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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special event | radical bodhicitta — embodying justice, liberation + healing

radical bodhicitta

In this 4-hour immersive experience, practitioners will be guided through embodied meditations and self-inquiry exercises to:

Awaken and strengthen the 4 Foundations of Mindfulness and 5 Spiritual Faculties;

Deepen skillful understanding of their relationship to privilege, power and oppression;

Move toward skillful and sustainable action to cultivate justice, liberation and healing within themselves and their relationships.

[radical bodhicitta is a module from the When + Where We Enter program]

Saturday, November 10th

10 am – 2 pm

Van Hanh Temple

3015 S. Washington Avenue | Southside of Lansing

Dana/Contribution: $20 | $10 | Other*

— Registration Is Now Closed —

*The sliding scale is offered to widen the invitation to practitioners of varying financial ability. Paying at the full rate sustains this practice. Practitioners may also donate additional funds to sponsor fellow registrants. Contributions can be made in advance (via PayPal; see registration form) or upon arrival (cash).

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refuge, resistance, resilience + radical self-expression

“The Sangha is an island of peace. The Sangha is a community of resistance against violence, hate and despair.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

These words of my root teacher Thây live at the core of our sangha’s suchness. They have shaped our evolution into a community of spiritual friends who find sanctuary in journeying together through challenge and change; being stretched and sharpened by wisdom teachings, shared insights and loving (re)assurances; shedding skin, healing, transforming, blooming wholy into our radiant bodhisattva-ness!

We are called together to revive, reclaim and fortify ourselves with liberating contemplative spiritual practices. We take refuge in the full embrace of sangha to “remember to remember” that we have all we need — breath, willingness, enough time, connection to wise companions with gifts, skills and rich life experiences — to (re)connect with our true selves and nourish our wholeness.

“Retreating” from the madness of the world around us is not a viable option for everyone. For me, access to organized retreats set in bucolic off-the-grid environs invites us to interrogate spiritual elitism and the socioeconomic realities and other disparities and inequities among practitioners in all spiritual traditions. It points us back to the question of how we practice and cultivate justice, liberation and healing as people of faith and wonder.

So we take refuge in “the wisdom of no escape” each time we come back to ourselves wherever we are in a given moment, when conditions are not optimal, when our lives aren’t set up for leaving.

Each time we spring back from our worst moments, we strengthen our resilience, self-trust and capacity to resist being swept away by the toxicity of systemic degradation, violence and oppression that spreads like contagion.

It is my deepest hope and prayer that we know the freedom of trusting ourselves, of embodying the spirit of refuge that feeds our radical being-ness.

Who are we when we cultivate and embody refuge?

Who are we when we cultivate and embody resistance?

Who are we when we cultivate and embody resilience?

Who are we when we cultivate, embody and celebrate radical self-expression?

living into community | interfaith thanksgiving service

Deeply honored to have had the opportunity to live into community and abide in Spirit with friends on the path last night.

Bowing with gratitude to Rev. Jen Tafel for the energy of her vision and voice to widen the circle of inclusivity on multiple levels at the Interfaith Thanksgiving Service. You took no credit for all the work you did to organize this special event, still your magic shined through! Thank you for bringing us all together and for inviting me to weave my voice into this service.

Celebrating Rev. Phiwa Langeni for doing the damn thang and truly activating the call to embody gratitude for all who were blessed to hear your sermon.

Treasuring the gift of being able to bring radical bodhicitta — the awakened heart of justice, liberation and healing — into the sanctuary by sharing:

the practice of inviting the bell so that we may inhabit our bodies, hearts and minds with full and loving awareness;

and the wise and loving words of zen buddhist priest, Zenju Earthlyn Manuel.

Interfaith Thanksgiving Service Reading

For All Beings

by Zenju Earthlyn Manuel

May all beings be cared for and loved,

Be listened to, understood and acknowledged despite different views,

Be accepted for who they are

in this moment,

Be afforded patience,

Be allowed to live without fear of having their lives taken away or their bodies violated.

May all beings,

Be well in its broadest sense,

Be fed,

Be clothed,

Be treated as if their life is precious,

Be held in the eyes of each other as family.

May all beings,

Be appreciated,

Feel welcomed anywhere on the planet,

Be freed from acts of hatred and desperation including war, poverty, slavery, and street crimes,

Live on the planet, housed and protected from harm,

Be given what is needed to live fully, without scarcity,

Enjoy life, living without fear of one another,

Be able to speak freely in a voice and mind of undeniable love.

May all beings,

receive and share the gifts of life,

Be given time to rest, be still, and experience silence.

May all beings,

Be awake.

from Chants Against Hatred

bearing witness | full moon meditation

How Spirit answers when you’re contemplating this coming Sunday’s dharma circle on Bearing Witness — looking back, beneath and beyond!

° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °

“untitled”

who is healed?

who is housed?

who is silent?

who speaks?

whose hopes?

whose fears?

whose values

whose justice?

— the art of barbara kruger,

on nyc metrocards《via performa 17: http://17.performa-arts.org/events/barbara-kruger21》

° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °

Sangha will reflect upon:

what we have turned away from and what we have turned toward following last year’s election and its devastating impact on the well-being of our bodies, hearts, minds, spirits and relationships.

We’ll look deeply into:

what is

arising × dissolving

compelling × challenging

enduring × transforming

in our relationship to justice, liberation and healing?

when + where we enter | weekend intensive

I had the great honor and joy to spend a beautiful weekend holding space for my Quaker friends to discern how we skillfully engage in practices of justice, liberation, and healing.

Leading with Spirit + Faith, practitioners were guided to focus on “discernment over data” in order to:

GET GROUNDED — Cutting through the noise in order to get clear about one’s intentions and to honestly assess what one feels compelled and equipped to do.

BUILD CAPACITY — Cultivating an intimate understanding of one’s self and one’s values; examining the ways we each embody privilege and risk as well as each individual’s unique relationship to injustice, power and oppression; fortifying one’s self through transformative practices of deep listening and skillful communication. Discerning how each of us shows up, lends our presence and privilege, and can learn to apply our skills without creating more harm.

CENTER OUR WELLNESS + PRACTICE ACCOUNTABILITY — Using sacred tools and skillful strategies to restore, nourish and sustain healing, well-being, and wholeness; and establishing the circles of trust to support our learning and growing toward compassion, connection, and reconciliation.

radical bodhicitta

if there is no silence, there is no stillness.
if there is no stillness, there is no insight.
if there is no insight, there is no clarity.
— tenzin priyadarshi

— red cedar friends | 21 – 22 october 2017 —

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on the dharma shelf | october 2017

Pedagogy of Hope: Reliving Pedagogy of the Oppressed — Paulo Freire

“No, my hope is necessary. But it is not enough. Alone it does not win but without it my struggle will be weak and wobbly. We need critical hope like a fish needs unpolluted water.”

The Sovereignty of Quiet: Beyond Resistance in Black Culture — Kevin Quashie

“Resistance may be deeply resonant with black culture and history, but it is not sufficient for describing the totality of black humanity.

In humanity, quiet is our dignity. This quiet is represented by our interior…In its magnificence, quiet is an invitation to consider black cultural identity from somewhere other than the conceptual places that we have come to accept as definitive of and singular to black culture—not the “hip personality” exposed to and performed for the world, but the interior aliveness, the reservoir of human complexity that is deep inside…

It is this exploration, this reach toward the inner life, that an aesthetic of quiet makes possible; and it is this that is the path to a sweet freedom: a black expressiveness without publicness as its forbearer, a black subject in the undisputed dignity of its humanity.”

As a contemplative and empath who has a heart for justice, liberation and healing, this excerpt from Kevin Quashie’s book rings loud and true for me!

Don’t mistake someone’s deep-soul need (or preference or disposition) for quiet/silence as passivity or inaction. In my practice, the opposite of active is not passive. It is receptive.

Some of us need to time to cut through the noise in order to thoroughly digest and reflect on the energy and information we receive. So I value and facilitate processes of discernment and self-inquiry that help us transform “silence into language and action” (in the words of the powerhouse Audre Lorde). From this place of quiet introspection, we can cull insight, clarity and resilience to move from personal healing and transformation toward skillful action.

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.

radical bodhicitta | justice is my love language

When I took the test for the 5 love languages years ago, it came as no surprise that my primary love language is acts of service (followed by quality time).

Last Wednesday, I was invited to give a dharma talk on social justice at my root sangha and opened with Dr. Cornel West’s oft-quoted observation that:

“to be human, you must bear witness to justice.
justice is what love looks like in public —
to be human is to love and be loved.”

It is a powerful reminder that love and justice are seeded in the heart.

As often as I have revisited this quote, it was only in that moment — in the quiet, sacred space of the Temple and in the presence of fellow dharma practitioners who offered their full awareness and open hearts to bear witness to my insights about the dharma and its threads to justice — that I realized that I feel most embraced, understood, and cared for by those who speak to me from a heart centered in justice, liberation, and healing.

I receive and express love in the form of justice, liberation, and transformative healing. This is how I embody the call to serve and how I put my faith into action: by turning toward and lifting up that which helps us to reclaim and prioritize our joy, wellness, and wholeness over and above the madness of hate, violence, and oppression.

Category Archives: justice, liberation, healing

soul care, liberation + legacy work in 2020

a bodhisattva votes

special event | radical bodhicitta — embodying justice, liberation + healing

Saturday, November 10th