The practice of Touching the Earth is to return to the Earth, to our roots, to our ancestors, and to recognize that we are not alone but connected to a whole stream of spiritual and blood ancestors. We are their continuation and with them, will continue into the future generations. We touch the earth to let go of the idea that we are separate and to remind us that we are the Earth and part of Life.
~ excerpt from the Plum Village blog.
Read more about practice of Touching The Earth.
Category Archives: meditation
On “The Muddied Meaning of Mindfulness” | NYT.com
“Maybe the word “mindfulness” is like the Prius emblem, a badge of enlightened and self-satisfied consumerism, and of success and achievement…No one word, however shiny, however intriguingly Eastern, however bolstered by science, can ever fix the human condition. And that’s what commercial mindfulness may have lost from the most rigorous Buddhist tenets it replaced: the implication that suffering cannot be escaped but must be faced. Of that shift in meaning — in the Westernization of sati — we should be especially mindful.” ~VIRGINIA HEFFERNAN
Here I am this morning, preparing to share the practices with a group at our local law school, when this New York Times article pops up in my newsfeed!
When introducing mindfulness to the uninitiated, I am always clear about distinguishing its Buddhist origins–as an energy, a skill, a virtue among many others (like compassion, empathetic joy, trust, equanimity and loving-kindness) that we cultivate within our larger spiritual discipline–from its application as a secular/clinical “technique.”
For practitioners, it is not a trendy tool for self-improvement and is more than just a style of meditation. It is a vital foundation for living. How we think, speak, behave, and engage the world is filtered through the gates of mindfulness. It is one of the 5 Spiritual Faculties (or Powers) that we nourish alongside of trust, diligent effort, concentration and wisdom.
One does not have to become a Buddhist to authentically cultivate mindfulness. Yet many are concerned that as it becomes “sanitized” and popularized, it can also be mis-used and cause harm when not framed within the context of offering a deeper understanding of the teachings (i.e. The Foundations of Mindfulness/Satipatthana Sutta) and community-centered practice of Buddhism.
May all who integrate mindfulness benefit from it and may the fruits of their efforts benefit others.
Read the full article here:
The Muddied Meaning of Mindfulness
touching the earth: spring revival
whipping wind,
conductor and choreographer.
snow-bleached leaves lifted from the composting bed
into a swirling tornado ballet.
brittle and brown — some cracked with lacy veins of decomposition, some waxy-smooth and preserved.
all, frenzied and alive.
reanimated to dance upon the whistling breeze.
The Girl Who Got Up | TashmicaTorok.com
A truth about meditation: it can be uncomfortable or even excruciating, as my friend Tashmica so eloquently shares below.
First we meet the process of physically conditioning our bodies to find and sustain a steady posture (practice note: for me, “conditioning” means understanding how to take care of the tensions in the body not torturing ourselves to endure a rigid alignment that can create more distress). Holding the body through sitting meditation, in particular, takes time…just as training the body to walk a half marathon takes time, diligence and patience.
What we may be surprised to learn is that meditation is not “passive.” Rather, I’ve found it more accurate to frame meditation as I would yoga asana — in which we discover that the opposite of being active is not being passive; it is the more complex and dynamic energy of being receptive.
Sitting within the quiet space of receptivity, we open up to the possibility of encountering the hidden/neglected/protected parts of ourselves. With that, difficulties and discomforts may arise well before any insights or understanding that we may be longing for.
How, then, do we take care of ourselves through those moments when we discover that this practice, which is so often extolled for delivering peace, actually puts us face-to-face with the stunning reality that cultivating peace is a process…a training, not unlike a marathon. Tending to our hearts and minds requires our patience, diligence, and self-compassion.
I love that Tashmica is choosing not to give up but to keep getting up!
movement as meditation: learning to walk in peace (when sitting is not an option)
walking is always, always a good choice.
we were built to walk.
every location of every muscle and every shape of every bone
offers perfection in walking…
our bodies want to walk.
and with the body as in life,
we will find that what attracts us is in our own best interest.
~joy colangelo
It’s 
been almost 15 years since I discovered that walking meditation was actually a thing! It happened quite spontaneously through the normal course of my day, trooping around New York City.
One moment I was mapping out errands and very likely puzzling out the “issue-of-the-day” related to grad school, work or relationships; and the next: I could only hear the sound of my breath and the rhythm of my boots on the pavement.
Everything else dropped away. The cacophony of the bustling neighborhood became a low humming in the background — alerting me of my surroundings but no longer as intrusive or overwhelming as it could be.
In the midst of the relentless “madness,” I felt surprisingly centered, clear and relaxed!
But it would still be years before I even stumbled across mention of walking (along with standing, lying down, and, of course the most commonly-known posture, sitting) as a form of meditation. “Ahhhh,” I thought. “So that’s what was happening?!”
Many moons later, I was introduced to the formal practice of walking meditation when I began studying the dharma with my root sangha. Those 20 minutes that we devoted to silently circumambulating the temple helped us transition from the hustle of the day into the quiet refuge of practice. Physically, it also helped to ease tension and to p
repare us to sit steadily in meditation for 20 minutes.
Beyond the temple walls, I’ve enjoyed walking meditation in yoga studios, at a labyrinth, on a park trail….and lately: around the rug in my living room!
So walk where you are to invite mindfulness and cultivate peace.
embodied practice: on walking where you are
spirit. human. black woman.
V shared a personal revelation —
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]
embodied wisdom: 15-mile meditation
My foot, poised for motion, rests upon solid Earth.
My lungs balloon open to capture Air. An expansion that readies my heart for the journey.
Oxygen combusts into compassion. Fueled, I step into Wind’s welcoming arms.
Blade-sharp chill cuts through illusion.
Clear comprehension arises.
Movement is my refuge: those sensations, vibrating upward from sole to soul, become a massage that awakens equanimity.
Steady footfalls, rhythmic and soothing, lull mind inward.
Penetrating deeply but gently. Flushed through arteries to appendages. Aligned. Attuned.
The course (my design) landmarked by old injuries and hard-won victories in self-understanding.
A training in awareness: an inside-out, 360 degree study of my body gliding through space, covering distances immeasurable by miles.
No striving. No pursuing. (No race, no finish line, no medal.)
Simply abiding.
Cheered on by the thrumming of heart and the rejoicing of cells and muscle fibers.
Spirit soars. Boundless.
In call and response, I am guided by the synergistic conversation between my lungs and legs.
Who will lead? Walk now? Or run? They negotiate in whispers with the lumbar.
Adjustments are made to pace and posture. Muscles contract and relax in a reassuring hug.
My complex weave of supple tissues and resilient fibers, in harness, I am anchored–
Head to heart, hip to heel–as shoulder blades kiss my spine to bolster each vertebrae toward open Sky.
By my stride: 30,000 steps or so.
By my breath: a fusion of body, mind and heart.
Reclaimed. Reconciled. I am solid, steady, free. In this body. As it is.
good spiritual friends: walking the path together
When a fellow member of my running group shared this image and quote with us all, I was “AUM-ing” and “AMEN-ing” at the simple truth of this message. The 8 miles I logged this morning in the company of friends made every step easier. Laughter, insights, wise counsel and encouragement filled every moment of our two-and-half hour excursion.
It did not matter that everyone could not go the full distance.
Showing up, being committed to ourselves, and supporting others in the commitments they make to themselves is the stuff that running buddies and good spiritual friends are made of!
It is a treasure to have partners who help keep us accountable, on the pavement and on our chosen life paths, as we make bold proclamations for our self-care and aspirations. In my twenties, I longed for this type of loving support and was grateful to find it when I needed it most. Just as crucial — I learned through those relationships (and continue to refine through my dharma practice) to be the same kind of friend I value.
Becoming a good spiritual friend (kalyanamitra or kalyanamitta in Sanskrit/Pali) takes time, experience, maturity, skillfullness, discernment, the willingness to be vulnerable and, in turn, to bear witness to vulnerability in others. It demands that we learn not to “co-sign crazy” (a mantra and rule that I lovingly and frequently remind friends, old and new, will be upheld)! Rather than join in on a rant-and-rage session or hold our tongue when a friend is out of order, we invite these dear ones to pause and look deeply when they are caught in harmful/unskillful patterns. We shine the light — helping them wade through the muck toward clear intentions and possible resolutions. We ask what they think they need or, when they’re uncertain, simply step back while offering to be there whenever they are ready to work through it. But other situations require that we share our direct observations because our friend’s perspective may be the source of the difficulty.
For those who lament the lack of sleep or time to relax, we support them in finding moments of peace. If they say they’d like to exercise more often, we invite them out on a walk. For the friend who has difficulty asking for help, we remember to reach out first. We learn better than to give the workaholic or the people-pleaser, who can’t say “No,” one more task to juggle.
The good spiritual friend learns to see clearly and to respond wisely to the need or challenge in the moment. No dictating, judging, or chiding. They deliver the appropriate support with compassion and understanding. They help us to go deep in our self-inquiry, to acknowledge our true desires and quiet fears, and to live authentically and wholeheartedly.
They sweeten the journey and cheer us on as we come back, again and again, to our true selves.
More on Spiritual Friendship
Kalyāṇa-mittatā [definition]
Admirable Friendship
Mitta Sutta
embodied practice: the gift of time and space
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