Tag Archives: #AMindfulNation

on refuge + resistance | today we march

Reclaim. Resist. Rise Up! For Justice. For Equity. For A Future To Be Possible. #MarchOnWashington #MarchOnLansing #SisterMarch

#WhyIMarch

For those who came before me — for their sacrifices, suffering, and will to survive.

It’s in my DNA to give a damn!

I embody privilege and risk as an educated cis-hetero black woman who is the daughter of an immigrant, a mother to a multi-ethnic child, a wife in an interfaith, inter-racial marriage to a survivor of gun violence who lives with a disability.

I cannot, do not, will not co-sign craziness.

For my beloveds and for all the beloveds in generations to come to inherit an Earth that has been restored to wholeness and where integrity, compassion, wisdom, creativity, and deep listening are society’s leading values .

To call out unmitigated and unexamined whiteness, which in its denial of privilege and  refusal to take accountability for oppressions and inequities, creates a toxicity that corrodes what unites us.

Because corruption and complacency are killing us.

To build our capacity as a spiritually resilient community that cultivates and protects justice, freedom, and equity through compassionate, creative, innovative and skillful understanding and actions.

To be a beacon of light as a community of refuge and resistance against hate, violence, inequity and oppression.

For Justice, Liberation + Healing!

Today, we march. Tomorrow, we rest, take refuge and restore ourselves to rise up and to take action again.

on refuge + resistance | reclaiming king’s dream

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We begin this historic week with the commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the National Day of Racial Healing as we trudge toward the final day that our country’s first Black president, Barack Obama, will stand as head of state. Fueled and aflame, with our hearts and minds resting on justice, liberation and healing, we take refuge in the good works, legacy, and words of wisdom from emissaries of light.

In intimate circles, we draw closer, lean into, speak truths and listen deeply to one another — resisting the temptation to be pulled under by despair, fear, hate, and hopeless.  En masse, we gather, convene, rally, and march — using our voices and bodies to resist the normalization of this new swell of injustice and violence that seeks to impoverish, divide, and oppress us. Wherever we are, we reclaim the integrity of King’s vision: to stand firmly in our commitment to serve, liberate, heal, love and cultivate, demand, and protect justice and equity in order to restore ourselves and our communities to wholeness.

_________________________

“You may well ask: “Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn’t negotiation a better path?”

You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word “tension.”

I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.

The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. “

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Letter from a Birmingham Jail

#ReclaimMLK

Movement for Black Lives ~
Resist + Reclaim   |   Schedule of Actions

March on Lansing ~
What We Stand For

Mashable ~ 8 Quotes

Take Part ~
‘Reclaim MLK’ Protesters Kick Santitized King Ideology to the Curb

Zenju ~
Now Is The Time We Have Been Waiting For

from the 3 Jewels Yoga dhamma shelf
toward wholeness: nurturing interdependence in honor of mlk jr
touching the earth | reflections on zenju’s “way-seeking mind of martin luther king jr.”

special sangha event [1/22]: deep refuge + restoration circle

Harnessing the energy and light of the Women’s March in Washington as well our very own March on #LoveLansing, Sangha will draw closer together to shine our beacon of refuge, resistance, and restoration.

Living Into Community, Building Our Capacity with the Noble Eightfold Path.

11 am – 12:30 pm | Meditation + Dharma Discussion

12:30 – 2:00 pm | Feast + Fellowship Circle

We gather at Heartdance Studio – 1806 E. Michigan Avenue. Doors open just before 11 am. Centering begins at 11:10-ish.

RSVP/UPDATES: 3 Jewels Yoga Sangha

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Other Community Events:

14 January – National Day of Action for Flint | Capitol Building

17 January – Our Dream: Lansing United | Lansing Center

19 January – Ghostlight Project | Peppermint Creek Theatre

21 January – Children’s Social Justice Reading Group | East Lansing Public Library

21 January – Women Organize Michigan Summit

show me ya ballot: the devil you know

It’s been a long, hard day and I’m grateful to have had the container of a Health Equity + Social Justice Workshop to process my outrage, grief, fear and — most surprising to me — an arising MISTRUST!

And I respect my feelings and my mental/spiritual well-being enough to be honest and vocal about the fact that I cannot welcome hope, acceptance, or understanding right now.

I’ve conjured calm, and only calm, in this moment. But it is not peace. Nor am I rushing to get through to the other side of these emotions.

My safety and freedom and that of those I love, who live in the crosshairs of existing with “target group” identities (people of color, immigrants, non-Christian, disabled, gender non-conforming, LGBTQ+, working class, among other marginalized intersections), has been compromised!

That we’ve always been vulnerable is not new. And that, by far, is the scariest: As much as we hope, rally, advocate, model, and assume positions that impact change, we remain vulnerable and targeted. The confederate flags come out in my native #LoveLansing community and around the country in a display that feels too close to reconstructionist era pogroms.

So, yeah, I wanna see er-body’s receipts — those who voted for hate and those who still operate under apathy and deception that their vote doesn’t count. ‘Cause right now, I’m finding it difficult to imagine consciously fostering or continuing relationships with anyone who would act so recklessly to conspire with hate and white supremacy.

Like the Negro Motorist Green Book did for the Jim Crow/Civil Rights generations, I wanna know the local and national businesses that are celebrating this misbegotten “victory” so that I can ensure my resources never reach their coffers.

In Buddhist practice we say congratulations
because now is the time we have been practicing for. 
No more just practicing the dance.
We must now dance.
And this is not a dress rehearsal.

~ Zenju

Read more responses from Buddhist teachers on Lion’s Roar.

healing wisdom: on the embodiment of peace

“For a number of years, I believed God would
finally and dramatically intervene on earth,
initiating a worldwide reign of peace and justice.

I no longer believe that.

My Quaker morality will not permit me to assign to God
the work of peace that rightly belongs to us…

3jewels.gulleyquote

Jesus and other great spiritual teachers
provide signposts pointing the way to peace,
but they do not magically speak it into being.”

~ Philip Gulley, Living the Quaker Way


FOR A LIST OF COMMUNITY EVENTS

TOWARD HEALING IN #LOVELANSING,

VIEW the 3 Jewels Yoga Facebook page.  

HEAR HERE [for deep listening]: The Resilient World We’re Building Now | On Being with Krista Tippett

“In the last year and a half, from the black community in and of itself, as we say “black lives matter,”
you see the light that comes inside of people to other communities that are like, I’m going to stand on the side of black lives.
You see people literally transforming. And that’s a different type of work. And for me, that is a spiritual work.
It’s a healing work and we don’t have it codified. There’s no science to it. Really, it’s — we are social creatures.
Human to human, if you take a moment to be with somebody, to understand the pains they’re going through, you get to transform yourself.”
~ Patrisse Cullors, #BlackLivesMatter Co-Founder

Listen to the podcast: The Resilient World We’re Building Now

HEAR HERE [for deep listening]: Opening The Question of Race to the Question of Belonging | On Being with Krista Tippett

And I think being human is about being in the right kind of relationships. I think being human is a process. It’s not something that we just are born with. We actually learn to celebrate our connection, learn to celebrate our love. And the thing about it — if you suffer, it does not imply love. But if you love, it does imply suffering. So part of the thing that I think what being human means to love and to suffer, to suffer with, though, compassion, not to suffer against. So to have a space big enough to suffer with. And if we can hold that space big enough, we also have joy and fun even as we suffer. And suffering will no longer divide us. And to me, that’s sort of the human journey.
~ john a. powell

I was invited to facilitate a dharma discussion for my root sangha to address the wellspring of emotions and concerns members have expressed following the tragedy in Charleston last week. Drawing on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, I entitled the talk “Good Spiritual Friends: Taking Care of Ourselves & One Another in the Face of Racism, Bias, & Injustice” and asked that we actively investigate our own perceptions, intentions and behaviors as we reflect on how to apply and cultivate the dharma in response to such devastation. We expressed our confusion, anger, shame, fear, helplessness, outrage. We cried. We breathed. We sat with our discomfort. 

I asked that we continue to find refuge in practices that help to nourish and ground us as well as those that illuminate unskilfulness, awaken clear comprehension, and inspire compassionate actions.

That sweet space of refuge is fleeting: Our hearts burst open with the victory of the Marriage Equality Act last Friday. Then they are crushed once more with every church that goes up in flames at the hands of racist terrorists. 

For sanity and nourishment, I am mindful about what I consume–attempting to combat this madness by sharing this dose of sustenance (clear, compassionate understanding) for the mind and soul.

Hear Here: john a powell ~ Opening the Question of Race to the Question of Belonging

KnowTheirNames
artist: sarah green

from cushion to community: navigating faith livestream

So a Rabbi, a Buddhist, an Inter-Spirtual teacher, a Hindu, a Christian + an Imam sit down at at table…

Yes, it sounds like a setup to a humorless joke but it was a joy to participate in this interfaith conversation where we planted seeds for building bridges and fostering compassionate understanding among people of various philosophies and faiths.

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Livestream for MSU Alumni LENS panel discussion: Navigating Faith-based Differences

Or click to view here: http://livestream.com/msualumni/FAITH

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]