Tag Archives: #TheSuchnessofSangha

#WholyHappyHour [Sunday, 10/11]: “The Suchness of Sangha: Holding Space for Ourselves + One Another”

After a wonderful season of Walking The Labyrinth, I am excited to delve into the deep inquiry and rich discussions that follow our sitting practice.

This Sunday at Heartdance Studio, we’ll explore “The Suchness of Sangha: Holding Space for Ourselves + One Another” and share our curiosities, concerns and insights about cultivating community through spiritual practice. #GoodSpiritualFriends

We will also have in attendance a researcher from The Religious Soundmap Project at MSU who will record the practice as part of a collaborative effort “to demonstrate the diversity of religious beliefs and practices” in our region.

MORE THIS WEEK:

Oct 7th | 7 – 9 PM ~ I’ll lead the dharma discussion at Lansing Area Mindfulness Community on the Second Mindfulness Training – TRUE HAPPINESS.

ON THE HORIZON:

Oct 25th | 11 AM – 12:30 PM ~ #WholyHappyHour: 3 Jewels Yoga Sangha at Heartdance Studio.

Nov 1st | 11 AM – 1:00 PM ~ Inviting Mindfulness: Reconciling with the Body at Just B Yoga.

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.]

 

#TheSuchnessofSangha: on “sitting together” ~ thich nhat hanh

Sitting alone is wonderful. Sitting with a friend makes meditation easier.
There is a Vietnamese saying that goes like this: “When you eat rice, you need to have soup.”
When you practice mindfulness, you have to have friends.
When we sit together, we generate a collective energy of mindfulness that is very powerful…
The collective energy is very supportive and effective in helping us gain insight and transform difficulties.
As a practitioner we can benefit from that energy to help us embrace our pain and our suffering.
You can silently say, “Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Sangha, this is my suffering. Please brothers and sisters, please help me to embrace this pain and this suffering.”

~Thich Nhat Hanh from “How to Sit”