Spirit Poems

  Aging for Beginners Ezra Bayda with Elizabeth Hamilton Wisdom Publications  November 20, 2018 Review by Larry Smith   “Aging for Beginners becomes a crafted weaving of authentic understanding, an act of love.”   Ezra Bayda has been practicing meditation since 1970. In 1998, he was authorized to teach Zen by Zen master Charlotte Joko Beck, and now lives, writes, and teaches at the Zen Center of San Diego. His books are known for their relaxed tone and helpful sharing. Among the best are Being Zen: Bringing Meditation to Life , Beyond Happiness: The Zen Way to True Contentment , a nd Saying Yes to Life: Even the Hard Parts . His wife Elizabeth Hamilton, who assists Bayda in this book, is a meditation instructor and the author of Untrain Your Parrot .   As Bayda points out, with over 15% of the U.S. population now over 65, many are now writing about the journey into aging as a meaningful part of life. A contrast to Stephen Jenkinson’s Come of Age: The...

Forgive me for falling back on a wisdom post from  “From Centering Prayer Retreat,” as part of In A Spacious Place done by Cynthia Bourgeault . I find it so beautifully true and close to the heart of our study of Saint Theresa… Dualistic consciousness cannot experience unitive being. As long as you want to hang on to the experience/experiencer dualism and revel in all these experiences, this is where you will be stopped. No matter how good it feels, you will be stuck at the illuminative level (between purgative and unitive). The illuminative stage is characterized by a contented ego that has wonderful mysterious unitive experiences. But you are having experiences. You can go further than this dualistic consciousness which can have unitive experiences but cannot be unitive consciousness. You don’t need to stop at the illuminative. You can move right through it to the place where you suspend the subject/object dualism, become unitive being and then flow back into the personal...

Here is a gentle 10 minute guided meditation adapted  from Ezra Bayda Coming into experience...and being aware from Converging Paths Meditation Center Huron, Ohio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H12s6-KB6eU

Ann's Guided Meditation...Take time to connect with yourself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrlEgjJUd3E&t=4s

First Dance Yes, the boys sit or stand along the gymnasium wall, while the girls flit along the edge. Unlike their days of holding hands and marching round the gym, their eyes glance up and down while the music plays, and in skirts or slacks, their hips begin to sway . And then the Principal appears without his suit and tie to call them out into the middle and speak the words they long for: “Now choose a partner…everyone.”   The eyes go up, the hands go out, the breath quickens with the heart. To touch this other, to smell their hair, to glide together, bodies linked, is the softness in a dream, and there they float.   But then the music stops— “Okay now,” is called, “you must choose different partner.” And so, another rite begins.

The River            And we went down boys and girls together in our school clothes along the smelly creek all the way to the river. Brambles and stones beneath our feet, we passed rails and mill gates. And there we stood looking out in silence at the great river too wide to swim across though some might have tried and drowned too young. And our teacher stepped in allowing her skirt to rise to her hips like a cloud with her inside, and lifting her arms she beckoned one by one to her side where she blessed aloud our baptism, not to God, but to the waters, and we the fish that lived inside and it inside of us, "Forever and forever,"  she simply said, "You are one."   And some laughed for joy and some bowed their heads and cried.

“You can only go into the unknown when you have made friends with yourself.” —Pema Chödrön Dear friends, We are, by our very nature, vulnerable beings. We resist that which makes us uncomfortable, and when faced with feelings of vulnerability—whether from loss, fear, or self-criticism—we automatically put up barriers. But we cannot ever truly avoid feeling vulnerable—it’s part of the human experience. By getting comfortable with feeling uncomfortable, however, we can work toward taming the one thing that causes the most suffering—the mind. In the Buddhist contemplative tradition, we are taught that our fundamental state of being is one where we are wide open, awake, and possessing an immense capacity for love. -What if you could learn to embrace the full spectrum of your experience with unconditional warmth, openness, and kindness? -What if you no longer "hated" being vulnerable and, instead of overwhelming you, your emotions became your teachers? -What if you c...