Dear Friends,
I want to suggest some practices that could be helpful during these days of upheaval. Like many people, I find myself experiencing waves of fear, and, to a lesser extent, waves of anger and sadness. Fortunately, I have accumulated 30 years of tools in wellness work and the practice of dharma (Buddhist teachings) to help settle my mind during these unsettled times. My hope is that some of what I practice might be of use to you. Even in times of great uncertainty we can ground ourselves in these verities.
If you haven’t yet undertaken learning meditation now is the time! The beauty of meditation is that it helps train the mind to do what we want it to do, not what it wants to do. It’s best to treat it like a feral dog. Stay away unless safe! Once we’ve trained our minds they can support us in staying absolutely present in each and every moment, making it less likely for them to spin out into dystopian scenarios of isolation, destruction, loss, and death. Take it from me! Whatever the present moment presents is almost invariably more peaceful and ordered than whatever’s going on in my mind! This is the perfect time for practice.
My favorite word of late to describe meditation practice is concentration. It takes real concentration on the here and now to stem the tide of doomsday thought. It takes real concentration to remember to wash hands regularly and to not touch my face. Most rewardingly, staying focused in the present reminds me to appreciate the many, many moments of health and calm that I actually have.
Have you ever wondered how some men and women who have committed crimes can return from prison, often many years later, with the calm and equanimity of Buddhas? It can point to how they’ve transmuted their time behind bars into a form of meditation retreat. Our minds can imprison us whether in jail or not. They can also free us if we can discipline them, even when behind bars. So when we’re confronted with limitations for going out into the world, it’s the perfect time to go inward – to sit, meditate, and train the mind. A wonderful documentary that takes place inside a prison in India illustrates the power of this practice: “Doing Time, Doing Vipassana.”
This could be the perfect time to undertake a meditation retreat in your own home. Here is a template I like for half-day and full-day retreats at home. You can certainly search the internet for other models and design a program that best suits you and your circumstances. Social distancing doesn’t have to mean imprisonment; it can mean opportunity.
If you find yourself with some extra time on your hands, say, in the middle of some pandemic, you might want to take a look at our website and provide us with some feedback for revisions. We’re doing our best to update and redesign it. Your comments could go a long way to making it a more useful and enjoyable tool. Simply click here.
My friends Bill Kauth (co-founder of the ManKind Project) and Zoe Alowan are offering a free live webinar Calling in Your Tribe: Creating Your Personal Heart-to-Heart Community. It’s hard to imagine anything more timely.
Bill & Zoe have taken on a defining crisis of our time – the loss of community. Grounded in their own experience and the New Story, they teach how to create intimate “tribe” as the unraveling of the old world accelerates.
— Charles Eisenstein, author of Sacred Economics and The Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible
