December Greetings from Jonathan Foust: The Heart Practices, 5 Breaths - 5 Scenes and More!
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Welcome!
With the exception of the beech trees, whose leaves stay through the winter, it's now 'stick season' here in the mid-Atlantic. The deer are rutting, rushing and crashing around heedless of roads and cars and the fox are yelping nightly and establishing their territories.
One nice thing about bare trees is that it's easier to see raptors along the river's edge. In the last month I've discovered where the bald eagles like to hang and a red shouldered hawk who has a tree it seems to call home.
I wish you well as you head into the winter months.
The Heart Practices
I learned how to open my heart at a silent retreat at Spirit Rock, the Insight Meditation Center in California. In addition to hours and hours of daily mindfulness meditation, each afternoon of that month we dedicated time to the heart practices. The first week the practice entailed offering kindness and compassion to ourselves. The classic phrases I like: May I feel happy. May I feel peace. May I feel safe from inner and outer harm. May I feel free from suffering. The second week we turned our attention to a 'benefactor' and to those we know are 'on our team'. These can include pets, friends, family, ancestors, well-wishers. The third week we turned our attention to a 'neutral person.' We were instructed to select someone with whom we felt no particular charge - no strong attraction and no strong aversion. "Try the guy at the post office," one teacher suggested. I chose our retreat manager. She struck me as a fine, but unremarkable person. Each day I would think of her and wish her happiness, peace, safety and freedom. About day four of that week, at the end of a meditation I opened my eyes and noticed her coming into the hall. My heart soared. "My beloved has arrived!," I thought as my heart started gushing. I was falling in love with our retreat manager! There is a saying that goes like this: "Where the attention goes, the energy flows." When you turn your attention to healing your heart, things happen. First you'll notice what's between you and openness, but with patience and persistence, you may well find and experience states of immeasurable kindness, compassion and joy. If you'd like to listen to the series, you can go here: Loving Kindness Compassion for Self Compassion for Others In future talks I'll be exploring joy and equanimity. You can sign up for the podcast here and online streaming here.
Upcoming Events
December 4-6:
Relationships Retreat at the Garrison Institute with Tara Brach Learn More
December 7:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
December 14:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
December 21:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
December 28:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
Images from Last Month
While each month on the river celebrates change, this month offers more drama as we move into winter.
The wind can tear up and down the river and quickly strip the trees of leaves.
Sunrise around the tip of Gladys island.
Morning light illuminates the barren woods.
Mature Bald Eagles on a cold and windy sunrise.
A few days later, an immature Bald Eagle on a more balmy sunrise.
Five Breaths/Five Scenes: November on the River
One of the most efficient and powerful ways to shift your physiology, consciousness and quality of presence is to change how you breathe. This "Five Breaths / Five Scenes" video features mostly stills from this most recent month on the Potomac. Just five, slow breaths can help you refresh your mind and heart.
Year of Living Mindfully
If you live in the DC area and are interested in dedicating a year to practices that support transformation, you might like to check out The Year of Living Mindfully.
I've not yet updated the site with all the details, but if you'd like to check out last year's course description you can go here.
Stay tuned for more information down the road.
Latest from the Blog
The Heart Practices: Compassion for Others
The Heart Practices: Compassion for Self
A Meditative Journey: Diving Deep
Announcing: Monday Night Yoga at UUCA
The Heart Practices: Loving Kindness
Morning Instructions on the Final Day of the Fall Retreat: Focus, Flow and Let Go
Guided Metta Meditation on Pain
The Call to Practice: Concentration and Mindfulness
November Greetings from Jonathan Foust: Relational Dharma, Releasing the Barriers to Love and More!
Bringing Kindness to Pain
I hate migraines. I've been getting them since I was about six and still dread the first sensations that indicate I'm due for an extended visit. When we're in pain, we contract. This is an utterly natural response that can allow us to tolerate what is arising. Equally naturally, though, is the tendency to harden and calcify around unpleasant sensation. Kindness can be a kind of salve or lubricant that allows you to feel what is there and find new ways to be with it. Imagine you've stubbed your toe. One strategy is to stay angry and upset. Another strategy is to soften, relax, maybe even hold your toe in your hands, take a few deep breaths and offer it a little compassion. Whether the pain moves or not, the second option is a lot juicier. I led this meditation at a recent IMCW Retreat. It's a buffet of experiences for working with pain in the body. I hope you might find it helpful.
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iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
November Greetings from Jonathan Foust: Relational Dharma, Releasing the Barriers to Love and More!
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please signup here.
Welcome!
Recently I’ve been rebuilding our wood stove, putting on snow tires and checking my stock of wool socks.
We’ve had a cold snap and with the days getting shorter it’s easy to get out on the river well before sunrise, though now I’m wearing long underwear, my thermal gloves and heavy duty booties.
There’s a natural turning inward this time of year as the fall colors blossom and fade. I wish you well in a another season of transition.
Relational Dharma
here’s a look Tara gives me when she says, "We need to talk." It's a certain narrowing of her eyes and set to her jaw. My reaction is always the same, no matter how many times it happens. The thought process goes like this: "I know I'll be glad we had this talk. I know this is good for me. But nothing in me wants to do this right now!" Figuring out and managing one's own life path (dharma) is hard enough. Mix it up with another and things can get enormously complicated. As Tara and I have been teaching more about the the art of relationships, we've come to see that 'relational dharma' is a powerful and transformative path. One day Tara and I were in some conflict. I felt hurt by something she said but didn't say anything about it. I carried it around for days and I could feel resentment building up. When we finally sat down to clear the air, given how backed up my emotions were, my communication wasn't, to put it mildly, skillful. After I had emptied both barrels in a hot torrent of anger and frustration Tara paused for a bit and then said, "You know, I totally get it. I'd feel exactly the same way if that happened to me." Game over. I'd been heard. I got that she got it. We joke now that the first person to do a role-reversal wins. For both of us. A role-reversal is simply tuning into another's experience and imagining what it must feel like inside. When I'm around others now I try to remember to imagine and sense what they might need or want. From the cashier who I imagine might be feeling tired at the end of the day to the phone conversation where I imagine the other person needs to air out some as yet unspoken feeling, I see this practice as an opportunity to pause and practice empathy. Who knows if I'm just hallucinating, but it seems as though my capacity for compassion has increased a bit. One teacher said it comes down to this: Learn to see Self in Other and Other in Self. In December Tara and I are offering a weekend residential retreat on relationships. More below. If you'd like to catch a talk I gave on this topic you can listen via youtube, iTunes or streaming online. iTunes Podcast
Upcoming Events
November 2:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
November 9:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
November 14:
A Meditative Journey: Dynamic Meditation
Learn More
November 16:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
November 23:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
November 30:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
December 4-6:
Relationships Retreat at the Garrison Institute with Tara Brach Learn More
Images from Last Month
The light changes each month. I'm savoring the last of these colors before winter sets in.
I aim to get to the river before sunrise. This morning's glow lasted all of about thirty seconds.
Morning light flows between two islands.
Water, on the rocks.
Stopping over.
First light on Sycamore roots.
Backlighting on a small island.
On the River, October 2015
Video and stills from this month. We work our way up-river, then literally go with the flow back down. I share a few of the more compelling clips and shots in recent weeks and if you like, you can do some coherent breathing as well.
Releasing the Barriers to Love: A Pathway of Conscious Relationships
at the Garrison Institute
Garrison, NY
December 4 - 6
Please come on your own, or with a friend, family member or partner!
Intimacy with others can be the ground for experiencing full aliveness and sacred communion.
Yet as so many have experienced, our relationships are also often the source of insecurity, hurt and betrayal.
During this weekend workshop we will explore the beliefs and feelings that separate us from each other and the meditative practices that enable us to cultivate genuine bonds of trust, understanding, intimacy and love.
Our time together will include short dharma talks, silent meditation, mindful movement, reflective inquiry and dyadic exercises.
To learn more, please visit: Garrison Institute.
Latest from the Blog
On the River, October 2015
Up River
The Call to Practice: On Thinking and Not Thinking Magical Mornings
Magical Mornings
The Call to Practice: Surfing the Waves of Emotions
Heavy Weather
Seeing Self as Other and Other as Self
October Greetings from Jonathan Foust: Thirty Days of Practice, Two Techniques to Stay Inspired and More
Four Questions That Help You Move Through Conflict
Non-Violent Communication is one the most effective techniques I've ever run across for bridging the chasm between conflicted parties. There's an art and science to it, but I find it helpful to think of this as four inquiries: 1. What exactly are we talking about? What do we both agree actually happened?
2. What do I feel? (Hint: It's usually more than one feeling.)
3. What was I hoping for or wanting that didn't happen? (This can be a big shift from blame to identifying your unmet need.)
4. What is a life-affirming request I can make? (For example, "Would you be willing to find a time when we can talk about this?" "Would you be willing to tell me what I said so I get that you heard me?")
These four inquiries, if you attend to them with honesty, sincerity and diligence, can guide you to wisdom and compassion for yourself and the other.
To learn more about Non-Violent Communication, click here.
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iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
Up River
When I push off from the boat launch at sunrise and paddle up river I experience yet another teaching on impermanence.
I never know what’s in store.
There’s usually a surprise: morning mist, a rosy horizon, a new band of coots, a bald eagle or an unexpected configuration of light.
This day it was a particular blend of cool grey skies combined with a particular light that broke through the spotty cloud cover warming the peaking fall foliage.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
Magical Mornings
Heavy Weather
We are into our final full day of our weeklong silent retreat. This photo over the dorms sums things up well.
The more we pause the more we recognize that the moment is a weather system passing through.
Sometimes clear, sometimes intense storms pass through. Over time we recognize that we are not the weather. We have little control over the weather but rich resources to explore how we relate to it.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
October Greetings from Jonathan Foust: Thirty Days of Practice, Two Techniques to Stay Inspired and More
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Welcome!
It’s the fall and inevitably this is the time of year when we start to refocus. I’ve been inspired to pay closer attention to how I pay attention. To that end, I’ve taken on a few new practices and others have as well. Some are recommitting to a meditation practice, some to taking better care through yoga and exercise. Part of practice is also deciding what you’re not going to do. Some folks have elected to cut out sugar, others to be more mindful by not talking about someone unless they are present, others are committed to more frequently substituting kindness for self-criticism.
Thirty Days of Practice: One Observation and One Restraint
My coffee grinder is packed away. My beloved aeropress sits next to it, not to see the light of day for at least thirty days. One month without coffee. I'm not looking forward to this, but I know it will be good for me. In the Year of Living Mindfully and the Monday Night Meditation class we're exploring "Thirty Days of Practice: One Observance and One Restraint." View the program here.
You are welcome to join us.
An observance is a practice to which you consciously commit, paying attention to it’s effects. You select a discipline you know will increase your vitality or will help bring you into greater balance.
A restraint is something from which you consciously refrain, paying careful attention to what happens. You might select a habit or activity you know is depleting or distracting.
Restraints are common in spiritual practice. On a meditation retreat you refrain from speaking, eye contact, recreational reading and writing. Holding back on habitual activity you become more aware of what is happening and how you relating to it.
My 'observance?'
I've been struggling with some neck pain and headache issues and decided my practice will be a yoga and exercise routine that lengthens chronic muscles but also builds strength.
I'd fallen out of the habit of these routines. When I started this week I was chagrined at how weak I felt in the wall sits, how hard the pushups were and how creaky I was doing lunges.
I know, though, that within the month the wall sits will feel effortless, the pushups will get me pumped up and the lunges will help me stay aligned through the day.
As for the coffee? You may note that I didn’t say 'no caffeine.' I've discovered matcha tea, which feels more steady and without the jangle. I don't crash like I tend to with a strong cup of coffee and this week I've been inspired to cut back even more on the caffeine, just to see what happens.
One week in and I’m feeling pretty good.
But taking on practice is easy. Keeping your momentum going for thirty days is another challenge.
More on that below.
If you’d like to listen to a talk on this topic. Click the image below.
If you’d like to read a post on this topic. Click the image below.
Look below for a handout and calendar you can download.
30 Day Calendar
30 Days Handout
Upcoming Events
October 4:
Keynote at the US Trager Association Conference Learn More
October 5:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
October 9-16:
IMCW Fall Retreat
Learn More
October 12:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
October 19:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
October 24:
IMCW Half-day Retreat for Meditation Mentors Learn More
October 26:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
Air and Water and "The Magic Hour"
I was blessed to spend so much time outside and near the water this month. As you may know the 'magic hour' in photography is the time just before and after sunrise and sunset.
Sunset over the bay, Cape Cod.
Sunset fading to dusk. Cape Cod.
An exposed sandbar at low tide just after sunset. Cape Cod.
Seals hanging and conversing before sunrise. Off Provincetown, MA.
A bird zips by with a morning delicacy.
The last signs of color. Sunset on Cape Cod.
Look closely and you can see clouds of swallows feasting at sunrise. Potomac River, Great Falls.
Geese on the early morning move. Potomac River, Great Falls.
Five Breaths, Five Scenes
A Meditative Journey: Dynamic Meditation
October 14th, 9:30-4:40 Bethesda, MD In the early 70's seekers were flocking to Puna, India to study with Bhagwan Sri Rajneesh, a charismatic and somewhat controversial teacher. He noticed many westerners were unable to quiet their minds enough to experience subtler states of awareness he was describing. Rajneesh created a process which closely follows the stages of Raja Yoga, but in a dramatically different way. On this retreat we’ll practice these stages and explore what happens when you move from the gross to the subtle through movement, sounding and finally, surrender into stillness and deep relaxation. The stages: 1. Energizing, energetic movement 2. Free-flow movement 3. Conscious breathing with sounding 4. Seated meditation 5. Lying down meditation 6. Seated meditation and journaling The afternoon will offer more traditional practices including mindful movement, a lying down guided body scan and sitting meditation. I've been practicing and leading Dynamic Meditation for about 30 years and can testify to it's potency. Please do come if you'd like to explore a non-traditional approach to stilling the mind. No prior experience in yoga or meditation required. Just an open mind and heart.
To view a short rather silly video introduction:
(Note this is on my old youtube channel.)
For more information and to register, click here.
Latest from the Blog
The Call to Practice: One Observance, One Restraint
30 Days of Practice: One Observance, One Restraint
30 Days of Practice: One Observance / One Restraint
The Horizon
Insight on the Inside
The Wisdom of Down Time
You are Not the Weather (Retreat Talk)
Remember to Love the Mystery
September Greetings from Jonathan Foust: Awareness Isn't Angry, Late Summer Photos and More
Two Techniques to Stay Inspired and on Track with a New Discipline.
The Seinfeld Method
Jerry Seinfeld, when he was starting out, knew the key to his success was to write his own original material. That meant writing every day. No. Matter. What.
He developed a way to keep himself going that is quite genius. No apps required. It’s pure analog.
Get a monthly calendar (you can download one here.) Get a big red marker and when you complete your practice for the day, but a huge "X" on the day. Place the calendar where you see it. Your goal is to keep the visual chain going.
Be Accountable to a Friend
Another practice that can dramatically help you when taking on a new discipline is to find a friend who is willing to support you. Here’s what I recommend and have found helpful:
Send a daily email and in the subject line, share what you accomplished (or failed to accomplish.)
Your partner is not obligated to respond.
But they will notice and that can make a huge difference.
Download the 30 Day Calendar Here
Download the 30 Days Handout Here
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please signup here.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
30 Days of Practice: One Observance / One Restraint
Heading south tomorrow morning …..
September Greetings from Jonathan Foust: Awareness Isn't Angry, Late Summer Photos and More
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Welcome!
I’m savoring these mornings on the Potomac. Later sunrise means I now launch my paddle board before the light hits the water.
I start off with a windbreaker over a wool shirt and by the time I get up-river a half mile or so and the sun breaks out I can strip down.
Leaves are turning. The geese are forming back into gangs and the herons move a little slower in the cool weather.
I ordered a snow blower.
May your transition to the new season be filled with ease.
Awareness Isn't Angry
I had been in West Africa about four months and still sounded like a drunken three year old.
I'd studied Latin and French in high school and French in college. I had immersed myself in a three-month language immersion in the Peace Corps. I avoided other Americans and only listened to French on my radio. One month into my new position teaching phonetics at the University of Niamey, though, I still felt self-conscious speaking French.
I lived next to the Sureté Nationale, an office where travelers crossing the Sahara Desert had to check in when they came into the capitol city. I'd meet weary globetrotters and invite them to take a shower, camp out for the night and tell me stories of their adventures.
It was easy to invite folks to freely come and go as I had a spacious house and all I owned of any value were my hiking boots, a well-used typewriter and my beloved boom box which provided music and a radio.
One day I got home from teaching and the door to the house was wide open. All my things had been stolen. A few hours later two local fellows came by and offered to sell it all back to me.
The audacity of these jerks! I felt heat course through my body. My vision narrowed and and I almost became blind with rage.
It felt like a cork popped out of a champagne bottle and shaking, I launched into a abusive tirade.
I ripped into them. I swore. I spewed. All en français.
At some point in my venting I had a thought: "You're speaking the best French you've ever spoken in your life!"
I actually laughed out loud (then tried to cover it up by putting a cold stare back in my eyes).
But the jig was up. The storm of anger had passed.
There is a difference between being angry and being with your anger and that makes all the difference.
Emotions are like weather systems. Awareness, like the sky, is not angry, sad, anxious or depressed.
Mindfulness allows us to cultivate a capacity for self-awareness that can lead not only to more balance and creativity, but freedom itself.
You might enjoy these two talks from this last month:
Transforming Your Relationship with Anger
Transforming Your Relationship with Anxiety
I never saw my stuff again, but I got a good story out of it.
Upcoming Events
September 3-6:
Three-day Meditation Retreat with Jonathan Foust, Tara Brach and Ruth King Learn More
September 7:
Labor Day - No Class
September 14:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
September 21:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
September 24-27:
The Energy Intensive at Kripalu Center Learn More
September 28:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
Late Summer Photos
Morning glow at sunrise.
Prehistoric moment #1.
Prehistoric moment #2.
Early morning at the Stockbridge Bowl below Kripalu Center.
A sure sign of summer ending: The bugs are winning.
Another sign of summer ending: Last gasp of the morning moths.
Sometimes I paddle, sometimes I sit and think and sometimes I just sit.
Five Breaths, Five Scenes
This one is way cool. I happened to catch an amazing scene of the last swarm of moths on the Potomac with the rising sun behind. Enjoy!
The Energy Intensive at Kripalu Center
September 24-27
I’m back at Kripalu Center for a long weekend for the Energy Intensive: Yoga, Meditation and Breathwork with my pal Shobhan Richard Faulds.
This is an immersion into techniques designed to raise both energy and awareness with some dramatic opportunities to let go of what’s between you and feeling free.
Shobhan and I go back to the early days of Kripalu. We’ve been offering this program for about 15 years and it’s a classic.
Way back in ‘00
For more information and to register:
Latest from the Blog
Five Breaths, Five Scenes: Moths on the River
A Meditation Treat
Essentials for Awakening Your Intuition
A Meditative Journey: Mindful Movement, Deep Relaxation and Sitting Meditation
Hanging with Vultures
Transforming Your Relationship with Anxiety
Summer Sky
Transforming Your Relationship with Anger
August Greetings from Jonathan Foust: Healing Racism and Discrimination, A Meditative Journey and More
How Do I Get Myself to Practice?
A few years ago I was speaking at the end of a weeklong silent meditation retreat about transitioning from intensive practice back into the busyness of life. I’d been leading yoga throughout the week.
"I have a confession to make," I told the group. "I hate yoga."
Here’s a 90-second video on the topic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP8tL6E7xTM
Here's a two minute audio clip from the retreat:
http://imcw.org/Talks/TalkDetail/TalkID/329
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please signup here.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
Hanging with Vultures
Summer Sky
August Greetings from Jonathan Foust: Healing Racism and Discrimination, A Meditative Journey and More
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please signup here.
Welcome!
The World is One Family
After a lifetime dedicated to spiritual practice including being in silence for 19 years and 10 hours a day of meditation, Swami Kripalu summed it up his ultimate realization as the experience of "Sanatana Dharma."
Sanatana Dharma translates as 'eternal truth.' This is the truth we share regardless of our culture, language, race, gender, sexual identity or age.
"The world is one family," he said.
Despite this fundamental truth, our culture is struggling to find our commonality. In this month's missive you'll find some resources that may help you heal the divide.
May we find peace within and with each other.
Healing Racism and Discrimination
In light of the recent events in Charleston, the controversy concerning the confederate flag and the surfacing of deeply entrenched discrimination, a request was made for dharma teachers to speak on the topic of healing racism. There are some powerful talks out there. If you are interested, here is a talk from Tara Brach Listen Here and heres a talk from Ruth King Listen Here, a dharma teacher who speaks and leads trainings on the need for healing in this area. I was reticent to speak as Im not that conversant in the latest approaches to white awareness and am not sure where one even begins when it comes to healing racism. The more I thought about my personal experience, though, as privileged as its been, the more sensitized I've become. I went to a Quaker high school. My sophomore year we got to choose our roommate. Gil and I were great friends and from different cultures. I was a white kid who grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania and he was African-American from South Philly by way of South Carolina. But our easy friendship made being roommates a simple choice. The bubble in which we lived, a culturally-diverse boarding school, fostered acceptance and ease. That bubble burst one day when Gil came back to the family farm with me for a weekend. We were handing around town on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Gil was in a store and while I was waiting for him outside I saw a friend walking down the street with whom I went to public school a few years earlier. He and I chatted for a bit, catching up. Gil came out of the store and walked up to us with a big smile. I started to introduce Gil. Before I could speak, my old classmates eyes narrowed. He glared at Gil, glared at me, turned and walked away without saying a word. I was stunned, hurt, embarrassed and angry. Gil shrugged it off and we went on, but something shifted in me that day. What stunned me was that I knew these guys could be friends. I knew both of them and liked them both. But that wasnt possible. My old classmate saw Gil as the enemy and by friendship and association, I was now an enemy as well. I have come to realize that Gil didnt just shrug it off. Just as untreated hatred poisons the heart of those who hate, those on the receiving end internalize that vitriol. Healing this division is our shared work. Follow this link to listen to the talk, "The World is One Family: Healing Racism and Discrimination."
Upcoming Events
August 8:
Conscious Relationships (with Tara Brach) Learn More
August 10:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
August 16:
The Still, Small Voice: Meditation, Focusing and Intuition Training Learn More
August 17:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
August 29:
A Meditative Journey: Mindful Movement, Meditation and Deep Relaxation Learn More
August 31:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
Summer Photos
The will to live. A tree clings to the side of a small island on the Potomac River.
Flying into Provincetown. (It happened to be Bear Week.) www.ptownbears.org
Bouys and Gulls. A distant storm churns the Atlantic.
Speaking of buoys and gulls, we celebrated a bay-side marriage proposal (and acceptance).
Morning shoot.
Low low low low tide.
Hauling off a snack.
The first signs of Fall. Back on the river, grasses begin to turn.
Video Clip
Here’s another "Five Breaths / Five Scenes" video for you, this time featuring Low Tide.
A Meditative Journey: Mindful Movement, Meditation and Deep Relaxation
August 29
Insight Meditation Community of Washington (IMCW)
A daylong retreat in the DC Metro area.
Why did the Buddha emphasize mindfulness of the body as the primary foundation of practice?
The body lives only in the here and now. As you train your attention to rest in your senses you learn how to be present to whatever arises.
You can’t make a state of inner quiet happen, but you can create an optimal environment through conscious movement and breathing.
Through the day you’ll learn movement sequences that help to release deep-seated tension and help to draw your awareness inward. Two deep guided body scan experiences help to cultivate a sense of ease and integration.
No prior experience of yoga or meditation is required. If you do have extensive experience, you’ll find the guidance spacious and inviting.
Come and explore relaxation as a doorway to presence.
Visit: https://imcw.org/Calendar/EventId/85/e/daylong-a-meditative-journey-29-aug-2015
Latest from the Blog
Cormorants at First Light
Five Breaths, Five Scenes: Low Tide
The Art of Balance
The Art of Listening
On the Edge
Up with the Chickens
The World is One Family: Healing the Wounds of Racism and Discrimination
July Greetings from Jonathan Foust: Intention and Karma, Apps that Support Mindfulness, and More
Seeking Freedom
Swami Satchitananda on what it was like to be a Hindu..."I don’t think I’m a Hindu," he said. "I think I'm an Undo." I don't think of myself as a Buddhist, but simply as someone seeking freedom. While these links refer to those who identify as Buddhist, nonetheless, you may find them helpful as you look for resources that may help you bring more awareness to the issue of healing racism and discrimination. An Open Letter to Dharma Teachers http://buddhistsforracialjustice.org/an-open-letter/ An Call to White Buddhists http://buddhistsforracialjustice.org/call-to-white-buddhists/ A Call to People of Color Buddhists http://buddhistsforracialjustice.org/call-to-poc-buddhists/ Shared Resources http://buddhistsforracialjustice.org/shared-resources/
To receive a monthly newsletter,
please signup here.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
Cormorants at First Light
Now that we’re past the summer solstice, the sun rises noticeably later and I’m on the river before the light gets strong.
This morning I was out on my kayak and snuck up on a flock of cormorants. As I floated by I was concerned there wasn’t enough sun. I love how the low morning light caught the only strong color in the image: their beaks.
Cormorants are strange creatures. I’m getting to know their habits, particularly as they seem to be in greater numbers these last years. They have a dramatic way of taking off, running along the water as they gain lift off.
They dry their wings by holding them open to the air. It’s not uncommon to see them at first light going through their routines. In the image below this was the first time I noticed them drying their wings while simultaneously squabbling. Quite the exotic dance.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
On the Edge
Up with the Chickens
Well, not chickens, but Great Blue Herons.
It seems the Great Blues congregate at night and then disperse during the day and stake out their hunting territory. I was out early enough this morning to mingle with them before they went off to work.
As we have a rookery just downstream, it’s hard to be out of sight of a Great Blue or egret in these summer months.
Here are a few photos of the Great Blues as I gently herded them upriver while on my paddleboard.
A grand-daddy Heron books it upriver.
Where’s Waldo?
Profiles.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
July Greetings from Jonathan Foust: Intention and Karma, Apps that Support Mindfulness, and More
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Welcome!
After a few full days of intense focus in a program room at Kripalu Center, I headed to the lake with my paddleboard for an afternoon adventure.
Under clear skies I paddled for about 45 minutes straight into a lively wind toward the center of Lake Mahkeenac. Within what seemed like minutes, I was enveloped in a massive set of dark clouds.
Could I make it to shore before I got hit with rain and wind? The race was on.
I lost.
When I realized was destined to get soaked, I remembered that it’s summer, it was 80 degrees and all was truly well. The drenching felt refreshing, actually, and pretty quickly the atmospheric drama ended and the skies cleared again.
No matter what weather systems are passing through in your world, I hope you enjoy your adventures.
Intention and Karma
What are your plans for tonight? Answering that question may determine your destiny. I’ve developed a template for my dharma talks over the years. My outline begins with three questions: "Why is this topic important?" "If this was my last talk, what do I most want to say?" "How do I want people to feel at the end of this talk?" These questions help me tap into my passion and emotion. They also help me focus on the most important points and how to most effectively share them. They set the course for my talk. The clarity of your intention has direct impact on the outcome of your life. Your intention informs your habits and actions, which shape your destiny. I have found it to be be immensely helpful to reflect not just to reflect on my long-term intentions, but also on my short-term aspirations. To listen to a recent talk entitled "How you Inherit and Create Your Karma" click here.
Upcoming Events
July 6:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
July 13:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
July 20:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
July 27:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
August 3:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
August 8:
Conscious Relationships (with Tara Brach) Learn More
Fresh Photos
A gang of cormorants on the move.
Stillness above the Great Falls.
Clouds and sky merge.
Heron skimming the tree tops.
Taking meditation and asana out into the world. Graduates of “Guiding Meditation for Transformational Yoga Teaching” at Kripalu Center.
Video Clip
Here’s another "Five Breaths / Five Scenes" video for you, this time featuring Waterbugs.
The Still, Small Voice Within: Meditation, Focusing and Intuition Training
August 16–21, 2015 Sunday–Friday 5 nights Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health Have you had a 'sense' that something wasn't going to work out but you did it anyway?
I often ask people who've gone through a break up in a relationship when they 'knew' it wasn't going to work out. Oftentimes people say, "I knew in the beginning." On the other hand, have there been times when you followed your gut, took a leap and found yourself in unexpected, wonderful adventures?
How do you discern the difference between 'the still, small voice' of your intuition versus the 60,000 thoughts that pass through your consciousness each day?
This is our exclusive focus in this five-day residential retreat at Kripalu Center.
Intuition arises through the visual, auditory and kinesthetic channels. (Sometimes - rarely - you might experience what is called "direct cognition," a sense of just, somehow, "knowing".)
You can develop each of these pathways, but the most reliable and perhaps most challenging faculty to develop is the kinesthetic - the gut feel or the "felt sense."
Meditation training develops your capacity to see clearly. Your sense of the interconnectedness of mind and body become more refined.
Meditation and 'felt sense' inquiry draw on the questions you ask yourself and paying intimate attention to what arises in the body and mind.
The process can be nothing short of amazing when it comes to problem solving, making important decisions in your life, healing whatever is between you and feeling free and investigating your deepest life questions.
I've had a long-time fascination with the nexus between meditation and intuition and love sharing these techniques, especially at Kripalu Center over five days, where you can immerse yourself in such a supportive and nurturing environment.
You'll learn skills that will enhance your meditation practice as well as support you in navigating through life's inevitable challenges.
To learn more, please visit: https://kripalu.org/presenter/V0000107/
This course draws on my 6.6 hour audio course through Sounds True, called Body-Centered Inquiry: Meditation Training to Awaken Your Inner Guidance, Vitally and a Loving Heart.
Latest from the Blog
Five Breaths, Five Scenes: Waterbugs
Against the Storm
Work Life: Jonathan in conversation with Michael Potts
How You Inherit and Create Your Karma
Happiness and Work: Finding Right Livelihood
Meditation, Resistance and the Practice of Compassion
Weather Systems
June Greetings from Jonathan Foust: Effortless Awareness, Fresh Photos and More
Apps that Support Mindfulness
In this post, I list a few of my favorite apps that support mindfulness, http://jonathanfoust.com/a-few-apps-that-support-mindfulness
I am what you would call an "early adapter."
Pretty soon after it came out, I was writing copy on a Tandy TRS 80 (with the huge floppy disks). I was among the first with a PalmPilot, a laptop and an iPhone. I made the switch over to a micro four thirds camera system (the Panasonic GH4) and have been known to download the beta version of new software. I’m healing my geek impulses, but I’ve been a junky with Cool Tools and Kickstarter.
(If you are interested, here’s my Cool Tools write up on the Kawasaki KLR650.)
So I am pretty fast on the draw when it comes to trying a new app for the iPhone or iPad that might streamline my flow or aid in meditation.
Here’s to better living with technology!
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iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
Against the Storm
There is nothing like a New England storm.
I headed upwind into clear skies, eager to hang out in the middle of the lake and decompress after a full day teaching.
Before I knew it, I was in a race to the shore with a thunderstorm closing in fast.
Nothing more satisfying than a race against lightning
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
Weather Systems
This shot is the sky reflected in the river … two streams of change mirroring each other.
Consciousness is like a weather system …. different states, thought forms, emotions, memories, all passing through.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
June Greetings from Jonathan Foust: Effortless Awareness, Fresh Photos and More
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Welcome!
Little fuzzballs are roaming the Potomac. I’ve seen baby geese and mergansers and am waiting for the Great Blue Herons chicks to start exploring the riverbanks. The fox has come by more often, no doubt looking for more protein for her little ones and soon the baby owls in the woods will start testing their vocal chords. Snakes are on the move and the fish are jumping.
As Tarzan said to Jane, "It’s a jungle out there!"
I hope this spring and summer season brings you a new sense of aliveness and delight.
Effortless Awareness
"I’m really confused," a woman said in a class a few years back. "When we meditate, are we supposed to concentrate or are we supposed to relax?" I paused and took a breath. I never heard the question put that way. After a few moments I had the answer and smiled. "Yes." Meditation instruction can be quite confusing. Jason Siff, in his book "Unlearning Meditation," http://www.tricycle.com/community/unlearning-meditation-what-do-when-instructions-get-way put it well when he said that any tradition you train in, you can find another tradition that gives you the opposite instruction. * Eyes closed? Eyes open? * Palms up? Palms down? * Breath at the nostrils? Breath at the belly? I find it helpful to think of meditation in stages. The first stage is about arriving. This has a willful quality. You guide your attention back to your ‘anchor,’ whether that be breath, sound, feeling, mantra, compassion. The second stage is about noticing. As the observer, you notice what is flowing. You notice your relationship to the cascade of sensations, thoughts, emotions and states of consciousness that arrive and fall away. The third state is about being. You inquire into what it means to simply let it all be, just as it is. You rest in awareness itself. Meditation training spans this vast terrain, from techniques that help you focus and drill into the here-and-now, to methods that help cultivate a sense of the witness to specialized instructions for opening into presence. I have found that as my practice develops and I become more aware of what is here and how and I’m holding it, there is a profound question that helps me determine the quality of attention I might cultivate. That question? "How does this moment want me to be with it - right now?" I find that if I’m wound up and tight, I find balance by relaxing and softening. If I’m scattered or reactive, a concentration practice helps me gather my attention again. Oftentimes we think of meditation as concentration. In this culture, learning how to sustain attention on one object is an important aspect of training the mind. But perhaps it’s more about seeking balance. Sometimes that calls on us to cease effort and explore what it means to simply rest in presence itself. You might enjoy this talk I gave at the Spring IMCW Vipassana Retreat entitled "Effortless Awareness." This talk explores what can happen when you turn your attention to rest in awareness itself. You’ll learn about the practices that help you arrive in the here and now, how to set optimal conditions for your practice, techniques for turning your attention to awareness itself and how awakened awareness cultivates an awakened heart.
Upcoming June Events
June 1:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
June 8:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
June 15:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
June 19-28:
500-Hour Kripalu Yoga Teacher Training: Guiding Kripalu Meditation and Advanced Asana Learn More
June 22:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
June 29:
Evening Class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington Learn More
Fresh Photos
Flox follow right on the heels of the Bluebells.
It's a banner year for spiderwebs.
Party on!
Parents shepherd their little ones to safety on a remote island on the Potomac.
Vibrant spring growth.
Video Clip
Here’s another “Five Breaths / Five Scenes” video for you, this time featuring Spring goslings. Due to popular demand, I’ve lengthen the inhalation and exhalation to five seconds.
The Still, Small Voice Within: Meditation, Focusing, and Intuition Training
August 16–21, 2015 Sunday–Friday 5 nights
Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health
How do you really "know" something?
I've had a life-long fascination regarding the relationship between meditation and intuition.
That’s what this five-day residential retreat is all about. I've been leading variations of this for about twenty years and have some to trust more and more in the cultivation of 'kinesthetic intuition,' the bodily felt sense.
Kinesthetic intuition is the slowest to develop but the most reliable. It's the 'gut feel,' 'knowing something in your bones.'
Intuitive inquiry is pragmatic. It will help you decide what car to buy next, but it will also help you look directly at who and what you truly are.
For all levels.
Albert Einstein said, "No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it." To climb out of any rut, resolve problems, or sense your path from a new perspective, you have to shift your awareness. This retreat is designed to immerse you in practices that generate such a shift.
Vipassana (insight meditation) teaches you to pause and recognize what is present, allowing you to see with increasing clarity into the nature of things. Focusing is a tool that trains the mind to investigate what arises from the field of direct sensation, offering access to wisdom and compassion. Combined, these two techniques generate a unique in-depth experience of awakened heart and mind.
Through practice, talks, presentations, exercises, and discussion, you dive into self-inquiry and develop skills to carry with you for the rest of your life.
Recommended listening: Jonathan Foust, Body-Centered Inquiry: Meditation Training to Awaken Your Inner Guidance, Vitality and Loving Heart CD set.
Note This retreat is intensive and may preclude other activities. Much of the retreat is held in social silence.
CE Credits
This program is eligible for
* 26.5 credits for Athletic Trainers (BOC), $30 additional charge
* 26.5 credits for Yoga Alliance (YA), $30 additional charge
Latest from the Blog
300,000 Downloads
The River from Above
Five Breaths, Five Scenes: Goslings
Being, Doing and Q/A
Kripalu and the Berkshires
Meditation, Resistance and the Practice of Compassion
How to Ask the Right Questions
Effortless Awareness (Retreat Talk)
Taking a Break from the Nest
Open Focus
Can you feel or imagine the space between your forehead and the back of your head? When you try that, you may notice a certain internal shift. There’s something here about the perception of space. One of my challenges as a photographer is to train myself to see the space around objects. When I do that, a new view opens up. Open Focus meditation is a modern form of ancient practices that can help you perceive space and the form inside space. That sounds a little abstract, but the technique can be quite powerful. If you’d like to try it, check out the following guided mediation I led at the IMCW Spring Retreat. If you feel a little ungrounded or disoriented during this meditation, you might turn your attention to feel your hands and feet, or even momentarily open your eyes.
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iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.
The River from Above
I caught this image coming in for a landing at Dulles Airport.
Just beyond the tip of the island, at Algonkian Park, is seven mile stretch of river down to Riverbend Park, just above Great Falls.
The route takes you through Seneca Breaks, a granite escarpment that depending on the water level, provides about a mile of class 1 and class 2 rapids. Just enough to be engaging without being too scary.
The river opens to embrace multiple islands and habitat for all things wild in Northern Virginia. I’ve seen everything from eagles to seven-foot Virginia water snakes lounging on rocks to deer swimming across the river.
iTunes podcast here, online listening here, stitcher here, and Jonathan’s YouTube channel here.