Joe Facilitates Healing Circle for Taryn and Others in Need

Sunday afternoon at Joe's house was indeed very special, as several of the Friends gathered there to hold a healing circle for Taryn and for others needing healing right now.

Joe cleansed the group and then talked a little about Lakota ways.  He performed a prayer song in the Lakota language and talked a little about his impressions for Taryn before we gathered together to offer prayers for her and for the others needing healing. 

Joe stated that Taryn was strong enough to accept prayers and healing on behalf of all those who were not able to be present.  During the circle, Buck the wonder dog joined our circle and licked Taryn's hands as we prayed for her.

The circle ended about an hour and a half later with everyone feeling lots of energy and a lot lighter.  It was an afternoon we will not soon forget.

Many thanks to all who were there and to all who offered healing and prayers from afar.  I know it meant the world to Taryn and to me, personally.  May blessings be felt by Eric, Mike, Judy, Glenn, Elizabeth, Ted, Carole, Lisa, Nicky, Fufu, and Buck the wonder dog!  Others were also mentioned in the circle.

Science News: Mindfulness Meditation Training Changes Brain Structure in Eight Weeks

ScienceDaily (Jan. 21, 2011) — Participating in an 8-week mindfulness meditation program appears to make measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. In a study that will appear in the January 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, a team led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers report the results of their study, the first to document meditation-produced changes over time in the brain's grey matter.

"Although the practice of meditation is associated with a sense of peacefulness and physical relaxation, practitioners have long claimed that meditation also provides cognitive and psychological benefits that persist throughout the day," says Sara Lazar, PhD, of the MGH Psychiatric Neuroimaging Research Program, the study's senior author. "This study demonstrates that changes in brain structure may underlie some of these reported improvements and that people are not just feeling better because they are spending time relaxing."

Previous studies from Lazar's group and others found structural differences between the brains of experienced mediation practitioners and individuals with no history of meditation, observing thickening of the cerebral cortex in areas associated with attention and emotional integration. But those investigations could not document that those differences were actually produced by meditation.

For the current study, MR images were take of the brain structure of 16 study participants two weeks before and after they took part in the 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Program at the University of Massachusetts Center for Mindfulness. In addition to weekly meetings that included practice of mindfulness meditation -- which focuses on nonjudgmental awareness of sensations, feelings and state of mind -- participants received audio recordings for guided meditation practice and were asked to keep track of how much time they practiced each day. A set of MR brain images were also taken of a control group of non-meditators over a similar time interval.

Meditation group participants reported spending an average of 27 minutes each day practicing mindfulness exercises, and their responses to a mindfulness questionnaire indicated significant improvements compared with pre-participation responses. The analysis of MR images, which focused on areas where meditation-associated differences were seen in earlier studies, found increased grey-matter density in the hippocampus, known to be important for learning and memory, and in structures associated with self-awareness, compassion and introspection. Participant-reported reductions in stress also were correlated with decreased grey-matter density in the amygdala, which is known to play an important role in anxiety and stress. Although no change was seen in a self-awareness-associated structure called the insula, which had been identified in earlier studies, the authors suggest that longer-term meditation practice might be needed to produce changes in that area. None of these changes were seen in the control group, indicating that they had not resulted merely from the passage of time.

"It is fascinating to see the brain's plasticity and that, by practicing meditation, we can play an active role in changing the brain and can increase our well-being and quality of life." says Britta Hölzel, PhD, first author of the paper and a research fellow at MGH and Giessen University in Germany. "Other studies in different patient populations have shown that meditation can make significant improvements in a variety of symptoms, and we are now investigating the underlying mechanisms in the brain that facilitate this change."

Amishi Jha, PhD, a University of Miami neuroscientist who investigates mindfulness-training's effects on individuals in high-stress situations, says, "These results shed light on the mechanisms of action of mindfulness-based training. They demonstrate that the first-person experience of stress can not only be reduced with an 8-week mindfulness training program but that this experiential change corresponds with structural changes in the amygdala, a finding that opens doors to many possibilities for further research on MBSR's potential to protect against stress-related disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder." Jha was not one of the study investigators.

James Carmody, PhD, of the Center for Mindfulness at University of Massachusetts Medical School, is one of co-authors of the study, which was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the British Broadcasting Company, and the Mind and Life Institute.

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Story Source:  The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Massachusetts General Hospital.
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Journal Reference:  Britta K. Hölzel, James Carmody, Mark Vangel, Christina Congleton, Sita M. Yerramsetti, Tim Gard, Sara W. Lazar. Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 2011; 191 (1): 36 DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2010.08.006

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110121144007.htm

Dave Petika Passes; Lakota Prayer for the Dead

Dave Petika, pictured with Mike Serna, Summer-2010 -- Photo by Judy Serna

Lakota Prayer for the Dead

GrandMother East: 
From you comes the sun which brings life to us all; I ask that you have the sun shine on my friends here, and bring a new life to them -- a life without the pain and sadness of the world; and to their families, bring your sun for they also need your light for their lives.

GrandFather South:
You bring the storms from the south which brings the rains to nourish us and our crops. Be gentle when you fall on my friends; and as the rain touches them, let it wash away the pain and sadness that they carry with them.

GrandMother West:
You take the sun from us and cradle it in your arms, then you bring darkness onto us so that we may sleep. When you bring the darkness to my friends here, do so without the nightmares that we have had for so long. Let your stars and moon shine on my friends in a gentle manner; and as they look at the stars, they remember that those stars are the spirits of my friends shining on them and those friends are at peace.

GrandFather North:
You are the Warrior, you have ridden alongside my friends here into battle, you have also felt their love and caring when you were wounded or lonely; ride alongside of them, for now they are in this the hardest battle for their life, the battle for inner peace. Now is the time for you to care for them.

GrandFather Sky:
May your songs of the winds and clouds sweep the pain and sadness out of my friends' hearts; as they hear those songs, let them know the spirits who are with those songs are at peace.

GrandMother Earth:
I have asked all the other GrandFathers and GrandMothers to help my friends rid themselves of the troubles that weigh so heavy on their hearts. This way, the weight they carry will be less; and they will walk more softly on you.

GrandMother Earth, from your womb all spirits have come when they return to you; cradle them gently in your arms and allow them to join their friends in the skies. If they want to hurry themselves to you, tell them you are not ready; and they must wait, for now they can pass on peace to others.


May the Great Spirit watch over you, and may you be at peace.

Mitakuye Oyasin

Help Susan with "The Great Dog Food Compaign"!

From COF Administration:  Please contact us at circle.peace@yahoo.com if you'd like to send in checks for dog food or if you can provide dog food coupons to help celebrate Susan's birthday.  This is a very compassionate act and Susan would like to use her birthday to honor all beings.  Thank you!

Local Workshop 3/18-3/20: The Four Foundations of Mindfulness -- presented by Frank Jude Boccio and Hillsborough Yoga & Healing Arts

The Four Foundations of Mindfulness

presented by Frank Jude Boccio,

author of Mindfulness Yoga

The Awakened Union of Breath, Body and Mind

In this weekend workshop, we will take up the movements and postures of hatha-yoga, including some vinyasa, and yin-yoga practice, and apply the Buddha's teachings on conscious breathing and the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (body, feelings, mind, dharmas) so that we can enter into the stillness at the heart of movement, integrating body, mind, and spirit, cultivating deeper self-awareness and freedom.

Practicing the Four Foundations of Mindfulness is what the Buddha meant by "Appropriate Mindfulness," that is, cultivating and maintaining mindfulness of the lived experience of the bodymind, dwelling fully and peacefully in the present moment. Through the application of the Buddha's mindfulness meditation instruction to asana practice, hatha-yoga becomes a complete, comprehensive, fully integrated 'moving meditation.' If we truly seek to end the cycle of aversion, craving, and stress, we need to look within. Stopping and looking, the twin wings of mindfulness meditation, allow us to break the cycle of conditioned reactivity and learn ways to respond creatively and freely to our lived experience of life.

Total for all 3 days is $220; Friday night registration only is $20 in advance, $25 at door. Saturday March 19th 9am-12noon First Foundation; 2pm-5pm Second Foundation. Sunday March 20th Third Foundation 9am-12noon; 2pm-5pm Fourth Foundation. (Workshop is almost full so registration with payment with recommended)

Poep Sa Frank Jude Boccio is a certified Yoga Teacher, Interfaith Minister, member of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Order of Interbeing, and Zen Buddhist Dharma Teacher ordained by Korean Zen Master, Samu Sunim. His eclectic approach is influenced by his study of a variety of Yoga approaches and his many years of Dharma practice, evidenced by his emphasis on mindfulness and compassionate action. His book, Mindfulness Yoga: The Awakened Union of Breath, Body, and Mind is the first to apply the Buddha’s Mindfulness Meditation teachings to yogasana practice. Based in Tucson, he travels worldwide, leading workshops and retreats. Please contact him through www.mindfulnessyoga.net

Hillsborough Yoga & Healing Arts - www.hillsboroughyoga.com - 919-732-3051

(Hillsborough is located in the Triangle right outside of Chapel Hill and Durham. For more information regarding the workshop or travel and lodging arrangements, please contact paula@hillsboroughyoga.com or call the number above)

Everything Under the Sun -- by Adyashanti

Note from COF Administration:  This article was originally sent to me from One Dharma Nashville Facilitator, Lisa Ernst.  I appreciate her agreeing to let me post it at our COF Blog!

Look around you; there is only one reality. The reason that you are here, wherever here is for you, is because it is the only place that you can be right now. But even though reality is right here, and even though there is quite literally nothing but reality, it is very possible for you to miss it altogether. By miss it I mean to imagine that reality is something or somewhere other than here. As strange as it may sound it is very possible, even probable, that even though you have eyes to see, you do not see. And even though you have ears to hear, you do not hear. What you see and hear is not exactly what is actually here, but what you imagine is here.

Our imagination is a very powerful force in determining what we perceive. If we imagine that the world is teeming with evil forces, we will surely perceive the world as evil. But if we imagine the world to be essentially good, we will perceive it as good. Either way it is the same world that we are looking at. But the world is neither good nor bad in and of itself; it is simply what it is. And if we see the world as either good or bad, we will not be able to see it as it actually is. We will only be able to see it as we imagine it to be.

Now take this idea and apply it to everything and everyone in your life. Try it for a moment, or an hour, or a day. And if you do, you may begin to notice that the world you imagine to exist does not exist at all. This may cause you some fear, or possibly the thrill of discovery, but either way the important thing is to get some distance from the habitual way the mind contorts and creates perception.

But even though our mind imagines the world and everything in it to be other than the way it actually is, the reality of existence remains eternally untouched by our misperception of it. This is both relatively good and bad. It is good in that existence is eternally what it is. We need not worry about reality becoming something other than reality. But it is bad in the sense that the world we imagine to exist is always colliding with the world as it actually is. This collision is the cause of immense human suffering and conflict.

So we are trapped within our illusions and misperceptions. And the greatest illusion of all is to believe that we are not trapped. But even when we realize that we are confined within a prison of our own making, we are trapped because all the ways we struggle to get out of our illusions are illusions themselves. So, yes, we are trapped, and helpless to boot.

But there is a very strange thing that can occur at exactly the point where you realize that there is no escaping the imaginary world of your illusions. You bare your heart open to illusion, surrender your eternal struggle against it, and admit to being bound by its cunning imagination. I don't mean that you become despondent or resigned to your fate. I mean that you truly let go in the face of your utter defeat and stop struggling.

And when all the struggle ceases, we realize that the prison of our mind cannot hold us in anymore, because the prison was all along something we imagined into existence. And imagined things aren't real, they don't exist. But we could never really see this as long as we were fighting the phantoms of our minds. We needed the one thing that our imaginary minds could not bring about, could not fake or create: the genuine surrender of all struggle.

In the blink of an eye, we are no longer confined within illusion nor our attempt to avoid illusion. When all struggle ceases, there is nothing to bind us to a distorted perception of existence and we can finally see. What we see is that we do not simply exist within existence, but all of existence exists within us as well. And although everywhere we look we see the endless diversity of life, we also now see our own true face in everything under the sun.

--Adyashanti

Carlos Gonzales Gives Traditional Native American Blessing At AZ Shooting Victims Memorial

From COF Administration:  Last night at meditation, Ed spoke eloquently about the beautiful Native American blessing offered at the Arizona Shooting Victims Memorial and asked if I would post the video at our blog.  So it is.  Enjoy.

Cultivating the Mind of Love: A Mindfulness Retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh, 9/28-10/02/11; Magnolia Village, Batesville, MS

For further information and to register, click here

Thich Nhat Hanh on Martin Luther King, Jr.

"The moment I met Martin Luther King, Jr., I knew I was in the presence of a holy person.  Not just his good work, but his very being was a source of great inspiration for me ... On the altar in my hermitage in France are images of Buddha and Jesus, and every time I light incense, I touch both of them as my spiritual ancestors ...  When you touch someone who authentically represents a tradition, you not only touch his or her tradition, you also touch your own . . . When those who represent a spiritual tradition embody the essence of their tradition, just the way they walk, sit, and smile speaks volumes about the tradition." 
~Thich Nhat Hanh, "Living Buddha, Living Christ"~

**After visiting the U.S. and Europe in 1966 on a peace mission, he was banned from returning to Vietnam in 1966. On subsequent travels to the U.S., he made the case for peace to federal and Pentagon officials including Robert McNamara. He may have changed the course of U.S. history when he persuaded Martin Luther King, Jr. to oppose the Vietnam War publicly, and so helped to galvanize the peace movement. The following year, King nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Subsequently, Nhat Hanh led the Buddhist delegation to the Paris Peace Talks.

A Buddhist Perspective on Access to Guns -- by James Baraz

How can we make sense out of the senseless? When a deranged young man opens fire killing innocent people, what lessons can we take away that can give meaning to the lost lives? Learning something new or deepening our understanding seems to be the best way to honor those who've suffered the most. I'd like to offer some thoughts from a Buddhist perspective.

Events unfold largely due to causes and conditions. An event like this does not happen in a vacuum. An unbalanced person with paranoid delusions, with easy access to guns, immersed in a culture of hatred and violence, whipped up by a media hungry for sensational news, given messages that a politician is threatening his well-being and should be targeted, can produce the tragedy we're dealing with now. All of those factors were likely at play. To only blame the young man's mental stability and simply say, "Oh, he was nuts," misses the point. Our country spends 60 percent of its budget on the military and more than the next dozen nations combined. Is it just a coincidence that we have so many civilian gun killings? Pima County sheriff Clarence Dupnik sarcastically commenting on the easy access to guns said, "What will be next -- Uzis in kids' cribs?" Yet, we were still shocked.

Every human being wants to feel safe and have peace. That's a tall order in a culture that glorifies violence. Gun rights groups are now proposing legislation that would require the Arizona Department of Public Safety to provide firearms training to state legislators. Would that have protected Gabrielle Giffords? As Martin Luther King pointed out:

"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate...Returning violence for violence multiples violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: Only love can do that."

The Buddha similarly taught, "Hatred never ceases by hatred. Hatred only ceases by love. This is an ancient and eternal law."

When the news about the shootings first came out, many assumed that right wing conspirators were behind it. That conclusion led to outrage. Later, when it became obvious that the killer was mentally unstable, the outrage lessened a bit, at least toward the suspect, because he was clearly confused. Even though what he was doing made sense to him, he was ignorant of his actions on some level because he was out of touch with reality.

In Buddhism, ignorance has an even broader definition. One aspect of it is not truly understanding the karmic consequences of our actions. Another is lack of awareness as to where happiness really lies. Basic understanding of karma states very simply that actions which come from greed, hatred or ignorance lead to suffering. Actions based in generosity, kindness and wisdom lead to happiness. After his enlightenment, the Buddha was motivated to teach because of the ignorance he saw: although everyone wants to be happy, most people are acting in ways that lead to more suffering.

Jesus' famous statement on the cross was based on this same understanding: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." He saw that, although on one level they knew very well what they were doing, they didn't understand who he was or the consequences of their actions because their minds were colored by hate and fear.

The real villain is in this story is not Jared Loughner. It's not the media. And it's not the gun rights advocates. The real villain is ignorance. Because of ignorance, people project their fear and turn those who are different into enemies -- both in their minds and in actuality. This is the history of war, as Sam Keen brilliantly pointed out in Faces of the Enemy. Once you demonize the "other" they become less than human and you can inflict pain on them without guilt or shame.

Clamoring for more access to guns because you genuinely want to feel safer is like trying to put out a fire with gasoline. And those politicians who seem to know what they're doing as they spew vitriol, consciously inciting and provoking others by making an opponent a target, are simply pyromaniacs enthralled by the fire of conflict and power. That, too, is ignorance in the Buddhist sense because, although it might seem to have a purpose, in the end it will not lead to less suffering.

Right now, this tragedy is capturing our attention. Can anything good come from it? Unfortunately, Columbine and the shooting spree at Virginia Tech had little effect on the access to guns by anyone including the mentally unstable. The NRA is stronger than ever. And the cowboy mindset in this country, from our military budget to Second Amendment advocates, is still entrenched in our psyche. The response of two congressmen to the Arizona tragedy was to announce that they would be carrying guns from now on. Not exactly good modeling for non-violence. As long as media is salivating over stories that frighten and outrage us, it's unlikely that the level of public discourse will favor voices that speak to our nobler qualities. As one friend puts it, "At this point in time we are in a race between fear and consciousness."

A story like this affects us all. But rather than hoping it's a wakeup call that magically turns down the hateful rhetoric and makes our society safer, I believe what's needed is a personal inquiry. Do you get outraged and wish ill will on those who have a different political viewpoint than yours? Do you feel uplifted when they're the target of ridicule?

A friend who shared his reflections about the shootings said it made him ask himself, "How do I show up in this culture?" We need to stop and feel into it -- the pain, the fear, the anger, the confusion -- and ask ourselves: "Where does this take me? What's the wisest response internally and externally?" The answers from the past aren't quite sufficient. Something else is needed. This is the time to ask ourselves how spirituality can help when a new response is called for.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote,

"If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"

Each of us has love and hatred within us. The more we can be aware of how our own anger and ill will colors our thoughts, words and actions, the greater the chance for real transformation within ourselves. That transformation can lead to genuinely understanding how the confusion of an individual or a group could create greater pain and sorrow for themselves and others. When we can see the real villain as ignorance, we can stop demonizing "the other side." Then our words and actions, based in clarity and compassion, minus the hate, will be more effective and be part of a larger transformation in human consciousness.

James Baraz is a co-founder of Spirit Rock Meditation Center and has taught the online "Awakening Joy" course since 2003. To learn more about the upcoming 2011 course, visit Awakeningjoy.info.

Now and Forever the Deepest Cause -- by Gary Zukav

Gary Zukav shares his thoughts about the recent shootings in Arizona.

Blaming right wing politicians and commentators for the Arizona massacre, even those that are righteously brutal, cruel, and inciting to violence, deflects attention from its real cause. Blaming anyone always deflects attention from the real cause.

Like our dysfunctioning economy, schools, health care, and businesses, the killing and maiming in Arizona has a deeper and more difficult cause to address than a mentally disturbed boy-man and vicious TV “analysts.” They are proxy actors. What we feel fuels them, as it fueled the young men who flew airplanes into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.

The war on terror is a temporary solution for a problem that is not temporary and cannot be solved by previous means . The deepest cause cannot be eliminated by legislation, force of arms, or moral persuasion because it is within us.

A new understanding of power is replacing the understanding that underlies our social structures, such as education, health care, business, and economic and permeates our interpersonal structures. The old power now produces only violence and destruction.

We alone can create the new power. The change begins inside or it does not begin. And each of us must make the change in ourselves or we will continue to contribute violence to the human experience.

The old understanding is power as the ability to manipulate and control. The new understanding is power as the alignment of your personality with the highest part of yourself that you can reach for—the part that intends harmony, cooperation, sharing, and reverence for Life. It is not alignment of the highest part of “ourselves” that we can reach for, but the highest part of YOURself.

Creating authentic power is intensely personal, entirely voluntarily, and necessary for our evolution.

Our means of evolving has changed. Our awareness is expanding.

Our responsibility for the violence in our world is becoming clear. Only we can remove it, and only in ourselves.

What will your choice be?

***
"I believe we can be better.  Those who died here, those who saved lives here – they help me believe. We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another is entirely up to us.  That's what I believe, in part because that's what a child like Christina Taylor Green believed. Imagine: here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just starting to glimpse the fact that someday she too might play a part in shaping her nation's future. She had been elected to her student council; she saw public service as something exciting, something hopeful. She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model. She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted. I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. All of us - we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations."  ~Barack Obama~

Pema Chodron "Tong Lin" - The Omega Institute

Cultivating Balance and Equanimity Through Life's Ups and Downs - by David Nichtern

At Buddhist seminary near Vancouver in 1980, I requested a personal interview with my teacher, the late Tibetan meditation master, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. I had been going through some hard times and was hoping for some direct, pithy advice.

We sat and talked for a while, and then he looked right at me and said, "When things are going well, don't relax, and when they're not, don't panic." That comment has stayed with me from then to now. It defines the quality of equanimity, a state in which we meet all varieties of experience with an open and unbiased mind.

Years later, when I saw Rinpoche several months before he passed away, he looked up from his bed and asked me, "How's life?" Again, I had been having difficult times and said, "Life has had its ups and downs."

He looked at me for a moment, paused, and said, "Which comes first?" Those were literally the last words we ever spoke. Those words stopped my mind -- it was just not what I was expecting to hear, and not what I really wanted to hear.

What Rinpoche was telling me, of course, was that we get so invested in our own roller coaster ride -- we are so attached to our ups and downs, to the drama, the theatricality of it all. He was alluding to the idea that we can actually experience the ups and downs of life without getting totally swept away by them.

Have you noticed that as life unfolds, it has a kind of matter-of-fact quality to it? Things simply are as they are; they happen as they happen. If our mother is sick and dying, she is sick and dying. In Buddhism, the as-it-is quality is called suchness -- tathata in Sanskrit -- as it is.

As human beings, we sometimes project heavily onto this suchness. It is simply part of our nature to dramatize our existence, but actually equanimity is part of our nature as well. It has to do with developing balance and stability as things change. It has to do with relaxing with change, accepting and moving with it.

Many traditions generally encourage us to contemplate impermanence and change at the beginning of a new year. It is a good time to let go of old "stuff" (literally and figuratively) that we no longer need, and open to new opportunities and experiences -- hence the infamous New Year's resolutions.

Cultivating equanimity allows us to let go of our old stuff, open to new "stuff" and appreciate the space in which all our dramas come and go. Usually we don't appreciate this kind of space and only focus on the highs and lows -- sometimes it's literally all we notice.

So, if I may, here's a New Year's resolution to consider:

I intend to cultivate equanimity and balance in 2011 -- not to panic when things appear to be off track, and not to relax when everything seems to be going smoothly. I intend to cultivate awareness and presence and not focus too hard on the outcome -- paying more attention to the process and developing understanding and sympathy for myself and others.

***

Follow David on his website (www.davidnichtern.com), Facebook (facebook.com/davidnichtern), Twitter (twitter.com/davidnichtern), or YouTube (youtube.com/davidnichtern).