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Awash in Gratitude

11/26/2015

Grocery shopping Thanksgiving week at the Berkeley Bowl, my local grocery store, is a spiritual npractice all its own. This year I went on Monday because I needed a lighter experience in my hectic week. Some years I’ve gone on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and I literally had to return my focus to my breath over and over again to get through the experience without snapping.

While shopping I had to proceed cautiously, doing my best to be aware of the people around me and make way for them. On my way to the produce section I was stopped by a conversion of carts and people that made a traffic jam that could only be cured be someone backing off. Of course other people were the cause of the problem, not me. I was just trying to get to the yams. Okay, so were they. We all wanted the same thing: to buy the best ingredients to make the delicious food for our celebrations with family and friends. A bubble of frustration built in my chest. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Calmed I looked out again; the jam had loosened up. My yams were in sight. Suddenly I was struck by the beautiful mounds of colorful produce ahead of me. Gratitude welled up in my chest. There was so much abundance it literally took my breath away. It didn’t matter in the slightest that I had to wait 20 seconds to get there. All I needed, actually more than I needed, was right in front of me. I floated through my day full of gratitude and joy.

Shopping at the Berkeley Bowl Thanksgiving week is one of my favorite spiritual practices, though I only experience it once a year. Maybe next year I’ll go on Tuesday and Wednesday.

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Breathe in sadness; Breathe out love

11/18/2015

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I started meditating during a particularly challenging time in my life. Just when I needed it most, my neighbor started teaching a class on Tibetan Buddhism. He talked first about Buddhist principles and then gave us practical instruction on different forms of meditation, starting with Tong Len.

I took to Tong Len like a fish to water. It’s the first form of meditation that really worked for me. In Tong Len meditation you send loving kindness out into the world starting with yourself and then move out in concentric circles.

Sitting on my pillow, I close my eyes, take a centering breath and form a picture of myself in my mind. I breathe in my sadness and breathe out love for myself. Then I imagine someone I love who is struggling and breathe in their sadness and breathe out love for that person. I move to a stranger--such as a homeless person I’ve passed recently, newsworthy victims of an international tragedy, or the President. I breathe in their sadness and breathe out love for them. And finally the hardest--but most satisfying over time--person: someone I’m struggling with. I breathe in their sadness and breathe out love for them.

I started doing it for five minutes in the morning, but that wasn’t enough time. I went up a minute each day until it seemed too long and then I backed off. Nine minutes most mornings I cultivate a practice of compassion for myself and for so many others. Pema Chodron explains it better than I ever could: http://old-shambhala.shambhala.org/teachers/pema/tonglen1.php

I was telling a friend about my practice. Her hackles went up at the word ‘love’. There was no way she could send ‘love’ to someone she was struggling with or a complete stranger. But ‘compassion’? That she could send out into the world. Whatever works for you, I say.

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As good for my soul as for my back

11/11/2015

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Spiritual practices connect me with the great stream of creation, connection, and compassion that I call god. The first spiritual practice to which I committed was doing four Salutations to the Sun from the Hindu Yoga tradition. When I started doing it in my early twenties I didn’t really think of them as either Hindu or a spiritual practice; rather I thought it was a stretching exercise that would be good for my back. I was right, but it’s as good for my soul as it is for my back.

For years I did the salutations without directing my thoughts in any special way, but eventually I added an intention to each one of them. For the first one, I reflect on some of the blessings in my life to cultivate a deep sense of gratitude. Round two has an outward focus: I send blessings out to people I’m concerned about--a prayer for others, of a sort. During the third salutation I ask for clarity about the meaning and purpose of my life, and then I listen carefully. Sometimes I feel like I’m on track and other times I realize I need to make a course correction. For my final salutation I focus on letting go...of whatever I need to leave behind: Too often resentments. Sometimes identities. Other times expectations. And I remind myself that my time on earth is short and that I will die someday, but I don’t know when.

Taken together these four intentions and reflections keep me more grounded in what’s important in life and help me more of the person I want to be. All in less than two minutes a day! What a bargain.

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Creation, connection, compassion

11/3/2015

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I grew up without any religion. My mother had been Catholic; my father Muslim. They often said that their lack of faith brought them together. I was raised with no spiritual practices beyond shopping for Christmas presents. However, for as long as I can remember I envied people who crossed themselves with holy water, bowed down in prayer, or lit candles for the sabbath or prayer.

As I teenager I dove into a faith tradition, Unitarian Universalism, that is more known for intellectualism and justice work than for deep spiritual practices. But I never stopped envying people who had meaningful spiritual practices in their lives. So in my twenties I set out to create something that would work for me. I started with yoga. Years later I added grace-, then tonglen meditation, and most recently gratitude.

I didn't have words for what I was seeking when I started my spiritual practices, but now I do. These daily spiritual reminders help me to see myself as a part of the stream of life with more creativity, connection and compassion. I'm not rigid about doing them--I'd guess I do each of them 85-100% of the time in any given week, but they make a huge difference in my life every day. As we head into joy and stress of holiday madness, I know my spiritual practices will remind me of what’s really important in this time that has been so paradoxically commercialized. As a matter of fact, I think spiritual practice will be on the top of my gratitude list tonight.

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