InsightLA Blog

Trudy in Sacramento

Trudy speaking at the California Museum's celebration of Women's History Month.

InsightLA Teacher around the Web

InsightLA's co-teacher of our Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy program, Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D., is the author of a popular blog on the intersection of mindfulness and psychotherapy.  Check it out.

You can also follow Elisha on Twitter.

And we look forward to hosting a book release party on Sunday, February 28, for "A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook" which Elisha co-authored with Bob Stahl.

Happy New Year!

Sangha member Michael Sigman has another article up over at Huffington Post. In it he relates a story about Trudy's close friend and teacher, Maurine Stewart Roshi, that Trudy sometimes tells when teaching:

"Maurine was in the hospital dying of cancer, and as the end neared she was in great pain, slipping in and out of consciousness. Astonishingly, whenever she was awakened by a sound, she would simply say "thank you." She was grateful for her life as a whole, even though she endured tremendous suffering."

Go here to read the entire article.

2009: It was a very GOOD year

InsightLA Teacher, and volunteer Chief Financial Officer, Jane Davis, looks back at 2009:

Everywhere I go, I hear the same thing...

“I can’t wait for this year to be over.” “It was a terrible year.” “The worst year of my life.”

2009 has been cast in history as a tragic year:  the year of the Great Recession, the collapse of the real estate market and the highest unemployment rate in decades. 

My aversive nature wants to jump right in...Yes, it was really quite terrible.  And then I remember the dharma... and I see that it’s all about perspective. 

So I decided to make a GRATITUDE LIST

Here are just a handful of things for which we can be grateful: 

The United States inaugurated the first African American President.

Declaring that the US does not torture, the process began for the closing of Guantanamo Bay

The United Nations agreed on a plan for nuclear disarmament

The Supreme Court confirmed its first Hispanic judge (and a woman besides!!)

At the time of this writing, a healthcare bill (albeit not PERFECT) is slated to be signed into law

We averted the Second Great Depression

The downturn in the economy prompted our society to look at its greed, to reflect on what is important and to make positive steps to reduce its attachment to the material world

The Lakers won the NBA Championship

And best of ALL....our Insight LA community grew, we celebrated another year of bringing the Dharma to LA and we moved into our new amazing Center!!!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EVERYONE!!!

"Luminous Rest"

Photos from Trudy's iPhone on the Saturday night of our weekend retreat with Lila Kate Wheeler.

Thanksgiving at Spirit Rock

Trudy sent these iPhone photos from Spirit Rock, including Lila Kate Wheeler, who will teach at InsightLA December 12 and 13 for our annual Non-residential Weekend Retreat.  Wild turkeys joined the yogis outside the meditation hall earlier this week.

Audio from Stephen Batchelor Talk

Recorded Tuesday, November 17, at InsightLA: Stephen Batchelor on "Buddhism, Agnosticism, and Atheism."  Enjoy!

Stephen Batchelor at InsightLA Nov 17

Stephen Batchelor on Buddhism, Agnosticism, and Atheism

We were delighted to welcome over 100 people to our Center on Tuesday night to hear Stephen Batchelor teach.  Everyone cozied up as Stephen led a 15-minute sit at the start of the event.  Then he cut through so much spiritual confusion with a talk on "Buddhism, Agnosticism, and Atheism," delivered with dry humor, and his erudite, penetrating dharma. 

If you couldn't be there, we'll post the recording of his talk on our website soon.  Stay tuned!

The Special Value of A Long Retreat

InsightLA adjunct faculty member Beth Sternlieb recently returned from a month-long Vipassana retreat at IMS (Insight Meditation Society). The teachers were Joseph Goldstein, Guy Armstrong, Sally Clough, Sharda Rogell and Carol Wilson. Here Beth answers a few questions about the experience and special value of a long retreat.

InsightLA: Few practitioners, even those with long-time practices and many retreats under their belts, have sat for such a long retreat. What was qualitatively different about it than shorter retreats?

Beth: Long retreats provide ideal conditions for developing continuity of mindfulness and concentration. There is time for the mind to settle down, become calm and tranquil. The teachings open up and unfold over time in very unexpected ways. You find yourself thinking, “Oh, this is what the teaching means.” You do have to stretch the edges of your comfort zone, but the edges of your comfort zone is often the best place to practice letting go.

Many of the retreatants knew each other from sitting together before. We formed a gentle community of practitioners from 5 countries and 16 states. Even in the silence we shared a unique and profound sense of sangha.

Long retreats give you a chance to study with wonderful teachers that get to know you and your ongoing practice and give you valuable guidance and support. In this sense, long retreats are more personal.

InsightLA: What was the toughest thing about the retreat? Were there moments or periods where you were tempted to jump in your car and escape?

Beth: Your question makes me laugh. Honestly, I think I have more moments in my city life… work, family, traffic, news that tempt me to jump in my car and go back to retreat. It brings to mind the look in people’s eyes when they hear that you have spent a month or more in silence… like there is an aspect to a long silent retreat that is a prison sentence or like being home alone with nothing to do and all the people you care about away on vacation.

Actually a long retreat can be highly stimulating. Great care and attention have been taken to make your experience a good one. On my first six-week retreat at IMS, I remember how safe it made me feel that there is always a night person on call if you are having a hard time…even in the middle of the night.

On a long retreat, there is guided meditation every morning with instructions that develop over time. This is followed by a question and answer period. Each yogi has a daily kitchen or housekeeping job that takes a half hour or 45 minutes to complete. Every night there is a dharma talk that supports deeper insight and understanding of the teachings. And the walking trails are magical.

Of course there are times when the feeling is “I can’t take it anymore”. But you find out that this feeling passes, that it’s impermanent… and there is no way to know what is coming next. That can feel scary, but it also can lead to deeper and deeper freedom. Joseph Goldstein told me “It’s like jumping out of a plane. First you realize there is no parachute and you are afraid… but then you realize there is no ground.”

InsightLA: What was most rewarding about the experience?

Beth: This was a unique retreat for me. It was less about peak experiences and more about a pervasive sense of equanimity. It became clearer that the practice is the same whatever is arising, be it concentration, back pain, fatigue, joy, or worry. This insight led to less striving.

A quote from the Buddha was repeated by several teachers in the evening dharma talks.  It really resonated with me, “Non identification has been declared by the blessed one, for in whatever way one conceives, the fact is other than that.”

In other words, no matter how we might conceive of things, in reality we are not seeing things as they actually are.  The quote supported an insight I had into letting go of views… how limiting views can be.  I realized what I take to be fundamental to the way things are… in the end is just a view. This insight was particularly vivid in relation to what I conceive of as possible and allowed.

I had always taken the words of the Metta Sutta “By not holding to fixed views”, to mean contentious views. But I saw how any view … often so deeply held that it is never seen for what it is… is just a view and limits freedom.

“This is the sublime abiding.
By not holding to fixed views,
The pure hearted one, having clarity of vision,
Being freed from all sense desires,
Is not born again into this world”
Metta Sutta

Rick Hanson at InsightLA

Over 80 people spent the day at the InsightLA Center in Santa Monica on Sunday, November 15 to hear visiting teacher Rick Hanson speak on "The Neurology of Awakening."  The day combined the presentation of the latest findings from the field of neuroscience with meditative practices, all delivered with characteristic brilliance by Rick.  We're grateful to Rick for offering his teachings as a benefit to make our programs available to all, regardless of ability to pay, and we look forward to having him come back soon!