InsightLA Blog

Retreats Strengthen Our Confidence, Courage and Compassion

Last week I had the good fortune to be in retreat with Anam Thubten in the mountains of Idaho, where I was given the privilege of teaching with him and Elizabeth Namgyel. Once again, I saw how retreat strengthens our confidence, courage and compassion so we can fall in love with the richness of life over and over again!

Taking the time to do a retreat for one day, one week, one month, orfor any length of time gives us a chance to be fully immersed in the heart of our own being. Having no connectivity to my familiar and beloved world was actually a great liberation; I was free to simply dissolve into the experience of the moment, and celebrate this great opportunity we've been offered in this life -- to walk side by side on this path of freedom and love! 

I want to leave you with this quote from Anam...

"The more awake we become, the more compassion will flow freely. Its quality is like water, gentle and soothing. At the same time, it has awesome power. It is the flowering of our consciousness. It allows us to connect deeply to others, to the point where the concept of separation loses all of its meaning."  ~  Anam Thubten, from The Magic ofAwareness

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Camp Perkins near Stanley, Idaho

 

 

A Heart Open to the Exquisite Beauty and Immense Sorrow of this World

Yesterday I taught our Children's Hospital of Los Angeles retreat on "Mindfulness and Being with Death and Dying" for the nurses, doctors, and all professional caregivers of critically ill and dying children.

Now take a breath -- for even that phrase is hard to read. How is it that we as humans can bear the unbearable, what the Buddha called "the ocean of tears"? How do we keep our heart open to the exquisite beauty and immense sorrow of this world?

These are not just questions for those doing the front-line work of caring for dying children and their families -- they are questions for us every day. They are questions for our families and for our co-workers, driving on the freeway, shopping in the markets, engaging with the difficulties and promises of our lives. Sitting with these professional caregivers, I felt so grateful for my meditation practice. I felt so grateful that I've learned to sit amidst waves of intense feelings, that I've learned to tend my own heart and return to joy, as the Buddha instructs when he says, "Live in joy and peace even among the troubled."

As we sat in a big circle together, telling stories of the children and their care, stories of terrible challenges, moral dilemmas, and the overarching majesty of love, we became a 'beloved community,' as Martin Luther King said. I'm reminded of what a privilege it is to serve, to teach and practice ways to stay steady and loving in the face of loss. And always reminding each other to include ourselves in the circle of care, with an open and forgiving heart; this is what mindfulness teaches us. And each time we sit, we refresh and strengthen ourselves, offering one another support and courage, trusting that this moment is workable, bearable, and can be transformed into wisdom and compassion. And this one. And this one, too…

~ Trudy

Pain Without Suffering

Sometimes dharma teachings come in unexpected ways. Maybe often.  

Upon my arrival to travel and teach in Europe with Jack, I had a bicycle accident and broke my left elbow - into pieces. I had so longed to swim in the Zurichsee, a beautiful lake, that I asked Jack to wrap the dangling arm up so I could go for a leisurely one-armed swim in the cool water before surgery. I will always savor the memory of that sunlit swim! The surgery was successful, Jack went on to teach, I recovered for a couple days, and we came to Paris.  Since then, our visit to this beautiful city has included practicing with my arm in a sling and considerable pain -- and it's still been completely delightful. 

The clear distinction that we make between pain and the suffering of emotional reactions to it, whether disappointment, expectations, blame/shame, or regrets, has never been clearer to me. For while there's been plenty of pain, I'm not suffering. In fact, this has been a happy, loving time in spite of the pain and not being able to teach in the way I’d planned. What is our practice for, after all? We practice to learn how to calmly abide with what's simply so.

Along with the pleasures of sidewalk cafes, art, strolling along narrow cobblestone streets to the river Seine, has been the discovery of the world of Buddhist psychology and philosophy entering French culture. We connected with two strong groups -- the first group, ADM (L'Association du Developpement de la Mindfulness) has been nurtured by Jon Kabat-Zinn and grew out of his mindfulness work. I'll tell you more about this extraordinary collection of accomplished healers, physicians, educators, philosophers, researchers next week -- they are amazing. The second group, Terre d'Eveil (Land, or Ground of Awakening), has been mentored by Martine and Stephen Batchelor and others, and are a dedicated circle of Vipassana practitioners. Next week I'll tell you more about what's truly challenging and inspiring in how the teachings are seen in France! 

For now, I wish you all a happy
July 4th, our holiday of liberation! 

-Trudy

 

My New Blog Column -- "One Hand Blogging"

Hi everyone,

If you get (and if you open, and then... READ!) the InsightLA email newsletter, you know that I like to share my experience and perspective as a meditator and teacher in the "Note to the Reader" section running down the side. We're going to re-design the newsletter this summer so that it's easier to read, and we're also going to begin posting those words in my new blog column at http://blog.insightla.org/.  It's a way to share what I love the most about this immense journey we're on together, and I hope you'll find resonances with what you love, too.

Enjoy!

Trudy Goodman
Founder and Guiding Teacher
InsightLA

InsightLA's 10th Anniversary - Planting the Seeds

I’m sitting on a stone wall, overlooking the gorgeous estate of Pamela and Jef Levy in Beverly Hills, where we are planning the first of our 10th anniversary celebrations, a gala fundraiser to take place here. I marvel at how this has come to pass -- ten years ago, three of us were sitting in Susan Kaiser Greenland's office, and now InsightLA has blossomed. We now have a beautiful community of teachers and practitioners dedicated to mindful awareness, the opening of the heart and the tending of the world.

Sitting beneath the Levys’ magical pine forest, I’m grateful. The teachings of mindfulness are just like these tall pine trees -- a quiet woods in the noisy city, cool shade in the hot sun, an oasis in the desert. InsightLA has become this kind of refuge for so many people...how fortunate we are that the teachings of the Buddha – “good in the beginning, good in the middle, good in the end” -- are now spreading to returning Vets, to caregivers and families at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, to other hospitals, to community service agencies and beyond. This is a true tribute to our ten years together.

On this day, I sit with Congressman Tim Ryan (wasn't Tim's presentation at InsightLA fantastic?), Jack Kornfield, James Gimian (publisher of Shambala Sun, Buddhadharma, Mindful magazines) Dr. Christiane Wolf and others – all of us delighting in how the seeds of dharma have planted in LA. Jef is making a movie to celebrate, and it’s Jef’s enlightened intention to send you a video clip from his filming every single week leading up to September 22nd.

A studio has been set up in the living room, Beverly Berg has brought a huge Caesar salad into the kitchen, Jef provides pungent cheeses, and one by one, we leave the table to go into the powder room to get ready. I ask to go first, laughing (nervously), I’m not used to being in front of a movie camera! 

Jack goes next. You’ve already received a clip of Jack, the first of Jef’s gifts for you. Isn’t it completely miraculous that little electrons spinning through space and time can come to your home and manifest as dharma teachings to remind your heart of what's possible and what really matters?

Please open and enjoy these gifts, pass them along to your friends, share the dharma! For in this way we become family, connected through our love and appreciation of this practice and these teachings of mindfulness/heartfulness, sanity and awakening.

 ~ Trudy