Quad City Meditation

May you be safe and protected

May you be peaceful and happy

May you be healthy and strong

May you care for yourself with ease

May you know your own goodness

May others see you with clarity

May your heart be light and spacious

May you open to holding all of life

May you accept things as they are

May you care for others, realizing you cannot keep them from suffering

May you cultivate liberation of the mind, practicing love.

May love be your vehicle and your foundation

May you stabilize love and exercise yourself in it

May you perfect love fully

Valentine, let us share a bow and a smile.

Our dear friend, the Cambodian Buddhist monk, Somnieng, will be visiting us during Thanksgiving.  We have 3 events planned at the Satva Center, where Somnieng will be staying Wednesday and Thursday.  Just like old times.  The Satva Center is located at 1918 7th Avenue in Rock Island. (309) 793-7881 .

The schedule is:

Sitting meditation, guided by Somnieng,  7 pm  Wednesday, November 21 and 7 pm Thursday, November 22 (Thanksgiving Day).  You have two opportunities to sit with Somnieng during the Thanksgiving holiday. ( The regular Thursday group meditation is cancelled for Thanksgiving Day.)

Sutra chanting, led by Somnieng,  10 am Thanksgiving Day

followed by a potluck starting around 11 am Thansgiving Day (this Thursday).

A wonderful opportunity to experience authentic Khymer Buddhist religious culture and taste Thai and Laotian delicacies along with our American Thanksgiving dishes.  It it a potluck, so bring a Thanksgiving dish, if you can.

Cost is your potluck offering and free will dana.  Somnieng’s plane ticket was quite expensive, so consider dana, if you have the means.

From Steve:

Charlie Day is the lead teacher of the Des Moines mindfulness community.  Recently, during a day of mindfulness retreat, Charlie said the trick is finding the preciousness of our most serene, focused moments , finding that same preciousness in our everyday lives.  Finding the sacred in the mundane.  ” After ecstasy, the laundry”, quips Jack Kornfeld.

Here is a short passage from Suzuki’s Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind:  But our approach is just to be concentrated on a simple basic practice and a simple basic understanding of life.  There should be no traces in our activity.  We should not attach to some fancy ideas or to some beautiful things [or luminous experiences].  We should not seek for something good. The truth is always near at hand, within your reach.

In the mindfulness traditions we do not seek to transcend or illuminate.  Our practice is to be present to what is already here.  It is no more complicated than the flow of our breath.  When we leave no trace of our self, our ego, our judgments, we find jewels scattered all around.  That is Charlie’s trick.  It takes a lifetime of practice and only a moment.

From Steve:

Many of you know Somnieng Hoeurn, the Cambodian Buddhist monk who lived in the Quad Cities for 2 1/2 years, while studying at St. Ambrose. I was in Boston for my son, Bryan’s wedding and spent Sunday afternoon with Somnieng.  We met at Harvard Square and then a tour of the Kennedy School of Government.  Somnieng is in the Masters program for a year.  Even in the diverse crowds of Cambridge, his orange robes and shaved head stand out. 
 
His commitment to the disadvanaged in Cambodia is strong and more mature.  He spent the last year making high contacts in the Cambodian government to garner support for the projects in Siem Reap and built a solid staff for Life and Hope Association.  Many charities there are run by foreign nationals.  Somnieng is a home grown dynamo for at-risk children and youths. 
 
Recently he spoke on the Voice of America in Kymer language, fielding questions from his countrymen.  When asked how he will use his Harvard Masters, he said “When one works for his own welfare, then he benefits.  When one works for the welfare of the nation, then all Cambodians benefit.”  The quote was diseminated widely in the Cambodian press. 
 
Somnieng is a great example of engaged mindfulness.  We practice not just for ourselves.  He was a catalyst for our mindfulness community in the Quad Cities.  His practice inspires and challenges.
 
Somnieng sends his warm smile and his greetings to each of us.   
GROUP MEDITATION PRACTICE
Beginners welcome    Cushions & chairs provided
 
Siting Meditation                                             Walking Meditation 
Deep Listening/Mindful Speaking                      Sharing the Merit of Our Practice
 
THURSDAYS 7 PM
Group meets at Davenport School of Yoga, 421 Brady Street in Davenport.  Third floor of Hiberian Hall, above the antique store.   Stairs involved.  Weekly group mindfulness practice since 2005.
  
FRIDAYS 7 PM
Group meets at the Yoga School’s Bettendorf location.  3420 Towne Point Drive, Bettendorf,  IA.  Take Devil’s Glen north from Middle Road, past the HyVee.  Proceed on Devil’s Glen past the stoplight at Belmont.  Go north one more block and turn right.  The School is located just west and north of the Fareway Grocery. 
 
FRIDAY 4 PM MEDITATION AT PRAIRIE OAKS.
Prairie Oaks is meditation and retreat center on a 20 acre tree farm.  Mindfulness meditation is offered at 4 pm on Fridays.  This is out in the country behind LeClaire, west of Territorial Road.  You will need directions.  Call Joyce at 289-3292.   
  
SUNDAY GROUP:         
Sundays 3-5 pm at the home of Vasu and Girija Ramashan in Moline.  Call 309-721-9142 for details.

QC Meditation will be hosting our annual Day of Mindfulness on January, 12 2013
at the Chapel Gathering Space at St. Ambrose University.

From Steve:

Before we begin practice, and often during practice, it is useful to ask “what is the mind doing”.  Sometimes, when the mind is restless, we are unaware of that.  We can mistake this restlessness for a lack of focus.  That leads to trying harder to bring the awareness to the breath.  When the mind focuses narrowly on the breath, the breath shrinks of an object of attention, and awareness of the breath becomes less relaxed.  If we pay attention to how the mind is, then we can bring a relaxed attention to the breath.  ”The mind is striving right now.  Now, awareness of the breath, slow and steady.”  Now we have a relaxed awareness of the mind and of the breath.

Whether the mind is stormy or calm, we can bring a relaxed awareness.  Easy on the mind, easy on the breath.

From Steve:

(compassion: exploring with tender curiosity)

A teaching we often hear is “be compassionate toward yourself. Only then can you offer peace and love.” And often self-compassion is framed as acceptance and non-judgmental letting go of expectations. Cultivating an opening of the heart has been a nourishing and freeing gift of committed practice.

There is another aspect of compassion which is energetic and turns the mind from a tendency towards passivity. During moments of focus on the breath and stillness, clear and strong emotions can arise. In ourselves or we notice them in our friend. If I can use the breath practice to set aside reacting/ignoring and let the emotion be, then there is a space to observe and explore.

Working with clear and strong emotions helps to build the skill of compassion. Then we enter the lush forest of fuzzy and more subtle feelings and habits of mind. Ajahn Chah observed “As you meditate, your mind will get quieter and quieter, like a still forest pool. Many wonderful and rare animals will come to drink at the pool, but you will be still. This is the happiness of mindfulness.”

Thursday, Barry will lead, with the topic “Ice on the Sidewalk”. A great time and place to practice concentration and mindfulness of where the feet are stepping.

GROUP MEDITATION PRACTICE

Beginners welcome Cushions & chairs provided

Siting Meditation Walking Meditation

Deep Listening/Mindful Speaking Sharing the Merit of Our Practice

Please join us for a Day of Mindfulness:
10AM-4PM Saturday, January 14, 2012.  Chapel Gathering Space at St. Ambrose University.  Register via meditationqc.org.  Dave Haskin, long time mindfulness retreat leader, is coming from Madison to facilitate.  $15   bring your lunch.
 
We continue to practice together on Thursday and Fridays at 7 pm. Fridays we have a new location.  See below.  Thursdays we still meet at the Davenport School of Yoga, 421 Brady Street in downtown Davenport.  This is our 7th year of sitting, walking and sharing together, establishing the practice of mindfulness. And we have a new 4 pm Friday meditation at Prairie Oaks, a 20 acre tree farm.
    
 FRIDAY 7 PM MEDITATION  MOVES TO BETTENDORF
 
 The Friday 7 pm meditation group will meet at the Yoga School’s Bettendorf location.  3420 Towne Point Drive, Bettendorf,  IA. 
 
Take Devil’s Glen north from Middle Road, past the HyVee.  Proceed on Devil’s Glen past the stoplight at Belmont.  Go north one more block and turn right.  The School is located just west and north of the Fareway Grocery.  Look for our Meditation banner!
Some cushions and chairs will be available.  
 
FRIDAY 4 PM MEDITATION AT PRAIRIE OAKS
 
Prairie Oaks is meditation and retreat center on a 20 acre tree farm.  Mindfulness meditation is offered at 4 pm on Fridays.  This is out in the country behind LeClaire, west of Territorial Road.  You will need directions.  Call Joyce at 289-3292.  
From Steve:

THE MIRROR THAT SHOWS NO REFLECTION 
 
Mindfulness is described as the quality of undistorted awareness.
 
Lofty language.  With the Zen-like qualities of precision and obscurity.  It points the conditions we cultivate and the circumstances we face – loads of distorted awareness out there.
 
 We could go down the list, but you know it by heart.  We are all aware that expectations, the hard lessons of past experience and misperceptions from reading other people’s minds color how we see things.  What we may fail to grasp is just how complete and common these distortions are.  The windows we look out are primarily mirrrors that reflect back our own stuff.  As Pogo said so succinctly: “We have looked at the enemy, and it is us.”
 
Recall a dark evening, sitting in a well lit room, beside a large pane glass window.  Peering outside through the glass, you do not see the lawn and woods you know to be there.  Rather, you see your reflection and that of the room surrounding you, imposed on the black beyond the window.  What we perceive as a window is really a mirror.
 
Our mindfulness practice, including our time together in sitting and walking meditation, is a gathering and cultivating of the light of awareness.  We are energizing a flood light to illuminate the darkness, so as we gaze out the window, we can see the lawn and woods, rather than our reflection in a mirror.
 
What is a mirror in the normal course of life becomes a window with a beautiful and refreshing view.

This is our 7th year of sitting, walking and sharing together, establishing the practice of mindfulness. And we have a new 4 pm Friday meditation at Prairie Oaks, the tree farm and home of Joyce and Tony

FRIDAY 7 PM MEDITATION  MOVES TO BETTENDORF

The Friday 7 pm meditation group will meet at the Yoga School’s Bettendorf location.  3420 Towne Point Drive, Bettendorf,  IA.

Take Devil’s Glen north from Middle Road, past the HyVee.  Proceed on Devil’s Glen past the stoplight at Belmont.  Go north one more block and turn right.  The School is located just west and north of the Fareway Grocery.  Look for our Meditation banner!

Some cushions and chairs will be available.

FRIDAY 4 PM MEDITATION AT PRAIRIE OAKS

Tony and Joyce are establishing a meditation and retreat center on their 20 acre tree farm.  Mindfulness meditation is offered at 4 pm on Fridays.  This is out in the country behind LeClaire, west of Territorial Road.  You will need directions.  Call Joyce at 289-3292.

THE HAPPIEST MOMENT

The Christmas song keeps repeating in my ear:  ”its the hap, happiest time of the year”.  And it reminds me that this moment can be the most gentle, colorful and happiest ever.  We practice the skill on our cushion or chair and in our weekly groups of letting go, of becoming the breath.  We gather the sharp tools and the skills to make this moment workable and a work of art.  We often forget to focus on this moment.  But when we do, we are craft men and women, making the moment dance, not in the shadows, but in undraped daylight.

Each moment has the potential to be fettered in planning, expectations, regrets, anxieties, recycled drama, any of a hundred old friend habit energies.   With our attention, with our anchor in the breath in the body, and with our shared skills of letting go and opening the heart, this moment can be the revelation of Christmas.

We continue to practice together on Thursday and Fridays at 7 pm. Fridays we have a new location.  See below.  Thursdays we still meet at the Davenport School of Yoga, 421 Brady Street in downtown Davenport.  This is our 7th year of sitting, walking and sharing together, establishing the practice of mindfulness.  

This week Barry will guide a healing sitting on Thursday and Steve will lead on Friday.  The Friday topic is the breath as our anchor in the present moment. 

 FRIDAY 7 PM MEDITATION  MOVES TO BETTENDORF

Beginning this Friday (Nov. 18th) the Friday 7 pm meditation group will meet at the Yoga School’s Bettendorf location.  3420 Towne Point Drive, Bettendorf,  IA. 

Take Devil’s Glen north from Middle Road, past the HyVee.  Proceed on Devil’s Glen past the stoplight at Belmont.  Go north one more block and turn right.  The School is located just west of the Fareway Grocery.  Look for our Meditation banner!

Some cushions and chairs will be available.  If you have your own, please bring them along.