Jan 1, 2022
Start Again!
One of the most important mindfulness instructions is to return to our primary anchor when we notice we’re distracted. Whether that’s coming back to the breath, or mettā, or the felt sense of the body, we practice coming back, again and again—to this moment, to ourselves, to the path.
The Indian vipassanā master S.N. Goenka, an important teacher to many of our founding teachers, often began a meditation period with the words “start again.” Whether we’ve practiced for many years or just a few minutes, each time we meditate we start again, letting go of the past and returning to the present. It’s the same through the larger seasons of our practice: over and over, with compassion for ourselves and confidence in the path, we “start again.”
As we open to the new year together, Spirit Rock is here to help you refresh your practice or begin a new one. Here are some of the wonderful teachers you’ll see on our schedule this month.
Movement and Stillness: Breath and Body
Intention and Impact: Harm & Accountability in an Interdependent World
Writing is How I Live (interview, SFZC)
Zenju, known as Earthlyn prior to receiving her Dharma name, started writing as an eight-year-old because she
felt speechless. Her family had moved to a new neighborhood in Los Angeles and she was attending her first
all-white school. Writing helped her navigate the experience. She didn’t think of herself as a writer
then. She wrote poems on paper bags, envelopes, anything she could find, and saved the papers in large boxes.
She did this from elementary to high school. As an adult, when she was getting ready to move to the San
Francisco Bay Area, she discarded the boxes and their contents, in an effort to reduce her load. She later
regretted it.
Read more
Dharma Life and States of Consciousness
Dec 09, 2021 - In the Presence of Love - A Metta and Qigong Retreat