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- Art and Culture | Community and Family | Food for the Body | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation | Photos
Outside the Verizon Center
I walked over to the Verizon Center to see how the kalachakra was spreading into the space around it. Towards the end of my foray, the traffic light at a corner outside the Verizon Center changed in my direction, and I headed into the crosswalk. A cyclist going north in the southbound lane started cursing and screaming at me for blocking his way. The loudspeakers were blaring their usual commercial fare, the neon were glaringly lit even by day, the big video screens showing ads and offerings of upcoming sports events, and the tourists were jostling down the sidewalk, carrying their plastic containers full of stuff from McDonalds and Starbucks. On the other side of the Portrait Gallery was a special “market place” with silk shawls, t-shirts, silver and turquoise jewelry, thangkas, prayer wheels, and Himalayan food served in styrofoam containers with plastic forks.
I am as certain as it is possible to be that the space inside the Verizon Center is being transformed by the practice of the kalachakra for world peace empowerment inside. We cannot make others receive such an offering if they are closed and uninterested. We can, though, seek to open our own receptivity and our own hearts. As I observed my reaction to the plastics and the noise and having been cursed out when I had the “right of way,” I thought that the axiom “peace starts from within” is counsel that though we may not be able to change others, we can and are responsible for ourselves.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Akasha (space)
When we can connect to the essence of the element of akasha, space, within ourselves, we feel less crowded by things pressing in on the outside, whether it be actual confinement or overcrowdedness or the sense of crowding from having too many pressing things to do. For those of us who live in the District of Columbia, this weekend, with the extra million or two or three people in our neighborhoods and using our transportation systems is a great opportunity to discover the spaciousness within.
Practice dwelling in a supremely spacious place in your heart when you meditate this week. Start by visualizing a vast space just beyond your third eye (the point between the eye brows). Once you can visualize that space, the chidakasha, draw the space into your heart and rest there. Then, when you go out onto to the Mall or onto the metro or onto crowded streets, bring enough of your consciousness into the vast inner space that you can feel comfortable with the crowding outside. When dwelling in the inner and outer at the same time, it will be easier to marvel at the outside crowds.
For those of you who are extroverts who get exhilarated by crowds, of course, this practice would seem less critical. I invite you to give it a try anyway.
- Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation
National Cathedral
As I witnessed my cozy house shaking and rattling in this my first really measurable earthquake, I got a much deeper appreciation of just how quickly things can fall apart despite apparent solidity. It felt clear to my very core that to be able to weather whatever comes what we need to know as unshakable is our own deepest self. What happens when the emblems of faith, such as the National Cathedral, are shaken by the strength and awesome power of nature?
Social Distancing as a Spiritual Practice
This morning Maitri and I participated in Quaker silent worship with Friends Meeting of Washington via Zoom. I have friends offering for the first time, or expanding their offerings through various on-line platforms, of both meditation and asana practices.
For those of us able to do so, it is critical to stay home to slow contagion and alleviate burden on our already stressed by poor and inequitable policies health care system. It is also critical to reach out to elected officials and into our own means to help others be able to stay home and get any needed care.
What capacities for adaptability and generosity might we find in this situation?




