SLVI: The Present · 19 December 2008

When you wrap the presents, just wrap the presents.

Or listen to these.

Six minutes with Pema Chodron. This is about staying with the breath. About “non-life-threatening” distractions, about how quieting the mind is piercing holes in the clouds of the sky. No habit nor bowl-cut can repress her growing adorableness. Especially that moment when she pretends she's just waking up.

Twenty minutes on neurolinguistic programming and bigger prizes with an ashtangi Zen master who lists SKPJ in the same breath as some Rinpoche. Yes: there is an ashtangi Zen Master. In WISCONSIN.

Intriguing, yes? I almost kept it for myself. Here is more of Hollow Bones and Junpo Denis Kelly. And something small about NLP in a Mysore room.

I’m going ice skating this weekend. In a T-shirt, under palm trees. And supposedly seeing It’s a Wonderful Life in the theatre. And doing some weird solstice ritual. Interesting times.

Posted by (0v0)        
Categories: astanga yoga , beta state

Comment

1. thanks, (0v0), it is nice to find a Zen meditation teacher who also teaches ashtanga as a form of physical practice. one does come across Zen meditation teachers here in SF who also teach yoga. the two things of course are complementary. I like how Junpo is proposing the development of Zen ways in the West. It kind of reminds me of things that Brad Warner is trying to do with his Zen teaching in LA, although his style is probably more brash.
   hugs
   Arturo

   Posted by: arturo · Dec 20, 03:37 PM · #

2. I went to the hollowbones site. I take it to be a Samurai cult for white baby boomer guys. SO AWESOME!

   Directly linked to a zen lineage. Emphasis on urgency to awaken, sacred ethics, environmental preservation, emotional maturity, martial-artsy yoga. A little old school for me (esp in organizational structure and ideas about social morality), but these guys seem passionate in a way that only a warrior-tradition emphasizing bravery and urgency could make. High minded cavemen. Nice!

   Posted by: (0v0) · Dec 20, 04:06 PM · #

3. hi (0v0)
   i went to the site. without reading, i went directly to the photo gallery page. then i realize, wow, this is mostly a group of men. in some pictures, they are behind a statue of Jizo, who is like the Buddha for travelers. then i went to read and it said they started as a group of men and then started including women.

   this reminds me of observations about the main center, the SFZC. it’s housed in a historic building that originally was a house where women lived when men to fight in the world wars. in years past the mix of monks have been primarily women and as of recent the balance has been going towards men. i can’t help but think that people, young men in general, are taking a look at their values and thinking, should i be out there fighting a foreign war? i know there isn’t a draft, but there is the feeling of draft avoidance at a psychological level. i don’t know if that makes sense, but it’s what my feelings serve me.

   cheers, Arturo

   Posted by: arturo · Dec 21, 05:59 AM · #

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