The Yoga Path • Omaha, NE

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{ Practicing Physical, Mental & Spiritual Health }

May 25, 2020 • 2:15 am 1

One Step at a Time

A story was once shared by Michael Ciborski, one of the dharma teachers in the Plum village tradition. Michael was a monk at Plum Village for nine years and was one of the first Americans to join this Buddhist monastics at the French monastery. Thich Nhat Hanh, Michael retells, was very accessible in those early days and so he, Michael had a good rapport with the venerated Zen teacher. One day Michael was bounding up some stairs preoccupied with his own thoughts. Joyfully running up two, to three steps at a time, when he turned the corner at a flight of stairs and almost ran into Thich Nhat Hanh before abruptly stopping. Michael was startled by almost knocking over his teacher. But Thây (teacher in Vietnamese) looked right at him, at first sternly, then with a smile and then quietly said to his monk: “You should take one step at a time.” Then he mindfully walked past Michael down the steps.

We at the Path are trying to mindfully walk this new path one step at a time. Recently there have been a lot of opening of businesses, parks, and activities. While the need to get back to life’s activities and endeavors can be appreciated, the circumstances that have promulgated these closing and social isolation haven’t in reality been diminished at all. Numbers of those infected by Covid19 still increase and the need for caution, when being in groups is still something we should all respect for ourselves and those around us. With that in mind, we at the Yoga Path will review current circumstances and implement protocols to insure the safest possible atmosphere when we do return. While the school will not be opening June 1st, we will be monitoring our local environment on weekly basis to see how to best come back to physical classes.

In the meantime I will begin to offer online classes through the Zoom platform. To begin with I will offer a
Tuesday evening class at 5:30 p.m. and
a Thursday morning class at 9:30 a.m.
The classes will be at least one hour. If more class times are needed they can be added.

This online format will probably become a new normal even when classes at the studio do resume, as there may be those who would still be more comfortable attending virtually for a time.

I miss the Yoga Path community and the energy that you all have brought to your practice and thus to my teaching. Virtual classes are poor substitute for your actual presence, but seeing your faces will be some consolation.

If you are interested in participating in these online classes please email me at omyogapath@gmail.com. Or if you have questions or comments please feel free to write. Any comment will very helpful, so don’t hesitate to contact me. Hearing from you would be such a gift.

Filed under: Education, Stories, , , ,

May 8, 2020 • 12:00 pm 0

Practicing Metta

The practice of Metta/Loving-Kindness meditation can be practiced as follows. There are a number of variations that you can search for on you own. The script below is my own adaption. It is simple and easy to remember (an important factor for me.) I’ve also rearranged the phrasing, because it seems more logical and in-line with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, safety/health/ease/happiness. This is especially useful when I carry these sentiments onto others, particularly for those to whom I have neutral or negative feelings.

metta symbol

In my own experience, metta requires that I be very settled and stable in my own meditation. If practicing it feels artificial or forced, then give it up and just come back to the breath or some present moment experience. In most cases it may require more time than the typical 20 minute sit. It might take just that long to settle into stillness, but sometimes, going right into metta is just what is needed. And some people are able to naturally flow right into this loving-kindness practice with a natural spontaneity.

May I be safe.
May I be healthy.
May I be at ease.
May I be happy.

First you begin with yourself. For some this may be the most difficult. But it is essential.

“To know the real situation within yourself, you have to know your own territory, including the elements within you that are at war with each other. In order to bring about harmony, reconciliation, and healing within, you have to understand yourself. Looking and listening deeply, surveying your territory, is the beginning of love meditation.”

Thich Nhat Hanh

Then you can bring to mind some close to you. This may be a loved one, a friend, a teacher, maybe a pet or a tree. It’s good to practice doing this for someone you are fond of to begin with.
Then you move to someone neutral. Perhaps someone you don’t know very well, but you know is struggling and could benefit from a kind thought.
Then you can bring to mind somebody who you find difficult. You may not want to pick the most difficult person in your life, instead choosing someone who is mildly difficult. Maybe it’s someone you find yourself agitated with or annoyed by.

If you still have the concentration and stability to continue, then you can move on to include everyone you’ve been thinking of and add more if you want:

May we be safe.
May we be healthy.
May we be at ease.
May we be happy.

If you can do this with sincerity, while maintaining focus you will find metta exercise renewing and refreshing. It will revive your outlook about yourself and the people in your life.

For those looking for a more in depth explanation of the metta meditation, enclosed is an article written by Thich Nhat Hanh entitled: Cultivating Compassion

Filed under: Education, Virtual Yoga, , , , ,

April 23, 2020 • 10:00 am 1

Are You Sure?

There is a Zen story that you have perhaps heard. This condensed version is borrowed from the writings of Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh.

One day a farmer went to the field and found that his horse had run away. The people in the village said, “Oh what bad luck!” The next day the horse returned with two other horses and village people said, “What good fortune!” Then the farmer’s son was thrown from one of the horses and broke his leg. The villagers expressed their sympathy, “How unfortunate!” Soon after, a war broke out and the young men from the village were being drafted. But because the farmer’s son had a broken leg, he was the only one not drafted. Now the village people told the farmer that his son’s broken leg was really “good luck.”

It is difficult to judge whether an event is fortunate or unfortunate, good or bad. Success contains failure and failure often offers lessons we wouldn’t learn any other way. And many of these judgements arise from our perceptions of how we think things ought to be. This is good and this is bad, right or wrong. Then these perceptions lead us to creating a story about what will happen in the future or if only something different had been done in the past.

Wrong perceptions can create a host of problems. So much of our suffering and dissatisfaction arises from our failure to recognize things as they are. There is a phrase; a question in Buddhism: “Are you sure?” Asking ourselves this question can sometimes stop the story and give us space to reflect what is really happening.

‘There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.’

William Shakespeare, Hamlet

Filed under: Education, Stories, Virtual Yoga, , ,

April 3, 2020 • 8:21 pm 0

Deep Relaxation I

There is this practice called Deep Relaxation. Just to be clear this is not specifically a yoga exercise. Though most often when doing it you take the savāsana position or lay on your side. The technique could be compared to yoga nidra, though that term is sort of esoteric and not familiar to most practitioners. It is also not meditation in the strict sense of the word. Where in meditation one tries to stop and focus, deep relaxation is a surrendering to the fatigue and stress in our body. Yet then again it is not a nap, though one might fall asleep while doing it; usually waking up a little later in a soft repose that is often healing and nourishing.

Relaxation is essential for accessing the tranquility and joy that lead to increased personal well-being.

If you are like me, you will approach this exercise with a degree of doubt and skepticism. So be it. I’ve never liked naps because usually they leave me tired and disoriented in the middle of the day. Yet this practice is something altogether different. I often do this after a long bike ride, where I’m physically exhausted. It works wonders. For you, it might be helpful after a day of working from home, looking at a screen for too many hours and feeling scattered or dispersed.

This is your assignment: Lie down in a comfortable position and listen to this guided Relaxation.
This Relaxation audio is offered from Sister True Dedication from the Plum Village tradition. I chose it, because she has pleasant voice and it’s only 15 minutes long. So the time commitment isn’t that much. Try it. You perhaps will find it healing.

“When we relax, we become calm water, and we will reflect reality as it is. If we’re not calm, the image we reflect will be distorted. When the image is distorted by our minds, it’s not the reality, and it causes lots of suffering.”

Thich Nhat Hanh

Filed under: Education, Virtual Yoga, , , ,

June 4, 2014 • 9:12 pm 0

Sitting Spaces

Students at the Yoga Path have been invited to share images of the meditation space in their homes. Here are some of the initial entries.

“One of the most important ways you can transform your home space is to make a place to sit. Creating a peaceful sitting area can transform your whole house. This also an important way to support your meditation practice. If we sit in the same place each day, it takes us less and less time to remember to stop and return to our breath. Here, in this place, our bodies and minds can help each other relax”  Thich Nhat Hanh

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February 24, 2014 • 1:49 am 0

Spring Mindfulness Retreat

Here is the announcement about Spring Mindfulness Retreat 2014 sponsored by the Honey Locust Sangha / Omaha Community of Mindful Living.

Filed under: Education, , , ,

November 4, 2013 • 4:18 am 0

Interbeing at a Retreat

This weekend I attended a Mindfulness Retreat in the Tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh.  It was put on by the Heartland Community of Mindful Living lead by the dharma teacher Joanne Friday.  It was a transformative and refreshing experience, but that is not what I want to talk about right now. What I want to talk about it this women I met there. Perhaps some of you have heard of Dr. Mary Pipher.  When I was talking to her I didn’t know who I was talking to.  Now I know.  Author of Reviving Ophelia and her most recent book The Green Boat: Reviving Ourselves in Our Capsized Culture.  Here is a talk she gave recently about her newest book.  I believe there is significance in that I would me this women in context of this Buddhist retreat.

Filed under: Stories, , , , ,

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