Cultivating Mindfulness through Deep Listening with Valerie Brown

Cultivating Mindfulness through Deep Listening

with Valerie Brown

A Day of Mindfulness of the Community of Mindfulness NY/Metro

on March 16, 2019

at

91 Claremont Avenue, Room 20-T, Riverside Church, NY, NY 10025 

[RSVP to marjoriemarkus@aol.com]

“You listen not for the purpose of judging, criticizing or analyzing. You listen only to

help the other person to express himself and find some relief from his suffering.”

Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh

“The first duty of love is to listen.”

Paul Tillich

Listening is a vital and overlooked life skill and the cornerstone of building trustworthy

relationships. Listening is an act of love, extending toward collegiality, agreeableness,

understanding, and compassion. It is a mindset of being rather than doing. Strong

listening skills are a critical aspect of cultivating peace within and peace in the world.

At the heart of authentic listening is the courage to be fully human, to take risks, to care deeply, and to take action even in the midst of change and uncertainty.

The basis for cultivating listening skills is mindfulness, and this Day of Mindfulness focuses on basic mindfulness skills to support, greater awareness, understanding and relational trust.

To enhance individual and collective mindful awareness, this Day of Mindfulness will largely be held in silence with the exception of a period of deep listening practice in small and large groups.  

What to Bring/How to Prepare

Please bring a journal for writing, a vegetarian lunch, yoga mat, and blanket for deep relaxation. Meditation cushions and chairs are provided.  Please review these deep listening guidelines by the Center for Courage & Renewal and the Order of Interbeing before the Day of Mindfulness:  http://www.couragerenewal.org/touchstones/  and Trainings Eight and Nine of the 14 Mindfulness Trainings:  https://plumvillage.org/mindfulness-practice/the-14-mindfulness-trainings/

Wear loose fitting, comfortable clothing for mindful movement.  Come for all or part of the Day of Mindfulness, and please do not wear fragrances.

Registration not necessary: RSVP's appreciated: to marjoriemarkus@aol.com

This Day of Mindfulness is offered by donation.

Tentative Schedule  10:00 am to 4:30pm

(The schedule is subject to change.)

10:00-12:30 Opening Circle: Welcome and introductions, guided sitting and walking

meditation, mindful movement, Dharma talk, individual and group reflection

12:30-2:30/3:00 pm Silent lunch-mindful eating (Bring your own veggie lunch), deep

relaxation, outdoor walking-weather permitting

2:30/3:00-4:15 pm Individual and group reflection and sharing

4:15 pm Closing Circle 

                                                    

 About Your Facilitator:  Valerie Brown, ‘True Sangha Power,' received Lamp Transmission at Plum Village, June 2018, and is a Dharma Teacher in the Plum Village tradition, and has been a member of the Order of Interbeing since 2003.  She has been practicing in the Plum Village/Thich Nhat Hanh tradition since 1995. Valerie is a member of the Plum Village ARISE sangha [https://arisesangha.org].  

Valerie transformed her high-pressure, twenty-year career as a lawyer-lobbyist, representing educational institutions and nonprofits, to human-scale work with leaders and teams to foster trustworthy and authentic connections. Through her writing, she seeks to foster a more compassionate and peaceful world.

Valerie is a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and as a certified Kundalini yoga teacher, she helps ‘leaders’ discover the wisdom of the body.  She leads an annual transformational pilgrimage to El Camino de Santiago, Spain, to celebrate the power of sacred places.

Visit her website for more information:  www.leadsmartcoaching.com

For more information about this event:  www.communityofmindfulnessnewyorkmetro.blogspot.com

(Deep Listening Day of Mindfulness 2018)

Day of Mindfulness Saturday February 16, 2019: Love in Action, Action in Love

Day of Mindfulness

Saturday, Feb 16, 2019   10am to 4:30pm

The Riverside Church, 91 Claremont Avenue, NYC,   Room 20T

       Love in Action, Action in Love

                         facilitated by: Wake Up Sangha                   

️✍🏽🏽  ?

This month, we will explore the theme of the Four Immeasurables, also known as the Brahmaviharas: loving-kindness (metta), compassion (karuna), empathetic joy (mudita) and inclusivity/equanimity (upeksha).

These qualities are central to the Buddhist path of insight, transformation and healing, and are often referred by our teacher Thich Nhat Hanh.

We will inquire:

• How do we know when our love to ourselves, to others or to the world is to be expressed through:

1) Outer loving action and “doing” or

2) Inner acceptance and “being”? How can one balance these seemingly different aspects of love? How can one transcend the duality between them?

• How can one distinguish true love from lust or attachment?

• What are some concrete practices that can help us manifestthe Four Immeasurables in our daily lives?

Bring: Your own Vegetarian or Vegan Lunch: we eat together as a mindfulness practice.

🥦 Chairs and Cushions Available 

Please Do Not Wear Fragrances 

 kindly RSVP to marjoriemarkus@aol.com  [However, you can attend without rsvping.]

At: The Riverside Church, 20-T, 91 Claremont Avenue, 
Date/Time: February 16, 2019: 10:00am-4:30pm. Come for all or part of the Day.

Wake Up New York (WUNY) Sangha

We are a diverse group of young people practicing the living art of mindfulness and meditation. We meet on Friday evenings from 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM at Still Mind Zendo Center in NYC. We are part of a worldwide movement (Wake Up) of young Buddhists and non-Buddhists practicing mindful living, which has grown out of the teachings of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, under his guidance. We share a determination to live in an awakened way, to realize the path of understanding and love, and to help our society face the roots of its ignorance, which manifests as the intolerance, discrimination, craving, anger, and despair that seems so commonplace today. We aim to experience joy and ease in our pursuits, keeping it real with the laughter, sanity, and friendship that bloom from practicing mindfulness together. Our practitioners are (roughly) aged 18-35.

Facilitated  by:

Max Weidmann began practicing meditation in the winter of 2014-15, initially focused on the “wisdom wing” of the path, but increasingly in touch with the energy of compassion. He fell in love with Wake Up and the Plum Village tradition from his first visit in January 2015 and now practices regularly with Wake Up and Middle Way sanghas. He aspires to integrate his mindfulness practice with his work as a psychotherapist in training, continue sangha building in the metro area and deepen his practice through formal teacher training. 

Nicole Paola Kramer started practicing in 2011 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California. She was highly engaged with that community for several years, though also influenced by Thich Nhat Hanh’s book “Old Path White Clouds” (tangerines are the universe!). In 2015, she visited Thai Plum Village and was awestruck by monastic life (it was like they lived full-time on retreat).. Encouraged by her monastic sisters and brothers, she joined Wake Up New York and started frequenting Blue Cliff Monastery (new best friends). Nicole is now the Communications Coordinator for the Thich Nhat HanhFoundation, and in her practice has been most recently engaged in questions of self, right effort and aimlessness (heh).

Nikolai Chapochnikov began his spiritual journey after reading The Heart of Buddha’s Teaching in 2012. Strongly inspired by the practice, he has spent 5 months in Plum Village, France in 2013-14 and has since been regularly attending retreats in Thich Nhat Hanh’s as well as in Theravada traditions. He is an active member of the Wake Up New York Sangha and also loves authentic relating, conscious dance, and other mind-body approaches for inner growth. He is a neuroscience researcher.

Josh Wright was a long-time dabbler in Buddhist Dharma, mindful movement, and Theravada practice, before finally establishing a personal meditation practice at the beginning of 2016. Since then, he has completed a course in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and has begun training as an MBSR instructor with the U. Mass Center for Mindfulness. Both previously and as part of his training, Josh has completed silent retreats in the Zen and Theravada traditions. He likes to think his salad days studying Sanskrit and the ancient Indian grammarians gives him a broader perspective on the origins of Buddhist thought, but these days he is more focused on applying and sharing mindfulness in the venues where he finds himself: corporate workplaces, the LGBTIQ community, and conversations on race relations. A labor economist by profession, Josh is passionate about making our workplaces emotionally healthier environments and helping our society make the most of every human life within it.

Tushar Bhagat was born and raised in the theravada buddhisttradition in India and became a practitioner of Vipassana (Goenka) meditation since 1997. During grad school in New York City he joined the Wake Up New York family in 2016. He is on the path to become a meditation Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher along with learning and including race relations and LGBTIQ into his mindfulness training.  A biomedical scientist and medical educator by the worldly profession, he aspires to integrate science and the understanding of core buddhist principles in his personal practice and teaching towards building a greater mindful, compassionate sangha along the way.

Bring: Your own Vegetarian/Vegan Lunch 🥦 Chairs and Cushions Available 

Please Do Not Wear Fragrances 

 kindly RSVP to marjoriemarkus@aol.com [You can attend without rsvping.]