April Sangha News
3/29/24
Sitting quietly, doing nothing
spring comes
and the grass grows by itself
– Basho
Save the dates for upcoming Sangha gatherings
Moon Day Chanting and Precepts, with Doug Kremm, in person at IWM, sometimes hybrid:
Town Hall May 8: IWM Visioning: Recent Growth and Future Plans. This gathering will be an opportunity for sangha members to hear about where we have been as a community, some plans for where we are going, and a chance to offer ideas and feedback.
June 9: 25th Anniversary celebration and volunteer appreciation, potluck picnic at Nonotuck Park! Watch for updates!
April at IWM
This month we are excited and grateful to three of our long-time IWM teachers for offering Wednesday night Dharma Talks: Jean Esther, Rebecca Bradshbaw and Manny Mansbach. We also welcome a popular visiting guest teacher, Oren Jay Sofer. You might be interested in a half-day retreat with Carolyn West inviting poetry into our practice, or sign up for a four-session course in May with Manny, Wise Speech in Hard Times. Saturday Sangha continues each week, in person at IWM, and four affinity groups have meetings in April. All of these offerings are described in more detail below.
Monday night open practice sessions
In April we will turn our attention again to the pāramī, or Perfections, "the essential qualities of heart that carry us safely through the swirling floods of existence to the unshakeable groundedness and well-being of our true nature." (Kittisaro)
This month the fourth and fifth Mondays, April 22 and April 29, will be in person at the center and hybrid; all others are on Zoom. See below for schedule, with topics, etc. We would like to continue to encourage anyone who is new or recently new to IWM or Insight practice to come to these sessions -- it's a great place to start meeting people and hearing some of what we are about!
Staff Changes
It is bittersweet for us to let you know that our dear - and absolutely crucial - administrative staff member, Casper Lucia, has decided to move on from his role at IWM. Casper has been a warm, uplifting presence at IWM, bringing insight, wisdom, and a fresh perspective. He will truly be missed! At the same time, we are excited for Casper as he moves on to explore new horizons and we warmly wish him well. We also fully expect to stay connected, as Casper is a dedicated practitioner and a key member of the Queer & Trans Sangha.
As Casper prepares to move on next month, we turn to face the reality that we will need to hire new staff. To that end, we have created the job description here, with the idea that we may divide his job into two positions or continue it as one larger role. If the role or roles described below might be a fit for you or for anyone you know, please do apply and/or share the posting. We sent out an announcement to the sangha on Friday and asked people to share with their networks and already have an intriguing pool of applicants.
Deep Bow to Sangha Stewards
We deeply appreciate all who shared the Dharma with us and those who volunteered their time and care to the sangha from January through March. Our volunteers keep us going!
Board: Suzanne A, Lucy B, Holly B, & Hal F.
Community Dharma Stewards: Suzanne A, Holly B, Jennifer D, Hal F, Ruth F, & Jaya K.
Day-to-Day Operations: Lucy B, Anne F, Adam C, Cathy R.
Facilitators (KM groups, White & Awakening in the Dhamma): Holly B, Jen C, Jennifer D, Lore D, Ruth F, Bernadine M, & Melissa T.
Finance Committee: Lucy B & Jen G (staffed by Fariba G).
Green Metta: Betsy H, Diana R & Andrea Z.
Peer-led practice: Thanks to all who hold the space on Tuesdays and Fridays and to those who facilitate/lead IWM Affinity Groups, Moon Day Chanting and Saturday Sangha
Programming Committee: Michael G, Hal F, & Vaughn F (staffed by Casper L & Bernadine M).
Teachers Council: Candace Cassin, Jean Esther, Michael Grady, & Manny Mansbach (Guiding Teachers Council). Adi Bemak, Devin Berry, Rebecca Bradshaw, Nick Boutros, Peggy Gillespie, Bernadine Mellis, Tara Mulay.
Zoom, In-Person, Hybrid Hosts/Schleppers: Catalina A, Suzanne A, Lucy B, Holly B, Adam C, Doug K, Brian K, Cathy R, Sue W.
Many thanks for your generosity!
The Programming Committee is looking for new members
The role of the Programming Committee is to organize and schedule classes, half-day and day-long offerings, talks, series, affinity groups, and other programming that supports the mission of IWM. The primary activity of Programming Committee members is to organize IWM’s calendar of offerings and invite teachers to IWM. The committee collaborates with the Board and the Teachers’ Council as appropriate. Click here to read more and apply to serve on the Programming Committee.
Affinity Sanghas
Chronic Illness/Disability Affinity Sangha:
We are delighted to report that the Chronic Illness & Disability Affinity Sangha, which had lapsed during the pandemic, restarted in March. They had a lovely inaugural meeting, generously hosted by peer facilitator Tara Balch, and will continue to meet on the third Thursday of the month, exclusively on Zoom, from 6:30-7:30 PM. New members are very welcome!
BIPOC Affinity Sangha:
Update from the BIPOC Affinity Sangha: We are reading and discussing Home is Here: Practicing Antiracism with the Engaged Eightfold Path by Rev. Liên Shutt. Each chapter includes practice pauses that we can explore both at home and together as a group. The book can be obtained through the library, your local bookstore, or online.
For the next meeting, the group will discuss the book through chapter 3. This chapter continues our journey on the Engaged Eightfold Path with an exploration of Skillful Concentration as "a meditative practice that can help us understand the layers of our racial conditioning in the system of white supremacy, supporting us to be centered instead of overwhelmed by our own or the suffering of the world."
While we encourage everyone to read the book, please don't let that stop you from attending and practicing with us! We alternate peer facilitators. All who identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous or Person of Color) are most welcome to participate.
Queer & Trans Sangha:
This is a peer facilitated group for all LGBTQIA2S+ identities. The group has been gathering monthly to practice together and to share our experience as Dharma practitioners from the LGBTQIA2S+ community. Please come practice with us!
35 and Under Affinity Sangha: Coming in July
This group will be facilitated by Sangha member Doug Kremm. Please stay tuned for updates.
Benefit Tomorrow for Trans Relocation Support
Trans Relocation Support Western Mass is a local group working with the national network Pink Haven Coalition to support trans and nonbinary folks moving to our area to escape anti-trans legislation in other states.
Tomorrow, Saturday March 30th at 6pm, TRS has organized a benefit poetry reading at the Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence, featuring local poets CA Conrad, Britt Billmeyer-Finn, and Ace Chandler. All funds will go directly to rental costs, groceries, healthcare, etc. for newly arrived trans folks.
If you would like to donate but can’t make it to the reading, you can donate here: https://secure.myvanco.com/YQ8W/campaign/C-14NFY.
If you would like to learn more about getting involved and volunteering, you can email [email protected].
Looking Back – 2023 Overview by the Numbers
2023 IWM’s Offerings
2023 IWM Contacts
spring comes
and the grass grows by itself
– Basho
Save the dates for upcoming Sangha gatherings
Moon Day Chanting and Precepts, with Doug Kremm, in person at IWM, sometimes hybrid:
- Tuesday April 23 5:45-6:45pm
- Thursday May 23 5:45-6:45pm
- Thursday June 20 5:45-6:45pm
Town Hall May 8: IWM Visioning: Recent Growth and Future Plans. This gathering will be an opportunity for sangha members to hear about where we have been as a community, some plans for where we are going, and a chance to offer ideas and feedback.
June 9: 25th Anniversary celebration and volunteer appreciation, potluck picnic at Nonotuck Park! Watch for updates!
April at IWM
This month we are excited and grateful to three of our long-time IWM teachers for offering Wednesday night Dharma Talks: Jean Esther, Rebecca Bradshbaw and Manny Mansbach. We also welcome a popular visiting guest teacher, Oren Jay Sofer. You might be interested in a half-day retreat with Carolyn West inviting poetry into our practice, or sign up for a four-session course in May with Manny, Wise Speech in Hard Times. Saturday Sangha continues each week, in person at IWM, and four affinity groups have meetings in April. All of these offerings are described in more detail below.
Monday night open practice sessions
In April we will turn our attention again to the pāramī, or Perfections, "the essential qualities of heart that carry us safely through the swirling floods of existence to the unshakeable groundedness and well-being of our true nature." (Kittisaro)
This month the fourth and fifth Mondays, April 22 and April 29, will be in person at the center and hybrid; all others are on Zoom. See below for schedule, with topics, etc. We would like to continue to encourage anyone who is new or recently new to IWM or Insight practice to come to these sessions -- it's a great place to start meeting people and hearing some of what we are about!
Staff Changes
It is bittersweet for us to let you know that our dear - and absolutely crucial - administrative staff member, Casper Lucia, has decided to move on from his role at IWM. Casper has been a warm, uplifting presence at IWM, bringing insight, wisdom, and a fresh perspective. He will truly be missed! At the same time, we are excited for Casper as he moves on to explore new horizons and we warmly wish him well. We also fully expect to stay connected, as Casper is a dedicated practitioner and a key member of the Queer & Trans Sangha.
As Casper prepares to move on next month, we turn to face the reality that we will need to hire new staff. To that end, we have created the job description here, with the idea that we may divide his job into two positions or continue it as one larger role. If the role or roles described below might be a fit for you or for anyone you know, please do apply and/or share the posting. We sent out an announcement to the sangha on Friday and asked people to share with their networks and already have an intriguing pool of applicants.
Deep Bow to Sangha Stewards
We deeply appreciate all who shared the Dharma with us and those who volunteered their time and care to the sangha from January through March. Our volunteers keep us going!
Board: Suzanne A, Lucy B, Holly B, & Hal F.
Community Dharma Stewards: Suzanne A, Holly B, Jennifer D, Hal F, Ruth F, & Jaya K.
Day-to-Day Operations: Lucy B, Anne F, Adam C, Cathy R.
Facilitators (KM groups, White & Awakening in the Dhamma): Holly B, Jen C, Jennifer D, Lore D, Ruth F, Bernadine M, & Melissa T.
Finance Committee: Lucy B & Jen G (staffed by Fariba G).
Green Metta: Betsy H, Diana R & Andrea Z.
Peer-led practice: Thanks to all who hold the space on Tuesdays and Fridays and to those who facilitate/lead IWM Affinity Groups, Moon Day Chanting and Saturday Sangha
Programming Committee: Michael G, Hal F, & Vaughn F (staffed by Casper L & Bernadine M).
Teachers Council: Candace Cassin, Jean Esther, Michael Grady, & Manny Mansbach (Guiding Teachers Council). Adi Bemak, Devin Berry, Rebecca Bradshaw, Nick Boutros, Peggy Gillespie, Bernadine Mellis, Tara Mulay.
Zoom, In-Person, Hybrid Hosts/Schleppers: Catalina A, Suzanne A, Lucy B, Holly B, Adam C, Doug K, Brian K, Cathy R, Sue W.
Many thanks for your generosity!
The Programming Committee is looking for new members
The role of the Programming Committee is to organize and schedule classes, half-day and day-long offerings, talks, series, affinity groups, and other programming that supports the mission of IWM. The primary activity of Programming Committee members is to organize IWM’s calendar of offerings and invite teachers to IWM. The committee collaborates with the Board and the Teachers’ Council as appropriate. Click here to read more and apply to serve on the Programming Committee.
Affinity Sanghas
Chronic Illness/Disability Affinity Sangha:
We are delighted to report that the Chronic Illness & Disability Affinity Sangha, which had lapsed during the pandemic, restarted in March. They had a lovely inaugural meeting, generously hosted by peer facilitator Tara Balch, and will continue to meet on the third Thursday of the month, exclusively on Zoom, from 6:30-7:30 PM. New members are very welcome!
BIPOC Affinity Sangha:
Update from the BIPOC Affinity Sangha: We are reading and discussing Home is Here: Practicing Antiracism with the Engaged Eightfold Path by Rev. Liên Shutt. Each chapter includes practice pauses that we can explore both at home and together as a group. The book can be obtained through the library, your local bookstore, or online.
For the next meeting, the group will discuss the book through chapter 3. This chapter continues our journey on the Engaged Eightfold Path with an exploration of Skillful Concentration as "a meditative practice that can help us understand the layers of our racial conditioning in the system of white supremacy, supporting us to be centered instead of overwhelmed by our own or the suffering of the world."
While we encourage everyone to read the book, please don't let that stop you from attending and practicing with us! We alternate peer facilitators. All who identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous or Person of Color) are most welcome to participate.
Queer & Trans Sangha:
This is a peer facilitated group for all LGBTQIA2S+ identities. The group has been gathering monthly to practice together and to share our experience as Dharma practitioners from the LGBTQIA2S+ community. Please come practice with us!
35 and Under Affinity Sangha: Coming in July
This group will be facilitated by Sangha member Doug Kremm. Please stay tuned for updates.
Benefit Tomorrow for Trans Relocation Support
Trans Relocation Support Western Mass is a local group working with the national network Pink Haven Coalition to support trans and nonbinary folks moving to our area to escape anti-trans legislation in other states.
Tomorrow, Saturday March 30th at 6pm, TRS has organized a benefit poetry reading at the Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence, featuring local poets CA Conrad, Britt Billmeyer-Finn, and Ace Chandler. All funds will go directly to rental costs, groceries, healthcare, etc. for newly arrived trans folks.
If you would like to donate but can’t make it to the reading, you can donate here: https://secure.myvanco.com/YQ8W/campaign/C-14NFY.
If you would like to learn more about getting involved and volunteering, you can email [email protected].
Looking Back – 2023 Overview by the Numbers
2023 IWM’s Offerings
- Dharma talks/discussions and community practice (offered weekly on Wednesday nights)
- 30 courses/retreats/special events throughout the year.
- 5 courses; 3 continuing courses; 8 retreats; 1 solstice celebration; 1 25th anniversary benefit; 5 Common Read drop in sessions (Radical Friendship); 2 offerings for BIPOC affinity group members with BIPOC teachers; 2 retreats for White & Awakening in the Dharma grads; 1 retreat for white-identified sangha members; first session of a 6-month long program on White & Awakening in the Dhamma; 1 Town Hall.
- 4 days a week - open community practice, some followed by discussion (including discussions of core Dharma topics on Mondays with Community Dharma Stewards that started in June 2023)
- 3 Kalyana Mitta groups (spiritual friendship study and practice groups)
- 2 Affinity Groups: BIPOC Affinity Group; Queer & Trans Affinity Group
2023 IWM Contacts
- IWM routinely sends email blasts to 1880 people; that figure includes 327 people who newly signed up for our mailing list in 2023.
- In 2023, 593 people registered for our offerings or made donations to IWM’s teachers and/or our center. That’s 141 more than who did so in 2022 (when there were 452).
Dharma Dialogue With Jennifer D.
Faith and Doubt
I recently have had the opportunity to write a short offering for a Monday night group on the 5th Hindrance: Doubt. The main idea that struck me in the readings that I did to prepare was how my meditation practice is affected by Doubt, and its antidote, Faith. Commonly, all 5 Hindrances are seen as obstacles to practice. From Ayya Santacitta, …a hindrance itself is not the problem. It is what we do when it arises that makes the difference.” She adds, “Unhealthy Doubt (may produce) questions like: How do I know which direction to take? If it brings my practice to a standstill it is a clue that is not helpful…. Having an open heart and mind can transform hindrances into opportunities, (and I can look at them) with mindfulness, recognition and observation,”
Joseph Goldstein, in his book, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening, says that “it is interesting to note that the very opposite of Doubt is the beautiful mental factor of Faith. The function of Faith is clarifying the mind.” He also reminds us that through healing and studying and the teachings and then through our own investigations of them we develop a growing confidence in the Buddha, the Dharma, (the Sangha) and in ourselves.”
The Buddha mentions many times in his teachings that we must trust our own experience of what we find and not believe what someone says just because they are an ‘expert or an authority.’
My experience of an unclear mind is when I have gone astray into wavering Doubt and lost any signs of Faith. I need to move my attention and awareness back to my experience of clear mind and find the strength and confidence to focus once again on Faith and its components. It is not an intellectual practice.
In the search to deepen my formal meditation practice and meditation in my daily life. I find the need to also trust in impermanence. Opportunities for examination come and go; it is just how it is; nothing is personal.
The definition of Faith in the Oxford Dictionary is “complete trust or confidence in something or someone.” Faith can also have other religious connotations but here we are looking at it in a different way. With no authority, it doesn’t mean we can’t trust and have Faith in the Buddha and the teachings (Dharma.) He just wants us to always recognize, observe and investigate our experience. And for me, Faith and trust are there when everything else falls away, especially unclear, unstill mind.
Please feel free to respond or add to the conversation by sending an email to [email protected]. Your offering can be anonymous as well. Any topic about Practice is always open for discussion.
With Metta,
Jennifer D.
Community Dharma Steward
Downloadable Flyers
April Offerings
Feedback
If you have comments, questions, or ideas you’d like to share, please contact us: [email protected].
With much care and metta,
IWM Board
Dharma Dialogue With Jennifer D.
Faith and Doubt
I recently have had the opportunity to write a short offering for a Monday night group on the 5th Hindrance: Doubt. The main idea that struck me in the readings that I did to prepare was how my meditation practice is affected by Doubt, and its antidote, Faith. Commonly, all 5 Hindrances are seen as obstacles to practice. From Ayya Santacitta, …a hindrance itself is not the problem. It is what we do when it arises that makes the difference.” She adds, “Unhealthy Doubt (may produce) questions like: How do I know which direction to take? If it brings my practice to a standstill it is a clue that is not helpful…. Having an open heart and mind can transform hindrances into opportunities, (and I can look at them) with mindfulness, recognition and observation,”
Joseph Goldstein, in his book, Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening, says that “it is interesting to note that the very opposite of Doubt is the beautiful mental factor of Faith. The function of Faith is clarifying the mind.” He also reminds us that through healing and studying and the teachings and then through our own investigations of them we develop a growing confidence in the Buddha, the Dharma, (the Sangha) and in ourselves.”
The Buddha mentions many times in his teachings that we must trust our own experience of what we find and not believe what someone says just because they are an ‘expert or an authority.’
My experience of an unclear mind is when I have gone astray into wavering Doubt and lost any signs of Faith. I need to move my attention and awareness back to my experience of clear mind and find the strength and confidence to focus once again on Faith and its components. It is not an intellectual practice.
In the search to deepen my formal meditation practice and meditation in my daily life. I find the need to also trust in impermanence. Opportunities for examination come and go; it is just how it is; nothing is personal.
The definition of Faith in the Oxford Dictionary is “complete trust or confidence in something or someone.” Faith can also have other religious connotations but here we are looking at it in a different way. With no authority, it doesn’t mean we can’t trust and have Faith in the Buddha and the teachings (Dharma.) He just wants us to always recognize, observe and investigate our experience. And for me, Faith and trust are there when everything else falls away, especially unclear, unstill mind.
Please feel free to respond or add to the conversation by sending an email to [email protected]. Your offering can be anonymous as well. Any topic about Practice is always open for discussion.
With Metta,
Jennifer D.
Community Dharma Steward
Downloadable Flyers
April Offerings
- In Other Words: Inviting Poetry Into Our Practice with Carolyn West
- Wise Speech in Hard Times with Manny Mansbach
Feedback
If you have comments, questions, or ideas you’d like to share, please contact us: [email protected].
With much care and metta,
IWM Board