February Sangha News
2/1/24
Saturday Sangha is off to a lovely start. We meet every Saturday morning, arriving between 8:45 and 9, bow to each other, chant, practice together, and then share social time with donuts and apple cider, with people leaving as they need to between 10 and 10:30. It’s a space for newcomers to meet people and learn about our sangha, where kids get to enjoy our beautiful practice (along with the donuts!), and where everyone can be welcomed and connected in community.
We had our first Moon Day Chanting circle at IWM last Thursday. About 12 folks attended, some on Zoom and some in-person, and it was a wonderfully inspiring, peaceful and sangha-focused evening. Doug Kremm, sangha member, led us in chanting homage to the Buddha, taking refuge and the precepts - with a lovely focus on what it means to “take” the precepts, guiding us in making intentions for ourselves in relation to those principles. Traditionally these chants are offered on the night of the New Moon and the Full Moon. We are delighted that we will be gathering to chant monthly around the full moon; the next Moon Day Chanting circle will be Sunday, February 25 from 5:45-6:45pm.
Letter from the Guiding Teachers Council:
Dear IWM Sangha,
On behalf of the IWM Guiding Teachers Council we are very delighted to announce that two new teachers have recently joined our Teachers Council:
Bernadine Mellis has been active in our sangha for a number of years in various roles and currently serves in a part time senior staff position at IWM. She completed the True North Insight Community Meditation Teacher Mentorship and is now participating in another long term Buddhist training, the Dharmapala program through Sacred Mountain Sangha. She co-leads White & Awakening in the Dharma and Saturday Sangha and offers Dharma talks and courses at IWM. She finds belonging with those who are committed to sacred activism and engaged Buddhism.
Nick Boutros, who completed teacher training with Bhante Gunaratana at Bhavana Society many years ago, has also joined the Teachers Council. Nick has been a Buddhist practitioner for over 20 years, and has practiced in both Vipassana traditions and the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. He received his Master's from Naropa University in Contemplative Psychotherapy in 2006 and is currently a psychotherapist in Greenfield, where he specializes in therapy with LGBTQ+ folk, clinical hypnosis, and in the integration of spirituality and meditation in mental health. He has offered classes, Dharma talks, and day-long retreats at IWM.
We are excited that these wonderful teachers are joining the TC at this time. Please keep an eye out for future offerings from each of them.
May the light of the Dharma expand in our community as naturally and continuously as the lengthening of each day’s light at this time of year.
With Love and Peace,
Jean Esther, on behalf of the IWM Guiding Teachers Council
Resource for Newcomers: If you are new to IWM, and/or to meditation practice in our tradition, and you would like some basic orientation/information, please feel free to email us at [email protected] including your contact info, and a Board member/Community Dharma Steward will be in touch with you.
Engaged Dharma/Buddhists for Ceasefire: Some sangha members have been supporting each other in Dharma-based activism and learning in support of ceasefire in Gaza. If you are interested in being part of this group, please fill out this form.
The BIPOC Affinity Group will be reading and discussing: Home Is Here: Practicing Antiracism with the Engaged Eightfold Path by Liên Shutt and Chenxing Han, starting the third Friday in February. We will read Chapter 1 for the February 16th meeting and proceed in that way through the book. This group will be meeting in person with a possible hybrid option. To find out if hybrid is available, please check the website for updates closer to February 16th.
Dharma Dialogue with Jennifer D.
Noticing
In my daily formal practice, and my life practice “off the cushion,” something which seems to be newish is emerging to strengthen my attention and awareness. I would call it “noticing” or being an “observer” and it allows me to step back and see what would be causing suffering if I weren’t able to disidentify with whatever is arising in the moment. I have chronic back pain, and I sometimes suffer with that when it is causing me distress. It’s as if I add another layer on top of the pain which doesn’t allow me to be with the pain as it is. As I practice with these body sensations, I can more and more just be with the pain. Sometimes, it feels excruciating, and other times, very minor, and I don’t seem to know which is coming next, or what will be in between. There are stretches and exercises I do to relax those muscles, and others to strengthen them once they are relaxed. And when I am in distress, no amount of stretching or exercising will change the status of the pain. At that point, it seems like the distress, which could be a part of me that wants the pain to stop, is what needs attending to. In this case, distress often looks/feels like another body sensation that is putting literal pressure on my back. So, I often confuse it for the actual pain itself. Distress also grabs many of my emotions (anger, agony, frustration, and fear to name a few) and turns them into thoughts that then draw my attention even further away from being able to be with the pain.
“Noticing” can occur at any point along the way, and is always beneficial, especially to my body. “Oh, so that’s what frustration feels like,” or, perhaps, “there’s anger once again,” and often, “that is spasming that I don’t seem to be able to relieve.” Without the “observer” it seems like there is no chance of beneficial separation from the body and what it is saying to think or feel or believe.
Recently, a good Dharma buddy suggested I consider that by the time the “noticing” or “observing” is there, the sensation that brought it on, has already passed and the observation is no longer happening in the moment. My experience is that the more I can be aware of what’s happening in the present moment, the easier and faster, if you will, the observation will be hot on the tail of the sensation. I expect that eventually, I may be able to see how they both occur simultaneously.
The most important part of this process seems to be resting in deep kindness and compassion: towards the pain itself, towards the part of the body experiencing the painful sensations, towards the experience of distress, towards the one who observes, towards all attempts to alleviate the discomfort that is occurring. Kindness and compassion – constant reminders of loving and taking care of ourselves as best we can in any given moment.
We welcome any additional offerings to Dharma Dialogue that you may be moved to write. Send an email to [email protected] with your contribution. Offerings can be anonymous, and any topic relating to practice is open for discussion.
With Metta,
Jennifer D. (Community Dharma Steward)
Downloadable Flyers
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
We had our first Moon Day Chanting circle at IWM last Thursday. About 12 folks attended, some on Zoom and some in-person, and it was a wonderfully inspiring, peaceful and sangha-focused evening. Doug Kremm, sangha member, led us in chanting homage to the Buddha, taking refuge and the precepts - with a lovely focus on what it means to “take” the precepts, guiding us in making intentions for ourselves in relation to those principles. Traditionally these chants are offered on the night of the New Moon and the Full Moon. We are delighted that we will be gathering to chant monthly around the full moon; the next Moon Day Chanting circle will be Sunday, February 25 from 5:45-6:45pm.
Letter from the Guiding Teachers Council:
Dear IWM Sangha,
On behalf of the IWM Guiding Teachers Council we are very delighted to announce that two new teachers have recently joined our Teachers Council:
Bernadine Mellis has been active in our sangha for a number of years in various roles and currently serves in a part time senior staff position at IWM. She completed the True North Insight Community Meditation Teacher Mentorship and is now participating in another long term Buddhist training, the Dharmapala program through Sacred Mountain Sangha. She co-leads White & Awakening in the Dharma and Saturday Sangha and offers Dharma talks and courses at IWM. She finds belonging with those who are committed to sacred activism and engaged Buddhism.
Nick Boutros, who completed teacher training with Bhante Gunaratana at Bhavana Society many years ago, has also joined the Teachers Council. Nick has been a Buddhist practitioner for over 20 years, and has practiced in both Vipassana traditions and the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. He received his Master's from Naropa University in Contemplative Psychotherapy in 2006 and is currently a psychotherapist in Greenfield, where he specializes in therapy with LGBTQ+ folk, clinical hypnosis, and in the integration of spirituality and meditation in mental health. He has offered classes, Dharma talks, and day-long retreats at IWM.
We are excited that these wonderful teachers are joining the TC at this time. Please keep an eye out for future offerings from each of them.
May the light of the Dharma expand in our community as naturally and continuously as the lengthening of each day’s light at this time of year.
With Love and Peace,
Jean Esther, on behalf of the IWM Guiding Teachers Council
Resource for Newcomers: If you are new to IWM, and/or to meditation practice in our tradition, and you would like some basic orientation/information, please feel free to email us at [email protected] including your contact info, and a Board member/Community Dharma Steward will be in touch with you.
Engaged Dharma/Buddhists for Ceasefire: Some sangha members have been supporting each other in Dharma-based activism and learning in support of ceasefire in Gaza. If you are interested in being part of this group, please fill out this form.
The BIPOC Affinity Group will be reading and discussing: Home Is Here: Practicing Antiracism with the Engaged Eightfold Path by Liên Shutt and Chenxing Han, starting the third Friday in February. We will read Chapter 1 for the February 16th meeting and proceed in that way through the book. This group will be meeting in person with a possible hybrid option. To find out if hybrid is available, please check the website for updates closer to February 16th.
Dharma Dialogue with Jennifer D.
Noticing
In my daily formal practice, and my life practice “off the cushion,” something which seems to be newish is emerging to strengthen my attention and awareness. I would call it “noticing” or being an “observer” and it allows me to step back and see what would be causing suffering if I weren’t able to disidentify with whatever is arising in the moment. I have chronic back pain, and I sometimes suffer with that when it is causing me distress. It’s as if I add another layer on top of the pain which doesn’t allow me to be with the pain as it is. As I practice with these body sensations, I can more and more just be with the pain. Sometimes, it feels excruciating, and other times, very minor, and I don’t seem to know which is coming next, or what will be in between. There are stretches and exercises I do to relax those muscles, and others to strengthen them once they are relaxed. And when I am in distress, no amount of stretching or exercising will change the status of the pain. At that point, it seems like the distress, which could be a part of me that wants the pain to stop, is what needs attending to. In this case, distress often looks/feels like another body sensation that is putting literal pressure on my back. So, I often confuse it for the actual pain itself. Distress also grabs many of my emotions (anger, agony, frustration, and fear to name a few) and turns them into thoughts that then draw my attention even further away from being able to be with the pain.
“Noticing” can occur at any point along the way, and is always beneficial, especially to my body. “Oh, so that’s what frustration feels like,” or, perhaps, “there’s anger once again,” and often, “that is spasming that I don’t seem to be able to relieve.” Without the “observer” it seems like there is no chance of beneficial separation from the body and what it is saying to think or feel or believe.
Recently, a good Dharma buddy suggested I consider that by the time the “noticing” or “observing” is there, the sensation that brought it on, has already passed and the observation is no longer happening in the moment. My experience is that the more I can be aware of what’s happening in the present moment, the easier and faster, if you will, the observation will be hot on the tail of the sensation. I expect that eventually, I may be able to see how they both occur simultaneously.
The most important part of this process seems to be resting in deep kindness and compassion: towards the pain itself, towards the part of the body experiencing the painful sensations, towards the experience of distress, towards the one who observes, towards all attempts to alleviate the discomfort that is occurring. Kindness and compassion – constant reminders of loving and taking care of ourselves as best we can in any given moment.
We welcome any additional offerings to Dharma Dialogue that you may be moved to write. Send an email to [email protected] with your contribution. Offerings can be anonymous, and any topic relating to practice is open for discussion.
With Metta,
Jennifer D. (Community Dharma Steward)
Downloadable Flyers
- February Offerings
- Establishing Mindfulness: A Class for Beginners with Bernadine Mellis
- How to Come Home with Cara Lai
- Meditative Investigation: A Class For Experienced Meditators with Michael Grady
- In Other Words: Inviting Poetry into our Practice with Carolyn West
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