Wilding In
back in LA after; honolulu, boston/rhode island and a feature at the black rep theatre with the amazing iyeoka okeawa, and new york to reconnect with my girl sienna horton of the dumba collective, with whom i'll be travelling to morocco for the sacred music festival this summer, and mo brownes "jam on it: women take back the mic" feature (jabril, aka jimmiRe, aka jabrilectric, aka the guitar kid made an appearance at my feature and it felt just like home...ripped the holy set with electric guitar and beatbox and folks literally lost they minds...noteworthy performance by abana (you know, bar 13 abana!) who can SING HER ASS OFF! ...shows through the week including 2night at da poetry lounge and then a train back to seattle for one day before a 10 day retreat in canada (usual retreat at the northwest vipassana center was full...have to trek way north to meditate)...mercury is retrograde, so it's the perfect time to be wilding in...
i am revisiting the vipassana retreat (as taught by s.n. goenka), my 8th one in 5 years, after renouncing buddhism last year because of irreconcilable philosophical differences. namely that "life is suffering" (however you interpret that, it still sucks as a guiding principle) and that the ultimate goal is "enlightenment" or, a state of being other than this one i'm in now...am so much more intrested today in philosophies and experiences of immanence. so, i'm using it for my own purposes. it's still important to meditate, if only to be able to hear the heart and body more clearly, and to be better equipped to exist in the perfectly beautiful now. so i'll see if i can sit the 10 days just focusing on my breath and reminding my mind how to be still.
the retreat is 10 days long and the first three days are spent sharpening the mind by training it on the breath so that one is able to learn the technique of vipassana. the last seven days are spent doing vipassana with the last day learning a meditation called metta that helps ease one's transition back into the world.
we are up at 4:30 am to meditate, with short breaks for eating and walking throughout the day, until 8:00pm when there is a video lecture by the modern founder of the sect, s.n. goenka. that's about 12 hours of meditation each day. very intense. like me. this is how i rest...more later...cbell
i am revisiting the vipassana retreat (as taught by s.n. goenka), my 8th one in 5 years, after renouncing buddhism last year because of irreconcilable philosophical differences. namely that "life is suffering" (however you interpret that, it still sucks as a guiding principle) and that the ultimate goal is "enlightenment" or, a state of being other than this one i'm in now...am so much more intrested today in philosophies and experiences of immanence. so, i'm using it for my own purposes. it's still important to meditate, if only to be able to hear the heart and body more clearly, and to be better equipped to exist in the perfectly beautiful now. so i'll see if i can sit the 10 days just focusing on my breath and reminding my mind how to be still.
the retreat is 10 days long and the first three days are spent sharpening the mind by training it on the breath so that one is able to learn the technique of vipassana. the last seven days are spent doing vipassana with the last day learning a meditation called metta that helps ease one's transition back into the world.
we are up at 4:30 am to meditate, with short breaks for eating and walking throughout the day, until 8:00pm when there is a video lecture by the modern founder of the sect, s.n. goenka. that's about 12 hours of meditation each day. very intense. like me. this is how i rest...more later...cbell
posted by Christa Bell @ 1:34 PM
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