Dwelling Happily in the Present Moment Retreat

A second day this autumn has been planned for "Dwelling Happily in the Present Moment," the first retreat of Chris Phillips' Foundations of Mindfulness Trilogy. 

Saturday October 27th  9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Rochester Mennonite Church
Intro to mindfulness and refresher for long-time meditators
Pre-requisite for Foundations 2 and 3 later this fall and winter
Register by October 15th

Read More and Sign Up Here 

 

Full details about these programs and others are at www.sunlightoftheheart.com 

Listing of all the workshops in one place is at https://sites.google.com/site/onedaysplus/

Blooming Lilac Sangha's 25th Anniversary Celebration!!

Blooming Lilac Sangha 25th Anniversary Celebration!!

from the BLS Newsletter - September 2018 

 

We (Blooming Lilac Sangha) will be gathering rain or shine September 15th 10 am - 3 pm at: Carmen Clark lodge 777 Westfall Rd. Rochester, NY 14618

Please come, bring family or friends and join us for a potluck picnic and day of cultivating joy!. There will be games, music, some contemplative moments, an opportunity to share what our sangha has meant to you & your vision of where it can bloom in the future.

Plans for the day: (downloadable/shareable/printable document)

10:00 am - arrival and settling in
10:30 am - welcome and opening circle 11:15 am - socializing, games, art, contributing to history &
                 ideas for the future
11:45 am - walking meditation
12:15 pm - picnic
1:00 pm - open: games/ walking/ sitting/ celebration circle: music, dancing, poems, singing, art
2:15 pm - closing comments & readings
2:30 pm - cleanup begins, out of lodge by 3 pm

What to bring: a dish to pass, memories, stories, photos, drawings, musical instruments, sense of humor, smiles and open hearts.

Here is A Guide for the Unfamiliar a document that explains a little bit about what we do and where or rather who we draw our practices and customs from.

We need your RSVPs! Reply to bloominglilacsangha.orghttp://bloominglilacsangha.org/ to let us know if you plan to come or not, how many will be coming with you, or for any questions

See you soon! With joy and gratitude, BLS 25th anniversary planning team.

Cedar Cabin Sangha September 22nd Gathering

Our Caretaking Team and Book Discussion meetings will take place on September 22nd at the home of Nancy Koschmann, 705 Ringwood Road in Ithaca.  You may attend all or some of the day depending on your interests.

Our Sangha Caretaking Team meets to review and make recommendations, choices and decisions for the future on how to best use our time, effort and resources.  This is open to all Sangha members.  This meeting will be from 10:00 AM until 12:00 noon.

We will have a vegetarian pot luck lunch at 12:00 noon.  Please bring one of your favorite dishes to share.

Our Book Discussion Group will meet from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM.  We will discuss "Awakening Together: The Spiritual Practice of Inclusivity and Community" by Larry Yang.

If you have any questions, please use the Contact Us form on the right side of this page.

Our August Day of Mindfulness

Our Day of Mindfulness with Dharma teacher Jeanne Anselmo was rich. We were inspired to deeply take care of ourselves on an ongoing basis while we are trying to work in the world for change. Part of taking care of ourselves was to nourish ourselves by being with sangha, including playing with sangha.

Deep Relaxation Meditation

A pause in walking meditation

We sat in meditation together, sang together, walked mindfully together on a beautiful summer afternoon. 




 

We ate delicious food from our summer bounty together and roasted marshmallows for s'mores together under the almost-full moon with wispy clouds floating by. 

Thanks to everyone who helped create this event through generosity and love! - Nancy Stewart

August/September 2018 Newsletter

You are invited to a Day of Mindfulness with the Cedar Cabin Sangha Please join us for a Day of Mindfulness hosted by the Cedar Cabin Sangha on Saturday August 25, 2018 from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM.  This DoM will be held at the home of Pamela Goddard at 888 Comfort Rd in Danby, NY (Your GPS will list it as 888 Comfort Rd, Spencer, NY 14883). Activities will include: Sitting and walking meditation.  Vegetarian Pot Luck.  Please bring a vegetarian dish to pass if you are able. Pamela Goddard, CTHP, Certified Therapeutic Harp Practitioner, will offer a deep relaxation meditation.  Jeanne Anselmo, Dharma teacher visiting from the Green Island Sangha on Long Island will give a Dharma talk entitled "True Freedom: Practicing in Difficult Times".  At the conclusion of the day there will be a question and answer session. On Sunday, August 26th, a paddling/campfire activity is tentatively planned.  Further information will be available at the Day of Mindfulness on Saturday. There is no charge for this event, but a "Dana" contribution as a show of gratitude for Jeanne's travel and teaching is welcome. Book Club Starting We are restarting our book discussion group, starting in September.  The first meeting is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, September 22.  The planned meeting schedule will be the 4th Saturday of month and will be adjusted if necessary.  Our first book to discuss is Awakening Together: The Spiritual Practice of Inclusivity and Community by Larry Yang.  We encourage you to support our local businesses by ordering the book through the community-owned Buffalo Street Books in Ithaca NY.  The book is also currently available at Barnes and Nobles, Amazon and Ebay. Engaged Mindfulness Ithaca Engaged Mindfulness Ithaca is a new, once a month, community mindfulness group that will meet downtown at Just Be Cause Center on the 3rd Sunday of each month, 11:30 AM -1:00 PM. The intentions of this group are to practice and study engaged mindfulness and the teachings of nonviolence, both for personal and societal wholeness and healing. After the recent election, many people have become aware of the deep divisions that seem to separate us from each other. The hopeful sign is that more citizens are also resolving to become more actively engaged in the community, with the goal of creating a just and compassionate society. The way of mindfulness gives us the foundation to build that society. We will practice various forms of meditation (sitting, walking, contemplation) and learn from the writings of teachers such as Thich Nhat Hanh, Martin Luther King Jr., Pema Chodron, Dorothy Day, Gandhi, Joan Halifax, Joanna Macy and others. The group will be a safe space to discuss our struggles in pursuing the path of compassion within ourselves and out in the world, especially with those we don't understand and even those toward whom we feel resentment and fear.   WakeUp Ithaca Wake Up Ithaca is a group of young meditation practitioners who get together to create a refuge of peace, joy, and sanity for each other. We share a determination to live in an awakened way and to realize the path of understanding and love so that we can help build a healthier and more compassionate society. Our practitioners are aged 18-35ish. Beginners welcome. Typical schedule: Guided sitting meditation (20 mins) Walking meditation or deep relaxation meditation (10-20 mins) Reading (10 mins) Tea & sharing circle (30 mins) No fee, donations accepted to support our rent When: 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month from 10 to 11:30 am. Where: St. Paul's United Methodist Church, 402 N Aurora St. Please enter through the side entrance on Aurora St. This is the 2nd set of double doors from Court St with a keypad. Email ithaca@wkup.org if you are interested attending and you will be sent a code for entry.