Kitty Costello has been practicing Insight Mediation since 2000 and is a graduate of Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leaders program. She has studied and taught various Eastern and Western mindfulness practices since 1978, including Shaolin Ssu, a Mahayana Buddhist martial arts form. She teaches tai chi and chi gung and is a psychotherapist in private practice. She is also a community organizer, helping to foster the creative arts in inner city San Francisco for 25 years.
“When we sit down, we’re saying something right in that moment about our faith, about our confidence in ourselves, about our belief in change.” –Sharon Salzberg
What allows us to accept the Buddha’s invitation, to come see for ourselves what can happen when we’re mindful, and when we’re mindful together? And what hinders?
“All major world religions have the same potential to create harmony, peace of mind… All religions agree on love and compassion.” – HH Dalai Lama
What religion, if any, did you grow up with? Let’s reflect on how our experiences with other religions or ideologies have influenced our Dharma journeys.
Desire gets a bad rap in Buddhism for good reason, yet our wholesome and wise yearnings are what brought each of us to practice and keep us aimed toward the end of suffering. Let’s explore the upside of desire together.
Whatever your pronouns, come ponder with us—How has gender identity shaped our lives? How can the Buddha’s teachings help us contemplate our experience (or non-experience!) of gender?
Many of the Buddha's instructions for mindfulness of the body are geared toward in-life, off-the-cushion experience. Let's explore some of these ever-present ways to "be here now."
We can't stop these constant "winds" from blowing, but we can hold our reactions with mindful patience, little by little liberating ourselves from needless suffering.
