You know that white Peace Pole planted in the garden at Harmony Food Coop? 
Did you know that it is one of 250, 000 Peace Poles planted all over the world? There is a growing network of people all over the world who intentionally affirm the simple sentiment, “May Peace Prevail on Earth”. While these can be powerful words, there is another way to affirm our support for peace on earth: there is a silent embodied way to express this in a Japanese tradition called the IN (pronounced “een”). The Divine Spark IN, a series of graceful gestures with the hands and arms, will be taught Tuesday November 7, 2017 at 6:00pm at First Lutheran Church upstairs Labyrinth room. Please consider this an invitation to learn and practice this graceful, silent and powerful affirmation of our connectedness and desire for nonviolence; for peace.
Author: geriwilimek
All Day Silent Retreat
Summer can get a bit harried…sometimes its nice to veer off in a restorative direction. For everyone who has taken MBSR, this is an invitation to spend a day quietly regenerating your meditation practice. We will be meeting Saturday, July 29, 2017 at Beltrami Electric Community Room, 9:00am to 4:00pm. Plan on spending the day in quiet guided practice. It’s a great review of the many mindfulness practices introduced in MBSR class. There will be healthy snacks provided; pack a lunch to be eaten mindfully at noon. Click hereto read more about important details. E-mail Geri geriwilimek@gmail.com if you have questions; and let me know if you plan on attending, as this helps me plan for the day.
Summer MBSR for Teachers!
Teachers, this is your chance to learn Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, an empirically supported approach to stress reduction that enhances human functioning in all areas of life. Classroom teachers are subject to some of the highest levels of workplace stress. Passion for the work is essential, but can be dampened with chronic stress exposure. Learning mindfulness skills can transform the classroom experience for you and for your students. Basic research on mindfulness in the classroom will be presented as part of Orientation. The course presents an array of mindfulness skills over the eight weeks, and supports your practice both in and outside of class . The course is being offered especially for teachers this summer. It will meet Tuesday mornings from 9:00am to 11:30 and spans the summer, June 6 (required orientation) through August 8. There will be a break for July 4th holiday. CLICK HERE to learn more
All Day Retreat!
Just a reminder…no matter what you have to do this spring, refreshing your mindfulness practice will help you focus and enjoy it more. The Winter 2017 MBSR All Day Retreat is an opportunity to reconnect with yourself and your mindfulness practice.
All MBSR participants past and present are invited Saturday, April 29, 2017. This guided all day retreat is part of the Winter, 2017 MBSR curriculum. It gives a great review and reboot to anyone who has taken MBSR in the past and wants to review mindfulness skills or begin anew with daily practice. No lists, no pens, paper or electronics. Just bring yourself and your mindfully prepared lunch.
Where: Beltrami Electric Community Room 4111 Technology Drive Bemidji, MN
When: Saturday April 29, 2017 9:00am to 4:00pm Come a few minutes early for Coffee and conversation, and so you can settle in for the day.
What: Bring a lunch you have packed yourself to eat at noon; bring layers of clothing for comfort, and any extra pillows blankets or props you need for comfort.
Water, coffee and tea and healthy snacks will be provided!
Cushions, blankets and chairs will be provided.
E-mail Geri at geriwilimek@gmail.com if you plan on coming. If you decide to come when you wake up Saturday morning, jus COME on over!
All Day Silent Retreat Click for more details
Looking forward to seeing and practicing with you.
Compassion
.… is that tattered rag in the cleaning bin; the one that melts your heart with its softness and cloudy stains; the one that can handle the world’s dust and absorb all tears.
As winter MBSR begins, we are committed to learning practices that inevitably challenge our habitual ways of being. To spend 20 minutes eating a raisin, or 45 minutes moving attention, inch by inch though our bodies is for most, a departure from the familiar. Awareness, opens us to thoughts, sensations and emotions, pleasant, unpleasant and neutral. In the process we rummage deeply to find that “rag in the bin” that can take care, no matter what the joy; no matter what the mess.
Winter 2017 MBSR
Feeling a little house-bound? Need a new perspective on life? Most of us do this time of year…Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) may be just the “new view” you’re looking for! This evidence-based course teaches skills of attention, calm alert focus, emotional regulation and self compassion-the ingredients that ultimately help us connect with ourselves, others, and our world in more effective and positive ways.
The course is based on the MBSR program pioneered by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical school. Since 1979 thousands of people and organizations have benefitted from this training in areas as diverse as education, medicine, law, social welfare, sports, military, clergy, art, parenting, caregiving-anywhere that our lives call us to discover and use our built-in sensitivity and goodness as human beings.
For information on upcoming classes, CLICK HERE
To pre-register, CLICK HERE
Another amazing day
Saturday August 6 was just another amazing day, spent silently by all who attended the All Day MBSR Silent Retreat. Skills were learned and practiced throughout the day: sitting, walking; eating; stretching; all with awareness, and as needed, self compassion:
….may we be at ease with ourselves and the circumstances of our lives…may we see clearly when we have given too much or too little……may we always feel free to begin again…..
If you missed this All Day Retreat, plan on attending the next one, April 29, 2017. To be held at Beltrami Electric Cooperative Community Room, 9:AM-4:pm
Click here for details.
Put it AWAY….
……and come to the MBSR All Day Silent Retreat! All MBSR participants past and present are invited to the All Day Silent Retreat Saturday, August 6, 2016. This guided all day retreat is part of the Summer 2016 MBSR curriculum. It gives a great review and reboot to anyone who has taken MBSR in the past and wants to review mindfulness skills or begin anew with daily practice. No lists, no pens, paper or electronics. Just bring yourself and your lunch.
Where: Beltrami Electric Community Room 4111 Technology Drive Bemidji, MN
When: Saturday August 6, 2016 9:00am to 4:00pm Come a few minutes early for Coffee and conversation, and so you can settle in for the day.
What: Bring a lunch you have packed yourself to eat at noon; bring layers of clothing for comfort, and any extra pillows blankets or props you need for comfort.
Water, coffee and tea and healthy snacks will be provided!
Cushions, blankets and chairs will be provided.
E-mail Geri at geriwilimek@gmail.com if you plan on coming. If you decide to come when you wake up Saturday morning, COME on over!
All Day Silent Retreat Click for more details
Looking forward to seeing you all.
The Curious Art of the Body Scan
MBSR Class is currently working with body scan practice. The body scan, like most things we find daunting, is just a series of moments, and moments themselves aren’t all that complicated. These are my left toes….this is my right knee….these are my fingertips….this is my chin.
But let’s be realistic. Most of us are not used to the body scan’s pace (really slow) or the subject matter (this body). We often face the unfamiliar with a worried quality of mind, like: “I’m not used to this–I’ve got all this other stuff to do…..this is really wacko…what will people think….jeeminy how long is this going to take”….fill in the blanks for yourself. How can we work skillfully with our thinking to make the body scan more accessible?
One way is “beginner’s mind”….deciding to approach each moment (ie. right knee, now) as if for the very first time, with openness and curiosity. Like this:
“Hmmm, what is going on in this knee right now?”
Forget how goofy this may sound….remember you don’t have to justify it to anyone, and your MBSR classmates, (past present and future) are in it with you!
Another way to work skillfully with thinking is simply to notice thoughts as they arise…( a story, a memory, a grocery list…) and, gently redirect attention back to body scanning:
“What is happening here with this knee ? What is happening here with this hip? And what are we having for dinner?…..oops, what is happening here with this hip?…..pork chops? baked or grilled….gravy would sure taste good….. oops, now what is here in the hip?…….etc.”
Simple but not easy! That is why we practice in class. And why we practice with recorded instructions at home. Hang in there…….the body scan has much to teach. New skills will emerge.
Try a body scan here:
Art credit: achurchforstarvingartists.com
We begin again.
Summer MBSR is underway! We explore our “basic equipment”: eyes, ears, nose, mouth and body (fleshy sensations arising from skin/muscle/joint/bone). It’s slow going by usual standards, but everyone in class is engaged as we look more closely at actual felt experience of life moment by moment. We spend a half-hour eating a raisin; we linger for almost an hour scanning the body, noticing and observing from toes to crown of the head. This kind of attention is rich with thought: memory, anticipation, insight and new perspective. And with thought comes emotion: warmth, nostalgia, longing and worry. It’s all the stuff we are made of, and knowing this is the point of mindfulness practice. So on we go, with sincere intent to practice daily, carefully and kindly observing, fine tuning our amazing capacity for awareness.
All about now... 