Dear Friends,
One last message for this series of emails, to express my deep appreciation and gratitude for being part of this month with me.
As the Buddha said to Ananda, “Good friends, companions, and associates are the whole of the spiritual life. ” (SN 45.2)
It is inspiring for me to know that there were people from many places listening, reading, and practicing together, forming a community of support, if only by email. I appreciated your many messages with reflections, on the blog, by email, or in person.
I also want to express particular thanks to the teachers and mentors who have helped me over the years. There are many, but I’ll mention a few who were fundamental for this month:
- Jeanne Corrigal, guiding teacher for the Saskatoon Insight Meditation Community, and part of the IMS Teacher Training Program.
- Dear friends with the https://saskatooninsight.com/ and the Sunday Morning Insight Meditation Practice Group.
- Sally Armstrong and Kamala Masters, for making the recordings from their retreat freely available for all of us.
- Dharma Seed, which stores a wealth of talks and meditations.
- My dogs, Reece and Savanna, who are my best teachers of equanimity, and who were very patient when their nighttime walk was delayed while I wrote.
Guided meditation: In the spirit of gratitude and equanimity, you might appreciate this meditation by Oren Jay Sofer, Guided Meditation: Gratitude, Ease, and Steadiness, about 25 minutes followed by some instruction on walking with gratitude:
https://www.dharmaseed.org/teacher/248/talk/50389/
If you’re in the Saskatoon area the morning of Sunday, Februrary 2, 2020, starting at 10 am, I’ll be facilitating the practice meeting for the Sunday morning group. We sit in meditation for 30 minutes, then reflect on a talk or on our practice. The talk I’ve chosen for this week is Kamala’s talk on Patience, so you know all about it. You’re invited to join us – it would be lovely to practice with you in person.
If you’re looking for something to continue to support your practice for the next while, you could check out Sharon Salzberg’s Real Happiness Challenge, which runs for the month of February. You’ll receive a daily email with a reflection, meditation, practices. It’s offered on a donation basis.
You can also check out the sitting groups in Saskatoon or in your vicinity. There are also groups that meet online.
As always, feel free to share your reflections or comments below, or by email.
With warm wishes and great appreciation,
Andrea
P.S. I won’t send out any other messages to this list until the next offering of these January emails. Please stay subscribed if you’d like to stay informed about plans for January 2021.