Live Session Summary, Sunday, August 28, 2022: Good to be with you today for our Live session. Today I want to give a different kind of summary, which will include a brief overview of the class today (as I do each week) and also respond to some of the points raised by people in the ‘comments’ today—focusing on things that may be of interest to many or most of those who participated and/or those in this group. (In a separate post(s))
I’ll begin with the regular summary: The theme today was ‘deepening our practice’ and I focused most attention on the final of four areas where I typically advise people who are looking for support in their practice to give attention. This was the theme of longer retreat practice. The other three areas I highlight below.
I began by talking about how any genuine spiritual practice is a training. Rarely does anyone gain the deepest insights, understanding, or awakening all at once, because we have minds that get caught in unhelpful habits that may be deeply entrenched and so change and letting go often require seeing things many, many times, and letting go more and more deeply tends to come with continuing practice. And spiritual growth tends to be a journey that builds on previous insights and understanding.
I spoke about the four main areas that I typically emphasize and invite exploration of: 1. daily/regular meditation practice, as well as mindfulness practice in daily life; 2. deepening study and investigation of dharma (in its broadest sense) teachings; 3. Participation in and support from community (sangha); and 4. longer periods of practice, typically in formal (teacher-led) retreats or informal personal retreats—which I normally recommend only for those with a strong and established practice or where the person feels at ease and confident in practicing on their own for an extended period of time).
I spoke about my own early retreat experience thirty years ago and how it helped me both come back to something—a sense of peace, calm, well-being—that I recognized and remembered from times in my childhood; and that set me on the path that I have followed for the past three decades.
I emphasized the value of longer periods of practice in deepening our confidence in ourselves and in the teachings and practices and the ways in which that deepening confidence can support us in daily life, particularly when things get really difficult. I spoke of a term Rob Burbea used to get across this sense of confidence, ‘cultivating an inner reservoir of well-being.’ I also stressed how important a role longer retreat practice can play in deepening our practice and supporting us in life more broadly.
I expressed the hope of planting a seed of interest in those who are newer to these teachings and practices as well as encouraging or reminding those (including myself) of the importance of taking time to practice in longer retreats. In a line that my partner Rebecca heard from one of her teachers years ago, ‘there’s no such thing as a one-walk dog’. I love this… we have to continue to practice if we are to walk our talk and live authentically… (I didn’t include this quote in the talk, but just remembered it.)
The poems I shared today were Mary Oliver’s ‘Wild Geese’, particularly emphasizing the lines of letting ‘the soft animal of your body love what it loves’; and Muhyiddin Ibn Al ‘Arabi’s ‘There was a time…’
I’ll share later today some other responses to what a few people spoke about in the ‘comments’… Have a wonderful week and see you at 9am eastern next Sunday! Warmly, Hugh 🙏🏼 🌻
