For over a year now I've been participating in a women's Sangha on Tuesday evenings led by Alexa Redner and held at Portland Insight Meditation Center in Portland. What a gift! Although Ron and I don't make it every week, we are always grateful when we do attend Sunday morning dharma talks at PIMC. And we'll definitely be going this Sunday when Alexa will be the lead teacher. Please know that these dharma talks are also available to everyone everywhere online. I am so profoundly grateful for Alexa Redner and all of my beloved teachers.
A message from Alexa Redner:
Hello all my (inner) space explorer friends, This past week I have been obsessed with the 4 astronauts who went to explore the dark side of the moon. Their courage blew my mind. This week I have asked myself, "What do I want to get as close as possible to before I die? What is my version of leaving the Earth's atmosphere to get closer to what I want to understand completely?" For me, before I die I want to get as close as possible to the awakened mind and heart, so that I can use my life in meaningful ways. The work of freeing the heart from deeply engrained conditioning and roots of suffering sometimes feels as daunting, uncertain and unfathomable as shooting to the moon. When I watch my fellow humans doing unfathomable feats of courage rooted in wholesome aspiration I get excited. Just look at the power of the human mind. We can go to the moon and back! Our hearts and minds can open even farther and wider than that... Watching all those youtube videos of the astronauts in the little spaceship together, their love for one another was palpable. They were in it together. And when they looked down at the Earth from the vantage point of space, their message was clear: "You guys are talking to us because we're in a spaceship really far from Earth, but you're on a spaceship called Earth...In all of this emptiness...you have this oasis, this beautiful place that we get to exist together. This is an opportunity for us to remember where we are, who we are, and that we are the same thing--and that we've got to get through this together."-- Artemis II Astronaut Victor Glover |
Sunday, April 19th from 10-12amPT This weekend I'll be exploring the theme of "Cultivating the Courageous Heart" for the Sunday Meditation and Dharma Talk in-person and online at Portland Insight Meditation Community |
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