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Showing posts with label discussion forum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label discussion forum. Show all posts

Saturday, March 16, 2024

InsightLA: Youngish Adults Practice Group

InsightLA Meditation Practice Group - Santa Monica/Online; Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation) (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Interested in mindfulness meditation with a supportive hybrid in-person/online community of peer practitioners. Join us either by Zoom online or in-person at the Benedict Canyon Retreat House, within beautiful nature-rich environs. Share the collective wisdom related to sitting meditation practice.

**All weekly meetings beginning in January 2024 will be held Sundays from 7:00-830 pm PST. Attendees will have optional time for connection from 8:30-9:00 pm after the session finishes.**

Young-ish (in your 20s, 30s or 40s)?

What’s most alive in your practice? What are you struggling with? In a supportive group environment, we will meditate and explore practical application of the Buddhist wisdom tradition in daily life.

We’ll focus on the challenges you might be facing as a youngish adult, including:

  • How to live the teachings of mindfulness and compassion in daily life, navigating transitions, relationships, and careers.

If you have a topic that you would like to bring more mindfulness to, bring it up in the group!

Who is this practice group for?

The Young-ish Practice Group is for people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s who would like to deepen their mindfulness practice and understanding of Buddhist psychology in community. All are welcome, regardless of previous mindfulness or meditation experience.

Intentions:

  • Explore Buddhist psychology and mindfulness science to support practical integration in daily life. (There's no need to identify as a Buddhist because ALL are welcome).

  • Foster ongoing development of inclusive community and supportive friendship among younger practitioners.

  • Practice in support of the cultivation of wisdom and the alleviation of suffering for all beings, without exception.

Typical Group Activities/Format:

  • Welcome and introductions

  • 30-40 minute guided mindfulness meditation.

  • Variety of Buddhist Dharma talks, exploration of mindfulness science, small group discussion, other experiential exercises.

Scheduled Teachers:

  • March 17: Michael Karakashian

  • March 24: Eileen Ybarra

  • March 31: Lulu Toselli

Where is this event?

Santa Monica and online via Zoom. As weather permits, expect to be mostly outdoors.

For those attending in-person, find directions and accessibility information here.

Please consider carpooling as there is limited parking available (more info). Click Sign Up to the left for ride-share options.

> In keeping with the principles of the Dharma that underlie all InsightLA activities (primarily non-harming), we are requiring that all attendees be fully vaccinated in order to attend this in-person event. Masks are optional as all attendees are fully vaccinated. Attendance is limited to 30 to allow for social distancing.


Donation Based

Although this is a donation-based class, registration is required. Suggested donation: $20. If you cannot attend, please cancel your reservation so that others may attend in your place. Space is limited.

Saturday, January 13, 2024

Veganuary's 10th anniversary (film and talk)

Host William Melton Compassion Consortium Meetup; Ananda (Dharma Buddhist meditation), Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Compassion Consortium film night and talk: Celebrate Veganuary's 10TH anniversary
Join Compassion Consortium (compassionconsortium.org) on Jan. 24 at 7:30 pm (ET) for a special film night and talk: “Veganuary’s Celebration of its 10th Anniversary.

We look back at the past decade and reflect on the challenges and triumphs over the past decade. We will view Veganuary’s 22-minute documentary as our guests from Veganuary explore their impact and expansion around the world since launching in 2013. There will be a Q&A following the film.
I have all this to eat without killing?!
Veganuary is a non-profit organization that encourages people worldwide to go vegan for January and beyond.

Millions have signed up to the one-month vegan pledge since 2014. In 2023, more than 1,610 new vegan products and menu options were launched in key campaign countries. 

Throughout the year, Veganuary encourages and supports people and businesses alike to move to a plant-based diet as a way of protecting the environment, preventing animal suffering, and improving the health of millions of humans.


Over the next five years, Veganuary aims to make powerful strides toward a world where vegan is the norm rather than the exception.

What can we with our health?
Wendy Matthews
is the international head of partnerships and expansion at Veganuary, leading the globalization of the Veganuary campaign.

She previously oversaw the nonprofit’s campaign in the US from its launch in January 2020. She has been actively involved in the vegan/animal-protection movement for over a decade, previously having worked with Farm Sanctuary as senior manager of engagement and social impact.
Wendy is passionate about creating resources that help people live in alignment with their values and supporting businesses in shifting towards plant-based to meet the rise in consumer consciousness. For more information, see: veganuary.com

Thursday, April 6, 2023

Awkwardly Zen Zooms (4/7)

Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Seven, Jen, Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Awkwardly Z., Ari, Amber, Valorie Lewis, Sophia (Zen Zoom - Friday)
A safe place for your spiritual path - Be awkwardly you! (Awkwardly Zen | Meetup Pro)



Organizer Ari (Awkwardly Zen)
Join Awkwardly Zen for one of its Awkwardly Zen Zooms. It's an open forum where it's safe to speak openly about our spiritual journeys.

No questions are weird. No story is judged. Speak freely and support others as they wander down their path. Like Vegas, all discussions on these Zen Zooms stay on these Zen Zooms.
  • Opinions of guests are not necessarily the opinion of Awkwardly Zen. Also, we are not doctors, so we do not diagnose, cure, or recommend medical treatments.
  • One may hear about techniques that have worked for other people, but they are not intended to replace proper medical care. Always bear in mind the maxim, "You do you, Boo."
Ari on Zoom from on high in Denver, Colorado
This is a FREE event that takes place every Friday. If another time works better, please check the Meetup page to find more available times.

ZEN ZOOMS has 16 locations across the world that meet regularly to spread love and light (Awkwardly Zen).
Awkwardly Zen is a worldwide endeavor with 16 locations so far, and it's growing.
.
[*Except for NSA, NSC, CIA
, cell phone company which collects data and "gives" it to police and quasi-government alphabet agencies to skirt the law against their direct collection. The AI is watching. It's not spying; it's just domestic surveillance and the deployment of photographic comparison technology or analogous collateral obfuscatory euphemisms. That's right, go back to sleep. Your phone is spying on everything you do anyway and you're too addicted to put it down, so don't try to start complaining about it now (lol).]

Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Live Mindfulness Meditation, L.A. (11/28)

Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Dhr. Seven, Jen Bradford, Wisdom Quarterly

UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center
UCLA's MARC (the Mindful Awareness Research Center at marc.ucla.edu) sets the tone for our secular Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) meditation in a hidden corner of a delightful city park.

Nature contributes to easy relaxation. Mindfulness (nonreactive awareness) is an excellent approach to dealing with anxious states of body and mind, transforming them into opportunities to grow in consciousness, joy, acceptance, and happiness.

Attend 30 min. UCLA meditations online
Session includes stretching, mindful walking, gently guided meditating, and sharing afterward. Bring a folding chair, shawl, or blanket and an open mind to sit with a heartfelt community nestled in LA's Foothills. FREE, no donations. RSVP at Dharma Buddhist Meditation:
How did the misty mountain meditation go?

Breathing in, breathing out, calming formations
Those who braved the mist and drizzle to attend were rewarded. We sat under the ancient pine trees on a soft bed of dry needles. The canopy kept us rain-free as we chanted call-and-response in Sanskrit and Pali, enjoying the weather brushing up against the foothills of the Angeles Crest Forest. Wild animals bounced around, crackling brittle leaves underfoot. The message was clear as Seven led the meditation:

Mindfulness Meditation: Short Guide (MindOwl)
"This is mindfulness meditation. That means dispassionate awareness of whatever is, radical acceptance of it, acting as the watcher of experience. So whatever comes up, be as a Beatle: 'Let it be.' Then there will be peace. There is nothing to understand or fix, nothing to grasp at or cling to, nothing to push away.

When we avoid these three bad habits -- grasping and clinging toward the pleasant, resisting and aversion toward the unpleasant, dullness and boredom toward the neither-pleasant-nor-unpleasant -- we can cultivate three useful things:
  1. nongreed (letting go, sharing),
  2. nonhatred (loving kindness, friendliness),
  3. nondelusion (wisdom, knowing-and-seeing)
in all their many positive manifestations, which are the bases for skillful deeds (beneficial karma).

It makes sense now. We can sit still.
"Meditation will happen when we are still, and the way to stop fidgeting is to observe, bear witness, bear discomfort, bear boredom, bear lust and all that attempts to pull one away from being in the present moment. But how will we know we're in the 'present'? That's easy. Observe the breath. It's only in the now.

If we're watching the breath -- without judging, measuring, evaluating, perfecting, changing, bettering, or interfering -- we are sure to be in the present, being in the present with what is, whatever is. That is mindfulness of this moment, of this situation, and all that is needed to see the Truth is to let the mind purify by settling so that it gains the eye to penetrate and see deeply." Then we had a great shared discussion.

Thursday, January 17, 2019

Vegan potluck, Dharma discussion (Jan. 19)

VeganSpirituality.com (facebook 470552256808163); Ananda, Crystal Q., Wisdom Quarterly
A vegan potluck is full of flavor, compassion, and diverse tastes (123rf.com)
Leading Sanskrit blessing at Vegan Thanksgiving Potluck 2018, Rancho Park, Los Angeles
.
Krishna was kind to the cows.
FREE: Join Vegan Spirituality (Facebook event) for a potluck and Dharma discussion with Native American (Tongva) urban shaman Seven.

We begin the new year by getting back to basics, back to the root of Buddhist terms translated as "meditation" and "mindfulness" and the three fundamentals of the Buddhist Path of Purification.

We'll enjoy a night of food, sweets, Dharma discussion, guided serenity meditation, mindful movement, universal loving-kindness, Sanskrit chanting, and open group-sharing.
 
What are the healthiest ways to eat?
VEGAN POTLUCK: bring a vegan (plant-based, raw, or cooked foods free of all animal products) potluck dish to share, plates/cups/utensils. Be mindful to bring a dish versus a snack or drink so we have plenty of food for everyone.
  • Vegan Spirituality
  • Saturday, Jan. 19th, 2019, 6:00-9:00 PM
  • 9757 Delco Ave., Chatsworth (San Fernando Valley) 91311-5323 (MAP)

Monday, June 11, 2018

Facing the Shadow: Sex and Power (June 26)

AwareProject.org, LA (FB); Pat Macpherson, Ananda M., Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Facing the Shadow with Sitaramaya Sita, Ashley Booth, Tony Moss, Liana Sananda, LA.

.
Los Angeles author Erica Garza: Getting Off
The Aware Project hosts a series of monthly Psychedelic Awareness Salon events in LA and San Diego.

Join Aware Project and SoCal psychedelic (entheogenic) leaders for this panel and community discussion about sexuality and power.

Over the next few months, The Aware Project is planning a new series of events. It is called the Psychedelic Community Dialogue. This series aims to create space to have important conversations.
 
But sex is wrong and power is worse, right?
Let’s come together in community to address what we need, the standards we want to set, and the future we wish to create.

SCHEDULE: Doors open at 7:00 PM. Mingling and tea provided by the I.AM.LIFE Guayusa Tea Lounge. Discussion at 8:00 PM.
TOPIC DETAILS
Imbalances of power in our society are glaring. With the backdrop of the #metoo, #timesup, and multi-culturalism movements, we see the same issues facing the psychedelic/entheogenic subculture. We need to take a deep look at how we might be perpetuating these problems.

How are we conducting ourselves? What are our blind spots? Why do we continue to support shamans and practitioners who commit sexual abuse? Why are straight, cisgender males generally the ones who get the main speaking spots at conferences? Why is the psychedelic community predominantly Caucasian?

The answers to these questions are easy to uncover through a historical lens, but how can we now cultivate truth and reconciliation, healing, and create lasting changes? Join us as we heal, learn, grow, and create together!

Community Dialogue #1 June 26th in Culver City will focus on sexuality, sexual dynamics, and power in psychedelics/entheogens. National and international communities have been embroiled in conversations around power abuses and sexual misconduct. Recent events in Southern California show the same patterns.

So let's come together to discuss what's needed to provide healing spaces for victims, counsel for perpetrators, and a vocal culture of zero-tolerance for power abuses. More
 
MISSION: The Aware Project's aim is to: (1) balance the public conversation about psychedelics, (2) spread accurate information, and (3) give a new face to psychedelia. It feels that this change will occur through connection and relationship, one individual at a time. It is calling on everyone whose lives have been improved through the mindful use of psychedelics to educate themselves and become ambassadors for the psychedelic experience. Let us show everyone around that people who are mindfully using psychedelics cross all social, racial, economic, and political lines. More

Sunday, April 8, 2018

How to talk to teens about SEX

Ashley Wells, Sheldon S., Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
When my parents told me to sit down, I thought I was in trouble. Then when they said, "We want to talk to you about sex," I was relieved and answered, "Sure, what do you guys want to know?" thinking they had to know that I knew more about it than they did. They shamed me and got me in trouble. We never talked about it again. :/
 
Parent-child communication: Promoting safety (Advocates for Youth) In a recent study, teens who benefited from perceived from parental guidance and who reportedly had a “good talk” with parents in the last year about sex, birth control, and the dangers of STDs were two times more likely to use condoms at the last time they had sex than teens who did not talk to their parents as often.
 
Tips for Talking to Kids About Sex (Planned Parenthood) Research tells us that kids and teens who have regular conversations with their parents and caregivers about sex and relationships are less likely to take risks with... The most important thing is to make it really clear to your kid that they can ask you questions or come to you for support without fear of shame or judgment [or you freaking out like a jackass who hasn't dealt with his/her own issues around sex].
 
Why parents should have the "Sex Talk" with their children (well.blogs.nytimes.com) It's not a one-time chat, Dr. Guilamo-Ramos says. “Talk to your child on a regular basis.” Take on the tough topics, like pleasure, birth control, and sexual orientation. Pay attention to teens. Teens in intense romantic relationships are more likely to have sex, especially if... 
 
Teen Sex Ed: Instead of promoting promiscuity, it delays first sex... (healthland.time.com) Utah lawmakers gave a nod to what could become the nation's most restrictive sex-education policy if it passes: no talk of contraception and no mention of homosexuality. No mention of much, in fact, besides an emphasis on abstinence before marriage, if that. 
 
Contraceptive Decision-Making in Sexual Relationships: Young... (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc) In one scenario participants were asked to comment on a situation where they were having sex with a female for the first time without condoms and the female partner asked them about using a condom. In another scenario participants were asked how they would handle a situation where their girlfriend did not want to use...

What Do You Do If You Discover Your Daughter is Having Sex? (tolovehonorandvacuum.com) If your child has been having sex at someone else's house, then they're not allowed to go that house anymore. If they've been having sex...I'd talk to the parents and tell them that you have a rule that they cannot be alone in the house, and you would ask the parents to support that rule. If you feel as if they...

This Is What Sex-Positive Parenting Really Looks Like (HuffingtonPost.com) A lot. It's fascinating to them. And when you're a small child, you have no sense of shame or disgust or fear of your body. Your body is what it is. ...That doesn't mean I talk with my 4-year-olds about how great sex is and how good it feels. ...And when they're older, we'll start talking about contraception.
 
When Sex and Dating are the Same (childtrends.org) A percentage of female adolescents who report they have ever had sex. Yet when it comes to contraceptive use, research tells a different story: one of racial and ethnic disparities. In particular, young ... We drew on results from these same focus groups and interviews to develop a second brief, titled Let's (Not) Talk About. Sex:...
 
Carnal Knowledge: The Sex Ed Debate (Health: Children's health, nbcnews.com) Soaring rates of sexually transmitted diseases among teens are adding urgency to the debate over sex education. Conservatives claim the alarming statistics illustrate why a...

Friday, February 19, 2016

"White Like Me" (documentary)

Ashley Wells, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly; Tim Wise (White Like Me); NeighborhoodUU
Why can't people just be people? I don't even see color. I can totally relate to nonwhites...

White Like Me (film) is one-part memoir, another part essay collection. It is a personal examination of the way largely unseen racial privilege shapes the daily lives of white Americans.

It shapes, and privileges, it in every realm: employment, education, housing, criminal justice, and so on.

With stories from his own life, Tim Wise demonstrates the way this implicit bias and occasional outright racism not only burdens people of color, but also benefits -- in relative terms -- those who are “white like me.”

Wise discusses how race privilege can harm whites in the long-run and make progressive social change less likely.
He explores the many ways whites can challenge their unjust privileges. And he explains, in clear and convincing language, why it is in the best interest of whites themselves to do so.

Using lively anecdotes rather than stale statistics, Wise weaves a narrative that is at once readable and scholarly, accessible and enlightening.
White People for Racial Justice of SGVStephanie Ballard (neighborhooduu.org)
(Facebook) Open to all who identify as "white" and oppose racism. We met Feb. 18th at 7:00 pm to focus on applying "ring theory" (comfort in, dump out) to racial justice work. We gathered and heard about the most productive things to say to people of color on the front lines. This is about learning to be good allies and accomplices. Where? Ross ChapelNeighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Women Hating (#YesAllWomen)

Ashley Wells, Pat Macpherson, Pfc. Sandoval, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Rebecca Solnit, Amy Goodman, Aaron Mate, Juan Gonzalez (democracynow.org)
UCSB and UCLA students mourn at candlelight vigil at UCLA on May 26. This deadly shooting rampage has sparked a conversation about gendered sexual violence in the U.S. just as the infamous bus rape did in India. Why do we tolerate the abuse of half the society? (David McNew/Getty Images/ksdk.com)


Maybe "not all men," but yes all women
Santa Barbara is grieving after a 22-year-old man [the privileged son of one of the makers of "The Hunger Games"] killed six UC Santa Barbara college students just after posting a misogynistic video online vowing to take his revenge on women purportedly for sexually rejecting him.
 
UCSB (Robyn Beck, AFP/Getty Images)
The massacre prompted an unprecedented reaction online with tens of thousands of women joining together to tell their stories of sexual violence, harassment, and intimidation. By Sunday, the hashtag #YesAllWomen had gone viral. 

In speaking out, women were placing the shooting inside a broader context of misogynist violence that often goes ignored.

In her new book, Men Explain Things to Me, author and historian Rebecca Solnit tackles this issue and many others. "We have an abundance of rape and violence against women in this country and on this Earth, though it’s almost never treated as a civil rights or human rights issue, or a crisis, or even a pattern," Solnit says. "Violence doesn’t have a race, a class, a religion, or a nationality, BUT it does have a gender." More

Yes, all women (Digital Vision/Getty Images)
(The Tennessean) Twitter users are responding by the thousands in the wake of a mass shooting in Isla Vista, California. Friday night by a man who pledged revenge on women who had rejected him. Suspected slayer [and self-proclaimed "alpha male"] Elliot Rodger killed six people before [allegedly] taking his own life. In YouTube videos and a manifesto he detailed a "war on women." More

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

The Tea-Dharma Club (U West)

Angela Lee (UW), Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; tdhammaclub@gmail.com
Chinese tea and traditional mooncakes on bamboo platter (npr.org)
 
The inaugural meeting of the "Tea and Dharma" plenary session, an informal gathering of persons interested in Buddhism and healthy-soothing refreshments, is set for Friday at the:
UWest is a Buddhist university in suburban Los Angeles, set in the rolling hills of Rosemead, not far from "Going West" Temple, downtown L.A. to the west, and the San Gabriel foothills to the north.

The goal of the gathering is to facilitate conversation on Dharma (Pali, Dhamma), the Buddha's teaching taken as a whole, socializing with American and Taiwanese students, while sipping tea.
   
University of the West friendly exchange students from Taiwan and monastics (far right)
 
It is a chance for East to meet West in a relaxing setting to exchange stories and traditions while enjoying each other's company. Make friends, generate positive affinities, (gripe about China and its official policies and abysmal human rights record?), and mentally limber up for Dr. Wu's lecture series (details) on the Mahayana Buddhist Canon, which runs concurrently from 6:00-9:00 pm or 1:00-4:00 pm for four consecutive days, covering eight topics.