There is a wonderful meditation practice that was taught by Gautama Buddha more than 2500 years ago called Vipassana. Vipassana, sometimes referred to as Insight Meditation, helps us to cultivate inner calmness and exceptionally clear seeing into our present moment experience, whatever that may be. I learned this practice as a Theravada Buddhist monk in Thailand in the 1970’s and it continues to be my foundational meditation practice to this day.
Posts filed under Issue #79
Full Moon Ceremony: Creating Sacred Space With Others
What is sacred space and where do we find it? I would describe sacred space as any environment that evokes a serene, reverent feeling of safety and connection. It is a space that allows you to remember the feeling of being exactly who you are with a knowing that you, alone, are enough. It is like receiving a warm hug from a friend or stepping into a bubble that comforts and supports you in every energetic way. Sacred space can be a place—a corner of a room or a park bench, but it can also exist within us in the moment-to-moment connectedness to our own inner wisdom, to our spirituality, to our wholeness. Native American wisdom describes sacred space as the space between the in-breath and out-breath. It exists eternally, within each of us. It just takes slowing down and listening instead of doing to uncover it.
All Creatures Great and Small: Animal Hospice-- Honoring Our Pets at the End of Their Lives
From the moment we adopt our pets to the end of their lives, they are, without question, an integral part of our family. Our relationship with them plays an important role in our lives as their love for us is like no other love. They bring us joy, make us laugh, and they bring comfort and healing when times are tough. While we have always understood this, the isolation of Covid-19 quarantine periods have highlighted the vital role pets play in our mental health.
Book Review: It Doesn't Have to be Perfect to be Beautiful by Myquillyn Smith
By Catherine Carlson
t’s 2022, a brand-new year! You think: This is it. This is the year I’m going to decorate my house beautifully. I’m going to complete that home project I’ve had on my mind. I’m going to make everything exactly how I’ve been envisioning it. The season is in your favor after all. It’s the dead of winter so you’ve got time to work on the inside. Yet, in the back of your mind there’s that other thought: Can I really do it? Will I? Few things are more loaded with potential or expectations than a new year.
According to Myquellin Smith, Author of The Nesting Place, It Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect to Be Beautiful. You don’t have to put in as much sweat, tears, or dollars, as you may think to make your home beautiful, and you certainly don’t have to wait until the calendar changes. Smith is a self-taught home decorating expert and coach with an Instagram following and a website featuring an online community, classes, and events. The Nesting Place is a guide for anybody who’s ever felt their desires were out of proportion to their budget, anyone who is too scared of making an imperfect purchase, or too afraid to begin. It’s for anyone who’s ever thought their home wasn’t good enough because it didn’t look like pictures in magazines, books, or on decorating sites.
Beginning with the first house she and her husband lived in as a newly married couple, Myquillyn has lived in a total of thirteen homes. Gradually the homes grew to contain the additions of three children and a dog. It was her attempts to create beauty in each dwelling that helped her learn how to do it. She’s done it all and made plenty of mistakes—from painting kitchen countertops in a rental property to shocking herself while rewiring a lamp. Along the way she developed impressive creative skills and reframed what constitutes a beautiful home. Her techniques are meant to be applied to a variety of homes because she’s lived in all kinds of spaces—apartments, condos, houses and even a garage. A few of these homes were purchased but many were rentals. She is a strong advocate for renting and currently lives in a rented house. Even in the least ideal home, Smith always found a way to make her love the space more.
The book addresses all the places we tend to get hung-up when it comes to our homes. Fear may be stopping you from a big project—but can also affect the smaller ones—such as moving a chair or making the dreaded nail hole. Then, there are the other people whose opinions lead you to feel guilty about your idea to paint the table that’s sitting in your garage...such as your dad, who says painting over good wood is a sin. And, of course, we all have excuses, whether it’s not enough money or becoming deer-in-the-headlamps frozen because we can’t make a decision. Making a small change can seem risky, but it could always lead to something better. There is no one right way to do something.
There are some guidelines (not rules!) as to how to begin. One technique is to “quiet a room” which involves removing anything you can carry that isn’t a large or fixed item. Once you are only looking at a sofa, window treatments and lamps, for example, you can see your space better and it may reveal a hidden gem you had forgotten about. There are plenty of money saving ideas, too, such as using items found in nature or shopping your home—pretend you are in a store where everything is free, what (that you already have) would you choose?
According to Smith, if you are seeking perfection, in your home (or elsewhere), you have two choices. You can either work hard to achieve it, or give up! She has chosen the latter and generously shares her “flaws.” Several photos of her home, in the book, have not been tidied up. There’s a coffee table covered in books and a laptop hidden among them. She shares a picture that was taken for Ladies Home Journal of her office, appearing neat and staged, next to a picture of the same office after the photo shoot was completed. The after photo has drawers open, papers all over the desk and looks like someone actually works in that space. Your lived-in home on display for everyone to see is still beautiful. She says, “I don’t share it because it’s perfect: I share it because I’m finally okay that it’s not.” She includes an Imperfectionist Manifesto at the end of the book.
Finally, here’s an enjoyable and realistic book for all the Pinterest-weary among us. One that gives you permission to accept the imperfections of your living space. Instead of being restricting and unachievable, the information in The Nesting Place, is forgiving and completely within reach. There is no need to post of a photo of your “doesn’t-quite-fit” homemade slipcover along with a shamefully sarcastic “Nailed it!” There’s nothing to be disappointed about. Making your home the way you want it someday can be right now if you are open to the possibility.
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Collaborative Therapeutic Massage
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Out of my Comfort Zone: Meeting Our Discomfort to Support Collective Liberation
The sun was warm and bright the day I met Dragonfly. It happened fourteen years ago at a corporate picnic, back when I was an engineering manager with 15 years in the automotive industry. A dragonfly landed on me. It looked at me, cocking its head, flew away and back again, as if trying to get my attention. By the third time, it did. Something shifted that day. I’d been questioning, and this was my answer. It wasn’t long before I abandoned my corporate career and followed a path that led me to the Peruvian jungles, the pyramids in Egypt, new teachers and practices, and most importantly, to the temple of my own body. In so doing, I found my new work in the world as a sacred sexual healer.
Linda Diane Feldt, Beloved Ann Arbor Healer, the Very Embodiment of Crazy Wisdom in the Community
The death of Linda Diane Feldt, at 62, on November 17th came as a shock to Ann Arbor’s holistic subcultures. There was an immediate outpouring on Facebook of heartsickness and grief, a sense of being stunned that someone so integral, so key, could be gone in a flash. For those who didn’t know her, or never came across her, it is hard to put into words the depth and range of her presence and her impact. We have had a holistic alternative healer/genius in our midst, for decades, and we all knew she was special, but took for granted that she would always be here, so no need to pay extra special attention to her gifts, to her very existence in our community. Though, as she said often in recent times, take nothing for granted.
