Starting June 11, join Brooklyn Greenway Initiative as we meditate and free write in the beautiful outdoor space of the Naval Cemetery Landscape, co-sponsored by Breathe Read Write and Being in the Wild.
Session 1 on Sunday morning, June 11, 9:30 – 11:30am: Welcome summer, season of growth and abundance.
Sessions 2-4 on the first Thursday evening of July (7/6), August (8/3), and Sept. (9/7), 6:30 – 8pm: Tune in to the gifts and cycles of this ground and the beings that live here, such as trees, native wildflowers (Brown Eyed Susans, Asters, etc.), bees, birds, and more.
Session 5 on Sunday morning October 1, 9:30 – 11:30am: Thank summer and welcome fall, season of harvest and completion.
This park honors the past and builds toward a greener, more contemplative future. We can all participate by gathering to meditate and offer our own creativity. These sessions are suitable for everyone, from beginners to experienced meditators or writers. Each class will include meditation instruction and practice, prompts to awaken your senses, guided free-writing, and lively and supportive sharing.
At the start of each session, Lin guides nature meditation practices that cultivate a deep attention to both our inner and outer worlds. Examples of these practices include: four elements exploration (earth, water, fire and air); tree contemplation; five-sense experiencing. The aim is to nurture curiosity and loving kindness, which we bring in to our free-writing with Lisa. This involves opening ourselves to a poem or a particular piece of the park and then free-writing (Natalie Goldberg-style). Everyone who wants to share what flows through them has a chance to be heard and appreciated.
If you have a favorite notebook and pen, bring them, or BGI can provide.
Location
Classes are held at the Naval Cemetery Landscape. Enter at Williamsburg St West between Kent and Flushing Avenues.
Public Transit
- B57/B62Bus to Flushing Av/Classon Av (2 min walk)
- B48 Bus to Wallabout St/Wythe Av (5 min walk)
- J/M/Z Train to Marcy Ave (11 min walk)
- G train to Flushing Ave (13 min walk)
Teacher’s bios
Lisa Freedman received her MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the New School, where she now offers courses including “Meditating, Seeing, and Writing” (in collaboration with the Rubin Museum) and “Writing and Activism.” Her current studies focus on Shambhala Buddhism and the path of the compassionate warrior. Satya Magazine, Grabbing the Apple, and The Shambhala Times published her work in 2016. Her poem, “Notes for a Commune-Nest Personifesto,” appears in Resist Much Obey Little: Inaugural Poems to the Resistance.
Lisa’s concern for the environment and threatened beings everywhere prompted her to start offering Breathe/Read/Write sessions. The way she sees it, whenever we guide our wandering minds back to the breath, we offer ourselves a fresh start. Every time we meditate and then pick up our pens to write, we are in a realm of unlimited possibilities. It’s important to cultivate our relationship with this realm these days because we’re surrounded by evidence that our current patterns of living, consuming, and relating need to change. We need new ideas. “Free-writing” (just letting the pen move, non-stop) can be their vehicle.
Feel free to contact lisa@lfwritingcoach.com for more info.
Lin Gordon’s Being in the Wild project is born out of a love for meditation and nature. Lin has been practicing insight meditation for the last six years under the guidance of Jonathan Foust as well as various teachers at the New York Insight Meditation Center. In stillness and silence, she discovers the transformative power of mindfulness practices to help live a life of flow, joy, grace and gratitude.
Recently, Lin was moved by the power of nature meditation practices to connect with a deep sense of well-being, tranquility, love and resilience. When meditating in nature, our senses are more alive. Whether it is touching tree bark or hearing bird songs or meandering on unknown paths, nature shows us the essence of who we are. Our human-centric world view dissolves, and we realize we are but a small part of a greater intelligence. Lin will be graduating from Mark Coleman’s Awake in the Wild Meditation in Nature Facilitators Training in the fall of 2017.
Besides meditation, Lin practices kundalini yoga, reiki, chakra therapy, group dream work and is certified in wilderness first aid. Out in the world, she has been a digital marketer for media and financial services industries for the last 15 years and currently serves as a board member of New York Insight Meditation Center.
More info: Email info@beinginthewild.com or follow http://www.Facebook.com/beinginthewild.
Lin Wang Gordon 