Sacred Earth Sangha at New York Insight Meditation Center
For the October Sacred Earth Sangha meeting, join us in Central Park to immerse in nature practices to connect with the outdoor environment and your senses. From focusing on a single leaf to the expansive sky, our sense of separateness falls away when we turn our attention toward our experiences intimately.
We will practice from 10am-12pm, then share lunch together as a community.
For planning purposes, please register in advance so we know to expect you. The event will meet rain or shine. However, in case of cancellation due to particular weather conditions, we will send an email notification at least 24 hours in advance.
We look forward to exploring our inner and outer world together with you in nature.
Location:
Central Park (100th St. and Central Park West) We will remain 6 feet apart in gathering and will wear masks. Please cancel and request a refund if you experience any symptoms listed by the CDC as Covid symptoms. You will be requested to sign a health declaration form and a waiver.
Maximum participants: 20 people
Please bring: -Mask (Bandana and loose face coverings are ineffective in preventing in-person transmissions. Please wear a regular mask to care for the community). -Water -A brown bag lunch -Sitting prop if needed (bench, yoga mat, etc.)
Fee by donation: Suggested starting donation is $15.
“In every walk in Nature, one receives far more than he seeks.” – John Muir, naturalist
Enjoy a fall day in the peaceful beauty of the Hudson Valley with a guided, meditative hike to connect with nature and ourselves. This hike takes the scenic route along the Long Path—into the Rockland Lake State Park and up Hook Mountain. Enjoy expansive vistas only 1.5 hours outside of the city, and an extraordinary space designated by the New York Audubon Society as an Important Bird Area.
Much of the hike will be observed in silence but we will integrate meditation practices throughout the day — allowing our senses to come alive and our sense of separateness fall away. Turning our attention inward allows us to become receptive to both of our outer and inner experiences. The dynamic outdoor conditions will be a perfect container for mindfulness practices.
The hike will be approximately from 10am – 3pm.
Who: Lin Gordon
When: 9:45am-3pm, Sunday, September 27, 2020
Where: Rockland Lake State Park, South Entrance on Route 9W and Lake Road, Valley Cottage, NY, 10989. (Use “753 Route 9W” for Rockland Roots GPS. The park entrance should be one block ahead). It’s parking field #4. There is a picnic table under a big tree near the toll booth of the parking lot.
Length and Elevation: Approximately 5.8 miles, 698 ft elevation – Relatively moderate hike, but there are sections of ups and downs, pls bring hiking poles and wear proper hiking shoes.
Meeting Time: We’ll meet a picnic table right next to the park lot at 9:45am. Restrooms will be available.
Drivers: Expect an $8 parking fee. Arrive by 9:45 a.m. and drive into the Rockland Lake State Park, South Entrance on Route 9W and Lake Road, Valley Cottage, NY. (299 Lake Rd. Valley Cottage, NY, 10989). There is another parking lot about a mile further north on Route 9W (parking lot #2). Please make sure you’re at parking lot #4. South Entrance parking lot is an open space with a lots of picnic tables and a large building complex.
Carpool: We will send out a carpooling sign up sheet 7 days before the hike. Please register by 9/20 to be on the carpool list.
We aim to start the hike at 10am and will walk to the trailhead together from the parking lot.
COVID-19 Protocols: We will remain 6 feet apart when hiking. When we gather for discussion, we will wear a mask. Please cancel and request a refund if you have any symptoms listed by the CDC as Covid symptoms. You will be requested to sign a health declaration form and a waiver.
Maximum enrollment: 16 people
Registration Fee: Sliding scale from $30 – $80. Registration opens soon through New York Insight.
Sacred Earth Sangha at New York Insight Meditation Center
Meets 2nd Monday evening of every month
Join us for an online book club exploring the latest book by Charles Eisenstein, Climate: A New Story which you can read online for a donation here.
Charles Eisenstein will be joining us at this final meeting on the book “Climate, A New Story.” Please feel free to join us for practice and discussion even if you have not completed the reading.
We will still have time during our gathering for meditation, small group checkins and plenty of discussion. More info about the book below as well as Zoom Guidelines for our meetings.
We look forward to post quarantine where we will be gather outdoors for safe and profound practices in nature.
Climate — A New Story Flipping the script on climate change, Eisenstein makes a case for a wholesale reimagining of the framing, tactics, and goals we employ in our journey to heal from ecological destruction Read the book online for free here
Zoom Guidelines: Please use your video and show your face. Using video allows us to connect fully. Please join from a computer or tablet. Since we will be using video, it will be easier to participate form a computer rather than a phone. Please come only if you can be fully present. Our practice is about intention and attention.
Teacher Schedule: Monday, September 14th – Featuring Charles Eisenstein, moderated by Sebene Selassie, Lin Gordon, Jon Aaron
Sacred Earth Sangha at New York Insight Meditation Center
Meets 2nd Monday evening of every month
Currently, our world is a hot mess both ecologically and politically. We can react to our planetary crisis with fear and aversion playing out the same old patterns of separation and domination (right and wrong, us vs them, rational solutions for unfathomably complex problems). Or we can respond with intimacy and imagination, exploring with compassion and wisdom new ways of being. Join New York Insight’s Sacred Earth Sangha (SES) in 2020 as we explore what it means to meet our current reality with kindness and clarity, compassion and wisdom. We will make space for individual and collective grief and joy — becoming intimate with our experiences. We will also explore the imaginal — looking at the innovative and beautiful responses of humans and non-humans to our global challenges.
As we go through an intense year of pandemic and social transformation, how do we access our inner resources regardless of external circumstances? Whether it is through a tree or sky meditation, listening to sounds of the birds or walking on grass barefoot, we can learn from the intelligence and wisdom from our natural environment, and reconnect and renew our body and spirit.
Through this day you’ll be guided through nature meditation practices that connect to your senses and explore your internal and external experiences intimately. You can do these nature practices on your rooftop, porch, backyard, stupa, a neighborhood garden or park, anywhere that you can meditate outdoors. You don’t need to seek the most beautiful place to meditate – it is more important that it’s a place that you can easily access and that it can be in your routine so you can develop a regular nature-based practice on your own if you wish. We’ll also explore an indoor nature practice at the end of the day.
Date: Sunday, August 23, 2020
Time: 9:30am-4:45pm
Tentative Schedule:
9:30am Zoom Video: Introduction to Nature Meditation and Group Meeting
10:00am Walk or drive to your place in nature for the day
10:30am Zoom Phone: Nature meditation instruction
11:00am Break
11:15am Zoom Phone: Nature meditation instruction
12:00pm Sitting and walking in nature practice on your own, lunch, rest (Zoom off)
This was a freewriting exercise that came out of the Breathe.Read.Write workshop offered by Lisa Freedman. I gave an instruction of a 10-minutes tree meditation. After we meditated with a tree, Lisa read the poem “I Trust the Wind and Don’t Know Why” by Wyn Cooper, then she asked us to write from the voice of the tree that we just spent time with.
“I am not a sissie. I’ve been standing here in this noisy, bustling urban environment for a long time. Even though they’ve tried to contain me at roots, put hard concrete on top on my roots, I keep expanding. I go deeper, finding water and nutrition where humans don’t reach and interrupt my natural freedom. I dig deeper into them and I bring them back through my body and reach upward.
Yes, it’s hard sometimes. The wind blows, and I don’t get support from my fellow tree family in a natural way, but I am growing and thriving. Even if it means I have to stretch sideways, and be twisted. Yes, I am growing and defying gravity, like a snake slithering in air. I branch out in the direction of the sun. I ask for help. And here I am, while humans are panicking over a new virus, I’ve stood here and watched many pandemic come and go. It shall pass too.
Ah spring, yet another winter survived. How nice to feel the birds singing again on the branches. I can’t wait for summer to come and flower. Oh sweet spring rain, help me grow stronger and taller…”
Did you know that increased sunlight triggers birdsongs? As the days get longer and life wakes up from the winter slumber, it’s time to go outdoors and enjoy the aliveness of Earth’s renewal. Join us for our pre-Equinox celebration with a day of park volunteering, nature practices, poetry, and free-writing.
Come at any time between 9:30am-1pm to volunteer and celebrate this local park by helping with gardening and maintenance. Come see early spring blooms and learn about composting. No gardening experience needed and there will be light refreshments provided by the Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association (SPNA).
After volunteering, you can join the Breathe.Read.Write workshop from 1-3pm. We will begin with a nature meditation guided by Lin. After that, Lisa will read a short poem and invite you to free-write (just let the pen move, non-stop) in response to it. Then we will listen to each other. Close listening is the day’s main activity — listening to the plants, the garden, the sky, the poetry, ourselves, and each other.
Who: Lisa Freedman
When: Saturday, March 14, 2020
9:30am-1pm: “It’s My Park” Day – Volunteer at the park. Gloves and tools provided, no experience necessary. Refreshments served.
1-3pm: Breathe.Read.Write – Bring paper/your favorite journal and a pen or pencil.
Where: Stuyvesant Square Park (West Side), 16th Street & 2nd Avenue, picnic tables on the south side of the park
In case of rain, we will go to Sunburst Cafe (206 3rd Ave, corner of 18th St. and 3rd Ave) for Breathe.Read.Write. at 1 pm.
Public Transportation: Take the 4, 5, 6, N, R train to 14th Street Union Square
Registration Fee: No prior registration necessary. We requested a suggested donation of $20 at the event.
No prior meditation or writing experience needed.
Teacher’s bios
Lisa Freedman received her MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the New School, where she now offers courses including “It Starts in Silence: A Meditation and Writing Workshop” (in collaboration with the Rubin Museum) and “Writing and Activism.” She started her writing practice about 30 years ago as a way to make sense of confusing events in her life and in the world. When she got serious about her daily meditation practice five years ago, she started to feel more at ease with mystery.
Sitting, singing, and sharing stories around a bonfire is how humans connect with each other for millenniums. In this winter, build a fire in your yard or a camp ground. Invite your friends and neighbors over to join you in taking in the warmth and light.
To begin the practice:
Take in the gratitude into our heart. The warmth of friendship.
Let’s first close our eyes and tune into our senses.
Can we hear the fire? The crackle of sparks. Can we smell the fire? The burning wood, the smoke. Can we feel the fire? Can you put your hands or feet near the fire? The warmth, the flickering flame that goes here and there.
After a few minutes, when you are ready, you can open your eyes. Notice how bright the fire is. How ephemeral are the flames, how the smoke swirled. Notice the bright red wood coming through the blackness, shimmering.
Contemplate that what we think of being burned and destruction of the wood, is actually the release of the sun’s energy from the wood. It’s part of a process, a change of state, that is no different than snow melt into the river. It’s the sun giving us warmth and energy in a different form. In nature, we see that death and life are intimately linked. There is no separation.
Consider that we are made of this element. We have the fire in our belly. We convert the sun’s energy into our own warmth through the food we eat – plants that we grow. The sun is within us, sustaining us. See if we can take the warmth of fire and sun into our body and feel it in our cells. Remember that in the long, dark winter nights, we still have the sun to give us warmth and sustaining us. It’s still giving us light through the fire.
Fire is an element of transformation. You can use something that symbolizes what you would like to let go of, and throw that into the fire. Alternatively, you can also generate a list of your dreams. Call in your ancestors and spiritual guides, visualize your dreams and feel into your body what it’s like bring those dreams to life. Ask the element of fire to light the path that would lead to your dreams, then place that list into the fire physically or symbolically.
In the final moments of this meditation, let’s take in the warmth and light of the fire, take in the gratitude that in the cold winter nights, even when the sun is not present as long during the day, we always have the sun within us, and remember that the universe is life giving and life sustaining.
Who: Sebene Selassie, DaRa Williams, and Lin Gordon
Date: Saturday, November 23rd, 2019 | 10:00am to 5:00pm
Location: New York Insight Meditation Center
Many of us speak of nature as if it is something external, having nothing to do with us except when we “visit it”. Nature is “out there” or in “the wilderness.” Dharma, which is often referred to as truth or teachings, can be translated as nature. Dharma as nature is everywhere, in and around us. Whether we are aware of it or not, We are always in connection to this truth, that we are this sacred earth.
In this daylong program, we will take time to reconnect to our bodies, hearts and minds remembering that we are nature. Centering land and ancestors, we will cultivate meditative awareness to sense the sacred connection to earth that is always present when we open to it. We will explore how this understanding can support us in our lives, in relationship/connection, our work, and especially in our response to our current planetary crisis. We will use the elements (earth, fire, water, air), movement, music, poetry and relational practices to support healing our wounds of separation.
Drawing on the indigenous wisdom of the Buddhadharma as well as from other traditions, participants will be invited to share their innate and ancestral ways of knowing the truth of our undeniable interconnection.
“In every walk in Nature, one receives far more than he seeks.” – John Muir, naturalist
Enjoy a fall day in the peaceful beauty of the Hudson Valley with a guided, meditative hike to connect with nature and ourselves. This hike takes the scenic route along the Long Path—into the Rockland Lake State Park and up Hook Mountain. Enjoy expansive vistas only 1.5 hours outside of the city, and an extraordinary space designated by the New York Audubon Society as an Important Bird Area.
Much of the hike will be observed in silence but we will integrate meditation practices throughout the day — allowing our senses to come alive and our sense of separateness fall away. Turning our attention inward allows us to become receptive to both of our outer and inner experiences. The dynamic outdoor conditions will be a perfect container for mindfulness practices.
The hike will be approximately from 10am – 3pm.
Who: Lin Gordon
When: 8:15am-3pm, Sunday, October 20, 2019
Where: Rockland Lake State Park, South Entrance on Route 9W and Lake Road (parking lot #4). Valley Cottage, NY. (299 Lake Rd. Valley Cottage, NY, 10989). There is a picnic table under a big tree near the toll booth of the parking lot.
Length and Elevation: Approximately 5.8 miles, 698 ft elevation – Relatively moderate hike, but there are sections of ups and downs, pls bring hiking poles and wear proper hiking shoes.
Public Transportation: Coachusa.com (Weekend schedule)
From 42nd St., Port Authority: Leave on the 8:15 am bus going to Rockland Lake. Gate 220. You can buy tickets on the bus if you ran out of time to buy it at the ticket window.
From George Washington Bridge Terminal: Leave on the 8:40 bus going to Rockland Lake.
Destination: Rockland Lake (Lake Road and Route 9W) in Valley Cottage, NY
Please make sure that you leave ample time to get to the bus gate. You can get ticket on the bus or from the window on the ground floor.
Arrival Time: Bus arrives approximately at 9:35 a.m. After arriving, walk across the street (Route 9W) and walk into Rockland Lake State Park, South Entrance. Keep walking along the path for 2 minutes, we’ll meet a picnic table right next to the park lot. Restrooms will be available.
Return Trip: Aim to take the 3:30pm bus back to NYC. The bus runs hourly and arrives at pickup at approximately 25 minutes past each hour. Bus station is right across where they drop off in the morning.
Drivers: Expect an $8 parking fee. Arrive by 9:45 a.m. and drive into the Rockland Lake State Park, South Entrance on Route 9W and Lake Road, Valley Cottage, NY. (299 Lake Rd. Valley Cottage, NY, 10989). There is another parking lot about a mile further north on Route 9W (parking lot #2). Please make sure you’re at parking lot #4. South Entrance parking lot is an open space with a lots of picnic tables and a large building complex.
We aim to start the hike at 10am and will walk to the trailhead together from the parking lot.
Lin Wang Gordon 