We’ve decided to make this year the year of “Integration”. 

 

What do we mean by integration?

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Being on a spiritual journey is not about knowing intellectually, and it is not even about a one-off awakening experience. It is about waking up to reality as it is, breathing, walking, talking, and living life from moment to moment with wisdom, compassion and love. All of our knowledge, insights and experiences of spirituality have to become fully integrated into our being.

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Joseph Goldstein, a respected meditation teacher, talks very often about the importance of integration or cultivation in his talks and interviews. 

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There’s something I want to read, from Chinul, Korean Zen master of the eleventh century. He’s great. There’s a collection of his teachings called Tracing Back the Radiance, compiled and translated by Robert E. Buswell Jr. I really love Chinul’s way of framing it in a way that encompasses both sides. The term he uses is “sudden awakening, gradual cultivation,” and this paragraph really summarizes everything I’m trying to say:

Although we have awakened to original nature, beginningless habit energies are extremely difficult to remove suddenly. Hindrances are formidable and habits are deeply ingrained. So how could you neglect gradual cultivation simply because of one moment of awakening? After awakening, you must be constantly on your guard. If deluded thoughts suddenly appear, do not follow after them. Then and only then will your practice reach completion.

(Lion’s Roar: https://www.lionsroar.com/joseph-goldstein-its-not-either-or/)
 

So our intention this year is to engage in a consistent and continued practice for 90 days, checking and monitoring ourselves, however mundane it may sound, in order to integrate the insights gained from our practices and experiences fully into our being. It is about the spirituality and science of habit changing so that we can overwrite the deeply ingrained habits and views of our auto-pilot selves. We will also include an exercise to help heighten our awareness in our daily lives focusing on the moments of love that we experience.

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WHEN

August 14 - November 13, 2024 

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ZOOM SESSION SCHEDULE

August 14             17:00-18:30 CET: Welcome Zoom Gathering

September 11      17:00-18:30 CET

October 16           17:00-18:30 CET

November 13      17:00-18:30 CET Wrap-up and Good-bye

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HOW

• Choose a contemplative practice (or two) that you will commit to for 90 days. You can choose how long your daily practice will be and when you wish to practice. The practice can be meditation, prayer, mantra chanting, breathing exercise or anything else that you are comfortable with. 

• A practice log chart will be provided. If you wish, you can share it on a shared platform(TBA). It is not about feeling guilty if you are busy and skip a few days. It is about setting time aside for yourself and noticing the subtle changes that happen with the continued practice. It is also about practicing as a community. 

• Awareness of love moments: Along with our daily practice, we will keep a record of the many moments when we give, receive or observe love around us. In order to gauge the small and large changes that happen with the contemplative practice, we are choosing love to see how the practice affect our perceptions, feelings and behavior. This is an exercise in becoming more sharply aware of our mental, emotional and physical habits of love including the assumptions and biases that we may have about love. We will share our experiences on the platform and during the zoom gatherings.

• We will have a zoom gathering once a month to share our experiences and support each other.

• There is no cost involved. Only your intention, commitment and awareness of the moment to moment experience.

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