Author Archives: alan

Tai Chi

If you have ever found yourself on the front side of Eliot this fall on a Monday or Wednesday afternoon,  you’ve probably seen the tai chi students practicing their slow, patient movements over by the trees.

Not quite a dance, not quite an exercise regime, the fluid motions of tai chi possess a graceful dignity that inspires tranquility in those who perform them, and even in those who simply watch. The steady, slow pace, feeling how the weight of the body gently shifts from foot to foot, how the body and head turn, how the arms smoothly rise and descend, quiets the need to rush and hurry. As one movement leads into the next, meditative awareness rises, replacing the habitual story-telling and planning that reigns over most of our waking moments.

I became a tai chi student a little over 12 years ago. I arranged my schedule so that I could get to the Reed gym twice a week for tai chi instruction and there I discovered one of Reed’s most closely guarded secrets: a full-fledged tai chi program (hand, sword, and saber form, and push hands) led by an amazingly gifted teacher/philosopher/practitioner, Dave Barrett ’79.

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The Sangha – One of Three Treasures

I know that our group is a secular one, but I can’t resist sharing this tidbit of Buddhist doctrine.

Buddhists take “refuge” in, i.e., derive spiritual support from, what are called The Three Treasures: Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. The first two, Buddha and Dharma, can be interpreted in various ways, but its fair to say that they attract the most attention from Westerners because, compared to Sangha, they represent relatively elevated spiritual ideas. Sangha is mundane by comparison. It simply means the community made up of those committed to following the eight-fold path.

I find this ancient recognition of the importance of community (it’s a Treasure!) incredibly relevant today. As modern people of the West and descendants of the European Enlightenment, we believe that we live lives of individual accomplishment and suffering. As such, we nearly always overlook the subtle, and often subconscious, influence that others have on us (and we on them).

Adopting the ancient view that community (Sangha) is one of the treasures that energizes and supports our practice is a different view entirely. Something new and different happens when we sit together. You lean on me. I lean on you.

I thank you for your practice.

Workshop News: Contemplative Practices in Higher Ed

The Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education (ACMHE) provides resources covering a range of topics related to contemplative practices in higher ed. I’ve listed some of these resources at the bottom of this post.

You might also be interested in an upcoming weekend workshop, “Contemplative Practice in Higher Education,” to be held Sept 18-20 at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY. Here’s the blurb that appeared in my inbox a few days ago:

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Wed – The Middle Day

Wednesday will be the regular silent meditation day for Fall 2015. Our first Wednesday session will be September 2.

I will supply the first bells at 12:10, another bell at 12:20, and another at 12:30. Finally, a group of three bells at 12:40

You can supply your body, your thoughts, your energy, your distracted self.

Sit.

Hallie Bateman’s 10 Day Adventure

I have not gone on a meditation journey. 30 minutes of silent sitting (or walking) each day feels about right.

Some days, though, I do a bit more, and these days can make me wonder what a full day, or several days, of meditation might be like. I have never done anything like that, but I’ve talked with those who have and they insist that there’s something to be said for longer practice periods. Hallie Bateman, cartoonist, decided to take a 10-day plunge into silence and she recently wrote (and drew) some things about her experiences on BuzzFeed, “What Happens When You Try to Stay Silent for 10 Days.”

Emerging science: Meditation for teachers

There is an ever-expanding scientific literature on the impact of meditation, especially mindfulness meditation, on health care professionals and their patients. This work is now spilling over into the academic arena. The August 2015 issue of the Mindfulness Research Monthly newsletter describes a recent study this way:

The high emotional demands of public school teaching can contribute to impaired teacher morale, professional burnout, and the fact that 40-50 of teachers quit teaching within their first five years on the job. …

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