One of our regular meditators, Breesa, tipped me off to an interesting connection between meditation and pop music: Rick Rubin: Rick produces pop music of all varieties. His “clients” have included the Beastie Boys, Dixie Chicks, Metallica, LL Cool J, Eminem, Aerosmith, and Johnny Cash. So many of his productions have “gone platinum” and won awards, he is considered a “super producer.”

So what makes it possible for Rick to hear what each of these artists has to offer, build a trusting collaboration, and bring out their best? As Rick puts it, it starts with the quiet that he finds through meditation:

“I’ll spend time with an artist and listen very carefully … the more time you spend being quiet and looking in, your intuition grows and you trust it more. Messages come if you’re looking for them. Through meditation I developed the skill to know what to ask for. It’s like a knowing.”

More Rick Rubin quotes and information (and more information about the ability of meditation to enhance our ability to listen), can be found at “How Super Producer Rick Rubin Gets People To Do Their Best Work” (by Ruth Blatt, Forbes, 4/28/2014)

Anam C.ara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom by John O’Donohue (1956-2008) opens with:

It is strange to be here. The mystery never leaves you alone. Behind your image, below your words, above your thoughts, the silence of another world waits. A world lives within you. No one else can bring you news of this inner world.

But we can find it if we just stop and listen.

Graduation is behind us and college life has started moving to a different rhythm. One sign of this will be a change in meditation day from Wednesday to Thursday. Our summer (May 22 – August 21) meditation schedule will be:

Thursdays, Eliot chapel, 12-1 PM (first bells at 12:10)

See our Meditation Schedule page for more information about location and schedule.

I will be traveling off-and-on throughout the summer and won’t be able to make every session so please check back here for updates to the summer schedule. Or, better yet, join our e-mail list and get weekly schedule reminders.

It’s becoming a cliche to say we live in the Age of Distraction.

But ‘distraction’ doesn’t mean the same thing for everyone. What if your brain is unusually inclined to distraction? What if it interferes with your ability to focus? There are drugs for treating ADHD, yet some of the newest research (“Exercising the Mind to Treat Attention Deficits”, NY Times, Well, May 12) suggests that mindfulness training/meditation plus mental exercises may offer the comparable benefits for people experiencing ‘cognitive control’ problems. Of course, swallowing a pill is pretty quick.

Classes are over. Renn Fayre is past. Maybe you’ve caught up some on your sleep, or maybe you’ve been too worried? Did I turn in that late lab report? What room is my final exam being held in? Did I call about the storage company about getting my stuff packed away? My dorm room is still one vast, smoking pile of laundry and debris. What time are my folks and my little brother going to show up?

So maybe you should just take a deep breath. Count to one (just one). And then take another breath. It’s OK to just sit for a few minutes and not do anything. The world won’t come to an end … and maybe a few moments of peace are just what you need.

If you would like to find a quiet place to sit, come over to the Eliot chapel today (11-11:40 AM), Tuesday (noon-12:40 PM) and Wednesday (noon-12:40 PM). Our group is holding extra meditation sessions in the Eliot chapel all three days. As usual, the first 3 bells will be rung 10 minutes after the hour and the last 3 bells will sound 30 minutes later. I can almost promise you sunshine through the south side windows.

It is Orals week on the Reed campus. Day after day, hour after hour, senior after senior sits down in a room with three or four faculty to answer questions about their senior projects. Sometimes answers leap to a senior’s lips. Other times there is only stunned silence and puzzlement. Whatever the senior’s response, there is invariably gratitude from the faculty for the effort being made.

Which reminds me of a famous koan taken from a conversation held over a 1000 years ago between a Chinese monk and his zen master:

Blue Cliff Record, Case 14

A monk asked YunMen, “What are the teachings of a whole lifetime?”

YunMen said, “An appropriate response.”

YunMen was the zen master. He was not just toying with the monk. He was trying to help the monk. (As with all koans, contemplation of his response is supposed to hasten awakening.)

During this week of marathon question-and-answer sessions, do I know what is an appropriate response? Do you?

By the way, if you are curious about YunMen, Case 14, zen and koans, listen to a short talk that was given by Barry Magid, the teacher at the Ordinary Mind Zen school in NY City, in 2010. To access the talk save this MP3 link to your computer or go to this list of 2010 Dharma talks and select “Dharma Dog” (the first 20 seconds are silent so don’t give up too quickly; note: the titles ‘Dharma Dog’ and ‘Blue Cliff Record, Case 14: The Teaching of a Lifetime’ appear to be swapped so Dog leads to Case 14 and vice versa).

Health fads die hard.

For example, while I enjoy eating all kinds of things (chocolate, yum), I can’t help giving myself little pats on the back for leaning towards foods with fiber and nutrients and steering clear of saturated fat and sugar. So you can imagine my disappointment when I read, “An Apple a Day, and Other Myths” in the NY Times (April 22, 2014). It seems that cancer experts have tossed in the towel when it comes to using diet to lower cancer risk.

So what does this mean about meditation? I’m not a “promiser” when it comes to talking about the benefits of meditation, but I’m not above giving myself a pat on the back for finding time to meditate and I certainly feel like meditation has changed my life. Continue reading →

A zen friend shared this wonderful Ballard Street cartoon from earlier in the week (April 15).

Kind of says it all, doesn’t it? When we let our guard down and open up? WOW!

Ballard Street is filled with quirky characters from the wildly creative mind and pen of Jerry van Amerongen.

Sharing a meditation space with others helps me as a meditator. It actually encourages me to sit, to sit more mindfully. I also feel that it helps soften many of the mental barriers my mind habitually erects between “I” and “Other.”

Of course, meditating together isn’t always possible. Everyone has a different schedule. So here are a set of audio resources that will help you sit whenever you decide and wherever you happen to be: Sit Now. These resources include links to guided meditations and simple audio streams that consist solely of a bell, a timed period of silence, and three more bells to close. You can sit now! (And you can also sit again later.)

>> A Sit Now link is located at the top every page at this web site. See ‘Sit Now’ next to ‘Resources’?

The next few weeks could be one of the most emotionally intense periods that some Reedies will have ever experienced. If you are having a hard time, don’t hesitate to check in with Health & Counseling Services, Student Services, or Community Safety. They are standing by and ready to help.

If you are looking for some quiet, a place to reflect on the swirl of thoughts and emotions that often rise up at the end of the semester, come find a spot at one of our meditation sessions. (Extra sessions are being planned for Finals Week. Stay tuned.)

I’m not saying that meditation will hold life’s pressures at bay. It might, but it might also do the opposite: open your awareness to whatever turmoil is just below the surface. Because life is unpredictable, let’s talk about what you can do when you sit in meditation and the Emotion of the Moment grabs you by the neck and starts shaking.

Continue reading →