News and inspiration from Interbeing Sangha of Kingston

View this email in your browser

Interbeing Sangha of Kingston - Electronic Bulletin Vol. 2, Issue #34 - 1 June 2019

Interbeing Sangha

Weekly Meeting

Please join us for our next weekly gathering, taking place Sunday, June 2nd for meditation and dharma sharing, 6:30pm at Unitarian Place (Kingston Unitarian Fellowship), 206 Concession Street. Keith Gawronski-McNinch will be bell minding.

Walking with the Earth

"The universe, the sun, and the stars have contributed many elements to the earth, and when we look into the earth we see that it’s a very beautiful flower containing the presence of the whole universe. When we look into our own bodily formation, we are made of the same elements as the planet. It has made us. The earth and the universe are inside of us. When we take mindful steps on the earth, our body and mind unite, and we unite with the earth. The earth gave birth to us and the earth will receive us again. Nothing is lost. Nothing is born. Nothing dies. We don’t need to wait until after our body has disintegrated to go back to Mother Earth. We are going back to Mother Earth at every moment. Whenever we breathe, whenever we step, we are returning to the earth."

― Thich Nhat Hanh, "Walking with the Earth"

Peace is Every Step

Post-Retreat Gratitude

Our sangha is so grateful to everyone who helped organize and lead the Peace is Every Step retreat over Mother's Day weekend last month, and to everyone who joined us to share their energy of mindfulness, and to practice joyfully together. We are indebted to Ottawa Pagoda Sangha for the help and guidance of Andre, Mihaela, and Vinh, as well as Brenda, Catherine, Millaray, and Sheila.

Thank you also to Hang and Sarah, and our friends from Kingston Sangha, including Gisele for her beautiful music! For her ministry of music as well, thank you for the soulful songs of practice from Wendy Luella. For the beautiful and mindful wisdom of forest bathing, thank you to Stana! More gratitude than can be measured to Cat and all our retreat planners and bell minders from Interbeing Sangha including Anne, Colette, Julia, Karl, Linda B, Linda T, and Susan. Thank you to everyone for the memorable retreat.

Peace is Every Step

Message to Participants

Dear friends,

I'm sending tulips and daffodils to all of you from my comfy chair in Kingston as I look out at a sunny day and think of all the nourishment, joy, and love from the retreat. Thank you all so much on behalf of Interbeing Sangha of Kingston for attending the Peace Is Every Step retreat this past weekend. It was a wonderful weekend because of you, because of everyone who gathered together to practice, to share, to teach, and to learn. There were so many smiles, so many beautiful songs, and so many moments to keep with us as we all walk forward in our lives and on the path of mindfulness and happiness (which is, as we found out, possible).

A few wrap-up items.

Lost items: Amazingly, only two things were left behind at the college, both waterbottles (a green Gatorade one and a stainless steel one). Please let me know if you are missing either of these. It occurs to me though that I actually never found out if Andre found his black jacket! I certainly hope they were reunited.

Photo sharing: Vinh has shared a Google Photos album with pictures from him, Andre, and Hang. Here is the link if you would like to view and download photos: "Peace is every step" (Kingston's May 2019 Retreat)

Hang has shared her album here: Kingston Retreat May 2019 - Google Drive (note there is a subfolder for the 5MTs):

You can also run a slideshow of these albums if you would like to reconnect with our weekend. Vinh shared this song link for Andrew: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=18&v=djU4Lq_5EaM, and I sincerely hope that these photos will remind everyone of our time together and that, as one retreat participant said, "There is joy, beauty, friendship, and loving energy in abundance in our community!"

Mindful parenting: There was some talk at the retreat about forming a mindful parenting group, either in Kingston or perhaps meeting by Zoom. If you are interested, you can sign up for more info here: https://forms.gle/mWpBJobDqd4DfZtY8

Videos from Hang: Hang sent out an email with links to her and Sarah's videos she mentioned during our Qi Gong sessions. Here they are, although I hope you got her email because, as always, it was beautiful. (Let me know if you want me to forward it to you.)

1) Qi Gong Energy Activation and Release
2) The Shaolin 8 Pieces of Brocades
3) The beginner hip opening sequence

Five Precepts: Andre recommended reading Thay's commentary on the Five Precepts, the predecessors to the Five Mindfulness Trainings. Here is the link to the Ottawa Pagoda Sangha's post with the links to Thay's commentaries: https://pagodasangha.org/the-five-precepts/

Breathing, and smiling, with lots of love and gratitude to each of you,
Cat

Interbeing and Continuing

"Tomorrow, I will continue to be. But you will have to be very attentive to see me. I will be a flower, or a leaf. I will be in these forms and I will say hello to you. If you are attentive enough, you will recognize me, and you may greet me. I will be very happy."

― Thich Nhat Hanh, from Awakening of the Heart: Essential Buddhist Sutras and Commentaries, 2012"

Our sangha has two teams helping to share leadership and facilitation of our meetings. Our Bell Minders Team are mindful facilitators for our weekly gatherings, as well as retreats, taking beautiful care of our friends in the practice including the bell. Our Sangha Care Team facilitates sangha care meetings, plans retreats, minds our library and resources, and coordinates outreach. If you are interested in helping with either or both, contact interbeingkingston@gmail.com for more information.

Facebook

Website

Instagram