Practising…
The Buddha’s capacity to enquire deeply into moment to moment experience revealed three foundational truths about existence: that all things change, that there are no fixed, separate entities, and that we suffer (and create suffering) when we forget this.
Impermanence, non-self and suffering might at first appear nihilistic. But the Buddha’s teachings are practices, not doctrines. He always insisted that people find out for themselves, rather than taking his word for it.
And what happens when we practise is that we begin to experience the inherent freedom and ease of the spaces in-between the stuff of our lives. We taste the love which embraces change with the confidence of nothing to fear. We witness the expansiveness of relaxing our small sense of self into a limitless field of wonder. We feel a patient and tender compassion resting beside suffering which remains unperturbed. We experience a warm luminous intelligence pervading all things.
As countless practitioners through space and time agree, when we practise we experience the inherent goodness of this universe directly. Emptiness is transformed into fullness. Nihilism is transformed into love.
And so the fact that everything changes is transformed into the direct experience that everything is precious.
The fact that nothing is separate is transformed into the embodied knowing that everything matters.
And the fact that suffering is inevitable when we forget these truths is transformed into the realisation that although many actions are unforgivable, each human heart is always forgiven.
What emerges from practice is a direct, embodied knowing of preciousness, responsibility and forgiveness. The taste of peace.
As peace becomes a practice embodied, we begin to walk lightly on this Earth because she is our mother. We begin to listen deeply to each other, especially when we feel hurt, because we are brothers and sisters. We begin to give what is ours to give without knowing what we might receive in return, because we are inseparable parts of an infinite web, and the health of the whole is the health of our soul.
“Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody's business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbours worthy.” ~ Thomas Merton
We will explore this together in an embodied way in a daylong meditation retreat on November 25th 10am-4pm. No previous experience is necessary.
During the day, we will practise for peace from the inside out by interweaving meditations, teachings, questions and connection. As well as traditional seated meditation, there will be opportunities for nature meditation, walking meditation, interpersonal meditation and simple movement meditation. You might want to include lunch as a silent meditative practice, or to share and connect with the community at that time.
This event is offered on a dana basis (payment for my teaching is made at the end of the day in the spirit of generosity). Please reserve your spot here.
…and parenting
A separate event, but related in spirit. One powerful arena where the practice of preciousness, responsibility and forgiveness become magnified is in our relationships with young people (whether our children, grandchildren, godchildren, nephews, nieces, students or mentees).
We will explore the practice of parenting (and other permutations) in an intimate, interactive online gathering with Sangha Live Connect dharma community on November 18th 5-6pm GMT.
Receiving parenting as a practice (and children as our teachers) feels very close to my heart. I certainly don’t claim to be a perfect parent, but I do look back and recognise how much I have learnt and grown through parenting and practising side by side.
I have been practising Insight Meditation for 28 years, and have been a parent for more than 24 years, so these paths have always been very interwoven for me. Without meditation practice, my parenting is likely to have been led by the reactivity, habit and conditioning which used to hijack me frequently in the early days. But without parenting, I may not have met this conditioning so directly and quickly, and may have had less incentive to release it.
My three children show me where I am unconscious, while teaching me what love really is. In the end, I have learnt that the best way I can support them is to see and love who they are. This sounds easy, of course, but it means that I first have to see and love my own insecurities, shadows and anxieties which are unconsciously projected onto them. So it is a practice of learning to love in all directions.
For me, this is the heart of all practice: learning how to give and receive love as we remember the love that we already are.
Exquisitely precious, enormously responsible and infinitely forgiven.
This event is offered on a dana basis. Please register in advance here.
Feel free to contact me directly with any questions about either event on ayala@ayalagill.com.
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Hi Ayala. How are you? I was wondering if you still have space available on your yoga 🧘 workshop on December 9th and where I can find details x