Opening Our Sangha

This week, the students present had never heard this dharma talk: http://stefnoble.blogspot.com/2009/08/freedom-from-believing-we-are-our_05.html
so I shared it with them and we discussed that moment when we have a choice to stay free from getting caught up in a thought or grab at its seemingly attractive lure.

We also followed up on the nature of sangha. One of the challenges of our class is that we meet in a private home and therefore operate by word of mouth rather than being able to list the meeting in the local paper. This makes the sangha seem more private than most. The Buddha taught outside where anyone could join in, so the true nature of sangha is very open. We are exploring the possibility of finding a public meeting place that still has the quiet private quality of meeting in a home. If you have any suggestions for a free or low-cost meeting place in Central Marin County, CA, please let me know.

And of course those of you reading this who live in the area, know that you are welcome. Contact me if you would like to join us Thursday mornings at 10 AM. The value of attending a class rather than reading a post is beyond measure. Our top priority in class is learning to meditate or refine our meditation experience. Each week as I lead the meditation, I am introducing new aspects to the mix, so that students are really learning how to sense in to their experience of being present, how to notice and release tension that arises, and how to hold whatever arises with ease and spaciousness. This experiential aspect of the class cannot be shared in the blog, and neither can the benefits of sangha. So if you are in the area and are able to come, please do!