Still Water Mindfulness Practice Center

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  • Home
  • About
    • About Still Water
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    • Acknowledgments
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“When you are holding a cup of tea in your hand, “When you are holding a cup of tea in your hand, do it while being 100 percent there. You know how to do this—one deep in-breath, one gentle out-breath, and the body and mind come together. You are truly there, absolutely alive, fully present! This only takes ten or fifteen seconds, and suddenly the tea reveals itself to you in all its splendor and wonder.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh shares from his book, You Are Here: Discovering the Magic of the Present Moment

source of photo: plumvillage.org

#thichnhathanh #mindfulnesscommunity #walkingmeditation #plumvillage #mindfulnessmeditationprograms
Dear Still Water friends - we invite you to join o Dear Still Water friends - we invite you to join our Spring 2022 Online Practice Retreat:

True Presence: Wholeheartedly Embracing Joy and Pain
with Dharma Teachers Mitchell Ratner and Barbara Newell

Friday, June 10, 7:00 pm – Sunday, June 12, 12:30 pm

There is pain around us. There is pain inside us. We may feel overwhelmed by uncertainty... anger... hopelessness.
In this online retreat we will explore the nature of true presence, and develop our capacities to fully enjoy the beauty and pleasures of life and to heal the suffering in and around us.

Dana:
•	Suggested Donation: $150 or more
•	Supporting Donation: $300 or more per person.

Learn more about the retreat and register - link in bio

#mindfulnessretreat #practicemindfulness #onlinemindfulness
Quote from Br. Phap Huu, a senior Plum Village mon Quote from Br. Phap Huu, a senior Plum Village monk, in the Plum Village podcast The Way Out is In, episode "Connecting to Our Roots." 

The ancestors pictured are Paul's parents, Wilton and Pauline Flippin, circa 1943.

Join us on May 19th as Paul leads us in the Three and Five Touchings of the Earth at Still Water gatherings. Paul will begin the dharma sharing with the following questions: 

When do we recognize in our bodies and thoughts the wisdom, happiness, and accomplishments of our ancestors?
When do we recognize their thoughtlessness, sorrows, and defeats?
 
You are invited to join us.

❤️ Read full topic from Paul and join us on Thurs. 5/19 - link in bio

#buddhistwisdom #meditationcommunity #mindfulnesscommunity #mindfulness #thichnhathanh
Join us on May 12th to sit in mindfulness together Join us on May 12th to sit in mindfulness together. After our meditation, we will recite the Five Mindfulness Trainings and focus our discussion on the Third Training, True Love. In exploring this topic, Mitchell shares three excerpts from How to Love by Thich Nhat Hanh:
 
Recognizing True Love
True love gives us beauty, freshness, solidity, freedom, and peace. True love includes a feeling of deep joy that we are alive. If we don’t feel this way when we feel love, then it’s not true love.
 
Love Is Expansive
In the beginning of a relationship, your love may include only you and the other person. But if you practice true love, very soon that love will grow and include all of us. The moment love stops growing, it begins to die. It’s like a tree; if a tree stops growing, it begins to die. We can learn how to feed our love and help it continue to grow.
 
Shining the Light
When we love someone, we should look deeply into the nature of that love. If we want to be with someone so that we can feel safe, that’s understandable, but it’s not true love. True love doesn’t foster suffering or attachment. On the contrary, it brings well-being to ourselves and to others. True love is generated from within. For true love to be there, you need to feel complete in yourself, not needing something from outside. True love is like the sun, shining with its own light, and offering that light to everyone.

❤️ Read full topic from Mitchell and join us on Thurs. 5/12 - link in bio

#buddhistwisdom #meditationcommunity #mindfulnesscommunity #mindfulness #thichnhathanh
Thay said, “I am a continuation, like the rain i Thay said, “I am a continuation, like the rain is a continuation of the cloud.” In the Buddhist tradition, our thoughts, our speech and our actions are our true continuation.

#thichnhathanh #mindfulnesscommunity #walkingmeditation #plumvillage #mindfulnessmeditationprograms
Dear Friends, I wrote this article ( here in @li Dear Friends, 

I wrote this article ( here in @lionsroarbuddhism on The Spirit of Plum Village) because I wanted to understand and explain to others how my inner life was radically reconfigured by Thich Nhat Hanh and Plum Village in the 1990s. Most importantly, they helped me learn to deeply experience and wholeheartedly trust the present moment. My gratitude is boundless. 

— Mitchell

To read full article, go to link in bio or lionsroar.com/the-spirit-of-plum-village/

#plumvillage #lionsroar #mindfulnesscommunity #mindfulness #thichnhathanh
Join us on May 5th. Dear Still Water Friends, R Join us on May 5th. 

Dear Still Water Friends,

Recently, as I enjoyed the blossoming trees and flowers at a local botanical garden, I was struck with a distressing memory of being at the same garden two years ago. It was early in the COVID pandemic and I remember my fear and uncertainty about being in public as I attempted to enjoy the beautiful surroundings while keeping a distance from fellow garden visitors.

I had forgotten that I felt so fearful, not just of other people, but even of my groceries! (Should I disinfect them?) I am very fortunate not to have gotten sick with COVID and not to have lost anyone close to me. Like many, I have tried to focus on coping with the changes and uncertainties of life during a global pandemic and on moving forward....

❤️ Read full topic from Rachel and join us on Thurs. 5/5 - link in bio

#buddhistwisdom #meditationcommunity #mindfulnesscommunity #mindfulness #thichnhathanh
Thay encourages us (in The Heart of the Buddha’s Thay encourages us (in The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching) to understand impermanence deeply:

Understanding impermanence can give us confidence, peace, and joy. Impermanence does not necessarily lead to suffering. Without impermanence, life could not be. Without impermanence, your daughter could not grow up into a beautiful young lady. Without impermanence, oppressive political regimes would never change. We think impermanence makes us suffer. The Buddha gave the example of a dog that was hit by a stone and got angry at the stone. It is not impermanence that makes us suffer. What makes us suffer is wanting things to be permanent when they are not.

Photo by Paul Davis at touching-peace-photography.com

#thichnhathanh #mindfulnesscommunity #walkingmeditation #plumvillage #mindfulnessmeditationprograms
Join us on April 28th. In addressing the topic of Join us on April 28th. In addressing the topic of Impermanence, Linda shares this excerpt from The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh: 

"Understanding impermanence can give us confidence, peace, and joy. Impermanence does not necessarily lead to suffering. Without impermanence, life could not be. Without impermanence, your daughter could not grow up into a beautiful young lady. Without impermanence, oppressive political regimes would never change. We think impermanence makes us suffer. The Buddha gave the example of a dog that was hit by a stone and got angry at the stone. It is not impermanence that makes us suffer. What makes us suffer is wanting things to be permanent when they are not."

❤️ Read full topic from Linda and join us on Thurs. 4/28 - link in bio

#buddhistwisdom #meditationcommunity #mindfulnesscommunity #mindfulness #thichnhathanh
“In Vietnam there’s a school of Buddhism calle “In Vietnam there’s a school of Buddhism called the Four Gratitudes [for parents, teachers, friends, and all beings]. 

Just by practicing gratitude, we can find happiness. We must be grateful to our ancestors, our parents, our teachers, our friends, the Earth, the sky, the trees, the grass, the animals, the soil, the stones. Looking at the sunlight or at the forest, we feel gratitude. Looking at our breakfast, we feel gratitude. When we live in the spirit of gratitude, there will be much happiness in our life. The one who is grateful is the one who has much happiness, while the one who is ungrateful will not be able to have happiness.”

- The Four Gratitudes
From Two Treasures, by Thich Nhat Hanh

#buddhistwisdom #meditationcommunity #mindfulnesscommunity #mindfulness #thichnhathanh
Join us on Thursday, April 21st as Ernestine expl Join us on Thursday, April 21st as Ernestine explores "Connecting and Continuing: Ancestors and Descendants."

Dear Still Water Friends,

Spring is blooming! Perhaps there are yellow crocuses, multicolored tulips, pink dogwood blossoms and more in your gardens this time of year. Even in Hawaii we are noticing flowers like the plumeria blossoming on what appear to be barren branches, filling the air with their fragrant scents. The spring blossoms remind me of continuity and continuation.
 
The other week I traveled to the big island of Hawaii to see family who were visiting from Bellingham, Washington. They brought their two-year-old toddler and newest baby to meet the grandparents in Kona. I was excited to meet these youngest members of my maternal family. On the same trip, we visited our oldest living cousin, who at 88 is suffering from memory loss and now living in a nursing home. There was something magical about seeing my cousin interact with these youngest family members. She didn’t recognize our faces or remember our names, but she could connect with these little ones smiling up at her. The visit was over before too long; we were grateful for having this time with her. ...
 
❤️ Read full topic from Ernestine and join us on Thurs. 4/21 - link in bio

#buddhistwisdom #meditationcommunity #mindfulnesscommunity #mindfulness #thichnhathanh
“To meditate means first of all to be there—to “To meditate means first of all to be there—to be on your cushion, to be on your walking meditation path. Eating also is a meditation if you are really there, present 100 percent with your food. The essential is to be there. So please when you practice meditation, don’t make any effort. Allow yourself to be like that pebble at rest. The pebble is resting at the bottom of the river and the pebble does not have to do anything. While you are walking, you are resting. While you are sitting, you are resting.” 

- Passage from Thich Nhat Hahn (from the March 1998 issue of The Shambhala Sun)

Calligraphy by Br. Chan Phap Huu, Plum Village, France

#buddhistwisdom #meditationcommunity #mindfulnesscommunity #mindfulness #thichnhathanh
Join us on Thursday, April 14th as Eric explores " Join us on Thursday, April 14th as Eric explores "Finding True Happiness."

Dear Still Water Friends,

This weekend, I encountered an old friend, walking meditation, on the Lake Artemesia trail. I used to walk this trail every morning as I went into the office because it leads to my bus stop, and it had become my practice to walk each of these mornings in mindfulness. During the pandemic, I have not been going into the office and so for the past two years I have not done this practice. This weekend, in preparation for Thursday evening, I was thinking about the Second Mindfulness Training. As I walked the dog on the Lake Artemesia trail, I listened to the book Happiness by Thich Nhat Hanh. Chapter 4 has a beautiful description of walking meditation, and it reminded me of my former practice and helped me to begin it anew. The chapter begins with a beautiful gatha:

The mind can go in a thousand directions,
But on this beautiful path, I walk in peace.
With each step, the wind blows.
With each step, a flower blooms. 

❤️ Read full topic from Eric and join us on Thurs. 4/14 - link in bio

Photo by Eric Donaldson

#buddhistwisdom #meditationcommunity #mindfulnesscommunity #mindfulness #thichnhathanh
"For The Future" by Wendell Berry: Planting tre "For The Future" by Wendell Berry:

  Planting trees early in spring,
 we make a place for birds to sing
  in time to come. How do we know?
 They are singing here now.
 There is no other guarantee
  that singing will ever be.

#wendellberry #mindfulnesscommunity #walkingmeditation #plumvillage #mindfulnessmeditationprograms
Our beloved Thay walking in peace. Photo by Paul Our beloved Thay walking in peace. 

Photo by Paul Davis at touching-peace-photography.com

#thichnhathanh #mindfulnesscommunity #walkingmeditation #plumvillage #mindfulnessmeditationprograms
Join us on Thursday, April 7th as Eliza explores t Join us on Thursday, April 7th as Eliza explores the topic "Letting Go."

Dear Still Water Friends, 
The last time I saw my aunt, she was greatly altered from a couple of years before. She had been a regular hiker and swimmer, practicing Pilates weekly, and going cross country skiing in winter. On my visit last summer, she stopped to sit down often and carried a portable oxygen tank everywhere. When my uncle took my sister and me on a walk through the woods, my aunt waited in the car for us, afraid of depleting the oxygen tank battery. Her fear of overdoing it and not being able to breathe was uppermost in her mind throughout the short visit.
 
My aunt’s mind was sharp as ever, but as her illness increased, she was gradually letting go of pieces of who she had been in the past. Watching her, I felt grieved and helpless. I realized that I needed to let go of the picture I held in my mind of my aunt and my family as they were when I was growing up. I had looked up to her as an elder; now I saw her as a more complicated and vulnerable person. …

❤️ Read full topic from Eliza and join us on Thurs. 4/7 - link in bio

Photo by HeungSoon

#buddhistwisdom #meditationcommunity #mindfulnesscommunity #mindfulness #thichnhathanh
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This week’s discussion topic

  • Cultivating Karuna May 24, 2022

Topics are posted on Tuesdays for discussion during our Thursday and Friday evening online programs at 7 pm.

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  • Cultivating Karuna May 24, 2022
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