Books and Talks by Opening Heart Facilitators
WALKING ON EARTH WITH THICH NHAT HANH: My Experiences with Silence & The Sanctuaries & Kindred Spirits I Found in Many Places
by Dr. Magda De La Paz Cabrero
The Ableism and Disability Primer in Mindfulness Practice Communities
This was created by Rhonda Williams and our sangha acknowledges this very important resource.
How a Meditation Retreat Inspired Me to Claim My Disability Status
and Why That’s a Relief
By LAURA STURZA on June 11, 2023
Mindfulness Bell: Reconnecting to My Homeland
By Magda Cabrero
Elephant Journal: Don’t Scratch; Feel the Itch. Why we Seek Distraction & How to Stop.
By Annie Mahon
A Dharma Talk from Kaira Jewel Lingo
Topic: In This Time of Pandemic and Upheaval, Compassion Is Our Best Protection
Recorded from our sangha on 7.13.20.
How Do You Fight Injustice Without Hating?
By Valerie brown
“Never succumb to the temptation of becoming bitter. As you press on for justice, be sure to move with dignity and discipline, using only the weapon of love.”
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.“
Get in trouble: good trouble, necessary trouble.”
Congressman John Lewis
As Black and Brown people, we are in the fight of our lives. Our lives are constricted by systems and structures that foster discrimination and injustice. The legacy of violence, especially unlawful police violence, perpetrated against Black people, Asian people, indigenous people, people of color, differently abled people, people of various gender identities and expressions and sexual orientation, and others who are marginalized, is our constant reality. This is compounded by the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black, Asian, Latinx, immigrant, un-housed, and low-income communities, which are among the hardest hit, grossly under-resourced, and devastatingly vulnerable.
Our hearts and our supports are broken open by grief, fear, and anger. How do we fight injustice and not hate?
Sister Hai An (Sister Ocean)
Dharma Talk, OHMC Monday Night Sangha
May 18, 2020
Sister Hai An focuses on gratitude as the foundation for generosity. She explores the phrase "A Cosmology of Reverence" and how the way we view the world determines what we find there. When we cultivate gratitude for food and air and water, as well as the more direct ways that we "receive", our whole life can change. And once we know that we are always receiving something, our generosity become a true paramita, a quality that can carry us all the way to the other shore.
Guest Brother Chân Pháp Lai and his Younger Brother
Dharma Talk, OHMC Monday Night Sangha
April 20, 2020
We were honored to be joined by two monastics from Plum Village and Deer Park Monasteries. Brother Chân Pháp Lai (his name translates to Coming of the Dharma) led us in our dharma topic on Monday, April 20. Watch the recordings of the talks.
Closed captioning is provided in these two videos.
CLICK HERE TO DONATE to the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation
We’re also offering transcripts of these dharma talks. Click to download the one PDF, which includes Part I and Part II.
Valerie Brown
OHMC Annual Retreat Online, April 4, 2020
Valerie Brown leads us in a morning dharma talk, beginning with a sitting practice.
Valerie leads us in an afternoon dharma talk.
You are invited to listen to Valerie Brown lead us in dharma talks and in a guided meditation. We are so grateful to Valerie for her offering to share these videos with our community.
Mindfulness Videos
Sleeping Meditation
doing the dishes
Walking Meditation
Mindful Eating
Mindfully observing the food we eat is powerful tool used to enhance our practice.
Mindfulness in Art
Exhibits and galleries in Washington DC recommended by OHMC. Updated regularly.
Inviting the Bell
The bell master should be calm, solid, and mindful.
Five Mindfulness Trainings
and the ARISE Contemplations
The Five Mindfulness Trainings are offered as suggestions to support our mindfulness practice. They provide us with a compass with which to orient our lives. They are nonsectarian, and their nature is universal. All spiritual traditions have their equivalent to the Five Mindfulness Trainings.
The Five Mindfulness Trainings are based on the precepts developed during the time of the Buddha and were the foundation of practice for the entire lay practice community. Thich Nhat Hanh translated these precepts for modern times. With mindfulness, we are aware of what is going on in our bodies, our feelings, our minds and the world, and we avoid doing harm to ourselves and others. Mindfulness protects us, our families and our society. When we are mindful, we can see that by refraining from doing one thing, we can prevent another thing from happening. When we are mindful, we arrive at our own unique insight.
To practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings is to cultivate a way of life that can remove all discrimination, intolerance, anger, fear, and despair. Following this way of life, we are not lost in confusion about our life in the present or in fears about the future.
Click below to read the Five Mindfulness Trainings
and the ARISE Contemplations
Facilitator Resources
Resource for Facilitators of the Opening Heart Monday Night Mindfulness Sangha.
Where and when you can meditate in the Plum Village practice in the Washington DC area
Retreat Centers
Blue cliff monastery
Plum village in France
Worldwide Retreats in the Thich Nhat Hanh tradition
Thich Nhat Hanh Quotes
“The present moment is the only moment available to us and is the door to all moments.”
“The amount of happiness you have depends on the amount of freedom you have in your heart.”
“To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.”
“Freedom is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves. It is a daily practice.”
“Take my hand. We will walk. We will only walk. We will enjoy our walk without thinking of arriving anywhere.”
“The mind can go in a thousand directions. But on this beautiful path, I walk in peace.”
“There is no distinction between the one who gives, the one who receives, and the gift itself.”
“With each step, a gentle wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms.”
“People have a hard time to let go of their suffering. Out of fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.”
“When you look deeply into your anger, you will see that the person you call your enemy is also suffering. As soon as you see that, the capacity for accepting and having compassion for them is there.”
“When someone is truly listening, you feel it; and when someone pretends to listen, you know.”
“Be yourself. Life is precious as it is. All the elements for your happiness are already here. There is no need to run, strive, search or struggle. Just Be.”
“No mud, no lotus.”