Monday, September 8, we will meet in person.
Go to calendar for our schedule
Address for OHMC meditation space:
3812 Northampton St. NW, Washington DC 20015
Please arrive a few minutes early so we can invite the bell on time. You may also arrive 15 minutes early to practice working meditation by helping us set up cushions.
Dear friends,
This week, we will meet Monday evening, September 8, from 7-8:30PM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); Wednesday morning, September 10, from 7-8AM EDT online; and Friday, September 12, from 12-1PM EDT in person / online (hybrid).
On Monday, Annie and Rachel H. will co-facilitate.
Lately, it’s been difficult to believe and accept all that is happening here in Washington, DC, in the country, and in the world. On a recent vacation, it was wonderful to get lost in a fantasy book, happy to escape to another world for a few days. So many of us are overwhelmed by the news and the images of masked men disappearing our neighbors, troops armed with machine guns stationed around the city, and so much more. When things feel challenging, we can begin to feel alienated from our lives and even our homes.
In 1966, Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) was literally exiled from his home country of Vietnam, and as a result he suffered knowing he would not be able to see his homeland or his family for many years, if ever again.
“During the first year of my exile, it was difficult. … When I woke up in the night, I did not know where I was. … And I dreamt of going home to my root temple in central Vietnam… Halfway to the top of the hill I woke up and realized that I was in exile…I tried to live in the here and now and touch the wonders of life every day. It was thanks to this practice that I survived. The trees in Europe were so different from the trees in Vietnam. The fruits, the flowers, the people, they were all completely different.” (From At Home in the World)
The practice of mindfulness allowed Thay to come to terms with the new world he was living in.
“Your true home is not an abstract idea, it is a solid reality you can touch with your feet, with your hands, with your mind. It is available in the here and the now, and nobody can take it away. They can occupy your country, yes. They can put you in prison, yes. But they cannot take away your true home and your freedom.” (from this Deer Park extended biography)
Thay created a gatha (a short verse) to allow us to practice to return to our true home:
I have arrived, I am home.
Home is not just a geographical location; it’s this moment, our body, our breath, our awareness, just as it is. There is nowhere else we can really be. We belong to this moment, whether or not we like it or want to belong to it. However difficult this moment is, we are capable of being squarely in it.
Practicing I have arrived, I am home is an act of radical commitment to the world just as it is. It’s embracing whatever is in front of us and offering our most beautiful energies to the world around us—our compassion, care, or strength. We don’t have to love the moment and we also don’t have to abandon it. We can acknowledge a messy, upsetting, or terrifying moment and compassionately recognize our interbeing with everyone in this moment, noting that this is our home right now, that everything is impermanent, and that, as Dr. Clarissa Pinkola writes, “We were made for these times.”
The ARISE (Awakening through Race, Intersectionality, and Social Equity) Sangha writes in their beautiful Love Letter: A Call to Clarity in a Time of Chaos how we can practice in the heat of difficult moments:
With our mindfulness practices, we can sit, walk, talk, eat, and free ourselves from the illusion that we are a separate self, for ourselves, for our so-called enemies, and for those being oppressed by these enemies. We practice not to hate those who hate. We practice to keep our hearts and minds open. Each time they close, we nudge them open, again and again. We remind ourselves and each other that our true enemies are greed, hatred and delusion, and we practice to transform these enemies in ourselves and in those causing harm.
We act from this place of clarity and freedom from the illusion of separateness to provide refuge and protection to those impacted. We speak out with hearts of love and understanding to advocate and provide resources for peace, compassion, civil liberties, and equity. We aim towards liberation from greed, hatred, and delusion in the oppressors and the oppressed.
My husband shared a Wall Street Journal article with me about how helping others is a great way to reduce personal stress. The author, a therapist, writes:
This helped me see how we’ve been approaching stress relief backward. Instead of turning inward with bespoke wellness practices, we do best when we turn outward—toward the needs of others. This doesn’t mean meditation and self-care are useless, just that they are incomplete solutions.
After our meditation period, we will share from our hearts about what it means to practice to really arrive in this moment, knowing that we are truly home. We will share our experiences of finding home and offering support to ourselves and others in challenging moments, how Thay’s experience of exile impacts our practice, or anything else we are working within our lives right now.
With love,
Annie and Rachel.
Please enjoy listening to the song “Arrived, Arrived” here.
Arrived, arrived, at home I am at home
Dwelling in the here, and dwelling in the now
Solid as a mountain, free as the white cloud
The door to no birth and death is open
Free and unshakable.