Dear friends,

This week: we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EDT online, and Friday 12-1PM EDT in person.

On Monday, Ellen will facilitate.

“The next Buddha will be a sangha.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh (from the Plum Village website)

I’ve recently had the opportunity to experience sangha at a deeper level and think more about it.

What is a sangha?  The word comes from the Sanskrit word for community.  They can be big or small and are a way to carry forward, teach and practice Thay’s teachings.

I realize, after many years of attending the Opening Heart Mindfulness Community Monday gatherings, how much I’ve taken the sangha for granted when it’s actually a rare, precious gift for me and hopefully for you.

Dear friends,

This week: we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EDT online, Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), and Friday 12-1PM EDT online.

On Monday night, Magda will facilitate. She will explore the insights of non-duality and interbeing based on her recent experience visiting Thich Nhat Hanh’s (Thay’s) Root Temple in Vietnam, Tú Hiéu, where Thay became ordained as a young man and returned near the time of his continuation. Magda will give the first of a series of sharings on the topic. She will also share some photos she took at the monastery.

Dear friends,

This week: we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EDT online, and Friday 12-1PM EDT in person.

On Monday, Annie will facilitate.

The word and practice of AND has come up for me in a few places lately.

At a recent retreat at Blue Cliff Monastery, Sister True Vow talked about practicing AND as a pathway to generating happiness, AND as a way to let go of the concepts of right and wrong. 

In my training with Inner Relationship Focusing, we also practice using the word AND in order to welcome all the different parts of ourselves. We may say, “Something in me is angry AND something in me doesn’t like my anger.” 

I really like practicing AND as a way to accept difficult circumstances in my own life without getting overwhelmed. For example, rather than saying only “I have a chronic disease,” I can say, “I have a chronic disease AND right now the medicine for it is working.”

Dear friends,

This week: we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EDT online, Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), and Friday 12-1PM EDT online.

This Monday night, we will read the Five Mindfulness Trainings and focus our attention on the Fourth Training. Annie and Camille will co-facilitate.

“When people use violent words with us there is a way for us to be able to listen and respond so that the violence can come to an end – the violence can be transformed.” – Sister True Virtue

Annie writes:

The Fourth Mindfulness training suggests that one of the ways we create more suffering is by our “inability to listen to others.” 

My husband and I have been married for nearly 37 years. And over those years, our mindful speech and compassionate listening has been improving, albeit slowly. One very helpful practice has been to stop imagining what he must be thinking while he is talking and instead to simply listen to what he is saying. 

Dear friends,

This week: we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EDT online, Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EDT in person at the AU Labyrinth in honor of Earth Day, and Friday 12-1PM EDT online.

Magda will facilitate Monday night.

DHARMA EYES

“But when our ‘spiritual eyes’ are opened, we never lose the ability to see the wonder of all dharmas, all things” (Thich Nhat Hanh, Fragrant Palm Leaves, p. 102).

On my recent pilgrimage to Vietnam to commemorate the second anniversary of Thich Nhat Hanh’s (Thay’s) continuation, I do my best to view everything with dharma eyes. My entire experience at Phoung Boi, the retreat founded by Thay at the Dai Lao Mountain in the B’su Danglu forest, feels like an act of mindfulness.

 At the start of the visit, Sister Tue Nghiem asks us to serve as Thay’s continuation: “Wherever we sit, Thay sat at the very spot. Wherever we walk, we are walking in Thay’s footsteps. Let’s enjoy the place with Thay’s feet, Thay’s eyes, Thay’s ears, and Thay’s heart.” Having read Thay’s book Fragrant Palm Leaves, where he describes this hermitage vividly and with nostalgia, I try to take in every detail through my physical and spiritual eyes. Feeling extremely privileged, I aspire, through my writing as well as the accompanying illustration, to share Phuong Boi with those who would have loved to be here but could not.

Dear friends,

This week: we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EDT online, and Friday 12-1PM EDT online.

On Monday, Susie will facilitate.

“The earth is you. You are the earth. When you realize there is no separation, you fall completely in love with this beautiful planet.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

Camping last summer, I took time to lay on the earth like my dog, Bodhi. We got to listen to what Mother Earth was conveying. I had just finished reading Deepak Chopra’s book Abundance: The Path to Inner Wealth, which is about abundance of non-monetary treasures as well as having an open and abundant mindset for life.

Last year in Hawaii, I booked a massage appointment – the first one in many years. My massage therapist is also a healer of many other modalities. 

After the trip, we continued to communicate via Zoom, and I asked questions about the next step in my journey: how I can end my career with a soft landing and potential legacy? She suggested I ask the earth what to do next. Now my meditations include pulling in the earth’s wisdom so I can be more aware of the next right path.

Dear friends,

This week: we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EDT online at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EDT in person, and Friday 12-1PM EDT online.

Monday (April 1) is a newcomers night - learn more and sign up here

Ellen will facilitate Monday night.

I've had the privilege of facilitating a few times this year already. In reviewing my topics and comments, I realized they were all focused on challenges and on difficult emotions. Yet I've been thinking a lot lately about joy and about how mindfulness can encourage my joy. My sense is I rarely experience joy, but reading and listening to Thay’s teachings on joy, I wonder if the joy is there and  I'm not seeing it or allowing myself to experience it.  

Simple joys abound: the blossoming flowers in my garden now, listening to a wonderful song when I"m sitting at my kitchen table working late in the evening and pausing to really hear it, having dinner or coffee with good friends, or appreciating that I'm two blocks away from Rock Creek Park with all its wonderful paths and beauty. 

Dear friends,

This week: we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EST in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EST online, and Friday 12-1PM EST in person.

On Monday, Annie will facilitate and we will read the Five Mindfulness Trainings (more info here) and focus on the third mindfulness training, True Love (full text of this training is below). 

The third mindfulness training ends with the words: “Practicing true love, we know that we will continue beautifully into the future.” But what is “true love” exactly?

I have noticed lately that we say, “I love you” more easily and more often to our friends and family than we did when I was a girl. We also say, “I love this book” and “I love this restaurant.” But what does the word love really mean when said so casually?

And what does true love mean in the context of a committed intimate relationship or a close friendship? What if we decide we don’t love that person anymore? Do we have any responsibility to love? Does love allow for loving from a distance?

This week we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EST online, Wednesday morning from 7-8AM in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), and Friday 12-1PM EST online.

On Monday evening, Magda and Marisela will facilitate.

In commemoration of Black History Month and International Women’s Day, Opening Heart’s Engaged Mindfulness group invited Dr. Marisela B. Gomez to facilitate Monday night. We are honored to have Dr. Gomez, who recently co-authored Healing Our Way Home: Black Buddhist Teachings on Ancestors, Joy, and Liberation with Valerie Brown and Kaira Jewel Lingo.

Dr. Gomez is an Order of Interbeing member, a Plum Village Dharma Teacher, and a community public health activist scholar, who has been organizing in various capacities for equitable and sustainable alternative models for community development for more than 25 years in Baltimore, Maryland. 

Dear friends,

This week: we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EST in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EST online, and Friday 12-1PM EST online.

This Monday evening Annie was scheduled to facilitate. However, there’s been a change in schedule and Camille will facilitate.

Annie’s original topic below:

Even in the best of times, it can be challenging to get out of bed and remember to practice mindfulness. But when I remember to start my day with some mental reminders, such as a few mindful breaths or steps, my whole day leans more toward ease and joy. Practicing mindfulness in the morning doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy our favorite coffee drink or I can’t enjoy my new favorite Oolong tea. And it doesn’t mean we have to be all perky and bubbly. (I surely am not.) 

This week we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EST online, Wednesday morning from 7-8AM in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), and Friday 12-1PM EST online.

On Monday evening, Camille will facilitate.

The fourth mindfulness training (of the Five Mindfulness Trainings, or Five Precepts, developed during the time of the Buddha) is the practice of deep listening and loving speech. It teaches us that when we speak lovingly and listen compassionately, we can help relieve suffering and promote reconciliation and peace, both in ourselves and in others. Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) teaches that with compassionate listening, you listen with only one purpose: to “help him or her to empty his heart.” Even if they say things that are full of wrong perceptions, you can give them a chance to speak and to suffer less.  

Dear friends,

This week we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EST in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EST online, and Friday 12-1PM EST online.

This Monday evening Camille will facilitate. Camille shares:

I have had the habit energy of worrying over many things. Most of the time my worry has stemmed from fear of things that might happen in the future. The fear of my kids getting sick, of my parents dying, and the fear of change have often held me captive, so much so that I begin to feel it not only in my thoughts and mind but also in my body. The result of this can cause restless sleep, inconsistent eating habits, and anxiety, all contributing to a very tired body and mind.

This week we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EST online, Wednesday morning from 7-8AM in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), and Friday 12-1PM EST online.

On Monday evening, Marie will facilitate.

Recently my practice has been a bit different. I’ve been touching peace and joy more than usual so that I have more capacity to hold, witness and sometimes transform suffering. As I write this, I’m smiling. I realize how odd these words would have sounded to my younger self, who was raised to be endlessly empathetic, often burnt myself out and felt guilty about my good fortune.

What, specifically, have I been doing?

Dear friends,

This week we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EST in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EST online, and Friday 12-1PM EST online.

This Monday evening Ellen will facilitate. Ellen shares:

Lately,  I’ve been thinking about awareness, its connection to mindfulness and the power of awareness in bringing more compassion, connection and pausing.

In Thay’s book, Peace Is Every Step,  he has an entry called “Nourishing Awareness in Each Moment.”  He talks about the “lures” in life, the things that lead us to become “lost and scattered.”  I recognized the “lures” or distractions that pull me in different directions every day. They pull me away from myself and from true, compassionate connection with others. 

This week we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EST online, Wednesday morning from 7-8AM in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), and Friday 12-1PM EST online at our meditation space.

Annie will facilitate, and shares:

Dear Friends,

This week we will meet online. Annie will facilitate and we read the Five Mindfulness Trainings. This week we will have two special guests from our community – Rachel Switala and Conor Lane - who have just received the Five Mindfulness trainings at a ceremony on January 6 in Oakton, Virginia.

The FIve Mindfulness trainings are ethical statements that can help us align our life with our deepest intentions. The trainings are based on the practices of understanding and loving kindness toward ourselves, our communities, and the world.

Dear Friends,

This week we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EST in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EST online, and Friday 12-1PM EST online.

I’ve been thinking about the silence and stillness that we need in order to develop awareness and touch joy. Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) has said:

The more space we make for stillness and silence, the more we have to give both to ourselves and to others.

Before I went on my 6-week retreat to Plum Village in October, I had a pretty strong habit of listening to podcasts anytime I wasn’t listening to anything else. For example, when I walked the dogs, when I showered, when I drove, etc.

This week we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EST online, Wednesday morning from 7-8AM in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), and Friday 12-1PM EST in person at our meditation space.

Camille will facilitate, and shares:

Two years ago, our mindfulness teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) transitioned out of his body at the age of 95, after spending most of his life sharing mindfulness practices with peace, understanding and love. After the two year mourning period, we now recognize Thay as our spiritual ancestor. In a ceremony later this month in Vietnam, Thay will also be acknowledged as the fifth patriarch of Từ Hiếu Temple – his root temple.

On Monday evening, our community will gather together in meditation, chanting, and sharing, to honor and celebrate Thay. The peace and joy he shared with us - his students and spiritual descendants - will be passed on to all around us. From Plum Village: “The calm, clarity, and peace we can generate today are both a manifestation of Thay’s love and our expression of our spiritual support and love for him.”

Dear friends,

This week we will meet Monday evening in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW) from 7-8:30PM EST, Wednesday morning online from 7-8AM, and Friday online from 12-1PM EST.

Camille will facilitate.

This Monday evening we will share together the practice of Touching the Earth. It is a beautiful practice offered regularly in Plum Village centers around the world. The script of the touchings is below along with a short video of an introduction of Thich Nhat Hanh’s (Thay’s) on Touching the Earth.

This practice is about “emptying ourselves” as we bow down to touch the earth in order to make life possible in the present moment. We can begin to release ideas, stories, notions, anger, attachments, and the ideas that we and this world we know are permanent. When we touch the earth we can empty ourselves and surrender these ideas and any unwholesome qualities in us.

I love and relish in the Earth touchings and have much gratitude as I am reminded that I have the support of my ancestors, family, friends, teachers, sangha, the earth, and all who have walked and worked the lands in sharing their love, understanding, nourishment, caring and healing with me and all the world.

Dear Sangha,

Last year in January, I had the opportunity to facilitate and talk about the beginning of a new year as a chance for renewal and hope. I felt it was important to try to be optimistic and open.

As we enter 2024, I find myself much more anxious and worried about so much in my personal/family life, my career and most importantly the despairing state of the world. My anxiety has been, for the first time, affecting my health and well-being. And I’m surrounded by friends, family members and colleagues who are also suffering from stress, anxiety and fear.

So I started to research Thich Nhat Hanh’s (Thầy) writings on anxiety and worrying. As usual, he has much to say, which I found to be very helpful.

Dear Friends,

This week we will meet Monday evening in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW) from 7-8:30PM EST, Wednesday morning online from 7-8AM, and Friday online from 12-1PM EST.

On Monday we will enjoy a guided meditation on letting go of anything we don’t want to carry into the new year, and setting our mindful intentions for 2024. Our meditation will serve as a gentle guide in aligning our intentions with actions and embracing positive changes in our lives.

The new year often brings lots of resolutions, goals, and aspirations – a natural response to the chance for a new beginning. Yet, in the rush to change or improve our lives, we might lose sight of the profound beauty and completeness of the present moment.