Been a minute. As may be true of your life, after a pause, social connection has renewed in a more literal way, and I’ve needed my downtime to connect with myself. And with my book. They are not two.
Today, I was rendering some of the book’s final scenes. Like a child at the dinner table, I didn’t eat right through, but worked around some parts, saved them for last. I’ve just passed the day where my mother had her words knocked from her from a fall in hospital, and am on the way to her funeral. I type at them slowly, here and there. There is great space around them, true to the time. My mind moved slowly, if at all. There were no other futures, the past was long gone. Nothing else mattered more. Pay attention, life was saying. This is landscape you must know. It’s where you came from, and where you’ll go.
They are not two either, though good luck convincing one’s own mind or a culture created in its image. “Fear, little creature,” evolution said, “Go build futures where nobody falls, not mothers, not you. I’ve a plan for those ruins, a hundred thousand lifetimes long. ”And so we go with bucket lists and savings plans, tracing ants’ patterns in a shifting earth.
This morning I explained to someone close to me what I was writing. “The truth hurts,” I said. “It’s sad at times.”“You might meditate, ask her how she is, what to do with your sadness.”
So I did. After some minutes, unbidden, her visage appeared in my mind’s eye, not gasping, not pale, but smiling, full of joy.
That’s all it took, sitting, trusting, waiting. Her and I are not two, nor me and you. We are part of something much more elaborate, more beautiful, tugged into place like pieces of sand in the elaborate mandala of the universe.
A hundred thousand lifetimes long is the picture we are part of, and by the time it arrives, there will be another, even bigger. Our challenge now is to know despite the dizzying movements around us, the shriek of our fearing mind, what it is to be well, such that our next act is to create a world in that image.
In that spirit, this July, an hour or so outside of Toronto, we will meditate together, peers, deers, sunflowers, birds, and bumblebees at Bela Farm. Come sit with us. Deets below and here: https://fb.me/e/23IpbadFc
A day of meditation, nature and exploration at a beautiful farm just outside of TorontoJoin James Maskalyk* and the Consciousness Explorers Club at the gorgeous Bela Farm and barn for an immersive day of meditation in nature.
A hundred acres of open space, grass under your feet, fresh air in your lungs and all the soothing sounds of the countryside. It’s the perfect place to focus on a deeper sense of wellbeing, which will be the focus of this mini-retreat.This offering is suitable for beginners, adepts, teens, skeptics and lepidopterists.
During the six hours, there will be group meditations, silent practice, and opportunities to explore the environment.Some snacks and drinks will be on offer, but please bring your own lunch and whatever you need to sustain yourself.
Tentative schedule (subject to change):
10:30-11am arrive and settle
11am welcome and introductions
11:30-1pm guided meditation with James Maskalyk
1-2 lunch break and social time
2-3 silent sitting and walking meditations over hill and dale
3- 4:15 guided meditation, music and movmement with James Maskalyk 4:15-5 closing circle
Free parking is available on site. If you are able to offer a ride to/from the farm, or are in need of a ride, please add your info to the RIDESHARE SHEET (https://docs.google.com/…/1OTerzjYEzWrf10qt346x…/edit…)
This is part of a monthly series of meditation days at Bela Farm this summer, taking place on these Saturdays:
June 18 with Jeff Warren
July 23 with James Maskalyk
August 20 with Luke Anderson and Oliver Rabba
September 17 with Stephanie DeBou and Kevin Lacroix
This day is being offered on a “pay what you’re able to” model, with a sliding scale to accommodate all income ranges.
The Consciousness Explorers Club is a registered not-for-profit with the mission of making meditation and personal growth practices fun and accessible to all.
CEC would like to thank Rochelle Rubinstein for her generous support! @bela_farm*
James Maskalyk is an award-winning teacher of medicine at the University of Toronto, and teaches meditation at CEC. He has devoted his life to the pursuit of wellbeing for all people in body, mind, and spirit. He is a best-selling author, and his latest book explores the paradigm of wholeness as seen by different healing traditions, First Nations, Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and allopathy.