Can you use some stillness within a world of distraction and overwhelm, and some movement to find yourself again?
Don’t You Feel It Too? and Clouds in Water Zen Center welcome you to a workshop "Sitting, Dancing, Changing: Mindfulness in Motion." This will be an embodied and online experience with sitting and movement meditation. We hope the workshop in its adapted format (now online and shortened from the original two-day retreat) is accessible to more people.
Fri, Apr 3, 7:30-9:00pm—orientation, short practices
Sat, Apr 4, 9:00am-12:00pm—guided sitting meditation, DYFIT practice
Accepting registrations until we start on Friday
Pay as you wish / Donation
It's important to participate both days
The workshop is a side-by-side exploration of two mindfulness practices, sitting and dancing/moving. We will touch upon how our embodied mindfulness work meets our current personal and social challenges. Co-led by Marcus Young 楊墨 and Clouds' Guiding Teacher Sosan Flynn
HOW TO PREPARE AND PARTICIPATE
+++ Link to join the online workshop: https://zoom.us/j/880099132 / Meeting ID: 880 099 132 / Dial in: +1 312 626 6799
Dear registered workshop participants,
We send warm greetings during our quickly changing times. We are adapting our in-person retreat into an online workshop, with a 90-minute orientation session on Friday and a 3-hour session on Saturday. The workshop is still a side-by-side exploration of two mindfulness practices, sitting and dancing/moving. We will touch upon how our embodied mindfulness work meets our current personal and social challenges. We look forward to being with you!
Please read this long message carefully as it provides some important details about how to prepare for our time together. It is ideal if you have a personal music device and earbuds ready.
We are primarily three communities coming together—Clouds in Water Zen Center, Don’t You Feel It Too?, and college students in the Art for Social Change program of HECUA. We welcome everyone with any experience level related to meditation or movement, and of any belief, Buddhist or otherwise. Currently, we have 15 participants registered. We hope more will join us given that the shorter and online format may make it accessible to more people. Also, remember, this experience is “pay what you can.” Invite your friends!
If either meditation or DYFIT is new to you, instructions will be provided during the orientation Friday night. Please don’t be nervous about “doing anything wrong.” We are all here to support each other. For anyone hesitant about movement or dance, please know that there is always the option to do DYFIT in stillness. You are always in control of the practice.
Your sitting meditation space: Since we will not be together in our meditation hall at Clouds in Water (we hope to welcome you there at a future event), you will want to have a designated and prepared sitting meditation spot. Some of you already have one. If you do not yet, before our workshop, create for yourself a small space where you can sit comfortably, on a cushion, mat, or chair. This should be a spot where you can sit still, peacefully and uninterrupted. You may wish to tell any others in your household about this workshop, so they may support your mindfulness practice. You may wish to hang a sign to remind them during the times of the workshop.
Do what you can and what gives you delight in creating your own “meditation hall” even if it’s just a small corner of a room. I, myself, look forward to creating a small, clean, and de-cluttered space—a simple yet special space just for our workshop. I will have near me objects to help me center and breathe. Figure out how to incorporate the technology—phone, tablet, or laptop—into your space. Test out your space, and get comfortable in it.
Live video platform: We will use Zoom to host our workshop. We will send the video link to join the workshop a couple days beforehand. If you are not familiar with Zoom, here is an easy resource and introduction. We prefer that you join with both video and audio but understand if anyone has other preferences or limitations. If you would like additional assistance, please reach out to Marcus (contact info below). We are happy to help you get familiar with this platform.
Starting: Feel free to arrive on the video link up to 15 minutes before each start time. Please plan to be in your seat by 7:20pm on Friday evening. That way, we can all be ready to start by 7:30pm. You may wish to use the minutes before to download the Zoom software (if you haven’t already done that), check your technology overall, and get comfortable. As you enter our workshop on Zoom you will be muted at first. Similarly, on Saturday, please be in your seat 10 minutes before our start.
What to Wear/What to Bring: Please wear comfortable clothing for sitting and moving. Remember to turn off any beeping or buzzing devices during our time together.
For the Don’t You Feel It Too? movement practice, you will want to have several things close at hand to help with the transition from sitting to moving. Have what you need to get fully dressed for the option to take the practice outdoors--socks, layers, shoes, coat, hat, etc. Wear shoes you can move well and safely in. The DYFIT practice uses your personal music device, like a phone or iPod, that fits in your pocket. It helps to have a pocket. It is very important that you have your music device loaded with some of your favorite, most beloved music. Have earbuds or headphones. And don’t forget adapters if you have one of those phones. Please make sure your device is charged up.
Finally, in a more extended retreat, we would eat together, practice for more hours, and some would even sleep over at the Zen Center. In the coming days, you may want to think about how to extend our mindfulness practice and energy in the minutes and hours after our Saturday noon closing, and connecting our Friday night orientation into the next morning. How can you eat your breakfast and lunch mindfully? How can you practice going to bed and waking mindfully? How can you approach and leave your screen and seat mindfully?
We look forward to being together. If you have any other questions, please feel free to reach out to Marcus via the Contact Us page. We are here to support your exploration and practice.
Sincerely,
Marcus Young 楊墨 and Sosan Theresa Flynn