If you live or work near Downtown Fresno you may have noticed this mural taking shape over the spring. It is visible from Tulare street down R street, between our building (1057 R St) and the Meux Home. Muralist Ariel Bird Howe has been hard at work getting this vision on to the wall. We would love to have you join us as we celebrate it's completion and dedicate it to healing in the downtown community.
Friday April 16, 4-7 pm
You are warmly welcomed to join our "Equanimity Practice" group, which meets on Fridays, 8-8:30 AM
(same zoom link as the Metta class: meeting ID #75735734442, password metta)
Elena leads a simple meditation practice on cultivating equanimity ("upekkha" in Pali) that is accepting the reality of life's highs and lows, and developing an attitude of peaceful calm abiding throughout the inevitable changes.
This practice balances the heart centered approach of our other group practice, loving-kindness ("metta"). When we focus on cultivating the heart and caring, it can be common to get emotionally attached to positive outcomes for those we spend time wishing well. Actually the outcome of our well-wishes is out of our control and the responsibility of the individual.
This is a great practice for anyone who struggles with issues around codependency. Or is feeling emotionally distraught over current events or their personal life
Equanimity allows us to develop mental stability and even-minded loving awareness.
Appropriate for all religious backgrounds and levels of meditation experience.
Attendees can choose to leave their microphone and camera off and just follow along.
Hope to see you on Friday mornings!
If you cannot make it to our meditation groups, there are recordings available on youtube. Message for the link [email protected]
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Please join me for a class aimed at empowering you to use simple herbs and self-acupressure to address common vulnerabilities we share during this time. We will focus on herbs and points for building immunity, for promoting respiratory health, preventing poor digestion leading to the formation of dampness and phlegm, and end with promoting proper circulation thus preventing blood stasis. It is a lot simpler than it sounds!
You will be amazed at how a few inexpensive and easy to use techniques can really add to the resiliency of your body and spirit. Empowering you with some time-tested tools in promoting health is crucial at this time, both physically and mentally.
Wednesday the 29th I will present the information in English, and the following week my dear friend and esteemed colleague Rodrigo Esteva (www.dancemonks.com) will present the same information in Spanish- and I will be there to answer questions that may arise.
The class is hosted by the Fresno Center's Holistic Cultural Education & Wellness Center, and if you want to attend please register through them at https://www.facebook.com/events/1387830828274526
I hope to see you there!
]]>When JOMO wears thin… what next?
In March I wrote a piece discussing cultivating JOMO- the joy of missing out, as a means to cope with the shelter in place order. Much of our lives we deal with FOMO- fear of missing out, and JOMO can be a counterbalance to that- where we discern what activities are worth the inherent risks. Maybe at this point, it might have made sense to expand your circle and activities, depending on your relative health and cost-benefit analysis.
I am proposing a new principle- neither the extreme of FOMO or JOMO, but a middle path: MODR8. Standing for “Move Onward Discerning Risks” & the 8 stands for the uncertainty principle, a sideways infinity symbol- we don’t know how long this pandemic will continue and we do not know for sure how successful our efforts at contagion prevention will be, but this may be a useful guiding acronym to navigate these questions.
The Buddha talked of the middle path being the best choice- neither veering to either extreme, but choosing each step judiciously and mindful of the principle of interdependence. Each choice we make has a ripple effect throughout our society. Each decision you make will alter the reality of our collective whole. If we are all mindful of this, we might be able to successfully navigate slowly reopening churches, schools, malls. We are continuing to offer our group classes (yoga, tai chi, fitness, and meditation) online via zoom, because we know it is uncomfortable to work out in a mask, but also unsafe to have many people unmasked breathing hard together, and yet we understand these practices may be your lifeline during this time. (Please feel free to join my morning meditation class three times a week).
If you come to see me in my office, I will wear a mask and ask that you do the same, because we do not know who the next patient in the space might be- a cancer survivor, an 80 year old with terrible back pain, or an immune-compromised child. We can move onward with your ability to meet your health management goals while discerning the risks inherent in you visiting my office, in me treating you, and in keeping the space clean and clear for the next patient. I promise to mindfully sanitize all surfaces and equipment, and space appointments appropriately to allow for proper ventilation between patients, and if we all use the MODR8 approach there is a high chance that more of our needs can be met.
I go home to my high-risk elderly father each night after treating patients, and although some have told me I should not be reopening in an effort to preserve his health, he understands and encourages me to meet the needs of the community. People are starving for touch, for care, for a reprieve from the isolation of quarantine. I believe it is possible to meet those needs and mitigate the spread of disease. That said, in the spirit of the MODR8 approach, I am beginning to see patients again and welcome you into the treatment room whenever you feel it is appropriate for you to return. Let’s be MODR8 in our push to reopen, and in our tendency to polarize the important discussions happening in our society. We are all in this together- let’s honor the principle of interdependence and choose each action mindfully, with compassion and wisdom.
]]>I am currently seeing patients in both cities!
In Fresno I have collaborated with the wonderful women at Benessere Fresno, a downtown wellness space where we offer small group yoga, tai chi, fitness, and meditation classes, along with acupuncture, massage, and counseling services. The office is behind City Hall, next door to the Meux home museum, and across the street from St. John's cathedral. There is ample parking and it is close to the Tulare Street exit off of Highway 41.
In San Francisco I have teamed up with the good folks at Dance with Life Chiropractic Wellness Center, in the inner sunset district. There we offer holistic chiropractic care, massage and bodywork, and acupuncture/Chinese herbology. The office is on 9th Avenue near Golden Gate Park and UCSF, right off of the 44, 43, 36, 8, and 6 Muni lines.
Whichever city you call home, I am looking forward to seeing you in the treatment room!
]]>You are warmly welcomed to drop in to the Loving-kindness meditation group I lead at 8 am on Tuesdays and Thursdays via zoom. (Meeting ID 757 3573 4442 password metta- or go to benesserefresno.com & click the link in the class schedule). It is free and totally appropriate for beginners as well as seasoned practitioners.
We meet for a half hour, regularly, to cultivate the capacity we have to meet each person with equally positive intentions, regardless of the person or situation.
Why practice metta?
Cultivating Loving Kindness, or metta in Pali, is a way we can increase our heart's capacity for compassion- to recognize our shared humanity; to wish people well, with sincerity in our hearts: I want you to be safe and protected; to be happy and healthy; to live in peace and ease.
In this way we are deliberately choosing our orientation to each person we encounter.
Setting this intention is powerful- and an act of resistance to systems that would stratify and pit us against each other, relying on the unskillful human habits of divisiveness, establishing in/out groups, vilifying "others". We can choose not to engage with that destructive mindset.
As we center our attitudes and actions to arise out of loving kindness, we affirm:
May you be safe and protected (& if you are not, I will do what is within my power to make it so).
May you be happy and healthy (& if you are not, I will work within my sphere of influence for equity in healthcare, access to mental health and wellness services, & to improve social conditions).
May you live in peace and ease (& if you cannot, I will help identify and dismantle systems of oppression that prevent you from living a life where your spirit is given the space and freedom to thrive, where the demands of meeting your daily needs do not exceed your capacity, so that we may all share in a feeling of ease when our needs are met).
This is why we practice metta, and this is why the practice is just the first step- a basic intention setting that orients our moral compass to the starting point from which we interact with humanity and the world.
We need you and your firm intentions to make this world a loving and just place. We need you to take the actions you are able, within your sphere. We need you to affirm the worth and dignity of each person.
You are invited to practice with us three times a week (on Fridays we do an equanimity practice at the same time and same zoom info), and hopefully to build your own practice.
May it be so.
]]>(from 3/17/2020)
The current tone of our popular narrative seems to be one of fear: fear of disease and new germs of untested virulence: the novel Coronavirus COVID-19. Part of why the general discourse around this new bug is so panic-inducing, personally and collectively, is due to gaps in our knowledge and suspicions of suppression of information. When the tone gets to this fever pitch, and the grounding in tested and expert-vetted knowledge is absent or lacking, it is human nature to give in to panicky mass hysteria and assumptions. Reactionary assumptions are resulting in racism, mass hoarding with ensuing price gouging, and suspicions that certain political parties are hyping a public health scare to their advantage or controlling the dialogue for their gain. The lack of faith in the information being released adds to the panic and misinformed practices.
This is a good time to reflect on “the power of the pause”- before panicking and giving in to fears that harm our fellow travelers, the best practice might be to stop our frantic activities and deeply consider our interconnectedness.
Pause: before buying unnecessary items or hoarding supplies.
Pause: & fact check before sharing inflammatory and potentially incorrect media reports.
Pause: consider needs vs. wants before attending crowded functions and taking unnecessary trips on public transit or out of the country. We often fill our schedule with events that we could easily skip- sometimes just for fear of missing out (FOMO). Maybe we should consider the other side of that coin- joy of missing out (JOMO). If you are immune compromised or belong to one of the more vulnerable populations, perhaps this is the time to allow your body and spirit to deeply rest, only attending things that are "worth" the potential for germ exposure. And maybe you will decide that *nothing* is worth potential exposure and choose to self-quarantine- that's ok too, and will boost your immune system by promoting rest and relaxation while preventing your exposure not only to COVID-19, but also to other colds and flus that are circulating this time of year. It could even be a fulfilling opportunity to complete projects at home, cook some nourishing meals using ancestral wisdom for times of ill health, or catch up on that pile of books you've been intending to read. What's most important is that we pause, reflect, and weigh our actions and choices. Act, not react.
School shutdowns, mandates to work from home, churches and theaters cancelling events: the “best practices” from a public health perspective necessitate missing some events that we may have been deeply attached to attending. This might be a time to consider those attachments, and depersonalize our expectations. Canceling highly anticipated events is certainly a hardship, but we all need to be cognizant of our interconnectedness. Rather than seeing this disruption as ominous and arduous, might we see it as an act of love and solidarity for our health care workers, to prevent them being inundated by cases and forced to make decisions regarding allocating scarce resources, as in Italy.
Pause: this is tough but I accept staying home to break the chain of transmission, so that critical cases do not overwhelm our brave staff and limited facilities; also that people with other unforeseen health events might find a bed and doctor if they need it during this time.
Some might feel that restricting activities would be choosing to add more suffering to our lives, but can we weigh that against the suffering resulting from a true pandemic? The first noble truth as taught in Buddhism says that suffering is inherent in being alive, and our choices and actions mitigate how much we suffer from the objective hardships we encounter. So let's pause and thoughtfully discern the best choice for each action we are called to take. The law of cause and effect is very real and we will see it play out over the next weeks, as an accumulation of our collective choices. Let's proceed wisely and mindfully, and use each hand washing as an opportunity to practice encountering fear and washing it down the drain, leaving us equipped to safely connect with whatever action we are called to take at this moment. Let's cultivate JOMO to counteract the FOMO that arises from our attachments and fears.
Pause: our epidemiologists, doctors, nurses, and government are working hard to make the best recommendations at this time. Might we cultivate some trust and faith in science and human collaboration? Our ability to communicate and participate with shared research among all the affected countries may stoke this fire of trust in the human spirit and capabilities to mitigate the harm we all fear from this virus. China and Italy, despite the intense suffering they encountered, have given us a gift of time to prepare and prevent, tools to employ, experience we can learn from. Let’s not let their experience go unappreciated and fall into the same catastrophes they are facing. We might attempt to cultivate some trust in our public health officials who have taken an oath to defend us against pandemics- we might even benefit by cultivating some trust in our bodies defenses and mindfully choose to take actions to strengthen our innate healing abilities. We hope that, in turn, that trust can translate into trusting our neighbors and community to be proactive about defending against the spread to those who are unable to defend themselves, whether biomedically or economically. Let us proceed with wisdom and compassion as we allow the development of understanding and preparedness for this new virus.
On a good note, today a friend in Hong Kong shared a picture of a well stocked shop on her street- where weeks ago they had no toilet paper or sanitizing wipes, they now have an abundance of everything that they need to continue to protect their community health. More shipments will come in to replace the items unavailable today, and with that more lived experience that we can learn from and use to protect our neighbors and ourselves.
Pause, spend time with your family, get outside and take walks in the sunshine, listen to music, remember to breathe. If you are in need reach out to your neighbor networks and make your needs known- someone out there might just have what you lack. We are in this together.