The Power of Friends -- and Mindfulness

Lately I’ve been reflecting on another way in which I am rich… rich in the people I’ve been blessed to come to know and work with over the past seven years, people on the cutting edge of the movement to integrate meditative and spiritual practices into all realms of life.

Recently, the intersection of meditation and neuroscience has been big in the news. If you haven’t yet seen it, watch this video interview with Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroscientist who had the chance to watch her own brain as she experienced a stroke. It’s a powerful tale that illustrates how our brains define our ‘reality,’ and how that reality can so quickly be altered.

I am so blessed to have these folks in my life and to collaborate with them on offering this healing path to wider circles. Here are a few of them.

* Roshi Joan Halifax (pictured above), recently featured in this blog interview with Danny Fisher. Over the past few months, I’ve been helping Roshi to coordinate a Buddhist chaplaincy training program at Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It’s such a great program that I’m tempted to enroll myself at some future point!

* Diana Winston, who is the Director for Mindfulness Education at the Mindfulness Awareness Research Center based at UCLA. Diana is an old friend and co-worker from my days at the Buddhist Peace Fellowship (BPF). Listen to this interview with Diana to get a sense of her culturally hip yet deeply spiritually grounded perspectives on young people and Buddhism.

* Mirabai Bush, the founder and director of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, where I used to be the research director. I've been assisting the Center in a search for a new executive director -- Mirabai will be retiring after leading the organization since 1997. She will be missed! Her work to integrate mindfulness into society has impacted thousands of people from all walks of life -- university professors, lawyers, social justice activists, CEO's... really quite amazing.

* Alan Senauke, another colleague from the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. Alan has now founded the Clear View Project whose mission is to direct Buddhist-based resources toward relief in social change. One big area of Alan's focus right now is Burma, in the wake of the terrible cyclone that hit last month.

All of them are gifted leaders and healers, and I am truly grateful that they are part of my circle friends. In another blog, I'll highlight some more dear friends and their work.

Memorial Day Peace Gathering, Santa Cruz

On Monday, I drove up to Santa Cruz at the invitation of Annie Kelley, a Buddhist Peace Fellowship friend who I first met in Washington DC in 2005. The Santa Cruz BPF chapter organized this event. It was a beautiful morning.

We gathered at Mission Plaza in Santa Cruz, and then walked through downtown and along the river, in silence. Our intention was to hold the memories of all who have died in the Iraq war, on all sides, in reverence. As we walked past the sidewalk cafes and stores on Pacific Street, it was amazing to feel how the energy transformed and other people fell silent too.

We ended up back at the plaza and formed a large circle, then some of the BPF members unrolled a huge scroll that they've kept for the past few years -- one of the members did some research to find the names of some of the Iraqi citizens who have been killed, and has kept adding names to this scroll over the years. It spanned the whole length of our circle of about 150 people.

I was invited to read some of the names of U.S. soldiers from the Santa Cruz/San Jose region who have been killed, along with Katherine Thanas, the abbot of the Santa Cruz Zen Center.

So, another Memorial Day passes... so sad to reflect on the loss of life as a result of this war.