Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Election Exhale with Kate Johnson

Episode Date: January 1, 2017

Every Wednesday, the Rubin Museum of Art presents a meditation session led by a prominent meditation teacher from the New York area. This podcast is a recording of the weekly practice. If you would like to attend in person, please visit our website at RubinMuseum.org/meditation to learn more. Presented in partnership with Sharon Salzberg and the Interdependence Project. Kate Johnson led this special meditation session on November 9, 2016. To view a related artwork for this week's session, please visit: http://bit.ly/2ictZFK

Thank you. please visit our website at rubenmuseum.org. We are proud to be partnering with Sharon Salzberg and the teachers from the Interdependence Project. In the description for each episode, you will find information about the theme for that week's session, including an image of a related artwork chosen from the Ruben Museum's permanent collection. And now, please enjoy your practice. Kate Johnson is back with us today and she teaches mindful yoga

in New York City public schools and Buddhist meditation at the Interdependence Project she holds a BFA in dance from the Alvin Ailey School at Fordham University and an MA in performance studies from NYU

she has trained at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, the Interdependence Project, Laughing Lotus Yoga, and the Presencing Institute. She's working on a book about waking up to power and oppression as a spiritual practice, which will be published in the fall of 2017 by Parallax Press. Please give her a warm welcome back, Kate Johnson. Thank you.

It's really an honor and also very humbling to be holding space here today. to be holding space here today. And this space was designed as a space where, both for folks who are able to join us in person today and for folks who are joining us online, that no matter their political affiliation or who they might have voted for or not voted for that we could find a space to to to be together and to experience a sense of release of the tension that we might have carried during the election

and and so that's my that's my aim just to be transparent about that. And also I feel a little shaky about that. When we decided to do this event, I thought the election would turn out a different way. And so it's hard for me not to make this about us and them. not to make this about us and them. And I also am, yeah, just woke up this morning with the feeling like, oh, wow, this is, this is moments like these days, like these are what, what I practice for, what we practice for, you know, so I feel it's truly a blessing to be able to, to practice together on a day like this for me. And I love this image of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. This is a figure that comes from the Indian tradition of spirituality,

but there's analogous beings in lots of different traditions. Kuan Yin in China, sometimes allied with Mother Mary or other kind of great compassionate beings. So, and what strikes me looking at this image now is that this is kind of the after picture of Avalokiteshvara. So this is what we see after the bodhisattva has been put back together, right, is experiencing at the other side of heartbreak an increased capacity to love and to serve and to really see all of the suffering of the world and to respond appropriately.

And I don't know about you, but for me, I feel a little bit like I'm in the before picture of that. So maybe not even in the process of exhaling, but just at the bottom of the exhale where there's, where it feels like there's nothing and kind of before the next breath has come in. And I guess I just want to acknowledge that, you know, whether that whether you share my experience of having the election not turn out the way that you want it to or whether the person that you wanted to won but you're aware of how close it was and the great social divides that are present in our country,

it can result in this feeling of being shattered into a million pieces and kind of spread out over the land. And so the question becomes, for me, one, is it okay to, you know, how can we make it okay to acknowledge that feeling and not to jump over it or pretend it's not happening? Looking into history, you know, into my own life. When we do that, it seems that, um, we don't allow ourselves to feel the moment of pause and to feel, um, whatever grief might be present. Um, we're just popping into, um, reactivity. We're acting out of our conditioning. Um, and it seems to me like, you know, maybe, um, what's needed now is, um, isn't known at the

present moment. Maybe it's something that hasn't been tried or hasn't happened yet. So, you know, so there's that one piece of, like, is it possible to just feel what's actually happening now? And then also to sense into, you know, how is it we might be able to, what kind of power might help us put ourselves and each other kind of back together again, perhaps in a new way, perhaps with increased capacity to love. so I think before, you know, getting to the after, after, um, after shot, um, there, um, there might be, um, you know, a settling into what's true and also, uh, a wish for healing and a wish for wholeness. And that's going to be the focus of the practice that I'll offer today. So it will, we'll do a little bit of setting up that will include dropping into the felt sense

of the body, which is a way, as I know many of you know who practice, a way to cut under extreme doubt or wavering or a sense of kind of disconnectedness. So we'll focus on feeling the sense of breathing, feeling the sense of the body sitting. I'll invite us to also call in to our minds and hearts and maybe even to the space if we can, the memories or images or just felt sense of the beings who we feel like might support us now, whether they're divine beings that we relate to,

maybe Avalokiteshvara, maybe someone else, or ancestors, or heroes. And then the body of the practice will be what many of you have practiced probably many times before. It's a loving-kindness meditation. And this is a meditation that the Buddha is said to have taught. It's a meditation in which we're challenged to bring to mind different kind of categories of beings and to offer them the same quality of love without discrimination. So in a practice like this, we'll both notice as we name these groups which groups we feel like we're a part of and which ones we feel

like we're not a part of. We'll notice our thoughts and attitudes with respect to these different kind of categories or types of beings. And we'll work with stretching our hearts to include them in this wish for wholeness and for healing. And we'll notice what it feels like when we just can't and try our best to have compassion with that. Does that sound okay? Okay. So please settle yourself into a position that you can live with for a few moments. Helps to have the feet touching the floor if that's possible. Helps to

let the hands rest and relax whether they're on your thighs, palms down, or palms up, or clasped in your lap. lap. You can help to feel that the back is strong and that the space of the heart is open and that the belly can be soft. So if you notice that there's any space in your body that is bracing now or holding, you might just try gently inviting that space to soften. Whether you're here or at home watching, my hope is that you're in a space where you feel relatively safe. And supported. And even if that's just the very concrete support of your chair and support of the floor,

letting yourself relax into whatever support is available for you at this moment. Just noticing how it is for you right now in your body. Naming, if you like, the different sensations that you find as you look over this landscape. There might be spaces that feel dense with sensation, spaces that are hard to feel. It might be tingling or pulsing or fluttering or heaviness. Noticing each of these spaces and these sensations and just allowing them to be as they are. Taking the attitude for this few minutes

that you don't have to control or fix your experience. And we'll take a few moments to just let the awareness settle and rest on the feeling of breathing, especially the breath out. And if you did find any place in your body that felt tight or stuck, using your breath to help ventilate that space. Thank you. And if ever you notice the mind starting to race or the weather in the heart getting heavy, this is bringing yourself back to just sensing this one breath out.

Resting the awareness for now and the simplicity of that experience. And we can study ourselves and the fact that if nothing else, we're breathing Thank you. And as you breathe, if you like, start to invite in beings who can, the thought of whom can support you at this moment.

And divine beings, courageous ancestors, known and unknown. You might imagine them just in your mind or heart or even imagine the felt presence of them to be beside you and behind you, hands resting on your shoulders. Breathing with you and maybe even through you. I'm going to take a picture of the Takk for watching. And at this point in the practice, I'll start to guide the meta-contemplation, the loving-kindness contemplation, which you're welcome to join in.

And also, at any point, you're also welcome to return to this sense of feeling the body resting on the chair, feet on the floor, breath coming and going, the beings that have your back. So letting this be a home base and a place that you can come back to rest in. So I'll start the contemplation just with ourselves, inviting you to kind of feel and picture yourself just as you are right now. the complexity of your experience. There might be moods that you can name or feelings that are unnameable. Maybe paradoxes there.

But connecting with the wish for yourself and offering yourself this phrase a few times, just repeating it, letting your attention rest on the phrase. May I be whole. May I be safe. May I be free. We may or may not feel this way at the moment, but connecting with the wish as much as possible. May I be whole. May I be safe. May I be free. Noticing what that's like. Thank you. And then letting that contemplation dissolve, feeling again the feet resting on the floor,

seat on the chair, support at your back, breath moving. Breathing. Bring to mind an image of people who live in cities. people who live in cities. Perhaps this is a group of people you identify with or maybe not. Just picturing in as much detail your concept of city people, who's there, how they move, what they do. Notice your relationship with this group.

And then offering the same phrases to them. Folks who live in cities, may you be whole. May you be safe. May you be free. Thank you. And after the next round of phrases, letting them soften and drift away, dropping again into the sense of the body sitting, breath, support at our backs, bringing to mind the image of people who live in rural spaces. Perhaps this is you, or maybe you feel like this is really not. Noticing your images that come, attitudes. Reflecting that The wishes that these people have for themselves

Or we have for ourselves are probably the same And offering these same phrases May you be whole. May you be safe. May you be free. Repeating. Thank you. And then starting to let that image soften and dissolve, finding a sense of resting in the felt sense of the body, breath, support. Bringing to mind all the beings who made the same choice that you did with respect to this election. Who, in your mind, took the same actions that you took, picturing these beings wherever they are right now.

wherever they are right now. Noticing what it is to reflect on this feeling of sameness. Done the same thing. Offering the phrases, may we be whole. May we be safe. May we be safe may we be free Starting to soften that image and let it fade. A deep breath or two to reconnect with our felt experience of right now. And bring to mind people who made a different choice than we did

on election day. Whether it was not to vote or to vote for someone different. Imagining who these people are, wherever they are right now. Reflecting that these are also people who want wholeness, safety, freedom, and joining them to the extent that we can in that wish. May you all be whole, safe, and free. And then finishing up that round of phrases, allowing the image to dissolve and just falling back into the felt sense of the body

one last time before we close. Taking a moment to reflect on the practice that we just did. The benefits of letting the wish be alive in our hearts for the kind of wholeness and healing we would love for ourselves and to share that with all beings. And to connect with the wish that somehow this practice might help us to express that today. So thank you for your practice, your willingness to show up for yourself and for each other.

It's so wonderful not to feel alone today. I'm wishing you wholeness and safety and freedom today wherever you find it. Thank you. Great practice. That concludes this week's practice. If you'd like to attend in person, please check out our website,

rubinmuseum.org slash meditation to learn more. Sessions are free to Rubin Museum members. Just one of the many benefits of membership. Thank you for listening. Have a mindful day.