Each week I’m grateful to find and share a poem to highlight our weekly class themes. What a joy to practice being present together, season by season, moment by moment. 

 

Listening

A Pearl of Wind (Mark Nepo)

 

Ordinary Presence

Anything, Everything (Laura Grace Weldon)

 

Practicing Peace (Thich Nhat Hahn, How to Eat)

“Peace can be practiced while chopping vege-tables, cooking, washing dishes, watering the vegetable garden, and also while driving or working. Practice releasing the tension in body and mind and being completely with your task.”

 

Breathing First (Thich Nhat Hahn, How to Eat)

“The first thing to do when you sit down with your bowl of food is to stop the thinking and be aware of your breathing. Breathe in such a way that you are nourished. You are nourished by your breathing and you nourish other people with your practice of breathing. We nourish one another.”

 

Compassionate Being

Origami Crane Tanka [scroll down after following link] (Rafael Jesus Gonzalez)

For When We Greet Each Other (Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer)

Before I leave the Stage (Alice Walker)

How to Open Your Heart (Jeff Foster)

 

Being Present

The Breath is Life’s Teacher (Donna Martin)

What Can I Say? (Mary Oliver)

A Humble Aliveness (Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer)

 

Balance

Yes, That’s When (Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer,  Hush, Middle Creek Press, 2020)