session two. We've got the author's. Dr. Joe parent, and his sister Nancy parent. So without further ado, let's bring him in. For session number two, I can run to. Thank you Randy, thanks everybody. Hi, nice to see everybody here. I'm going to check and see. We'll give it a minute for a few more people to show up here. Andy would you put in for people who don't have the book. Oh, I see my friend Vicki Hi Vicki. And she's got the book and the poodle is Gerald, we got a lot of books out there. So Andy would you put it in for people who don't have it, the link in the chat room for how to get the book. Here's our book with all my tabs for reading right in there. And for people who are here for the first time. This was commissioned, my sister and I were commissioned to do this by the Disney company. They commissioned first her to write it, because she has written children's and edited children's books for them for how long now 20 years 30 Yes, 20 years one of yours. And then they said, but you know this, as far as bathing stuff that we want to get in, it was based, an editor was inspired by an article by about forest bathing, the Japanese principle of immersing yourself in the atmosphere of the forest, and then ask, Nancy, because she knew that her brother teaches mindfulness and said how would you like to do this book. And by the way, my wife also works for Disney, who is a graphic designer so she does, you can't feel if you have it you can feel the embossed cover and the beautiful interior. So Nancy was very familiar with the characters, I read all the a million books and channeled as best I could. The spirit of Amen. And, and we wrote this book last class if you go back and listen we we showed some things and we, we talked about how Winnie the Pooh came about and Winnie the Pooh is, was, I don't remember when the poll was taken but rated number one in the most beloved of children's Characters of All Children's Literature Winnie the Pooh were number one. So, we read the first three chat we read the introduction in the first three chapters last time, in which, Winnie the Pooh wakes up and does his morning wake up routine. And then, Does his household activities, we talked about doing very mindfully and, and then he does his own energetic practices and exercises and meditations. And so, we showed a few of the, the pictures from the book, and we're gonna go back to a couple of those. There's Winnie the Pooh waking up. And then, sweeping up, and then meditating. Now, oh I have to do share screen Hang on I'm looking at these as if you can see them. Sorry about that. Okay, we're sharing the screen now.
There's everybody. Okay, so there's go back there's when you waking up. There's him sweeping up and there's him meditating. The other thing that we have in here. And I wanted to talk about it just a little bit at the end of each chapter, there are these pages with gray backgrounds. And these are adult instructions in mindfulness and other practices, and there were some, there were some questions last time about relating with kids and the ages. There was a very interesting comment in the chat someone suggesting kids could do mindfulness based on how every minute for every age, they are. So three minutes for a three year old and four minutes for a four year old and and so on. The, this is really for the adults to work with. And then, as, as best they can share with the kids. So, for example at the, at the very beginning. You can say, you know, there's, there's a kids game I Spy, you know, what do you see, just, just noticing what you're doing as you're doing this the opening section was really waking up your body and the environment and just, you know, sitting down and saying, Okay, tell me all the colors that you see. Tell me all the things you see now that you have to determine what makes sense for the age that you're working with. Then, then you have, paying attention to things as you're doing them. And it's fun for kids to try to do things in slow motion, they can try and do things that way and notice, and, and you can do a little bit. What's the game where you stop is it green light red light or something like that, you know there's a game where, at a certain point you say okay, freeze, and then you go okay, what are you feeling, what are you seeing okay now move again. And you, and you just play that game with them. Then, then when it actually comes to mindfulness of body mindfulness of breathing, that's going to be a little bit older kids. Now I wanted to share. I was invited by some friends up in Vancouver, and the woman owns a Montessori school. So I did readings to all the different age groups. So I got an idea. Now, it was interesting doing the readings to the three and four year olds, I got some feedback on that as soon as I looked down to the book and did the reading their attention wandered.
I had to kind of tell them the story and be looking at them, they were looking for that kind of engagement. So, um, so that's kind of interesting for the pre literate, kids. Now of course I asked if you had any question, I read the stories and asked if they had any questions. And one little boy raised his hands, and I, and I said yes what's your question, you said, my daddy said he saw a bear when he went camping, and then, and then it was stream of consciousness from I think and I like camping and camp Oh there are trees when you're camping and we have a tree in our backyard and, and it was just incredible. So fun is I went, oh okay that's good. All right, that's all. All the kids were another girl raised her hand and said, I'm scared of bears and you know, just whatever they, they didn't really have a question. They wanted to engage. They wanted to engage. So, for the three and four year olds, it was just about engaging, let's, oh, oh, yeah, okay. And what, what do you have you seen a bear, I mean basically just stream of consciousness stuff. Now the five to seven year olds they were a little bit different and they, they asked about the relationships between Winnie the Pooh and the other characters they asked about, they were they were interested in the diet a little bit of the dynamics, didn't quite understand so much about, you know, mindfulness this though. The other thing that but then when I got into the older kids, the eight to 11 year olds and that's where that's where it stopped. They came right after it, and they said, so are there thoughts that I should have thoughts that I shouldn't have had and they really were. They were parsing it and they were getting in there, so you'll discover as you just ask the question what did you think of that and say, You know what, you know, do you like Winnie the Pooh, do you, you know, for the littlest kids, and, and it's an opportunity to engage. It's an opportunity to engage and show them the pictures, and, and find your own way. In working with the gray, the gray out, we'll call it the gray matter. That's, that's the brain stuff that you got to got to think about. So, nan did you have anything you wanted to add from the first session, to what we did. No, I
think you covered it.
My brilliant sister.
Thank you, pretty much covered it.
Yeah, that's I do tend to do that. Okay. So, I don't remember who is supposed to start looking for kind hearted and caring.
Yeah you are starting. I'm starting
kind hearted and caring friendship means acceptance without bias that nothing in ourselves or in others, is rejected. We can offer forgiveness and kindness. Regarding every situation as manageable. Then we can extend true caring. The wish that all beings be free from struggle, that they be happy and that they're ease
after his mindfulness practice who liked to do his kindness his kind, caring kindness practice to help remember and strengthen his intention to be kind to himself and others first, he thought about himself.
I'm a bear that may have very little brain, but I do have a very big heart. Piglet is my best friend, and Best Friends care about each other and are kind to each other. Since I want to be a good friend. First I need to be a friend to myself, remembering my good qualities, forgiving the not so good, and encouraging myself to be the best I can be
who remembered when he got distracted during a chat, without. He was thinking so much about honey, that he didn't hear a word, what his friend had to say. He forgave himself and thought,
Oh, I'll do my best to be be a better bear. Next time on the good side, I do think of my friends quite a bit. I feel glad when they're happy and sad when they're not. I try to cheer them up and encourage them.
Then he thought about the good qualities of his best friend Piglet, and everyone he cared about, hmm,
Piglet is very giving and loyal Kanga is loving and nurturing and rude is sweet and cheerful. Rabbit is clever and hardworking and owl is wise and helpful. Er is polite and humble, and even Tigger is well meaning and energetic. Of course, Christopher Robin has many good qualities, the best of which is how much he loves me,
who imagine taking away the unhappiness, any of his friends might be feeling and sending to them all the happiness they deserve. Finally, who even included everyone he didn't know, But certainly would care about. If he did, for all of them. He imagined taking and sending in the same way. After practicing a few minutes of taking unhappiness and sending happiness, he established his intention to act this way all day by reciting his caring kindness poem.
Today, I'll be the best friend I can be to everyone I see, including me.
Who knew that being kind to himself would help ensure that he could be kind to others. And even if he didn't do things perfectly, he would accept his shortcomings and forgive himself, whenever he could, he imagined taking away any unhappiness from himself and others, and extending the wish for happiness to his friends and all creatures, large and small.
This is from the places that scare you. By Pema children, as we practice, we make friends with our fears are grasping and our aversion, unconditional good heart toward others is not even a possibility unless we attend to our own demons. Everything we encounter thus becomes an opportunity for practicing loving kindness. Without an accepting and kind attitude toward ourselves, it's difficult to be caring and compassionate for others. In general we give ourselves a hard time, and have a hard time giving ourselves a break. When you make a mistake, instead of being negative toward yourself, make the positive choice to be kind, making friends with yourself makes you more available for friendship with others. So this is what in the Buddhist tradition in some are is in the Pali language, ancient Indian language called meta. And in Sanskrit called mytreat. It is loving kindness that starts with yourself. And that loving kindness is about wanting happiness for yourself and for others. So, the making friends with yourself, is really about accepting what we usually think of as good or bad qualities, but acknowledging and accepting the whole thing, so that we don't set up a battle within ourselves and punish part of ourselves and reward other parts of ourselves but, but see ourselves as, as a whole. Now, the practices, I'm going to read now are the formal practices that are the Tibetan word is Tom Len, which is a combination of two words, tongue and Len, and they mean sending, and taking. So that's why we referred to sending and taking, and, and we had poor doing a little bit of that sending and taking note. This practice is really intended more for experienced meditators. Although, it gets introduced early in sessions that when I, when I first teach meditation. But for kids, it's going to be more for the, the older kids to do that. The for the younger kids you just can do what pu is doing, and that is, think about all the things that you're unhappy. And imagine that you're changing them into happiness, forgiving yourself and forgiving others thinking of others and saying, you know, even little kids can say, Oh, he said, I want to imagine that I can take his sadness away from them and give them happiness and you know that we go right to Disney and sprinkle that pixie dust, you know, to, to make them happy. So I'm going to read now the caring kindness practices, caring kindness practice for yourself, begin today by sitting comfortably in a good upright posture. And if you want to do this along with us, that's fine. Good posture makes it easier to breathe fully and stay attentive. Gently close your eyes and relax any tension you're feeling. I'll leave some pauses for you to actually do it if you'd like. So gently close your eyes and relax any tension you're feeling.
Imagine a beautiful clear crystal in the center of your body at heart level. It represents your pure true nature. Say to yourself. My nature is goodness and I deserve peace and happiness.
Tune in to any negative feelings toward yourself, anger, sadness, shame and so on. Notice how and where you experience them in your body.
As you breathe in, imagine that all these negative emotions are gathered into the crystal and transformed into peace and happiness. As you breathe out, imagine that the crystal radiates that peace and happiness throughout your being, repeat the sequence for a few minutes. We won't do it for a few minutes but we'll do it for half a minute.
So that was the caring kindness practice for yourself. This is caring kindness practice for others. As you breathe in, imagine that all the unhappiness of your friends and family is gathered into the crystal in your heart center. Their suffering transforms into peace and joy. As you breathe out, imagine the crystal radiating that peace and joy to all your friends and family.
Then as best you can expand your gathering in and radiating out to a wider circle of beings, those you know, those you don't know, and even those who find difficult and end all, great and small,
you can conclude with these verses of aspiration from the mindfulness tradition. They all in every one of us have happiness. They all and every one of us be free from suffering. They all and every one of us have peace and calm. They all and every one of us, give and receive love. So that was the chapter called kind hearted and caring.
Chapter Five, aimless wandering. We are so used to trying to control what we do and what happens to us that it can be hard to let go, to shift from being the director to being an observer brings with it a sense of relief. It's an opportunity to notice what we're experiencing in the here and now. Something we miss when we're always looking toward where we're going next.
Whenever poo got up from his not thinking spot. He liked to spend the next little while taking a walk in the woods. He did it in a way that he called aimless wandering meant walking to nowhere in particular, with no aim of getting somewhere, he'd let his feet lead him, instead of listening to his thinking brain. Another part of aimless wandering, is what poo called just noticing that meant simply being aware of what's going on without going on and on about it. As he got ready to walk, who saw two pads heading into the woods. He wondered.
Which one should I take,
who started to feel a bit of strain on his brain. But then you remembered that there was no need for choosing in aimless wandering, no right or wrong way to go. What a relief. So he recited his aimless wandering poem.
And I say, Oh bother. It's just because I'd rather choose one or the other, it's true. Wandering without aim is the name of this game. So that's what I'm going to do.
As he wandered he's read his senses taking everything in the here and now. He'd see what there is to see here what there is to hear, smell what there is to smell and feel what there is to feel. Of course if some honey should happen to appear on the way to nowhere in particular, he tastes what there is to taste. All this would be done without thinking too much about any of them, who led his feet, pick the path. And just notice with wonder and curiosity, where they took him this way, every moment, held a new surprise and poo love surprises. He led all the sights and sounds and smells of the forest wash over him like a soft rain shower. The brilliant rainbow of colors, so many curious and captivating sounds, the delightfully intoxicating bouquet of smells, the soft moss underfoot cool and calming. The autumn breeze crisp and refreshing as poor walk thoughts sometimes popped into his mind, but he just noticed them too, and let them go, aimless wandering included his mind being aimless as well. That meant not judging or going on and on about what he was sensing and not letting his thinking brain start choosing where to go next. Now and then one of those choosing thoughts would show up.
Nice to head over to the big tree where I saw a beehive, the other day, to see if I can get some honey. Wouldn't it be good to visit with piglet. Wouldn't it be fun to see if Tigger and grew want to play a game of poohsticks.
As soon as he felt that his thinking brain was taking charge, trying to get him to get somewhere. It helped to recite his aimless wandering poem again. Then he would just go back to walking to nowhere in particular. You see when coo relaxed and settled into aimless wandering, he experienced everything more vividly. Not needing things to come out a particular way, he saw everything revealed in its own natural beauty. So I want to show you. Who doing that. Hang on a second. There we go.
That's his poem. Today I'll be the best friend I can beat everyone I see including me. And this is poor thinking about his aimless wandering, which road should I take his poem. And that's poor aimlessly wandering through the woods. Now, aimless wandering, is actually a practice that, that we do. Sometimes in retreats, we did it with Andrew when we were in Sedona, and it's, it's a very interesting practice to do, especially because it reveals tremendously. How much we do plan to get somewhere. And what it feels like when we just let go and see where our feet are going to lead us. A lot of these things about the perceptions, I'm going to read something after the next chapter about the magic of our perceptions. So now we go to the gray pages.
This excerpt is from the miracle of mindfulness by check not Han, if we're really engaged in mindfulness while walking, we will consider the act of each step we take as an infinite wonder, and a joy will open our hearts like a flower, enabling us to enter the world of reality, a miraculous and mysterious reality.
Walking mindfulness. Walking mindfulness, you still maintain a nice upright posture. However, instead of noticing the breath going in and out. Focus your attention on the sensations of your legs, swinging your legs swinging, and the placing of your feet as you walk. When you realize that your mind has wandered into a flight of thoughts just think back to here and now returned to focus on your posture and the movement of your legs and feet, without judging or criticizing yourself for becoming distracted, aimless wandering. To do this practice, You'll need to find an area to walk. It could be a park, a garden, a field of wild flowers, or even someplace like the 100 Acre Wood. It's best if you can avoid running into others who might engage you in conversation, set an amount of time to do your practice. If you have an alarm on your watch or phone it'll help so you won't have to keep checking the time. Naturally, you'll want your phone to be silent. Before beginning your aimless wandering sit quietly and practice a few minutes of grounding and mindful breathing, Then stand up straight and take a nice full breath as you exhale look around at all the aspects of your environment. An important part of aimless wandering is just noticing the practice of observing whatever appears to any of your senses. Without overlaying thoughts on it. Adopt an attitude of curiosity, as you take your first step. Be aware of any thoughts as they arise letting them come and go, you open to all your sense perceptions with a minimum of mental commentary or judgment. In the course of aimless wandering thoughts will come up to try to direct you one way or the other. It's actually part of the practice, to recognize that impulse to get somewhere, aimless wandering and just noticing require you to do nothing more than be an interested observer. It can feel awkward and difficult at first to take a backseat, because we're so used to being the director. But keep walking, just noticing where your body's taking you, and enjoy the journey. So that's it, that's the instruction in how to do walking mindfulness and aimless wandering practice walking mindfulness we traditionally do in between sessions of sitting. So you can have your seat, then you get up, and let's say you sit for 20 minutes then you walk for five minutes. Sit for 15 Walk for three or four minutes, that kind of proportion. In some traditions the walking is straight back, straight back and forth, you walk down for a particular length, turn around and walk back in others you walk around in a circle. In some traditions you're circumambulating the shrine that you're practicing in front of. So however you want to do it. The idea is to make it not the walking mindfulness during a meditation center is not aimless wandering. It's really focusing on your feet and legs and body as you move through the space, but doing it in a very contained way a particular shape, a particular path that you're walking, then the aimless wandering is well let it go, and, and that is what you mix with what we did what we do as environmental awareness or open sense perceptions. So as you as your feet are wandering through the space, you let your mind wander through the sense perceptions. Something attracts your vision something attracts your hearing. You feel something in the ground as you're walking you feel the wind, your mind can you smell it's come through a lot. You can feel all that. And in your aimless wandering. You can even, well we'll talk about it, you can even encounter something that you want to taste. Just be really careful about what it is you're tasting know what you're tasting it, and if you want to practice the tasting, it's probably safer to bring a little something with you and we'll talk about that as we go.
Chapter Six natural magic. There's magic in the myriad displays of the natural world. Let your senses be open to the full experience of the present moment. When you can dissolve your attitude of separateness from what you're observing, you'll, you're able to see the patterns of nature in a new way.
As his aimless wandering to poo into a clearing room appeared from the other side. Hello. Hello, Drew.
What are you doing,
it's actually more like what I'm not doing. I call it, aimless wandering.
What's that,
it means going nowhere in particular.
Well that's where I'm always going.
And just noticing, whatever I find in the here and now, without thinking on and on about it
to me too. That sounds. That sounds like what I already do every day,
or what you don't do.
It's both. I call it play.
Well, my aimless wandering ran into you. So that's aimless meeting. Why don't we do not doing together.
Yes. Let's play together,
and off they went hand in hand to nowhere in particular, just noticing what they found with curiosity and wonder, you know, when I am just noticing, I feel like everything is new.
Me to me too, but then to me most everything is new, because I'm kind of new myself,
I suppose, just noticing gives me new eyes and new ears, and some words circled around unchoose mind, organizing themselves into a newness poem for my little friend room. Everything's new. When I am just noticing. It's new for me too. As they came around a big tree. A flock of birds took off, and made patterns in the sky. They all move together so precisely that they seem to be connected. It was like a banner billowing this way in that in the wind.
Oh, look how beautiful.
Oh my. They're dancing in the sky. walking on they passed a little brook bubbling along over the rocks. The sound was like a soothing melody. Ah, listen. How lovely.
I hear it humming a little song.
The to watch the silver ring dragon clothes shimmering in the sun, sails across the water surface. A few came to land on the dark moss that carpeted either side of the brook. A small clump of mud, suddenly came to light. Hopping after a Dragon flight crew pointed to it gleefully watching as it hopscotch down the stream. It was actually a tiny brown and green frog that had come out to play. A brisk breeze came up and blew the treetops back and forth. And now the trees are swaying to the melody, two leaves were blown from a branch at the same time. Look, they're in a race to see who can get to the ground first.
I like the red one.
I'll take the brown one. Let's see which one wins.
Go read get ahead,
no brown hurry down leaves floated and guarded. One racing on then pausing for the other to catch up until they landed at exactly the same time.
Oh, I
ruined pooch shouted together as they wandered on it seemed a coup that when he could be more like room. The wood was continually performing for him. It was all part of a curiously magical delightfully surprising and wonderfully joyful display. How much better when everything you experience feels new. It is the ordinary magic of seeing sights and hearing sounds with new eyes. new ears, and an open heart. Now, before we go into the gray matter. I wanted to tell explainable something that story, it may it may have some familiar familiarity to you about the leaves racing coming down. We were inspired to write that Nancy and I from a poem by a mill. And before I read the poem. I was thinking now when did I first hear about that poem. And it turns out that I heard about it from my teachers book shamballa the Sacred Path of the warrior. And I want to read a couple of passages from that, that talk about perception and magic. Because that's the title of the chapter in this book is discovering magic, and the title in our book is natural magic so, unbeknownst to me, subconsciously whatever they appeared together
sense perceptions are regarded as sacred. They are regarded as basically good, they are a natural gift, a natural built of natural ability that human beings have. They are a source of wisdom. If you don't see sights if you don't hear sounds if you don't taste food, you have no way to communicate with the phenomenal growth at all. But because of the extraordinary vastness of perception, you have possibilities of communicating with the depth of the world, the world of sight. The world of sound, the greater world. It is possible to go beyond to let vastness, into our hearts through the medium of perception. When we draw down the power and depth of vastness, into a single perception, then we are discovering and invoking Magic by magic, we do not mean unnatural power over the phenomenal world, but rather the discovery of innate or primordial wisdom in the world as it is us have access to tremendous vision and power in the world, you find that they are inherently connected to your own vision your own being, that is discovering magic. We're not talking here about an intellectual relevation Revelation, we are speaking of actual experience, how we actually perceive reality. The discovery of magic may come as an extraordinary smell a fantastic sound of vivid color and unusual taste any perception can connect us to reality properly and fully when we see things as they are, they make sense to us the way leaves move when they're blown in the wind, the way rocks get wet, when there are snowflakes sitting on them. We see how things display their harmony and their chaos at the same time. So we are never limited, but we appreciate all sides of reality properly. There is some principle of magic and everything. Some living quality something living something real is taking place in everything. Now, there's another place that talks about this, and that is in the Japanese tradition of the kami K M II, and they are. There's a variety of meanings to the word kami I did a little bit of research on it. And sometimes they're actually embodied beings almost like demigods. They're spirits. Sometimes they're human beings that have becomes died and become spirits. But what we, the kami that we're talking about here are the living energies that are experienced in what we usually think of as inanimate objects. So they give this animation to the trees, the trees are dancing. The clouds are playing in the sky, are playing tag with each other in the sky that they give them almost, almost human qualities. And so that is kind of appreciating the living quality of the environment. You know, now in this time of climate crisis and the environment. Reconnecting with that is so important, that's, that's an important element in, in our book, and, and it's also an opening to a deeper connection with perceptions that reflect back, reflect back to our inherent wisdom. So perceptions can open up a door. I think actually, I'll just Huxley wrote a book called The door of perception. It was about going a little further, but we're talking about through meditation. And that is opening up these perceptions and a bigger sense of reality a bigger sense of the world, rather than this duality of me versus the world, for and against. So Trumper me Shea said continued many stories and poems written for children, describe the experience of invoking the magic of a simple perception. One example is waiting at the window from now we are six by a mill. So I wanted to read that poem to you. Oh, I forgot, here's the, here's the picture of Ruth and poo in in the walk in our walk in the woods book. Watching the leaves racing.
Sorry, I'm, I'm no more up on my screen sharing here. But here's our poem, waiting at the window. These are my two drops of rain. Now, this is about a child's use sitting in the window on a rainy day wish he could play outside. And you can see this illustration, looks a lot like poo in there. These are my two drops of rain, waiting on the window pane. I am waiting here to see which the winning one will be both of them have different names. One is John, and one is James. All the best, and all the worst comes from which of them is first. James has just begun to ooze. He's the one I want to lose. John is waiting to begin. He's the one I want to win. James is going slowly on something sort of sticks to John. John is moving off at last. James is going pretty fast. John is rushing down the pain. James is going slow again. James has made a sort of smear. John is getting very near. Is he going fast enough. James has found a piece of fluff. John has quickly hurried by James was talking to a fly. John is there and John has one. Look, I told you. Here's the son. So, this is the lovely magic that a child actually thinks that the, it's so connected with the environment. It says if John, the one raindrop landing first is what brought the sun out. And it's such a wonderful childlike experience of the world. So I want her to share that, that race between the raindrops was the inspiration for Nancy and me, writing the story about cool Andrew watching the race between the leaves. So man do you want to continue this in our gray matter,
okay. This excerpt is from Zen is right here, David Chadwick editor. I stood on the bridge overlooking the creek. It was a beautiful fall day, the leaves on the trees were all vibrating and alive, and I could see energy coursing through everything. Zen master Suzuki Roshi came by looked in my eyes and said, state exactly like that. When you see one leaf falling, you may say, oh, Autumn is here. One leaf is not just one leaf, It means the whole autumn.
Seeing see your broad field of vision, as if you were looking at a landscape and your eyes were wide angle lenses look at the display of colors, shapes and shades of light and dark. Can you see the patterns in a flock of birds, passing by, or in the shapes of the clouds, then focus on details, the intricacies of a leaf or flower. The colors and movements of an insect, the grains of sand or clumps of clay in the soil does everything you see create an inter woven tapestry of visual experience hearing. Listen carefully, for all the varieties of sound. They may range from high end trill to deep and low from so loud so you can hear to so soft. It's barely audible. How far away are the sounds are there echoes echoes echoes echoes, listen to birds and animals for all the different notes. Are they melodies. Do they just repeat or subtly change each time. Does everything you hear create a symphonic performance. Magic ruse childlike quality opens up to the magic of the natural world grew already sees everything that way. A flock of birds is a banner floating in the wind. It's not that you make an unmanned vehicle world suddenly magical. That's really important. It's not that you make an unmanned vehicle world suddenly magically, you're not pretending it exists, naturally, what you're really doing is removing your overlay. Removing what you superimpose on things the way that I'm, I'm coming away from the book now. But, but really what you, how you limit your perceptions, by your assumptions and your preconceptions and, and your expectations, rather than a openness low in Zen tradition they call it a just don't know mind. What whatever appears can be greeted with a sense of wonder, as of experiencing it for the first time in the Tibetan tradition they say encounter all your perceptions, the way a two year old child does when they walk into a meditation hall, and, and then the Tibetan tradition, the meditation halls were just awash with all sorts of colors, gold statues and and banners and they used a lot of primary colors, brilliant, brilliant colors with amazing things, and the two year old goes in and goes, Ah, and there isn't, I want that or I like that or I don't like that it's just like, wow, they are wowed by the display. Can we walk in to a room, walk outside, walk anywhere, just whatever is, is the next thing we perceive, can we be wowed by the display, or are we going in, in a limited limiting way whatever appears can be greeted with a sense of wonder, as of experiencing it for the very first time, thoughts, such as I like this but not that, or I want one of these and not one of these are not child like but child ish, a self involved self centered reality. When we judge something we are separate from it. We're over here, what we're thinking about is over there. However, when we're truly childlike, we go beyond a sense of separation, we feel totally absorbed in the naturally magical display. It isn't just air moving the trees, we start to see the trees dancing with the wind. The birds aren't just calling and cooing and squawking they're singing and chatting and arguing with each other. The brook isn't just water currents, it's babbling and humming while it's running and jumping around and over rocks and sticks clouds gathered themselves into familiar shapes like shadow puppets on the wall, formed by the hands of magicians. Those are the alive qualities of the magical natural world, and we can wake up to realize that we are part of it, and it is part of us.
So, if you have any questions. Oh, someone was asked me know the page please but I didn't. I'm sorry I didn't see the chats, I was completely absorbed in the reading these, these were the chapters, I hope you were able to find them. The three chapters we did were kind hearted and caring aimless wandering and natural magic. So if you have any other comments or questions. Oh, Barry posted something nice about the Shinto and Kami way so have a look at that in the chat box, and thank you. Gerald for answering. Oh, you were, oh Selena was asking about the Shambala passage Yes, in the Shambala book, if you're if you have that and you wanted to look, it's right, it starts right around page 100 And the chapter. but that's it, that's my paperback copy. So thank you guys for doing the background on the Shambala book. I should have mentioned that page sorry about that. I'm missing things today I must be very excited. I love this. I love this stuff and I've been working on a book of the Shambala teachings and, and this is really the in the Shambala tradition they call it drala, which is kind of the Tibetan version of kami. Dr. A LA, and, and that that page that chapter discovery magic is where that concept is introduced in the Shambala book page about around page 100
And you're welcome to make any comments that that you've had in working with these things, anytime you want. Okay.
I think we have a question.
Good. After the question I also wanted to introduce my friend Victoria Bennett and I'm going to let her unmute and we've been working together on a program using the book to work with families, so I'll have her talk about that a little bit. If you don't mind Vicki. So, the question you want to read it now.
Sure. How does perceiving things this pleasant, unpleasant and neutral tie into natural magic if at all.
You want to start that one then.
No, I'll let you take it away.
Okay, so that's, that's an interesting question the perceiving things as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. That is connected with one of what are called the five skandhas, this is S KNDH A is Skanda it's Tibetan for, I think it's Tibetan might be Sanskrit. Actually I think it's probably Sanskrit. For a heap. And the idea is that our, our momentary experience of ourselves because we keep changing moment to moment, it says if we get re, it's almost like at each moment, who we are, dissolves and disappears completely. And we have to we reconstruct ourselves really fast. For another moment we reconstruct ourselves so fast that it's sometimes referred to as a simultaneous progression. They go 12345 But it's there happening almost simultaneously. And that is the first sense that, that there's a first sense of a duality, and a first sense of I and other and then at a certain point, there's a perception of. And this is what Lori's referring to. Positive, negative, neutral, then, then as we get a little more developed, it's like, I like it I don't like it. I don't have a feeling about it which is kind of the attachment and aversion versions, you know it's it's kind of our reaction to pleasant, unpleasant and neutral. So this is an arising, that happens as part of our separating ourselves from experience. So the way this works is you don't reject that arising, say, Oh, I'm having a pleasant feeling about this. And now you have two things going on. I have what I'm experiencing what I'm sensing and the pleasant feeling about it. So acknowledge the pleasant feeling, and then let that go and see if he as best you can let that go and just say, What am I experiencing without the pleasant, unpleasant part. You know, you, you might lift up the lid of the garbage can. And you go who. Okay, so that first moment, it's unpleasant. And you acknowledge and you say, Oh, hmm, what did what was my reaction crinkling of the nose, and turning away, interesting, be interested in your reaction, and then say, what if I can be, don't do this if it's a dangerous smell please. But, you know, it was just like old socks or, or, or, you know the the wrapper from the fish that you didn't read that you put in there, the old can of tuna fish. That's a beauty. The old Canada tuna fish go. Okay, what is that smell, and just smell it for what it is rather than the overlay of how you feel about it. So it's an opportunity to explore those things, neutral, that's easy. So the natural magic is that and what does it say in the tune of Canada's saying, Don't Don't leave me in here so
France me out first
three out first. So, so these are all the messages with a sense, then sense of humor is the most important thing.
I hope that's helpful. Laurie is that helpful. Do you want to chime in.
She's saying it's helpful.
It's helpful Okay good. There it is. She didn't chime in, she typed in. Okay. So, just want to take a minute for Vicki. I'm going to ask you to unmute yourself. So, I gotta see if I can find this picture. If I don't have it now sent another time Vicki, Vicki, Vicki and I met at a get together at a Dharma friend's house, and she fell in love with the Winnie the Pooh book. She's been teaching. I'll let you, I'll let you say what you've been teaching, and you saw and you saw the connection between the two. And until COVID hit, we were putting together a program for the Santa Barbara, but it's Botanical Gardens right gardens to meet with families, read the stories together, and then I would she would then take the kids on a nature walk, and I would teach the grown up, the parents and grownups, some meditation practices and that was our program was going to be we're going to do it sometime. So, Vicki, say hi.
Hi everyone I'm Victoria Bennett, known as Vicki. The kids call me Miss Vicki and I have a new dog. Her name is mismatch she's named after my grandmother Mrs Mac, but when I was in a neuro summit about two months ago. I'm trying to educate myself more on the workings of the brain, and anxiety. The last speaker spoke about. Let's just get outside and play people. So my work as a orthopedic massage specialists for 24 years, I've also worked in a lot of school classrooms, I come from an education family.
The concept of bringing more tools on board to families, parents and children, and educators in this time, in which we know the number one killer Roby depression. Such great opportunity to be outside in a park setting with families and teachers. So the concept. When I met Joe, um, I had just been to the Christopher Robin movie with my nine year old niece and Christopher grows up in a very chaotic world and he's driving his one daughter towards academics. I got in the car with my nine year old niece, and I said Peyton. What was the message of the movie. And she said, when our brains do nothing. It creates something, that's when I knew. Brilliant. When I returned back to Santa Barbara, I, a friend of mine said how did the trip go, I said one of the highlights was spending time with Peyton. And we went to the smoothie. She said, Well, my friend wrote this book. A couple weeks later, I got to meet Joe and I asked him, Do you have any interest in getting this in education, to teachers into families. He said, You better believe I do. I said let's do this. So as a body awareness, educator, I've been helping people with their own repairs hips, knees, shoulders, and the awareness that until we get in trouble with our own bodies, we have no clue with the workings of the body. And now is the time to get more information. In simple terms, and in play to our children, our parents or teachers is such an opportunity to grow and make a real change. I do call my own body, the classic car, and working on the auto body of the classic car is such an A invaluable, time, energy, and so important as we navigate forward so there's great opportunity for everyone, and I'm very excited to be bringing forth. This book, your work. Wonderful to meet you today, Nancy. Thank you. And
thank you, Vicki,
mindfulness is in the schools. more from a comedy standpoint, but creating clarity in the moment, how to use the pause in between the workday especially for teachers, I have a huge circle of friends of teachers, and we desperately need it. I can say I just want to comment, I'm done some individual family picnic programs, we're going to move to group as well. The children have an opportunity to bring a bear one. And I there, I'll just give as I end here. Quick comment about a little family. I asked the daughter seven years old. What's your bears name, she tells me the name and I said well does it have a story, and she said yes this was my mother's bear, and it's over 40 years old, and mom said, Honey, I'm not 40 yet, and the six year old I said now. This was our little brother. Tell me your bears name. Oh, his name is just bear. So does he have a story, no it just sits on my shelf in my room. So our roots, our family legacy. Winnie the Pooh. As you mentioned Drow at the beginning. Number one, love bear as I talked to parents, on all kinds of parents have stories about Winnie the Pooh even a dad spoke about how he always wore a red sweater to school.
Yeah. You know what, Vicki, I'm gonna share something with everybody watch the.
Hang on a second. Here we go. Oh, I'm trying. Oh, here it is. There's Vicki in her robe. Her Winnie the Pooh boots. Thank you, Vicki so much for, for talking about that and and and Ricky mentioned she mentioned the paws and how important the paws are and I said, and that's, that's really important for the bear too. So that's, that's where we're going with the bears bar so thank you breaking so much that was so
that that was Mackey, Miss Mac and my dog's name is Mackey, why not be a little wacky it's very important. And thank you, you've done a fabulous job today and looking forward to continuing to be your student, and to move forward and helping to be a teacher as well.
That's great, thank you. And, and Andrew added something in the chat which I want to read, which is really beautiful. The magic arises in the very first instant in techno speak that sensory direct valid cognition. That's techno speak from the ancient Buddhist tradition of pramana it, which is it sacred pure magic. the profanity arises in the second moment. So first moment is direct perception. That's the magic. Then we do the overlay, but we can let go of the overlay, and go back to that first moment, because the first moment is happening all the time. How long is the first moment, a moment, an instant. In a certain sense, no time at all. Any other comments or questions.
I'm going to put the poem up again because I love it so much. Hang on one second here.
And for people who didn't see last time we had a. These are all the, the old drawings and the original Winnie the Pooh. And where Winnie the Pooh, originally came from. And here we are. the leaves blowing and the rain coming down.
So thank you everyone. Appreciate your attending the this class, and we will continue next Tuesday. If you have the Walk in the Woods book. What we're going to do next Tuesday is we're going to go further with exploring your senses. And what's encountered as we do that, and, and starting to encounter others as we explore our senses. And then, who's gonna run into Piglet, and that's going to be fun. So thank you all so much. Appreciate it. And I'm going to stay on if anybody has any other questions or comments, you can stay on Andy Can you unmute everybody. Yeah, I
can do that.
Yeah, we'll do that so we'll just hang out, I'm just gonna hang out for a little bit. Come along, and, and we can chat just jump right in.
Hey, Joe. Hey, I just want to say I took your suggestion last night.
