Intuitive Art Studio

Going forth
Join us this Sat 4/30 9 PDT/18 CEST/19:30 IRDT for our last session before we go offline for a short while to plan future offerings. All are welcome. Share. Ask for link.

This week in Sitting Together Group, Shawn will offer a short talk and guided meditation on the inter-being of being a human Earthling. We will start with an expression of gratitude for our beautiful planet Earth, and then we will explore and honor both the deep pain that is present, as well as the possibility of awakening active hope.
“Active hope is waking up to the beauty of life on whose behalf we can act. We belong to this world.” -Joanna Macy

Join us Saturday April 23, 2022 at 9 am PDT/ 10 am MDT/ 12 pm EDT/7 pm Kuwait
Ask for link

April is the cherry blossom season. Much treasured in Japan, the Sakura flower symbolizes spring, the beauty of nature, renewal, and the impermanent nature of life. By recognizing the transience of every moment–how you will lose this moment when the next arrives–you can learn to handle that loss in a more positive way. Once you accept the passing of all aspects of life, like that of youth and good health, you’ll take better care of the present.
Rooted in Zen Buddhism, ichi-go ichi-e embodies the philosophy that every moment spent in an encounter should be highly treasured, for it will never occur again. Every single person you meet can change you: "Some encounters plant seeds that take root over time, while others change the course of one’s life in a single moment." You and every other human are unique. Each person acts according to the stage of personal growth in which they are at the moment. The meaning of an encounter is revealed when you are fully present in an interaction; each of you will have something to teach each other, and possibly add value to each other’s life. The beauty of our journey is how we meet the present moment, and not what we believe will come from it. Ichi-go ichi-e, this moment is the best of your life!

Please join us this coming Saturday April 9 10am MST. All welcome
DM for zoom link.
Part 3 of our Resilience Series, introduces the Wise Mind - You Have a Choice.
Current thinking in philosophy, psychology and neuroscience mainly agree with the Buddhist thesis: that there is very little free will unless we train the mind. Through the development of a mindfulness practice, we learn how to be mindful in the present moment, and to see and accept reality without delusion and judgment. Part of the power of mindfulness is that it allows us to make wiser choices—the ones that lead towards living a more healthy, meaningful and fulfilling life.
"When we are no longer able to change our situation, we are challenged to change ourselves, everything can be taken from a person, but one thing can not be taken, the last of the human freedoms, to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose ones own way"
Viktor Frankl, Man's Search For Meaning.

Here are three areas of training mindful communication: The first is presence, the ability to be here in our body in wholehearted way. The second is intention, the knowing where we're coming from in a clear and helpful way. To say what we mean, we must first know what we mean. To know what we mean, we must listen inwardly and discern what’s true for us.
And the third is training our attention to focus on things that matter.

There are many helpful intentions we can have in a conversation—to come from the heart, to collaborate, to be patient, to stay open to new perspectives, to be curious, to lovingly hold our ground. One of the most powerful and transformative intentions is the genuine intention to understand, which can build trust, good will, and mutuality— which is the whole point of communication.

Join Uschi Mueller and Sitting Together Meditation Group this Saturday

Communication is such a basic part of life, but so often in conversations, especially difficult ones, we find ourselves derailed by emotions, defensive, unable to stay focused on the authentic message of what others say, and we may either lash out in anger or turn away from further discussion. In this week’s drop in session we will continue looking at relational mindfulness through the lens of wise speech and deep listening.

“When we connect with our highest intention, we learn to see with the eyes of compassion and everything becomes more workable.”
— On wise speech and deep listening, from The Wise Heart, by Jack Kornfield .

Ask me for more information and zoom link

Becoming aware of our body, our experiences, and our emotions is critical for creating space between what we experience and how we respond. The benefits of awareness can be broadened to include others. When we bring our full attention and awareness into our friendships, marriages, and work relationships it’s “relational mindfulness,” says Zen teacher, author, and activist Deborah Eden Tull. By being more fully attentive to each other, practicing her 9 principles, we can love and understand each other more completely. Mindful awareness is key in nurturing the spaces between us. When we are in tune with those around us, noticing others and having compassion toward their experiences can expand our ability to have more meaningful relationships. “One of the hallmarks of exceptional relationships is the extent to which we each feel known by the other. We may feel intimacy, trust, familiarity, acceptance and support; we may feel love. We feel seen. We can be ourselves instead of spinning our image. And all of these depend upon knowing and being known." Carole Robin PhD

Taming Anxiety -a talk and guided meditation with Pam Hauck this Saturday 9 am PST.

Drop-ins welcome
Donation based

Between stimulus and response – there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom - Viktor Frankl

Join us on Saturday @ 10am MST
DM for zoom link - all welcome

Our Sitting Together Group’s one year anniversary coincides with having a special guest teacher this week. Ziyad Almurad is joining us from Kuwait. Ziyad is a qigong instructor, life coach and motivational speaker with a focus on the cultivation of well-being through self inquiry and personal development.

There is a yearning we have inside to explore all that is seemingly limitless, yet we hold on to narrow and limiting ideas about ourselves.
Ziyad invites us to go beyond the labels we attach to ourselves to uncover the radiant being that we are.

Our group's one year anniversary coincides with having a special guest teacher this week; Ziyad Almurad is joining us from Kuwait for a talk, meditation and discussion. Ziyad is a qigong instructor, life coach and motivational speaker with a focus on the cultivation of well-being through self inquiry and personal development.

This Saturday’s talk is an invitation to go beyond the labels we attach to ourselves to uncover the radiant being that we are.

We are all a part of something far larger than ourselves. And we are essential to its functioning, to its doing what it is designed to do. And it is essential for us to be. Living in widening circles, we are mutually dependent. We need to live life on purpose, with that in mind!

The poet David Budbill implies such mindful presence when he speaks of this shining moment in the now, “when I am every day all day all body and no mind, when I am physically, wholly and completely, in this world with the birds, the deer, the sky, the wind, the trees … this shining moment in the now, devoid of mental rumination.”

As our sitting together group nears its first year anniversary, we thought it would be a good time to return to the basics of mindfulness practice. Just like when building a house, mindfulness practice requires laying down a solid foundation. The ability to gently let go of what ever is currently distracting us and begin again is really the bedrock of cultivating presence.

The art of beginning again is also an opportunity to review and renew our daily practices so that we might live in harmony with our deeper intentions.

Drop in and join Shawn McSweeney for our weekly chat, guided meditation and discussion. Saturday 2/19 9 am PST. Ask for link…

Drop in Meditation Saturday Feb 12 9am PST  Building Resilience through Mindfulness
 
An individual’s resilience is dictated by a combination of genetics, personal history, environment and situational context. Research has found the genetic part to be relatively small.  The good news is we can learn to be more resilient. How?
 
Join us on Saturday Feb 12 to learn more.  Meditation and Talk by Pam Hauck

Drop in with Uschi Mueller and our Sitting Together Group, Saturday 2/5 9 am PST for a chat and guided meditation.

In an era of uncertainty and unpredictability,
these qualities will make life easier:
a strong determination,
a willingness to keep growing,
the patience to listen to your intuition,
the ability to adapt to unexpected changes,
knowledge of what strengthens your inner peace,
knowledge of your values and the ability to stick to them.

the future will thank you for listening to your intuition,
for upholding boundaries that supported your inner thriving,
for saying no to things that did not align with your values,
for taking the time to build your self-awareness,
and for staying true to your vision.
-yung pueblo

Saturdays 9 am PST
Drop in sessions
On Zoom
Welcome!

With deep respect for our beloved teacher Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh who passed away peacefully on 22nd January, 2022, we invite you to join Shawn McSweeney and our Sitting Together Group online as we celebrate his life and legacy through practicing together “The three Earth Touchings”. This practice gives us the opportunity to deeply experience the reality of interbeing across space and time. Saturday 1/29 9am PST. Ask for link.

Saturday 1/22 9 am PST drop-in and meditate withUschi Mueller: Mindfulness-based Ethics--Cultivating Values and Virtues for a Well-Lived Life
Life and time sweep us along. How can we steady ourselves, turn our “boat” in the right direction, rather than feeling like we are helplessly adrift? While conditions and situations change, “it's our good intentions that persist, our intentions flowing from our well of virtues and values, our ethics, precepts and spiritual principles that are true and real to us”. Says the Dalai Lama about ethics for a well-lived life: "If we truly desire to be happy, there is no other way to proceed but by way of virtue: it is the method by which happiness is achieved. And, we might add, that the basis of virtue, its ground, is ethical discipline."

Sitting Together Group - Saturday Jan 15/22 10am MST

Join us for a time of self care - coming home to yourself with love compassion and wisdom.

Reb Anderson writes in Being Upright, “All suffering is worthy of compassion.” That means that our own suffering too is worthy of our own compassion. Self-care might be a one-off event, but self-caring is a living practice…

When we take good care of ourselves, we help everyone. Joy and Happiness radiate from our eyes, and everyone around us benefits from our smile and our presence. If we can take good care of ourselves, we help everyone. We stop being a source of suffering to the world and we become a reservoir of joy and freshness.

Message for link.

Prana. Chi. Energy. Life force. Tapping in to our vital source. A talk and guided meditation with Shawn McSweeney, Saturday 1/8/2022 9 am PST. Ask for link.

With the use of the intention to PAUSE during the holiday season, to appreciate and celebrate times of joy, happiness, gratitude and connection but also appreciating the value of the PAUSE to bring spatial awareness to our responses to stressful and challenging times.

Join us with guest teacher Pam Hauck for chat and guided meditation. Sat 12/12 9 am PST.

See the good. Mirror the good you see. The place to start is right here, right now, with someone close by—see the good. Share what you see.

In this time of division and mistrust, in this time of family gatherings, in this time of protracted and widespread suffering:

This is a call to activate our ability to see the basic goodness in our fellow beings, to mirror the goodness we find, and to help heal our world.

Sat 12/4 9 am PST Talk and meditation. Please share in stories!
🧘🏽🧘🏻🧘‍♀️🧘🏽‍♂️🧘🏻🧘🏻‍♀️🧘🏿‍♀️🧘🏽‍♂️

Join us Saturday 11/27 9 am PSTOn finding equanimity and self-compassion when we feel overwhelm around the holidays. How can we practice holding life as it is with conscious awareness and full-hearted acceptance? In this session we cultivate equanimity to steady us as we meet challenging moments.

What is wisdom? How can we cultivate wisdom during our meditation practices?

Insight Meditation explained with a deep dive into cultivating wisdom.

Join us Saturday November 20, 9am PST for a talk on wisdom, followed by a guided meditation with guest teacher Pam Hauck

Self-inquiry is a process of self-examination and reflection undertaken with an explicit goal of increasing self-awareness, reconnecting with purpose and joy, healing from past trauma, and shifting toward healthier patterns of behavior, especially in regard to interpersonal interactions.”

-From Self-Inquiry for Social Change Leaders By K. Milligan & J. C. Walker

Join us Saturday 11/13 9 am PST for an inquiry into ethics, followed by a guided meditation aimed at developing stability and ease of heart, mind, and body.

Nice to be live again after nearly two years.

Gratitude and Generosity are considered foundations for a good life in many wisdom traditions. Both build and express connection: Gratitude acknowledges that everything we have is not only by our own effort, and this can inspire generosity. In fact, everybody alive today is alive thanks to the generosity of someone else.

Join us this Saturday at 9-10PDT for a talk, meditation and discussion. Contact us for the link.

This week, we have a guest speaker and fellow mindfulness meditation teacher, Pam Hauck from Canada.
Pam will introduce Neuroscience concepts into our Mindfulness practice.
Specifically how we bring positive states in our experiences and move them toward lasting traits in our brains. Join us
Sat 10/30 9-10am PDT dm for link

Want to cultivate patience?
Join us tomorrow. Uschi will lead us in exploring this theme followed by a guided meditation. Saturday 10/23 9 am PDT. Join us!

Can we allow things to be held in awareness without having to make anything happen? It turns out that it’s immensely nourishing to make the wise effort needed to cultivate mindfulness, while at the same time not striving to experience some special state of relaxation or well being -Just letting life unfold as is.

Join our growing international sangha. Saturday 10/16 9am PDT for chat and guided meditation