South Ocean Sangha

Friends,

Our regular, weekly mediation practice resumes this week on Zoom. We will gather on Zoom at 9 a.m. on Saturday, September 11, 2021. In-person sessions remain suspended. The classes are freely offered and open to all. Beginners are welcome. If you are interested in mindfulness practice and would like to join our sitting group, please contact me at [email protected].

May all beings be happy.

Whether you are practicing mediation regularly or you have put your practice on hold, the place to start is where you are now. Simply bringing awareness to this moment, to this very place, as a new start is sufficient to begin again. Every moment of mindfulness is an opportunity to practice being gentle with ourselves. And in so doing we have the chance to soften our edges, lighten up a little, maybe even learn to drop the storyline we are telling ourselves at the moment. And that’s where the heart can open a little, and wisdom just shows up like sun shower on a hot day.

Our regular Saturday morning mediation practice resumes on September 11, 2021. We will be offering an in-person gathering AND an opportunity to participate via Zoom. If you would like to be on our mailing list please and learn about this meditation practice group please send an email to: [email protected].

As social distancing remains a fact of daily life here on Long Island and around the world, our weekly meditation sessions continue on Zoom. Sessions are held on Saturday mornings at 9 a.m. (EDT) and include guided meditation with time for dharma reflection and practice questions. If you are interested in joining us or learning more about our meditation practice, please contact: [email protected].

May all beings be happy and peaceful.

Dear Friends,
The South Ocean Sangha continues its regular practice this week by conference call. If you are not on our weekly email list, please send me a message with your email address and I will send you dial-in information. As we learn to stay present in this time of difficulty, may we each find a true refuge.

With metta,

Brian

Stress and Fear of Illness

Many of the Buddha's teachings related to illness. Not so much the treatment of physical ailments as the sharp arrows of suffering that accompanies illness, aging and death. In a time when there is much anxiety surrounding the spread of a dangerous disease in our world, there is much to call to mind. We are not without resources.

We can undertake on a personal level skillful actions to reduce the risk to ourselves and others of the spread of novel coronavirus. We also can remain awake to how fear, if not acknowledged, can run our lives like a herder moving animals as she chooses. When we recognized our heightened reactivity and increases in our craving for safety, we are, to just that extent, more free.

The sangha will continue, for the time being, its regular Saturday morning practice. We will practice together with safety in mind, maintaining reasonable distance, refraining from handshaking.

Besides our individual responsibility to follow preventive measures (such as hand washing for 20 seconds, not touching your face, coughing into your sleeve, etc.,) as meditators we are called upon to stay centered and skillful, particularly in difficult times.

This is what Jack Kornfield had to say earlier this week to the Spirit Rock Community:

"The need for the Dharma is stronger than ever. We can choose to live in our fears, confusion, and worries; or to stay in the essence of our practice, center ourselves, and be the ones on this beautiful boat of the earth that demonstrate patience, compassion, mindfulness, and mutual care."

May it be so.

Mindfulness, Insight & Compassion: three qualities of a fully engaged life

Summer Meditation Retreat
Dear Yogis,
I'm delighted to share the news that New York Insight teacher Jon Aaron will lead a one-day retreat on August 10, 2019 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the South Nassau Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Freeport, New York 11520. Cost is $25. For more information, and to register, please see the link below.

http://www.jonaaron.net/workshops/2019/8/10/mindfulness-insight-amp-compassion-three-qualities-of-a-fully-engaged-life

jonaaron.net A Day of Practice hosted by South Ocean Sangha Mindfulness is a quality of mind most directly cultivated through meditation and through learning to turn toward our moment to moment experience with open hearted curiosity.  As mindfulness is established, Insight into the true nature of life

Dear Yogis, Please note that we will not be meeting this Saturday, April 20, 2019. Our regular sitting practice resumes in a week's time on April 27, 2019.

With warm regards,
Brian

Registration is now open for the Winter Meditation Retreat. This one-day retreat will be held on January 12, 2018 at the South Nassau Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 228 South Ocean Avenue, Freeport, New York. Space is limited and pre-registration is required. The cost is $25. If you are interested in attending, please contact Brian Larkin ([email protected]).

Looking forward to this day of practice together.

With metta,

Brian

What do we need to start a meditation practice? Some teachers point to a feeling of unrest, unease, maybe even a stronger negative feeling about the state of our life. Others speak of courage, curiosity, a willingness to wake up. In any case, regardless of what inspires us to begin to meditate, regardless of what we think we can do or can't do, we simply need to show up.

Our regular meditation practice resumes tomorrow. Beginners are welcome. May this time of practice together be for our benefit and the benefit of all living beings.

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Dear Yogis,

Our regular, weekly practice resumes this Saturday, September 8, 2018, at 9 a.m. at the South Nassau Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 228 South Ocean Avenue, Freeport, NY.

Thanks to all who supported and made possible our summer meditation retreat. This day of practice again showed me how by bringing good intentions and quieting our minds, we can look deeply into the very nature of our lives. It takes support, courage, kindness and sustained effort to taste the fruits of our practice. May the benefits be shared with all beings. I look forward to our return to regular Saturday morning meditation sessions on September 8, 2018 at 9 a.m.

Metta,

Brian

Dear yogis, Our summer meditation retreat takes place this Saturday, August 4, 2018. There is still some time to register and only a few places left. A one-day silent meditation retreat is a chance to put some self-compassion into practice and to support others as they cultivate the skill of mindfulness. The event is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and takes place at the South Nassau Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Freeport, NY 11520. This event is free and open to all. To register or to inquire about our sangha, please email: [email protected]. With metta.

Refreshment for the Heart

The South Ocean Sangha will hold a one-day meditation retreat on August 4, 2018 from 9 am to 4 pm at the South Nassau Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 228 South Ocean Avenue, Freeport, NY 11520. This event is suitable for both beginner and experienced meditators, and will include seated, walking and guided meditation. The event is free, but, as space is limited, pre-registration is required. For more information and to register, please email [email protected].

The sangha concluded its last session of the season this morning and we are now on summer break. Many thanks to all who created "brave space" in our sangha and shared their practice this season. The sangha had quite a ride, through the embodied nature of meditation practice, our winter retreat with Dr. Pilar Jennings, Spring Awakening at Molloy College and our last series of classes on deeper states of concentration (samahdi). It's been an excellent season.

I also want to lift up gratitude for the South Nassau Unitarian Universalist Congregation, which provides this practice group with a home. The teachings and the classes are freely given and given for free because of the generosity of the congregation and its desire to support spiritual arts and practices on the South Shore of Long Island.

Our regular meditation practice will resume on September 8, 2018. We are still looking to confirm a date and location for a summer daylong retreat and I will contact everyone on the email list as soon as we have further information. If you are not a member of the sangha, but have interest in the retreat, feel free to contact me through this page.

May the practice of this community benefit all beings. May all being be blessed with happiness, and may the happiness of all being only increase.

With metta,

Brian

Sharing gratitude with fellow sangha members who participated today in Spring Awakening 2018 at Molloy College. What an inspiring day of talks and reflections on the way.

Meditation is not so much about self improvement, but finding the perfection that is right here in this very moment.

Our regular sitting practice continues this Saturday, February 3, 2018 at the South Nassau Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 228 S. Ocean Avenue, Freeport, NY. at 9 a.m. Newcomers are welcome.

"We should plague everyone with joy"

- Swami Satchidananda

“Simplicity, patience, compassion.

These three are your greatest treasures.

Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.

Patient with both friends and enemies,

you accord with the way things are.

Compassionate toward yourself,

you reconcile all beings in the world.”

- Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

Our regular sitting practice continues this Saturday, October 14, 2017 at the South Nassau Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 228 S. Ocean Avenue, Freeport, NY. at 9 a.m. Newcomers are welcome.

Dear Yogis: Teaching at South Shore Zen on Sunday, June 17, 2017 (8:30 a.m. at Molloy College, 1000 Hempstead Avenue, Rockville Centre, NY, in Kellenberg Hall). Nice chance for zen and vipassana practitioners to come together and appreciate the many paths to awakening. -- With metta, Brian.

"Meditation practice is a way of making friends with ourselves. Whether we are worthy or unworthy, that's not the point. It's developing a friendly attitude to ourselves, accepting the hidden neurosis coming through."

- Chogyam Trungpa

Dear Yogis, Our regular meditation practice resumes on September 9, 2017. We will meet at 9 a.m. in the religious education wing of the South Nassau Unitarian Universalist Congregation, located at 228 South Ocean Avenue, Freeport, New York, 11520. Beginners, and anyone wishing to maintain a beginner's mind, are welcome. Feel free to share this information with anyone who would care to join us for a mindful hour.

South Ocean Sangha

South Ocean Sangha's cover photo