Please introduce yourself
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Hello!
My name is Olivia (Liv)
I live in SoCal
Right now I am most grateful for hitting 45 and having an opportunity to reevaluate my life and what I want to prioritize. My daughter. And coffee.
I hope to bring more discipline and willpower to my life (change my undisciplined ways!)
My practice is very on and off.
Three most important books: for me, authors more than books – Tolstoy, Shakespeare and Keats have been very influential in my life!
Three most beloved recordings: I would say movies/art/music – the movie Schindler’s List, paintings by JMW Turner, music of the 18th C Romantics.-
Hello, I’m Denise in SW Washington State. Hmmm, right now I am most grateful for a few days in a row of feeling more comfortable in my body. I hope to change my relationship with meditation. I have almost exclusively been using live or recorded guided meditations in recent years and I want to change that. I want to practice silent soft-eyed sitting upright meditation. That being said, my practice is alive and well AND ready to change (or so I tell myself, lol). Most important books that come to my mind in this moment: The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton, The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, and anything by Austin Kleon. Most important recordings: my father’s morning audio texts wishing our family a day of M & M (Magic and Miracles!), my “cover” of When I’m 64 (The Beatles), recorded with original lyrics to reflect my father’s life and presented to him on his 64th Birthday many years ago. Interesting- two father things. And lately, The Waltons!
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Hello. I’m Ginny from Cincinnati. Right now, I am very grateful for my home. I just moved into a little pink house two weeks ago. Previously, I’ve lived with my daughter and her family, which was lovely for a while until I realized I needed to be on my own, and definitely needed to shorten my commute. The move went well, I’m 15 minutes from work, and the little house is set up nicely. I even have a shrine set up in one of the rooms I share with art making. My favorite books are any by Pema Chodron. Right now I’m reading Mozart’s Starling, a delightful book about the author, Mozart, and starlings, which are the most despised birds in North America, who knew?? At night, I often listen to deep relaxation meditations on the Plum Village app. I love coffee and dark chocolate. 🙂
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My name is Susan Devillier, and I live in Laurel, Maryland. I am most grateful for my family, (which includes two daughters, their husbands, and my five grandchildren) my friends, and my Buddhist path that continues to teach me about gratefulness. I hope to continue to grow so that I may fully accept what life tosses out to me. This is proving to be quite the challenge!!! My practice is consistent; however, it has varied over the years in content and the way it presents itself…did it happen every day? …heck, no!!!!…but it is truly the best friend I’ve ever had, and everything goes better in my life when I spend time with it.
Important books? …well, the most important magazine article I ever read, was one that introduced me to Susan Piver and the OHP. That one literally changed my life and the lives of my husband and daughter, both of whom are now members of the OHP. But I’m also currently reading a series…25 books so far…where the main character is teaching me about kindness…this imaginary woman is so kind and I find myself reflecting on her actions and noticing how her modeling of kindness reverberates in my life. It’s poignant. But I’ve found for me, whether it be fiction or nonfiction, any book that opens up, a new way of looking at things is my favorite book.
Beloved recordings? I have a few recordings of the voices of much-loved people in my life that have passed. These are incredibly precious although I find I cannot listen to them often…too poignantly painful. But I love music….and listen to all types, depending on my mood. Classical music seems to do the trick for me most times… 🙂
I’m so glad that I’m taking this course, Susan…..and thank you to my Sangha course group as well ! 😊 -
Sue May here, from Eagle River, Alaska. I’ve been an OHP member for about ten years, and have recently determined that sharpening my practice and understanding are a needed “tune up” at this time in my life. I recently participated in the Buddhism Beyond Belief course, which was excellent – I’m still contemplating many of the teachings. Right now I’m most grateful for elements of daily life that we taken for granted: clean, available water right at the tap; steady electricity (Spain, maybe not so much) when we push a little plastic thingy with prongs into holes in our wall; the ability to have “stuff” such as cars, a house for shelter, roads on which to drive, access to food and necessities; and other people in our world, known or unknown.
My practice is steady, 20 min. a day, sometimes shikantaza (Zen), sometimes breath awareness, in front of my small shrine, using the daily OHP prompts. It feels steadying, it feels as essential as brushing my teeth or putting on my watch. Even better, when I have the opportunity to meditate on zoom with Sangha, the miracle of a gathering around the world being together in the ether is golden.
Favorite books are hard to pin down. Any of the Louise Penny mysteries, my little e.e. cummings poetry collection from high school, Gift From the Sea – all inspire and bring joy. Favorite music – a tough question to narrow down, since mood and circumstances often bubble up different pieces. Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen (especially the Brandi Carlile version); Imagine by John Lennon; Turn Turn Turn by CSNY are all favorites (and make me cry). There is a special place for Coltrane as well.
So that’s some of me. I’m happy to see familiar faces in this group.
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Hello, my name is Ana
I live in Denver
What I’d like to change is spend more time in the “liminal space” and beyond 🙂
My practice is about 15 min a few times a week and can easily fall to the back burner when other things come up. I want to incorporate Sangha into my practice to help me be more consistent and also deepen my practice.
Beloved recordings that come to mind are: Leonard Cohen’s in London & Dublin; most anything by Lila Downs.
I’m excited to be here! -
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Hi, my name is Tracy. I live in San Jose, California. Right now, I’m very grateful for these courses with Susan, the community I’ve found here, and my meditation practice, which has been very regular for the past few months (and irregular or even occasional over many years). What I’m hoping to change right now is a tendency to battle against myself in my head; I get a little lost and I can’t figure out how to find my way out. I’m pretty sure the answer is letting go. But it’s hard sometimes.
I don’t think I could ever choose just three books, but I’m reading four now, albeit very slowly:
-Eat to Love (A Mindful Guide to Transforming Your Relationship with Food, Body and Life) by Jenna Hollenstein
-Roaming Free Inside the Cage (A Daoist Approach to the Enneagram and Spiritual Transformation) by WIlliam M. Shafer Ph.D.
-Look, Look, Look, Look, Look Again (Buddhist Wisdom Reflected in 26 Artists) by Kevin Thomas Townley, Jr.
-The Path of Individual Liberation by Chogyam Trungpa
(Please don’t recommend any books to me because I will buy them and add them to this list. Did I mention I’m an enneagram 5?)Most beloved songs: Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers, How Can You Mend a Broken Heart by Al Green, Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd
I’m happy to be here, though I’m not sure I’ll ever make to class in person because it starts at 3pm my time, and I’m teaching my own class (high school) until 3:30pm.
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Hi – I’m Monica from Austin, Texas. A new member to this sangha and happy to be so. I’m so grateful to be alive in this moment and to have a loving husband and two daughters, my cat and dog. Also grateful for my practice : so needed in our time. My husband taught me TM (Transcendental Meditation) in the 70’s when we met. Practiced that many years that also meandered through Jewish meditation and I landed in a Zen practice in Austin to follow a teacher named Flint Sparks.
I’m now involved in an Insight meditation sangha. An important part of my practice has involved retreats at Tassajara and Spirit Rock in California well as many, many online retreats with Gil Fronsdal during covid and continuing today. I also went to Drala Mountain Center last summer and found out about Susan who was teaching at the same time and am going back to be with her this summer:). I meditate every day- 20- 40 minutes at various locations in my home- mainly my study which has my main shrine.
I would like to develop more patience and a better ability to listen well.
Music is super important to me and some favorites are:
Blue- Joni Mitchell
Tracy Chapman orig. album
What’s Going On- Marvin Gaye
I’m a lover of many kinds of books too. The World According to Garp and The Hare in Amber come to mind.
Looking forward to meeting you all. -
Hello! My name is Catherine, and I live in Bath, Maine.
Most grateful right now for insights I attained at Susan’s Kripalu retreat a few weeks ago, which prompted me to have some very difficult conversations with my boss. As of yesterday, it looks like my work life is going to get a whole lot better because of this.
I hope to change my reactiveness. I’ve been covering two full-time jobs for 15 months, and small, irritating things are feeling like huge, end-of-the-world things right now. Between the conversations Friday and yesterday and focusing more on meditation – and putting a complete stop to skipping the gym so I can have more time to work – I hope to change and transform into a better and less reactive version of myself.
My practice. I lead a guided meditation for our office every day, and I lead a guided meditation for my older nephew every Sunday morning, so my practice mostly consists of meditating around prompts for others and watching the clock. When I returned from the Kripalu program a few weeks ago, I set up a Buddhist shrine in my living room, and that has helped to make my individual practice more consistent.
Three most important books: (As someone who has always turned to books for everything – self-help, research, escape, education, comfort, entertainment – I LOVE this question, and I cannot wait to read the other responses!)
1. Snow Hunters by Paul Yoon – During an excruciatingly sad time in my life, I read this novel several times. It’s quiet and simple and elegant. It calmed my heart, and it made me feel like everything would be okay in the end.
2. 11/22/63 by Stephen King – I heard about a county jail in my community where there were inmates wanting to read, and the jail didn’t have any books available. The first book I donated to the jail “library” was this book, because it’s long, it’s an engrossing page-turner, and you forget where you are when you’re reading it. It made me so happy to think that this book was being read by someone who maybe really needed it, I started sending more books, and more, and more. This jail now has 175 books that I’ve donated – thank you ThriftBooks.com – and I filed Articles of Incorporation last week to start a nonprofit solely devoted to providing county jails across Maine with books. I’ll always be a volunteer, but when I’m incorporated I can apply for grants and get donations. Soon, I’ll be able to do far more for the jails than what I can on my own.
3. A Kinder Voice: Releasing Your Inner Critics with Mindfulness Slogans by Thérèse Jacobs-Stewart – I don’t know about anybody else, but my inner critic used to be an unrelenting asshole. Really mean. This book was a big piece of the puzzle that transformed my inner critic into a quieter, less intense, more situational asshole.Three most beloved recordings:
1. Wild Thing by The Troggs – When my niece and nephews were 4, 8, and 10, this song came on the radio, and I had them singing and dancing to it. Maybe 4 years later, my younger nephew asked me to come to the school for ancestor day, and he wrote about why I was an important ancestor. It was partly because I taught him the best song in the world, “Wild Thing.” He’s now 19, and we still do our thing with Wild Thing: I ask, “Nate, why do I love you?”, and he says, “Because I’m your wild thing, and I make your heart sing, and I make everything groo-vay.”
2. Menuett from Unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007 played by Yo-Yo Ma – My favorite piece of classical music. I could listen to it as a loop for days.
3. Anything by Stevie Ray Vaughan – I had a group of friends after college that got together every weekend, and some weeknights, and we always had music playing. Stevie Ray Vaughan was a favorite for all of us, and his music now makes me think about the fun nights we had hanging out and listening to his music. -
My name is Lauren Hodson. I live in West Michigan.
Right now, I’m most grateful for springtime, sunny & warmer days, new green growth, and the company of family.
I hope to be more content with all of who I am, all the experiences of life and to allow them to flow and change.
My practice is going okay. In starting this course, my hope is to reinvigorate my practice and to rekindle my passion and devotion to the path. I can feel this already.
My favorite books are “The wisdom of a broken heart” by Susan Piver ~ a lifesaver as I’ve currently been going through a painful breakup with a long time partner. So deeply grateful for this offering.
Another is “Belonging Here: A guide for the spiritually sensitive person” by Judith Blackstone.
And, thirdly, to bring a little lightness into my list: all the Harry Potter books 🙂My favorite recordings are yoga nidra meditations, a talk by Kamala Masters on dharmaseed called “inner beauty and the two guardians of the world”, as well as Carrie Newcomer music and May Erlewine music.
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Hello!
My name is Kathy deRosas.
I live in Oakland, California
I am most grateful for my partner Sohrab, family, and friends.
I want to change my ability to experience magic. As an artist, I know it is there as I experience it in my studio. I want it to expand into my daily life, and I want my aggression to diminish.
My practice is steady. I sit every day for 25 – 30 minutes. I am interested in sitting every day for half an hour and on the weekends, an hour. I am struggling with timing before work. I want to be more disciplined.
At this moment my favorite books are Lila by Marianne Robinson, Evidence of Things Unknown by Marianne Wiggins, and The Heart of Compassion by Dilgo Khyentse.
My favorite recording are Clair de Lune by Debussy, Funk, and Stevie Wonder.
Thank you -
Greetings. My name is Patty Sundberg and I live in Towson, MD (Baltimore) with my wife and cat. Today I am grateful for being able to spend this day being quiet after a very full weekend. I have been a part of the OHP Sangha for a little over a month now. I was a member a few years ago for a short time when I didn’t really know what I was looking for but it feels very different this time. Like maybe I’m finally home.
As a retired librarian, I have a hard time naming three favorite books, but I’ll try. My very favorite book is Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet. I found the book the day after my best friend died and it changed me. I now re-read it every year on the anniversary of my friend’s death. Other’s are Original Blessing, by Matthew Fox, and The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle.
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Hello Susan et All
My name is Suzanne Pretten. I live in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
I am grateful for my health (78 & no meds for anything!) and that I am surrounded by loving family and friends.
I want to give more time to my practice and just the first class has ignited my spirit. I meditate best in the morning but hoping to establish a consistent evening time as well.
Books I love? Oh my -soo many but currently inspired by On Freedom by Timothy Snyder, On Becoming an Alchemist (your recommendation,Susan) and currently revisiting Daniel Ladinsky’s Love Poems from God.
I read poetry daily and I am very grateful for the insights on lineage as it has broadened my thinking on that topic.
I cannot imagine my life without music.I play piano, poorly, so I mostly listen to recordings, classical, jazz, voice,-eclectic play list!
I am so fortunate to have my striving
supported, uplifted and guided fir these four weeks. Thank you all.
Namaste 🙏🦉 -
I am Celeste and I live in a wonderful neighborhood in Chicago where 52 languages are spoken at the school up the street. I am most grateful for my family and my relatively good health. I hope to change by following a meditation ritual. The other questions I need to think on.
I am glad to be with you in this class and I am looking forward to seeking out the favorite books and recordings you have shared.
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Hello.
My name is Veronica Haberkost. I live in Pittsburgh, PA and also spend some of the year in Ontario, Canada and Port Richey Florida.
I am most grateful for my puppy, Andre and his successful recovery of fracture repair surgery.
I hope to change the stuckness of my heart. I don’t feel much joy. I think many reasons have contributed to this including abandoning my practice. I am hoping to reignite both my practice and my heart.
My practice is very slowly beginning again. I am approaching as a beginner.
Most important books? One is Cafe at the End of The World. It is an interesting book but is special to me because I read it to my brother on his deathbed in the hospital. Another book that is important to me is The China Study – it started me on my Whole Food Plant Based Journey and Plant Based coaching.
And the 3rd book is Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior. I had tried many forms of practice before connecting with this book and Shambhala.
I have several recordings of classes taught by my teacher, Adam Lobel that I hold dear to my heart.I am glad to connect with this sangha and am looking forward to being in community with you.
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Hi all,
I’m Rhett Huber from Atlanta, GA (she/her). I’m so happy to be part of this group study. I’ve been reading Susan’s book on the Enneagram and finding it as amazing as this course content 🙂
Also very much enjoying the breakout groups, to get to know some like-minded folks from various places. Thank you all.
My meditation practice grew out of my yoga practice initially. Then I found some books including Three Pillars of Zen and of course Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind so I gravitated to that practice, doing retreats over time and connecting with our local Zendo. I have also sat with practitioners from other lineages and found much value there as well, including our local Shambhala Center where I met you, Susan, when you were here probably 2011-12 or so, visiting in support of your book, I think. You gave a teaching in the Center’s beautiful shrine room.
I’m looking forward to our topic tonight about sorrow (and anger and fear) – so much to work with right now especially.
I’m grateful for the extra bit of patience that seems to be arising (and which I sorely need as I am not naturally a patient person) as I deal with my sick kitty, who is doing well but who requires daily administrations of food and this and that supplement and fluids in his journey with kidney disease. He is doing pretty well, so far.
What do I hope to change? As I’ve been contemplating this question over the past week, I found a pretty long list (!), but for this writing am landing on my relationship with myself.
Again, very grateful for this opportunity!
Gassho (deep bow)
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