Dominic Young

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Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 64 total)
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  • in reply to: Week 3 Essay #81868
    Dominic Young
    Participant

    Dear Tricia, I love your essay! Short, sweet, simple, and profound at the same time. And with a little humour to boot. Thank you. I am happy to be in this class with you.

    in reply to: Week 3 Essay #81867
    Dominic Young
    Participant

    At first, I thought this would be an essay that I could write with little difficulty, but as I approached it, it became much more challenging than I had originally figured. I have many teachers with whom I would love to have a close, open, and honest conversation. It became overwhelming in a way to choose one in particular. I considered many teachers I have encountered in My life as a Buddhist, in my life as a Baha’i, and my life as a Christian. I was born and baptized in the Catholic church, so I considered Jesus. I took Refuge in 2021 as a Buddhist, I considered Padmasambhava as I feel a close connection to him and his teachings and Tibetan Buddhism. I became a Baha’i, so I considered Baha’u’llah one of the two main figures of the Faith. Many others ran through my mind as I considered this essay.
    Then as I sit here writing this essay, the one teacher that I really want to speak to is my very first teacher. My Mum, who passed away in 2017. Though I sort of speak to her all the time, I’d love for her to be here in front of me to have a real conversation together.

    Me: I Love you and miss you, Mum.
    Mum: I know you do, but I am always here with you. I Love you and always will be with you.
    Me: I know I am on the right path for me, but how do I gain deep confidence in myself?
    Mum: You are on the right path. I have watched over you and am certain that you have found your “calling”. You just need to begin and Trust yourself that you are on the right path and will be able to meet any challenge that comes up. You can borrow my Trust in you until you can feel it within yourself. You know the right and next steps to take inside, do not overthink because that is just your mind(ego) trying to keep you safe. Let go of that because I am here to keep you safe. Be bold my son.
    Me: Thank you, I Love you. I will borrow your Trust in me until my Trust in myself grows stronger because we are within each other. I will do my best to stop overthinking and take the actions I need to take to have the best life I can. I will let go of the past, be present, make the decisions, and take the actions to create my future.
    Mum: I know you will. You have a kind and gentle heart and you get that from me, I raised you to be this way. You will do good things in the world, this I know. I knew you were special to me as soon as I gave birth to you. Show up for yourself and others with your kind heart and things will work out well for you.
    Me: That means everything to me, Mum. I thank you for giving me my life and for saving my life because of the strength of your Love for me, even when the doctors told you I wouldn’t survive after my birth. You have given all this to me and now you have given me the gift of confidence in myself. No words can describe the Love I have in my Being for you.
    Mum: No words are needed. I already know and feel this Truth.
    Me: Are you truly proud of me?
    Mum: Absolutely! You are my special son. So, go out and live your best life and make a kind impact on the world.
    Me: I will for you and for you Trust in me. I will Trust myself from now on. You are always with me. I Love you.
    Mum: I love you too. I am always within you. Whenever you need me, look within and you will find me and you will find yourself.

    in reply to: Week 2 Essay #81866
    Dominic Young
    Participant

    Karen, I love your honesty! I appreciate that you felt that creating a shrine was “daunting” and that you realized that it can be “a work in progress”, as everything in life actually is. I love that you are open to having a dedicated space for your practice. I am happy to be on this journey with you.

    in reply to: Week 2 Essay #81865
    Dominic Young
    Participant

    Hey Barb, your shrine sounds so beautiful and so deeply personal to you. I love how you have so many very personal objects on your shrine. I am sorry for the loss of your son, my heart goes out to you and I hope you are healing in your own way. I can feel, in your words, how special your shrine is to you. I am glad you are open to adding making offerings and requesting blessings to your practice. I am happy to be in this class with you.

    in reply to: Week 2 Essay #81864
    Dominic Young
    Participant

    Hey Amy, I love how you say; “made something click into place for me”! It is amazing how Dharma seems to just seep in and make something “click” within ourselves, it is very beautiful that you have found a personalized practice of making offerings and requesting blessings. I love that you are open to exploring ways things that you felt were “inaccessible” to you can become part of your practice in a way that feels right for you. I am happy to be in this class with you.

    in reply to: Week 2 Essay #81817
    Dominic Young
    Participant

    My experience of making offerings and requesting blessings at this point is more in my heart and my mind at this point. I have plans to make a couple of shrines but don’t have what I want to put on my shrines at the moment. This is, in part, due to financial reasons to be able to purchase some things I want to have on my shrine, and partly because I don’t have a car to drive to places to acquire the things I want to put on my shrine. This I will assemble over time I am sure.

    So, at this time I offer myself, my mind, my heart, and all the crazy & cool “stuff” that is going on in my life. My emotions, all of it I offer when I open my practice and begin to sit and take my meditation posture. Then, as my lineage is of the Kagyu and Nyingma, I chant at the beginning of my practice. I chant The Four Dharmas of Gampopa, The Seven-Line Supplication to Padmakara, The Supplication to the Takpo Kagyu, and then The Heart Sutra. I request blessings from all of the great teachers who went before me, to the Universal Consciousness, to Buddha Nature. Which is no different than my own true nature and everyone’s true nature.

    Then I sit for around an hour. After sitting< I dedicate the merit, and then get on with what I plan to do for the day. All I really know is; that when I do my ritual, my day seems to flow or go better or more as I planned. And even in those occasional times that it doesn’t, I tend to be able to be with whatever happens. I was going to say something else, but I think that sums it up; if something goes sideways, I can “be with” what happens better when I practice my ritual and meditation in the morning, I don’t overreact to it, I respond to it, but I don’t seem to spiral in any way. When I don’t practice my ritual and meditation in the morning, which isn’t very often, as I have a pretty regular practice, I just feel as if something is a bit off or different or something. Things just don’t seem to go as well and I am less myself or centered or whatever one might call it.

    My ritual and practice is deeply personal and important to me. I feel it.

    in reply to: Week 1 Essay #81814
    Dominic Young
    Participant

    I love Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s writings and teachings as well! You will likely enjoy Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism as well. I love your phrase “I find this simultaneously terrifying and liberating.” Beautiful perspective, funny how that is how reality is; seemingly different and similar at the same time. Simple and yet complex. I am happy to be in this class with you!

    in reply to: Week 1 Essay #81813
    Dominic Young
    Participant

    I love the simplicity of your response to this week’s essay! I am happy to be in this class with you. I know we will all benefit from the class and from being in it with each other.

    in reply to: Week 1 Essay #81812
    Dominic Young
    Participant

    Hi Karen, I love how you keep “coming back” to meditation throughout your life. It seems it has a deeper meaning for you that wants to be expressed in your life. It’s like the practice itself, continually “coming Back” to the breath. I am glad to be in this class with you and on a similar journey. I too started meditating in my 20s, but left only to come back years later.

    in reply to: Week 1 Essay #81671
    Dominic Young
    Participant

    How I see the Three Yanas in my personal meditation practice and my life is an amazing question to explore. I don’t really see them as showing up separately in my practice and life, they are inextricably bound together in my practice and life, but I will endeavor to separate them for the purpose of examination. It is a wonderful characteristic that things are both separate and not separate at the same time, I believe that is a part of the magic.
    I see the Hinayana in my practice and life as the foundation of everything, where it begins, without this foundation, it is very difficult to move forward or make any “progress” on any path you are on, both in sitting and in life. In my meditation practice, I see the foundation in my personal discipline to meditate daily in the morning and the evening, at least 20 minutes each time. And spend a few minutes after meditation contemplating my practice and some aspects of Buddha’s foundational teaching of the Four Noble Truths. I also practice morning and evening chants as part of my foundation to ground my meditation into my Lineage and protect my practice. This also goes along with my life beyond the “cushion”, in that I have a daily routine or foundation so that I can best try to have a day that is “good” and “productive”, whatever that means on any particular day. As well as a night routine to have a good sleep as much as possible to help my body be as healthy as possible (doesn’t always work, lol).
    The Mahayana shows up in my meditation practice at the same time because I am not only practicing for myself but to show up as myself in service to others. My practice, I hope, allows me to be more me, so that people I interact with can relax and do the same. On the “cushion,” I do practice Tonglen regularly and Loving Kindness meditation practice to benefit others. My practice always starts with me, but also always emanates outward to benefit all sentient beings. At the closing of my practice, I dedicate the merit so that whatever comes up in my practice can have some benefit to all beings, which is very important to me. In my life the Mahayana shows up in my life purpose, my mission, to be the best coach I can be and to help as many people as I can. In my coaching business and my life, I am always trying to be awake and of service to others, it is a way of being for me, and I do my best to help those who want my help. The Mahayana shows up in my mission to reduce the amount of depression that is showing up in the world today, especially in men.
    Finally, not finally, the Vajrayana shows up in my practice and my life “off the cushion” in indescribable ways that I, most of the time, do not notice until after the fact. That is the magic of it really. I know that my day seems to go “better” when I meditate in the morning and not as well on the odd day that I do not. I don’t think that is a coincidence at all. During my practice I have had rare times when something “different” or “magic” happens, not sure what it is or how to describe it, so I won’t. I have had insights during my meditation practice which is awesome and likely comes from being open to it or being “empty” to whatever comes up. In my life, I am certain that the Vajrayana has and will continue to show up. I am certain because I know that this “magic” allowed me, in some unknown way, to heal from depression. And I came across the practice in a mysterious, coincidental, not coincidental way. One day I was delivering flyers and saw some monks practicing walking meditation, and for some reason, it sparked something inside of me to reach out to them later that day. The Vajrayana “magic” is real and in my life.

    in reply to: Welcome! Please introduce yourself. #81548
    Dominic Young
    Participant

    Hello, everyone. I am so grateful to be a part of this course and to be with and learn from all of you! My name is Dominic Young. I’m 54, and I live in Nova Scotia, Canada. I am a life coach who is at the beginning of my coaching business journey. I have been a student of Buddhism for many years and took Refuge with my meditation teacher and “spiritual friend” Lodro Sangpo in 2021. I just graduated from Susan’s Meditation Teacher Training program and am here in this course to deepen my practice and to deepen my understanding of the Dharma and how it relates to my life on a daily basis. I hope to learn and grow personally and to then be able to share the Dharma with others more fully and authentically. I am open to learning and challenging myself and my thoughts always. So, happy to learn and engage with all of you!🙏

    in reply to: Week Ten Essay #80203
    Dominic Young
    Participant

    Hey Kelly, thank you for your contribution to this week’s essay question. I am struck by your first line: “Heightened, humble awareness of (and comfort with) what I don’t know.” So powerful and the beginning of all learning and teaching as well. I am certain that you are an amazing teacher because of this gift, and all of your other gifts just add to that one quality. I can appreciate your want to be able to give and be “enough” in giving meditation instruction. I am sure that the first line of your essay will serve you well in giving meditation instruction. I am honored to have been on this journey with you.

    in reply to: Week Ten Essay #80175
    Dominic Young
    Participant

    Thank you Susan for this essay topic, which can itself be a challenge. At least there was a time in my life when I didn’t want to talk about myself, either about my gifts or my challenges. I am sure that I am no different than most people in this. But I have grown a lot in the past number of years and this training has helped me grow even more, so I really appreciate you for allowing me to be a part of this training.

    My particular gifts as a teacher are that I am open and really can be present with people and truly listen to them without listening to respond. Allowing people to truly feel heard and seen. I am naturally curious, always wanting to learn more and upgrade my skills which benefits my students as much or more than it does myself. Also, I have, for as long as I can remember, wanted to be of service/benefit to others. I have always been told that I have a kind energy and feel about me by many people and that, I believe, allows me to be the best teacher/coach I can be for those whom I am serving/teaching. I tend to see the basic goodness in everyone I encounter. I am honest and will not “sugarcoat” things when necessary.

    Challenges as a teacher, I have plenty. My biggest challenge is “imposter syndrome”, not unlike others have mentioned here. I have the idea in my head, false or true, that people I am teaching/coaching have more and better knowledge/skills than I do, and sometimes ask myself, “Why would they listen to me?”. Or “Do I know enough?” runs through my mind. Another very big challenge is, that I have difficulty with public speaking. I get very nervous in front of a sizeable group, I have no problem with one on one or a very small group though. Public speaking is something that I have to work on and practice. This really comes down to fully trusting myself and preparing as much as possible before I would give a talk. I have a challenge, when nervous, I tend to forget some things or rush to “get through it”. I just need to slow down and use my meditation practice to help me be at my best, but not have to be perfect.

    I am grateful to Susan for having this training, allowing me to be a part of it, and assisting me in finding a way to join this invaluable program. I am also very grateful to all the other students in this program. I am so happy and honored to be on this journey with every one of you!

    in reply to: Week Ten Essay #80174
    Dominic Young
    Participant

    Thank you Karen for your honesty and openness in your essay. I really can relate to your challenge of “imposter syndrome”, mainly because I too have this particular challenge. So, I can appreciate the stress you feel, at times when you teach. The fact that you overprepare is a strategy that benefitted your students. I am sure you are an amazing teacher and now have more resources to help you become an even better teacher for your students. I am happy to have been on this journey with you.

    in reply to: Week Nine Essay #80122
    Dominic Young
    Participant

    “I am right here with you and also completely alone”. Such a short and profound statement! I love how this happens in the context of the teacher/student relationship and also in the coach/client relationship. I am definitely no different than my client, but I am in the seat as their coach to guide them to their own answers.

    There was a particular time when I was in a session with a client I was coaching as part of obtaining my coaching certification. A couple of days before the session, I had a terrible argument with my girlfriend and she was not talking to me since this argument. This made me feel hurt and confused as to why she would not want to resolve this and talk it over. And I know that she too was hurting over the argument. This was weighing heavily on my mind as I had this session with my client. I didn’t want to reschedule as we already had scheduled and the time frame was tight.

    Before the session, I was able to pause and meditate for a few minutes to be fully present and then to be fully there with my client. In some unknown and mysterious way, we had an incredible session. My client was very happy with the insights he had with my guidance. I, in some way, was able to be there with my client and also be completely alone with myself in my hurt over the argument with my girlfriend. Not only my hurt but the feeling that my girlfriend was also feeling hurt.

    I was feeling happy and sad at the same time if that is possible. Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t, but that is how it felt at the time. I believe it was my meditation practice that allowed this to happen as it did. Maybe that is what is meant by non-dualistic. I don’t know. I do know that my girlfriend and I talked later that evening and discussed our thoughts and feelings. We made up and are still going strong. So things went surprisingly well even though it didn’t seem that it would at the beginning.

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