This site is dedicated to my to the Action Research Project I am doing for my UMKC Masters program.  I’ve been working with a group of four children and their parents to study the “The Effects of Children with a Daily Meditation Practice on their Home, School, and Social Spheres” find out more here… http://effectivechildrensmeditation.wordpress.com/

Over the past twelve years, twenty-three women have made the trek to St. Benedict’s Monastery in Snowmass, Colorado! Most of them were already friends, but every year a friend of a friend hears about how much “fun” we have meditating and hanging out, and they want to attend! When you haven’t seen a dear old friend for a while, or even a year, the reuniting time is full of hugs, love and laughter. We are short on silence, and long on stories. Great chefs abound, and the communal kitchen has tempting healthy smells filling up the space. It doesn’t take long to settle in the cozy chapel, grab a shawl, hear a good word, listen to the bell ring three times, and nothingness takes over.

And so it is back home. We are greeted by loved ones, we are enticed by a fabulous supper, and we are good at sharing stories of our day, with the folks who love us the most. After the day settles, it is time to get cozy, grab a shawl, and ring the bell. It is not so much we need to imitate the meditation retreat, as we want the meditation practice to become part of our daily lives.

May we be drawn to the silence together, and be one with this moment.

“Everything you always wanted to know about The Love Challenge”                    but were afraid to ask”!

Please join us for The Love Challenge. The day you begin is the perfect day! Here are the directions for a successful month with our Sangha and meditating at home. Feel free to contact Janet or Peggy by email with any questions, comments, or concerns! We are excited to journey with you, meditating on Sunday as well as at home. Email us at: janet@templebuddhistcenter.org, or peggy@templebuddhistcenter.org.

* Take home a calendar and post it somewhere easy to access.

* Record time, and one word that might arise, like Wow, Hmmm, or What?, and any other word like sleepy, irritated, happy, bored, or no word at all.   We are practicing being mindful and aware without judgment or preference.

* Bring the calendar back to TBC on Sunday, March 3^rd, (no matter if you did it one day or 28) and our Sangha will celebrate downstairs with cookies, tea and coffee after our meditation! Party!!

* Peggy is finishing up the last of a Masters Class in Instruction, and she will use the Anonymous data for her action project at UMKC. (It has never been recorded by a Temple to take this type of challenge, and so you will also be making history!) She thanks you tremendously, as her Professor has been meditating for 20 years, and is curious what we can accomplish at our Temple Buddhist Center!

* Finally, the benefits of meditation are endless, for us as individuals, families, or any illness troubling our inner core. It has proven to calm children down who are hyper, (as well as adults who are stressed!) and has quieted down patients with a range of diagnosis that insures a more positive outcome. Here are a few;

Did YOU know that Meditation is scientifically proven to:
1. Overcome stress (University of Massachusetts Medical School, 2003)
2. Boost your creativity (Science Daily, 2010)
3. Improve your sex life and increase your libido (The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2009)
4. Cultivate healthy habits that lead to weight loss (Journal Emotion, 2007)
5. Improve digestion and lower blood pressure (Harvard Medical School)
6. Decrease your risk of heart attack (The Stroke Journal, 2009)
7. Help overcome anxiety, depression, anger and confusion (Psychosomatic Medicine, 2009)
8. Decrease perception of pain and improve cognitive processing (Wake Forest University School of Medicine, 2010)
9. Increase your focus and attention (University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2007)
10. Increase the size of your most important organ – your brain! (Harvard University Gazette, 2006)
11. Connect families in a loving, calming and powerful way no other gift offered by our society will! (Mulvihill, practicing meditation with children and families for over 20 years.)

Each Sunday in February our meditation children will be offering gifts of love so you will be encouraged to continue with meditation at home.  We will also offer the calendar on line so you may print off a copy for a friend!

My spin teacher said today, “It takes some pressure to make diamonds” so I say, let’s do this together, and celebrate our efforts. We can motivate ourselves again and again to allow ourselves to be happy right where ever we are at this very moment.

Join us on Saturday, February 2, from 10:00am-4:00pm, at Temple Buddhist Center, in Unity on the Plaza. (47th and Jefferson, KCMO)
We are beginning an experiment in KC, to respond to Newtown, sorrow, life, joy, family drama, and homework with LOVE!! RSVP with any questions or comments. Meet you in the silence with art, games and thoughtful mindfulness.

If you have been bike riding this winter, like me, I am sure this cold snap has you somewhat surprised! -25 in Steamboat Springs, with only 5 degrees in KC. Interestingly enough, the cold has a way to slow us down. Hopefully we are spending more quiet time at home. With the month of love approaching us, (Happy Valentine’s Day!) we are setting off on an adventure! Please join us, as we begin meditating 5 minutes a day with our family, called the Love Challenge! Get ready for a time of reflection, rejuvenation, and FUN with the family in a new way!

Time for all of us who labor to take a break. Breathing in the goodness of this day, breathing out all the work that awaits us. Being true to ourselves takes courage and bravery. We know inside our being what we really need right now, so let us go forth and do that. Maybe it is sitting on the coach with a good book, visiting family in the graveyard, or having a picnic in the park after it cools down.

Possibly it is a day full of naps, bubble baths, and strolls around the neighborhood. Do nothing. I encourage it. And in the midst of your brain expanding into what you need at this moment, stretch gently, breath deeply, and know you are loved and honored. Thank you for being alive and a laborer of love.

Today is Saturday, and for many of you it is finally a day to rest, relax and rejuvenate. For teachers, summertime is the space for us to catch our breath, if you will. I am finally realizing every day can be Saturday, if I remember to align my daily goals with my innate sense of goodness. My friend, Janet, is leading a study on “Happiness”, by Matthieu Ricard. Since I teach the children meditation while she is teaching the adults, we have been sharing amazing conversations and insights about the idea of happiness. What does it mean to you to live with the true balance of being happy, moment by moment, in your life? I am excited to learn better skills to settle in and savor each breath of this wonderful life I have been given. So, my question to you is this: What makes you happy?

Happy Good Friday. Kind of an oxymoron if you want to believe in the good of this day. They say Jesus was put on a cross to die for 3 hours today, and it is important to remember the days in our lives are all meant to bring out the good in each one of us, and the good in all of humanity. My favorite quote today is this; “Always maintain a joyful mind.” Pema Chodron re frames the statement. She says “Have a sense of gratitude to everything, even difficult emotions, because of the potential to wake you up.”

I am looking for the good in the not so good in this day. Careers and life can throw us some curve balls in what we “thought” our future was going to look like, and then we realize we can create something new out of the rubble. It has been awhile since I communicated through this space, and want to know how you are doing out there. Are you struggling to find the good in the bad, and coming to the place where they simply co-exist at times? Can you believe that “this too will pass”? The uncertainty of jobs, people, and gas prices? Well, sit with it, and allow it all, the good and the not so good, to wake you up!

A joyful mind is found in meditation and awareness. Will you join me for a sit? I will meet you in the peace and calmness of the moment right here, right now.