RED MAPLE/PEACEFUL MIND ~ UPDATE JULY 6

Here are details on our latest program:

1. Our next practice at Akashaloka is Saturday July 11. This is two rounds of sitting.

2. Next practice at Aniccaloka is Sunday, July 13 and 27th from 8.30-10.30 am at the Marguerite Centre on MacKay Street, across from the Pembroke Hospital.

3. The Pembroke Peaceful Mind is taking a summer break. Watch for new location and start-up in September.

4. Peaceful Mind in Beachburg continues on Tuesdays at 1.30. As of July 14 we will be switching to 3.30 start time.

5. The Renfrew Peaceful Mind group continues on Thursdays at 7.00 pm. We're planning a spercial evening in late July. Contact Ray or Kim for details


(click on image for larger view of locations and times)


from Akashaloka,
Ray Innen Parchelo

DAY OF MINDFULNESS IN MAY

Change Your Mind is our 10 week/30 hour training program designed to teach you the skills and information to use mindful practices to change how you deal with chronic physical and mood problems.
The current group has started at the CHC. It will be holding a Day of Mindfulness for the group and any other interested folks. Its scheduled for Saturday May 30, 9.30-3.30 at the marguerite Centre.
For more information, contact me at 613-582-3685 or rparcheloATwbchc.on.ca

mindfully,
Ray

PEACEFUL MIND GROUPS UPDATE

We're pleased to announce new extended porgramming for those interested in exploring or supporting a new mindfulness practice.
1. Peaceful Mind groups are now available in three sites:
Red Maple Centre
Renfrew
Thursdays
7.00-8.30 pm

Sheppard's Life Centre
101 Joseph St.
Pembroke
Mondays
5.30-7.00 pm

Whitewater Bromley CHC
20 Robertson Rd.
Beachburg
Tuesdays
1.30-3.30

mindfully,
Ray and Kim

REFLECTIONS NOV 26

Like many people on this week of snow, I was wondering what the weather might be for my drive to work. I realized that I look at the Weather Network before I look out the window. When I was younger I could read the weather by checking the colour of the sky, by stepping outside and feeling the air and the temperature.
This is another way that our Digital Age directs us to take the virtual as the primary source of information about our world. We are seeing this more and more in the health environment where I work. All of us - doctors, nurses, social workers - we consult the digital record or chart, even when the warm human body is sitting next to us. We are becoming ambiguous about our relationships with digital information and the raw experience of the person in the room. Which is the primary reference, which is the real targte of our service?
from Akashaloka,
Ray Innen Parchelo

REFLECTION NOV 18

This precept about "distractions of entertainment' can be misinterpreted, as with any of the precepts. We could find ourselves sounding like puritans of another age by raging against singing and dancing, frivolous behaviour or consorting with those of dubious repute. The precepts are never about absolutues. TV is not an absolutely demonic medium. Listening to Celine Dion while preparing a meal, while it may be painful for some, is not evil. The precepts guide us to frame whatever activity we engage in by questions of purpose and wholesomeness. This implies some context, not any absolutes. To the extent that we take on the Bodhistattva vow, to liberate all beings, we can consider each action from that vantage point.


from Akashaloka,
Ray Innen Parchelo

REFLECTION NOV 17

Sitting at the breakfast table this morning, watching the birds at the feeders - jays, buntings, dees and woodpeckers. We joked about how it would be so much better if, like a friend, we had a TV sitting on the window sill. I tried to imagine how having a monitor of any kind, TV, web, even having the radio on , would have changed that experience. And yet, for so many people, that seems completely "normal".
In what way is our life improved by having several information inputs directed at our attention at once? What happens to the pace of life, the depth, the relationship with the observed when it is diluted with multiple demands?

from Akashaloka,
Ray Innen Parchelo

REFLECTIONS NOV 8

This is the first time in history that most people in most societies can listen to any kind of music, performed by the greatest performersof the period and many of the best of the past century, any time anywhere as many times as they like.

Flashback about a century ago. Music was reserved for live-only
performances, for a selected group, in a limited number of venues.
Only the wealthiest could afford to enjoy the best performers.
How has this technological change changed our relationship to music?
Are we actually listening or has music become a kind of sound
wallpaper, a filler, so we can sustain a distance form the immediacy
of our own experience? How often do most of us give our "undivided
attention" to the music that surrounds us? 

from Akashaloka,
Ray Innen Parchelo