Dear Common Ground Friends,
I am out at Common Ground Retreat Center in Western Wisconsin leading a retreat and renewing my appreciation for this important human ritual of retreating. I am always impressed and grateful that folks are willing to voluntarily leave behind their families & friends, and duties & responsibilities for a period of time in order to devote themselves to the cultivation of mindful awareness and the other wholesome qualities that support us in living lives of greater freedom, skill, and compassion. We often begin and renew our practice with the simple reflection, "There is a body.” It is truly astounding how easy it is to live our lives unaware, disconnected from this basic truth, “There is a body.” The Buddha taught that we should be aware, there is a body, to the extent necessary for clear knowing and continuous mindfulness. We get to know the mind and all the ways that stress and suffering come to be simply by befriending the ordinary experience of the body and learning how to keep it in mind, moment by moment. Being close to the experience of the body helps us be close to everything else that is unfolding in the moment, it is not an either or. Awareness, “There is a body,” can be our gateway to the totality of the present moment with all of its wildness and uncertainty. If we learn how to be with the body with wisdom and kindness, we will also begin learning how to be with all things with wisdom and kindness. This is how we transform our lives and our world.
May all beings be at ease,
Mark Nunberg
Co Guiding Teacher