May 14, 2015: "Board of Directors' Meeting"

     This meeting was billed as a Board of Directors' Meeting. Of course, we have no Board of Directors. Indeed, each one of us is a "Director" of our group. But we do have this type of meeting on occasion, when it becomes necessary to make plans for future meeting topics and presenters. Therefore, everyone was asked to bring some ideas and to consider presenting a topic of interest in the future. As a result, we did discuss some good ideas.

     Sky had an idea that maybe some presentations could occur by so-called committee. Perhaps 2 or 3 people could work on a topic. Sky would particularly like to do a combined presentation on suffering. Some of the members thought that such a topic might be too general. But just the idea did spark a fairly long discussion of the topic. Someone gave a quote: "Suffering is the path to God." Sharleen thought that one source of suffering is ignorance. Gary thought that the end of suffering and ignorance is to embrace it. Life is what it is, "but it's the only game in town. Shit happens."  With regard to suffering, the Buddha used the Sanskrit word, dukkha, which really translates into discontent or unsatisfactoriness. This word applies to a realistic view of the nature of our lives. First, of course, there is suffering that may result from injuries, illnesses, and later just from aging and then from death. But there is also suffering that occurs because of the nature of life itself. Nothing is stable and permanent but is always changing. We become attached to a stable and what for a time may seem a satisfactory state of affairs, but the nature of life and this world is that stability will not persist. The constant change itself produces anxiety and a form of suffering. But Buddhism teaches that we can lessen this discontent by becoming less attached to those things that will inevitably change. We can indeed actually choose to be happy, choose to accept the way things are with equanimity. We were referred to a book which writes of these ideas: Be As You Are, by Ramana Maharshi. In the end, there was a consensus that several could work with Sky and present an introduction to suffering and then we could see if further weeks could be used to follow this topic more.

     Sharleen would like to present eurhythmy, an expressive movement art form developed by Rudolph Steiner and Marie von Sivers in the early 20th century, and used in education, especially at Waldorf schools, and occasionally used in therapy. Sharleen would also like to present the topic: moral individualism. Liz would like to present a talk about the 8 limbs of yoga. Mark has already spoken for presenting on neurobiofeedback. The topic of phenomenology of perception was mentioned. Lori was asked if she could bring a video of her art exhibit because it was an experiential moment, or even talk about installation art in general. A member asked if the group was interested in learning more about Eckhart Tolle's pain body. Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell also emphasize a pain body. There did seem to be an interest in this topic.

     One member of our group has always had an interest in experiential practice. He explained why he is somewhat put off by just words and descriptions. He likes the idea of trying to be an experiential shaman of consciousness. In contrast, another member of the group expressed somewhat of a fear of some experiential practices such as kundalini meditation or yoga. After some discussion of what such concerns might be, it was the general consensus of the group that such practices might be presented, that each member is capable of deciding whether to participate or continue with the practices, and that our group does not need rules to guide such presentations. Certainly there are some practices that involve hyperventilation, contortionist positions, and the like which common sense would guide each individual into the degree to which they should participate. But in general we sometimes can only learn more by at least a brief or superficial trial of the practice during a presentation. Words alone may not describe the practice.

     On May 21st, Gary will present "Transplant Memories", based on a book entitled A Change of Heart: A Memoir  by Claire Sylvia and William Novak. If you would like to read a brief summary of the cases described in this book, here is a link: http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/salud/esp_salud25.htm

    

May 7, 2015: Bake Off.

     This last meeting was a BakeOff. The blog author was not present due to other obligations. If any member has some notes from the meeting that they would like to have included in the blog, please email me at annselzer@gmail.com. Or bring the notes to the May 14 meeting and I will see that they are included in this blog post.

     This upcoming Thursday meeting on May 14, 2015 will be a "Board of Directors meeting". Of course, there is no real Board of Directors of our group. We are all directors at our meetings. Therefore everyone should come to the meeting as usual. But I would like you all to spend a little time before the meeting thinking about what you might like to discuss, what topic in spirituality you might like to learn more about, any books or articles that you have read and would like to discuss, or that the group might read together and discuss. Also each of you think about a topic that you might like to present to the group. We have had wonderful presentations recently that have occupied the whole hour and we have even as you know taken two week blocks to finish a presentation and its discussion. In the past we have spent several weeks reading a book together, or reading chapters for each of several meetings. For example, such books have included The Plague by Camus. There were others also  But a presentation doesn't have to take the whole hour. A presentation can be as short as 20 minutes especially since we all know that our group is very good at discussion. So come prepared with some ideas on Thursday. See you then, Ann Selzer

     

    

April 30, 2015: Meeting at home of Su D.

Happy Flower Moon, May 3, 2015

 
   On this 5th Thursday of April, as usual for a date that falls on the 5th Thursday of the month, our gathering is called a meeting of the Guenther Pohlmann and Todd Davison Society.
    
    On this wonderful spring day, our Spirit Mind Body Group gathered at the home of Su D, who was kind enough to invite us for meditation, a delicious breakfast, social conversation, and then a consideration of grief.

     Su found this wonderful reading on the subject of grief from The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo.

"Grief:

If pulled, grief is a thread that will leave us naked in song.

A friend took me to the redwoods, where the trees talk with God, and it was a thick-barked tree five or six hundred years old that made me think Grandma was near. It's been twelve years since she died, and though no one understands, I carry her behind my left eye where the spirit sees. I leaned into that ancient tree, making small noises. The laurel leaves rustled. the younger trees creaked along with me. I miss her terribly. and though I resist feeling the loss and emptiness of not having her around, when I lean into that grief, it always in aftermath makes everything more vibrant, more real.

I've learned that grief can be a slow ache that never seems to stop rising, yet as we grieve, those we love mysteriously become more ad more a part of who we are. In this way, grief is yet another song the heart must sing to open the gate of all there is.

In truth there is a small one who suffers in each of us, an angel trying to grow wings in the dark, and as this angel learns how to sing, we lose the urge to hide. Indeed, when one heart speaks, all hearts fly. This is what it means to be great -- to speak what feels unspeakable and have it release what waits in us all. 

Having the Life You Want by Being Present in the Life You Have."

     After discussing grief for a short time, the conversation naturally gravitated to Todd, his life and his history with our Spirit Mind Body Group. Su remembers that this group started as a Mindfulness Group in the early 1990s. In those early days the group consisted of  4-5 MDs including Todd Davison, Guenther Pohlmann, and David Shapiro.. Thomas Ryan, social worker and counselor at Columbia, an administrator at Columbia, as well as Su as she worked in the office of Todd Davison at that time were the other members. This small group met in Dr. Davison's office with the agenda of learning to meditate and to live more mindfully. The group slowly grew and within a few years was meeting in the West Conference Room of Columbia Hospital's newer wing. Paul Norton, President of Milwaukee Mindfulness Center joined at sometime then, after the onset of the group. In the early 21st century the group relocated their meetings to the Nursing Dormitory Library which was perhaps the most conducive space to the group. The heavy tables there were arranged in a square filling the entire room and the banks of books on 3 walls added a certain seriousness and intellectuality to the meetings. Todd always sat at the end of the table farthest from the door. Whoever was presenting usually sat to his right. Todd usually called the meeting to order and then motioned to the presenter to begin. Somehow those meetings seemed slightly more formal than today's meetings, perhaps due to this location and perhaps due to different membership at that time. During those years we had a professional artist, Ann Yost, who still maintains contact through our emails. We had a Lutheran clergyman who later became chaplain at a local University; a well read and liberal Catholic priest; one or two teachers at UWM, a Jewish hospital chaplain who was also trained in Jewish mysticism; several energy workers; an expert in Centered Prayer; a couple social workers from Columbia Hospital; a cancer unit nurse; Dr. Prosen, head of Psychiatry at MCOW; Bruce Wilson, cardiologist and now teacher of Heart Math; and several others. In the early 2000s, the Nursing Dormitory space became unavailable and we had to look for a new place. For a few months we met in a very small side room of Todd Davison's office. But there really was not room for us there. Then the Mindfulness Center offered us their space without rent. (Remember to thank this sangha by frequenting the donation box.) Since then the Milwaukee Mindfulness Center has also changed locations from the previous storefront site on Maryland and Locust to the present location on Park Street. The membership has changed off and on. We have attracted some members of the local sangha at Mindfulness Center. Others have brought guests and introduced them and some have become faithful members; others have not due to time conflicts or to just not making a match with the group. The format has always been very similar to how it is now. We have had the Bake offs in some form since the beginning. We often had so-called "Board of Directors" meetings in order to decide who was going to present for some weeks in advance. Todd would often suggest topics, or books that we might read together as a group, or he would cajole some member into presenting something of interest. Most people who volunteered with a reasonable spiritual topic were accepted as presenters. The one thing that Todd insisted was that this group should not be a support or therapy group. Instead, from the very beginning it was meant to be a spiritually seeking, searching and investigative group that was at the same time very intellectual and very participatory. Discussions have always been easy, open and in considerable depth. Most members have always felt that they have gained enormously from these weekly group meetings. Those members who have left have mostly done so due to conflicts in the time, due to changes in their work patterns, or due to moving out of town. Thus is the history of this group. We all agree that it is the very unique, tolerant, eclectic, and diverse nature of the group's spiritual searching that has led it to last as a group for well over 20 years. Granted the actual people involved has changed, but still it survives and grows. Thank you to all members of the group who contribute every week no matter in how small a way to further our understanding of the spiritual world.