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Schedule
Friday nights, 7-9 pm. Doors open at 6:45.
1716A Linden Avenue (door on the right)
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Coming in April at
First Unitarian Universalist Church
1808 Woodmont Blvd.
All events are free and open to the public.
Wednesday, April 4, 7:30 p.m. -- Public talk by Zen teacher Michael Elliston, hosted by the Nashville Zen Center. Michael is Abbot of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center and a respected leader among zen practitioners.
Wednesdays, April 11 - May 2, 7:00-8:30 pm -- Rita Frizzell will be teaching a class based on Ken McLeod's work, Releasing Emotional Reactions. Come work with these methods for coming to completely know your experience.
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From this week's Noble Heart class:
Meditation brings our attention to aspects of ourselves we may never have seen or acknowledged before. Watching our minds, we realize that perhaps we aren't the person we though we were; that we may, in fact, be entertaining cravings and aversions that we never knew we had, or thought we had "transcended." This experience can feel shocking -- even threatening. It can also bring up fear.
In the normal course of life, we're habituated to turning back at this stage. We regard fear as a signal of danger, and immediately move to a stance that feels safer. This is why coming to know the nature of our fear is such an essential part of develop an unconditional relationship with ourselves; of developing maitri. Until we do, it's difficult to go beyond the point where our world view -- and specifically, our beliefs about our own identity -- are challenged. As we begin to relax with all parts of ourselves, we gradually connect with an inner strength, and a trust in our inherent wisdom. The first step is to become intimate with the strategies we use to armor our hearts and minds. Meditation provides a method for doing this.
-- Pema Chodron
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This week is Session 3 in our new series by Pema Chodron, Noble Heart. Topic: Developing Inner Strength and Trust. Pema will teach us about the three Lords of Materialism - form, speech and mind - and she will introduce the Four Immeasurables. A quote from this week's class is included at the end of this email.