Meditation

Bird and Bell Meditation Society

June 2006

The Bird and Bell Meditation Society meets regularly every Wednesday evening at the church in Room 204, September through May, from 6:30 to 7:30 PM. June through August we meet from 7:00 to 8:00. There is a short check-in time, brief chanting, and half an hour of silent meditation. We also meet on the first Saturday of each month at the home of Gaines and Lyn Whitcomb for an extended period, 8:30 to 11:30 AM. Chanting and sitting are alternated with sessions of walking meditation in the woods out back. Potluck lunch follows. Newcomers are welcome! Please contact us at deuxfleurs@sbcglobal.net, or see the Live Oak announcements list for updates and schedule changes.

October 2005

Fall is here! Bird and Bell continues to meet faithfully on Wednesday evenings at 6:30 pm in Room 204. Soon I won’t have to go over to the church at 5:00 pm to turn on the air conditioning to prevent the heat from sending us to sleep! Eventually it will start to rain more than a couple of times a month. And Halloween is just around the corner!

In addition to our regular Wednesday sits, we will probably repeat a three-hour Saturday morning intensive of alternate sitting meditation and walking of the labyrinth. I’m sure we’ll make another expedition down to the Austin Zen Center, also a Saturday morning event. Our first visit there was very impressive to the six of us who went. Notice of these special occasions will be posted both on the Bird and Bell and Live Oak announcement email lists.

Meditation can be anything from a useful technique for finding calm amidst the maelstrom of modern life to the ultimate existential struggle to find meaning in existence. Come join us if you can. May all beings find an end of suffering!

Gaines Whitcomb (506-8621, deuxfleurs@sbcglobal.net)

August 2005

Bird and Bell continues to meet on Wednesday evenings in Room 204. We do a little chanting and sit in silent meditation for half an hour. We always have some conversation before and after as well, and so are forming a sort of coherent group. Come join us at our laid-back summer hour, 7:15-8:15 pm. Sometime late in August we may switch back to winter hours to accommodate those of us with choir practice. I’ll be sure to post the change on the Live Oak announce list. Anyone with questions, contact Gaines Whitcomb (deuxfleurs@sbcglobal.net, 506-8621).

Spring 2005

The Bird and Bell Meditation Society is meeting regularly on Wednesdays from 6:30 to 7:30 pm in the Fellowship Hall. Please join us for a brief bit of chanting and about 25 minutes of silent sitting meditation. It’s not too arduous, and a little light humor is allowed. If you want to sit on the floor rather than a chair, bringing something to sit on would be good. Otherwise we must scavenge sofa cushions. If you have questions, call or email Gaines Whitcomb, 506-8621, deuxfleurs@juno.com.

The group that met years ago at Live Oak now meets Sundays, from 8:15 to 10:15 AM at Clear Spring Studio, at 3918-C Far West Boulevard (behind Papa John's Pizza). If you have questions about the group, or about the location, please contact Peg Syverson at syverson@uts.cc.texas.edu

Zen Meditation is about clearing the mind of the unreal so that the real has room to enter. Our minds are so preoccupied by reliving pasts that never were and dreaming about futures that never will be, that we leave no time for experiencing the moment-by-moment beauty of life as it really is, at this very moment. The goal of Zen is to clear some of the mind's clutter, so that we can more fully appreciate and more richly participate in the experience of life.

If you are interested, join us and try it out. Sessions are open, so come to any you like.

Please bring comfortable clothing and a pillow.