LEE KLINGER LESSER
Newsletter - August 2009
I went for a walk the other morning out to the beach. When I got there, I was greeted by a sculpture of stones, one placed with great care on top of others. Gravity was so visibly alive as the stones were balanced in just the right place to land and be supported by what was under them. As I was looking around with joy and wonder, another visitor commented to me: "It's all a question of balance."
I was in awe of what it means to take the time, to slow down and carefully feel the way into balance with these heavy stones! What a great lesson for me. Slowing down to feel my way into balance...allowing adjustments....letting go of expectations; letting go of fears or habits....knowing that in order to come into balance, I have to be in deep connection, in just the right place of this moment.
If the waves come, or the wind is strong, the rocks will fall and land in a new place, and come into a new balance that the new situation will help to create. Stones don't know anything about clinging to ideas of safety. They are in relationship with what is. 
The practice of sensing brings me into relationship with what is, and helps me feel my way into balance in the midst of an ever-changing world. 
"Honoring the Path of the Warrior " - Tools to Support Returning Veterans on Their Journey Home
As our world becomes smaller and smaller, I believe we need to strengthen our skills as "boundary spanners"....finding ways to build bridges beyond our own conceptions, comfort and expectations to discover what connects us most deeply and fundamentally as human beings. As I have watched young people, the ages of my children, go off to war, to live through experiences I can hardly even imagine, I have searched for what I can do to help make a difference.
Over the past year (in collaboration with my colleagues, Chris Fortin, an MFT and Buddhist Priest, and Nicholas Osborne, M.A., a veteran who served in Iraq and is coordinating services for other veterans at a Vet Center, at the same time completing his doctoral degree) I have helped to lead 5 one-day retreats for returning veterans, a day for families, and a 3-day white water river rafting and camping trip. Each event has been filled with insight, discovery and curiosity for all of us.
The river trip was profoundly moving. It provided a safe place for veterans to connect both with each other, and with their own experiences. We had fun and were stretched as our adrenalin rose with the rising, rushing water. We also listened deeply around the campfire as people shared their combat experiences, and their struggles to find their way home. We had opportunities to experiment with sensing and meditation at the end, and beginning, of each day. One young veteran exclaimed that he would readily scale a cliff of one of the tallest mountains surrounding us, but would be intimidated to try to stay still and sit meditation. And yet he did. And he is still exploring what this "meditation stuff" is, even a month later.
I lead trainings about bias, cultural competence and equity work around the country. And I am fascinated as I face my own ignorance and assumptions about the military, and as I witness the assumptions made about "meditators" by others. Little by little real meeting is happening across these disparate worlds, and tools are being offered and developed that create a different quality of safety and homecoming. The San Francisco Zen Center is becoming the fiscal sponsor of our project so that in the coming year, we can continue to offer one-day retreats, three weekend adventures and a "Life Skills" course for returning veterans at a local college.
On the river, the commitment to service and to each other was so vivid and clear. And the need for this work to continue was equally clear. For anyone who would like to make a tax-deductible contribution, please contact the San Francisco Zen Center, and tell them you are supporting the work with veterans, 300 Page Street, San Francisco, CA 94102.
For interested veterans, please contact us and join us for these upcoming events. All events are free and non-denominational. More information will be sent out soon.
Another thought from a morning walk...
Last week, as I was walking through a wilderness valley, baby rabbits were out in abundance, scampering in one direction or another. They would freeze in plain sight and stay still, somehow assuming they were invisible. As I got closer to one rabbit by the side of the road, its little body was trembling with energy. I paused to look at it. I could see it wanted to run away, and I thought it would take off at any second. All of a sudden, it did. However, instead of running away it dashed right towards me. Then it froze again and finally ran away from me and off into the bushes. As it came toward me, I thought of this quote below from Charlotte Selver, my teacher of Sensory Awareness who died at the age of 102 years old six years ago:
"The best choices are made when we are simply in a thing, doing what we are doing with our whole selves...We spend so much time in our lives wanting something and going against it at the same time."
I was so surprised to watch the rabbit clearly wanting to get away and yet running right towards me. What a silly choice! And then I reflected on how often, I and others, use our time and energy in ways that are just like the bunny. Investing our energy in exactly what we don't want to happen. We get lost or caught in our own anxiety. I see myself doing this. And I also see myself recover, and move in the direction I really want to be heading.... staying clear and focused on what matters most. I wish that for all of us during these challenging times. And I look forward to exploring and experimenting together with Sensory Awareness as a practice that can help us to do this.
With warm and loving wishes,
Lee