Local: QueerDharma Meditation Group
Event Details: QueerDharma Meditation Group - :
When I was in undergrad, I had a very stressful 3-month period. Stressful is an understatement, actually. I had just had my first experience with a guy (no big boy sex) and I had incorrectly convinced myself afterwards that I had contracted HIV. It didn’t help at all that a friend in common with my first male sex partner had some good information that would lead us to conclude that my new “friend” was positive. So, yeah, stressful is an understatement. It was more like 3 months of sleepless nights, non-stop anxiety attacks, tears, self-isolation, regret, and 3 AM phone calls to the 24-hour HIV/AIDS hotline. My mom, through a few phone calls, realized that I wasn’t doing very well emotionally and decided to sign me up for a series of transcendental meditation (TM) lessons. The TM really helped me get through that summer, and the rest of college. For a while, I was pretty faithfully meditating twice per day. If I skipped a morning, by noon it would feel like my head was floating 3 feet above my body. Not fun. I don’t meditate regularly anymore, but I have incorporated some aspects of the practice into my daily life.
Since then I’ve been pretty interested in alternative relaxation techniques and spiritual things. So it’s only natural that I was intrigued when I happened upon a flyer for a DC QueerDharma meditation group the other day. I figured that I was allowed to take down their flyer and bring it with me if I posted it online: more homos would read about here than at the Haute Dawg hot dog shop in Adams Morgan. I’ve faithfully reproduced the flyer below the fold. QueerDharma is a safe space for our LGBTQ community to gather, listen, discuss, and encourage Buddhist meditation practice and spiritual growth. By cultivating a network of queer practitioners, we can study and play together, foster relationships, spread wakefulness, and develop confidence in our basic goodness. Please join us at our new meditation center in Cleveland Park for sitting meditation, teaching and community. Instruction offered for newcomers. Donations cheerfully accepted. For more information email davidquick@bust.com 3520 Connecticut Ave NW
First Monday of Every Month, 7 PM
Or visit us at www.dc.shambhala.org and
www.queerdharma.org
202.787.1526
What are your experiences with Eastern philosophy, religion, spirituality, etc?
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I also first turned to yoga (Hatha and Vinyasa) during an especially stressful time. I knew that having some quiet time for my head would be good, but I never have used yoga as a very formal meditation. Relaxation, perhaps, but not meditation. (I realize that many, many people DO practice yoga for meditative purposes, and that in formal traditions this is a major aspect).
I enjoyed yoga and still continue for the physical benefits mainly. I physically feel better. End of story. The fact that I’m mentally relaxed afterwards is a bonus.
And I fully admit that my yoga practice is a very Western take on an Eastern thing. I can’t tell you the position names in Sanskrit and I can’t tell you about the different warriors and the snakes and balance of sun and moon postures, etc. But my practice works for me and I think ultimately that’s the point.
thanks, michael. this is really cool.
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