-Emilie
New Players in Concert
My favorite and most stressful time of the year. It’s the time when over 100 people come together and make beautiful and moving art on the little theater stage. It’s also the time when these 100+ people become terribly sleep deprived and laugh at the thought of doing homework and studying.
When you announced that our class (period 7) would become Buddhists for five days I felt relieved because I thought it would eliminate the concert stress factor. I felt calm and content with being a Buddhist during the day, when my sister would choose my clothes, I wouldn’t put on makeup or do my hair, my parents would have food waiting for me for whenever I felt I needed it, when I disengaged from my phone, facebook, tumblr and twitter and when all I had to do was go to school. But when it was time for concert rehearsals and performances at night, being a Buddhist was frustrating.
I had to ask for things in the midst of concert. I asked for rides from my house to the little theater and back, I asked my Prince of Egypt cast to try harder, I asked the music director when I could rehearse my senior solo, I asked my parents to bring me things I had forgotten at home and I asked my friends to help me with my costumes, hair and makeup. I had my phone on me the entire time so I could update The Prince of Egypt facebook group and be in contact with my parents. I also knew exactly what I had to do, in what order. The senior song would happen after Shrek or Charlie Brown performed (it would depend on the night) and if I didn’t feel like performing it that night, I couldn’t have acted as a Buddhist by doing something that I actually wanted to do or by staying in the moment. I had no choice but to go out and sing.
These things interfered with my Buddhism. Through my process I realized that if I want to continue committing myself to Buddhism the way I had been doing during the day then I would have to give up New Players and stop doing homework. As a Ridgewood kid, who wants to continue being accepted into colleges and who isn’t interested in sports, I can’t afford to give these things up and continue being a Buddhist. It’s demanding in a negative way, it makes me distance myself from my family and friends because apparently I’m supposed to detach from them and it makes me feel like a different person. In a bad way.
I’ll talk more about each thing I detached from later on, in separate posts and how it went.
Okay bye.
An Inspirational Post
I follow a Buddhism blog, lazyyogi.tumblr.com, that has inspired many people. Below is a post to lazyyogi from a follower:
This morning was one of the best mornings I’ve had in years. I woke up, went outside, stretched, did some yoga, then meditated. I’ve tried meditating before, but had never really gotten any great results. After I read your posts about it, I decided to try it again. I finally felt a part of this world. For once, I FELT the ground beneath me and I HEARD the birds singing. I owe it all to you, really. I feel like an entirely new person. Thank you SO much. I can never thank you enough.
This makes me so happy. It’s wonderful that this follower had such amazing results. I have actually felt the ground beneath me and I have heard the birds singing just like this follower. When you are able to focus on individual things and when you can stay in the moment it feels great.
Photo reblogged from Purple Buddha Project with 1,184 notes
I really tried to keep this in mind throughout the entire project and I think this is one of the things I was successful with. Whenever I would leave philosophy I wouldn’t think about arriving in art class. I would think about walking, because that’s what I was doing.
Photo reblogged from Buddhist in Training with 19 notes
buddha by Lucid Optic Lab on Flickr.
Life is simple, we complicate it.
So true to Buddhism!
Yogic Terms
AHIMSA
This is non-injury in thought, word, and deed.
CHAKRA
A center of radiating life force or energy that is located between the base of the spinal column and the crown of the head. Sanskrit for “wheels.” There are seven chakras.
Also called Savasana, this is the classic relaxation Yoga Pose, practiced before or in between Asanas and as Final Relaxation. Read our Yoga Exercise - Corpse Pose (Savasana) section and learn how to do this exercise. This means meditation. is call-and-response devotional chanting. It is a form of meditation in Vaisnava tradition, Sikhism, the Sant traditions, and some forms of Buddhism, as well as other religious groups. The singing is accompanied by musical instruments and rhythmic drumming and the audience is encouraged to participate by chanting, clapping and dancing. In its heartfelt expression kirtan can induce profound states of meditation, bliss and ecstasy. I’ll continue posting yogic terms (five at a time). Read on/bye!CORPSE YOGA POSE
DHYANA
KIRTAN
Photoset reblogged from buddha interiors>>> with 12,483 notes
I’m reblogging these photos from one of my favorite blogs on Tumblr, buddhainteriors.tumblr.com. I can definitely see myself living in a space like this but I don’t see how it’s Buddhist in any way. Later on I’ll explain what I Buddhist space is actually like. Continue reading until you get to the top!
Source: freundevonfreunden.com
Okay so:
This is my first post and I’m very excited about it because I have a lot to say. But first, I would like to start off by addressing that I chose to take a creative approach instead of the typical essay approach. I feel that every aspect of my Buddhist journey will be represented thoroughly if it’s in a blog.
Now that that’s been said, here we go!
When I was younger (maybe about ten?) Buddhism fascinated me. My mom would come home every week from yoga, show me a new move, tell me what the move was called and explain where the name stemmed from. Not much later I took up yoga and I have been practicing it ever since. I have also picked up pilates. Through these practices I’ve learned about terms (see my next post titled “Yogic Terms”), techniques and how to access inner peace.
If I didn’t have yoga and pilates I would most definitely have a breakdown. Exercising keeps me physically, mentally and emotionally healthy. I figured Buddhism would provide me with further health in all of these areas and greater inner peace. Unfortunately, I was wrong.
The Buddhism project caused stress and mild anger. It came at one of the worst times: right before New Players in Concert. This year, I worked as a director and I performed a senior solo. There were so many elements accompanying Concert that couldn’t have been approached in a Buddhist fashion. I’ll post about these elements later.
Bye.
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