Mindfulness Meditation With Elaine Retholtz 02/09/2023

Welcome to the Mindfulness Meditation Podcast presented by the Rubin Museum of Art.

We are a museum in Chelsea,

New York City that connects visitors to the art and ideas of the Himalayas and serves as a space for reflection and personal transformation.

I'm your host,

Tashi Chodron.

Every Thursday,

We present a meditation session inspired by a different artwork from the Rubin Museum's collection and led by a prominent meditation teacher from the New York area.

This podcast is a recording of our weekly in-person practice.

In the description for each episode,

You will find information about the theme for that week's session,

Including an image of the related artwork.

Our Mindfulness Meditation Podcast is presented in partnership with Sharon Salzberg and teachers from the New York Insight Meditation Center,

The Interdependence Project,

And Parabola Magazine,

And supported by the Frederick P.

Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism.

And now,

Please enjoy your practice.

Hello,

Everybody.

Tashi Delek.

Tashi Delek and welcome.

Welcome to the Return of In-Person Mindfulness Meditation with the Rubin Museum of Art.

I am Tashi Chodron,

And Himalayan Programs and Communities Ambassador.

I'm so happy to be your host today.

I'm kind of curious to know how many of you have attended in-person here pre-pandemic.

Can you raise your hand?

Wonderful.

And how many of you have attended our virtual online for the last almost three years?

Fantastic.

And how many of you are first time?

Oh,

Wonderful.

Thank you.

And so for those of you who are first time,

We are a museum of Himalayan art and ideas in New York City,

And we're so glad to have all of you join us for our weekly program where we combine art and meditation online.

So inspired from our collection,

We will take a look at work of art from our collection.

We will hear a brief talk from our teacher,

And the teacher is Elaine Rethels.

Wonderful and so fortunate to have you here.

And then we will have a short sit,

About 15 to 20 minutes for the meditation guided by her.

So let's take a look at today's theme and artwork.

So this is the beautiful art that our teacher selected,

And this is the Manasa Devi.

Devi in Hindi and Sanskrit means goddess.

So she is actually the goddess of fertility,

Very popular in northeastern part of India.

Manasa goddess,

As you see here,

The goddess of serpent or Naga,

The snake as well.

And you see the hood of seven-headed snake,

And she's also holding a snake on her left hand here.

So she's often associated and referred to as the goddess with eight snakes,

Who is equal and most senior amongst,

Equal to the male god as well.

And goddess Manasa is sitting in a royal ease position,

In this left leg folded,

Right leg extended.

In the left hand,

She's actually holding fruits.

And so she's also revered as the goddess of agriculture as well.

And her right foot is resting on this treasure vask,

Which has this beautiful lotus petals here.

And she's also sitting on lotus throne,

So often referred to as the supreme awakening goddess.

And here is a closer look at the beautiful behooded seven-headed snakes with some god and goddesses flying above.

And a closer look of her right foot resting on this treasure vask.

And this beautiful figure is one of her devotees and often addressed as attendees.

Now let's bring on our teacher today.

Our teacher is Elaine Rathaus.

Elaine has been studying and practicing the Dharma since 1988.

In addition to teaching Dharma at New York Insight,

She's a certified mindfulness-based stress reduction teacher and certified MBSR teacher trainer.

I have been a student of Elaine,

The Insight Meditation as well.

She's deeply interested in helping students integrate mindfulness into daily life and has been involved in New York Insights diversity efforts for many years.

So Elaine,

Thank you so much for being here.

Please help me in welcoming Elaine.

So wonderful to see all of you and to be here in person in this wonderful space.

So just a couple of words about my process in this.

It was just so great.

I got an email with,

You know,

Please choose one of these pieces of art and I chose this one.

I wasn't quite sure why at the time but I was drawn to this one.

And actually as I sat with it,

Because what I did is just really kept bringing the picture to mind and looking at it,

I had this sense of protection.

You know,

The theme this month is of loving kindness and this sense of here's a goddess that tames these snakes,

Right?

And when I looked at it,

Especially,

You know,

I forget which hand it is,

But you know,

Here's this hand where you could see that she's gripping the snake,

But it almost feels like a hug when I looked at it.

And it brought to mind the metta sutta,

The sutta,

The teaching on loving kindness,

Where the Buddha said,

Even as a mother protects with her life her child,

Her only child,

So with a pure heart should one cherish all living beings.

And so I was thinking about this aspect of love,

You know,

Here we are a week before Valentine's Day,

Right?

And all that love entails in our culture,

You know,

Romantic love,

Conditional love.

But I was thinking about this aspect of love,

The strength of protection,

And how sometimes when we investigate,

There's this tension,

This rub between protection,

Being protected,

Protecting,

And defending.

And defending for me has this connotation of armoring and closing off and pushing away.

And protecting has to,

It could still have that,

But the way I'm thinking of it,

It really has to do with this sense of care,

Of protecting something we value,

Whether it's our,

You know,

Something we view as me,

Or protecting those we value,

Protecting the earth that we value,

Protecting the environment.

And as I looked at the artwork,

I was also noticing her affect on the face,

And it's not one of anger,

And it's not one of subduing.

It's very serene and loving.

And so when we think about,

You know,

What we might think of as the snakes in our lives,

And the Buddha talked about the three poisons,

You know,

Are we really,

We're on the spectrum of subduing versus befriending,

Are we?

In the Dhammapada,

The Buddha says very early on that hatred does not cease by hatred,

Only by non-hate does hatred cease.

And so he doesn't even say love,

Or maybe at least not the translations I've seen.

So this sense of meeting what is challenging,

Not as an adversary,

But with this stance of non-hatred,

Almost a stance of befriending our demons,

Which I think is traditional,

Right?

And then the third thing I wanted to say before I guide a practice is that these reflections brought to mind a story that I've heard many times that apparently the Dalai Lama told about being reunited with an old friend of his.

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet,

And this friend of his who was a monk was captured and imprisoned by the Chinese,

I believe for 18 years in not so great circumstances.

And when they were reunited,

The Dalai Lama said to his friend,

Tell me friend,

Were you ever in danger?

It's a harsh prison camp,

18 years,

Were you ever in danger?

And the monk said,

Yes,

Those moments when I almost lost compassion for my Chinese captors.

So the sense of what are we protecting ourselves from?

And can we cultivate a mind and heart that's compassionate in the midst of taming the snakes and all that threatens us in the midst of whatever circumstance we're in?

So let's sit for a while,

All right?

And just taking a moment to look around this space that's very supportive and protective,

And all the folks,

I can't really see you very well with the lights,

But you can just take a moment to look around this community of people who are coming together to cultivate this mind and heart that is undefended and yet able to protect.

And if it's comfortable for you,

Closing your eyes or a soft gaze downward and arriving in this body,

This one here accompanying you in this moment,

Just taking a moment to become familiar with the experience of the body,

Feeling your feet touching the floor,

Your seat supported by the chair,

This body breathing,

Touching into a sense of what's well in the body right here,

Right now.

Certainly there might be challenges and discomfort and taking a moment to soften and ease and adjust in any way that would bring ease if it's possible.

Just cultivating a welcoming presence with the body as it is right now,

With the breath as it is right now,

Sensitive to hearing,

Receiving sounds in the environment,

Sounds in your body or the body of the person near you,

Sensitive to moods as well.

Some may be welcome and some not welcome,

Staying grounded in the intention to be present with things as they are in a friendly way,

To not have an argument,

To not struggle,

Allowing the body and the breath to support your presence.

And as you notice that your attention has wandered,

That you've been captivated by something,

Just pausing and resting.

Ah,

It's like this.

And cultivating this protective awareness that mindfulness supports,

Remembering our intention of presence,

Our intention of friendliness,

And reconnecting with the moment through the breath,

Through the body.

Breathing in and knowing we're breathing in through the experience of sensation,

Breathing out,

Knowing the out-breath,

The beginning,

The middle,

The end of the out-breath,

Through sensation reapplying this intention to be present,

To befriend,

To protect this mind and heart from our habitual surges,

Our impulses.

Cultivating from moment to moment a mind and heart that meets challenges,

Meets wanting and not wanting,

Restlessness,

Sleepiness,

With firmness and care,

Just as a mother protects a child with firmness and care and compassion,

Understanding of the purpose of restraint sometimes,

Knowing what's needed in the moment.

Can we do this with our own minds and hearts in moments of confusion or being lost,

Pausing,

Reconnecting with the body,

With the breath,

Asking what's needed here in this moment?

What aspect of love and protection is needed?

What aspect of friendship is needed as I meet these moments?

You you you you And as this practice comes to a close in a few minutes,

Touching into your wish to protect your own heart and mind from the surges of impulse and habit mind and the wish to be safe from this harm and broadening this to this group that's here now,

May we all be safe and protected from inner as well as outer harm and broadening it further still to all beings everywhere.

May all beings be safe and protected from inner and outer harm,

Meeting all moments with appropriate kindness,

Appropriate friendliness.

Thank you.

Thank you for that beautiful session,

Elaine.

That concludes this week's practice.

To support the Rubin and this meditation series,

We invite you to become a member at rubinmuseum.

Org membership.

If you are looking for more inspiring content,

Please check out our other podcast,

Awaken,

Which uses art to explore the dynamic paths to enlightenment and what it means to wake up.

Season two,

Hosted by Raveena Arora,

Is out now and explores the transformative power of emotions using a mandala as a guide,

Available wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Sign up for a monthly newsletter at rubinmuseum.

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I am Tashi Chodron.

Thank you so much for listening.

Have a mindful day.