The year-end is coming quickly, and for many of us, the calendar cannot change fast enough. It’s been a year of catastrophes punctuated by crisis, and everyone’s patience has been tested past the limit.
The weather forecasts are in the tone of foreboding disaster, and I’m not taking the bait. I love it when it rains in LA, and I love it most when I’m waking up to the sound of falling water. It is just magical. It feels like the moment is all that there is.
I’ve had the very magical experience of being part of the Mindfulness Meditation class at the Wende Museum this past year, and it has been one of the most helpful things I have ever studied. Thirty years of yoga and meditation, and there is still more to explore.
Everything is overwhelming? Focus on being present. Information overload causing panic? Pay attention to the breath. It all comes down to being able (and willing) to inhabit your own mind instead of the millions of stimuli and distractions constantly on offer.
As someone who has taught a lot of meditation, being a student has been a wonderful gift. This practice is one I had heard of, but did not feel this it was significantly different from my meditation practice to check in with. I was wrong, and I’m very pleased to have been wrong.
The teacher, Christiane Wolf, is a noted instructor in the field, and the generosity of the Wende in presenting her to the community is truly repercussive; peace and calm seem to ripple out from the class every week.
When the Los Angeles Times did a feature on the class, attendance doubled. Since I was in the photograph they published, I got a lot of “Is this you?” questions from friends who read the Times. Yep, it was me.
While the class is on hiatus until the new year, there are lots of places to practice mindfulness; ask your favorite search engine.
Even in the midst of the drama, or particularly in the midst of the drama, being present feels like the best present of all.
Judith Martin-Straw
