01:30:17 Stephanie Patil: First time � 01:30:19 Patricia Guerrero: not familiar 01:30:20 Tink: It is new to me. 01:30:22 Susanne Wester: i am new to this 01:30:23 Joyce Chen: Not me 01:30:25 Alison: first time for me 01:30:26 Alice Coelho: I am new to the concept 01:30:27 Glen NYC: unaware of it 01:30:28 Cassie Manley: Me too 01:30:29 iPad : I’m not familiar 01:30:30 Laure -Bordeaux FRANCE: not too familiar 01:30:30 Kevin OToole: First-time practice—Kevin 01:30:33 Vikki: fairly new to me - not my standard practice 01:30:34 Jennifer LaPorte: Not familiar 01:30:34 Ellen De Guerre: Same 01:30:37 Susan A: completely new 01:30:45 Moira: I"m Moira from Argentina 01:30:57 Lavinia Costantino: Currently studying with Susan so mildly familiar with Shamatha Visasyana 01:31:07 Mia: New for me 01:31:27 Susan Tocher: new 01:31:40 marympecaut: Mary from Panama City, Panama Familiar 01:49:33 Joyce Chen: usually I feel sleepy 01:49:42 Joseph Hagler: Do you have an advice if you’re falling asleep? 01:49:43 marympecaut: Im curious why we keep our eyes open as opposed to closing them completely. 01:49:52 Stephanie Patil: glasses? 01:49:54 LoAn NYC (she/her/hers): Can you share more of the open eyes please? Other traditions talked about closed eyes. 01:49:54 Susi M: thank you, this was wonderful! 01:50:01 Eileen Vota: can u tell again how to handle the thoughts 01:50:06 Nanette Bulebosh: Apologize for my dog. She’s a 1-yr old pitbull boxer mix I’m fostering for the local shelter. Mya just doesn’t get the concept of meditation yet. 01:50:08 LoAn NYC (she/her/hers): i do feel awake with eyes open 01:50:15 iPad : Thank you, your voice is soothing 01:50:25 Kathy McMillan: feel like I am not sitting right. No matter what I do, my back always feels "wrong". How straight am I supposed to be? 01:50:31 Sally Wills: I have to Work to keep my eyes open, they so dearly want to close about 1/2 way through...any advice 01:50:44 Sylvia -Houston: I’m not used to meditating with my eyes open. I found I was looking at things 01:50:53 Alice Coelho: When is the best time to use this particular practice 01:51:39 LoAn NYC (she/her/hers): Im on a chair, and have a yoga block to wedge my spine to sit strait 01:51:52 Beth Bloomfield: how best to move past pain sensations 01:51:52 marympecaut: I find if sitting on a chair it helps to move � to the front of the chair 01:53:14 Joyce Chen: Can I mix different type of meditation? 01:53:47 Marcie Minnesota: We live our lives with our eyes open - LOVE THIS 01:53:49 Crystal GANDRUD: Yuhong Xu has raised hand 01:58:04 Sylvia -Houston: Can you explain the benefit of open eyes 01:58:15 Cathy Lee: If the attention is supposed to be on the out breath, where do I place my attention during the in breath? 01:58:45 Laure -Bordeaux FRANCE: i feel my breath goes through my entire body and it is a liberating freeing sensation. ;) 01:59:34 Paul DeLong: I find the "soft gaze" instruction helpful. 02:00:25 Sally Wills: thanks Erica. your comment on intention was helpful to keep my eyes open too. I’m not new to this practice.... 02:01:38 Laure -Bordeaux FRANCE: yes! 02:01:40 Joyce Chen: yes! 02:01:45 Alice Coelho: yes 02:01:45 LoAn NYC (she/her/hers): yes 02:01:52 Kathleen Aguilar: Yes that is a very helpful answer to stick with it 02:01:52 Mia: Totaly 02:03:11 Sally Wills: sorry but I must leave for a while. thanks Erica. your guidance is awesome. 02:18:50 Sara Parrell: Also need to leave; will return at 10. Thank you. 02:20:09 kate: Sometimes my willingness to stay practicing is low. I think i’m really in my ego-mind and can’t get myself to focus on breath, sense that I don’t rreally want to even though i’d committed to practice 02:21:41 betsyloeb: thank you 02:22:01 Alice Coelho: thank you. that was awesome 02:22:34 Suzanne: Lovely instruction, thank you. Question: I’m irritated by the sounds of my husband moving about the house. Can you speak to irritation? 02:22:59 Ellen De Guerre: Always the challenge...to stick to practice! 02:23:01 Maggie: in labelling my thoughts, I was very startled to notice how many were food related 02:23:06 Marcie Minnesota: Intention to sit with the unpleasantness of this time in life and to not label as good or bad. So difficult, feel I'm failing. 02:23:09 R. David Drucker: kate, it shows that you are aware 02:23:14 betsyloeb: Yes…I think the notion of “intention” is important with motivation. 02:23:24 Sharron: I find it difficult to hold the posture for more than ten minutes. By then my shoulders are feeling stiff/tingly and my mind is more distracted. Does "endurance" come with practice? 02:23:37 Laure -Bordeaux FRANCE: same here. hard to discipline over the years. I think that i was making harder than what it is because of fear of what it means to connect deeper with myself 02:24:14 sandy: I too am sharing space with another non-meditator while attempting to participate. I've determined that sharing space patiently is also a worthy practice and intention. It's a sub- meditation in itself. 02:24:18 Joseph Hagler: It was hard to keep focus, my mind was wandering a lot.. do you recommend counting the breaths for some time just to stabilize the attention? 02:24:27 Kevin OToole: Progress not perfection. We cannot “shame” ourselves, even in our own practice. It’s the practice I am trying to use to get away from judgment 02:24:33 Patricia Guerrero: I find it useful to feel kind to myself even in those occasions when my mind is busy. I congratulate myself with the attempt and try again at a later time 02:24:39 marympecaut: Kate - I’ve found it helpful to ‘free write’ for 10 minutes before I meditate. I basically vomit all of the thoughts in my head on the container of the page… its very liberating… and feels safe to do so… 02:24:42 Theo: @Suzanne - it’s great that you are aware of “irritation”. Perhaps you could bring curiosity to it. 02:26:16 Suzanne: Thank you all for your kind thoughts and suggestions. Erica, excellent reponse! 02:29:40 Jennifer LaPorte: I need to step away. Will return at 11 am EST. Thank you. 02:30:39 Sue in Carpinteria: I’d appreciate a break before the room starts 02:30:49 lisa martin: Yes a quick break would be wonderful 02:31:14 Kathy McMillan: break? 02:32:12 Kevin: Feel free to opt for a quick break amongst your chat room 02:32:13 Crystal GANDRUD: discuss if you need to take a break and allocate the time if necessary 02:34:40 Crystal GANDRUD: We’re in chatrooms now for discussion so if you’ve stepped away and are just now returning, please accept the invitation your chatroom and go with the flow! 03:01:33 Susan Tocher: Thank you for helping me move from head to heart. 03:02:39 Theo: Leah Stretcher can you mute yourself 03:02:53 Sally Johnson: I see Leah is not muted 03:03:29 Cassie Manley: She’s muted now. 03:05:57 Ericka Phillips: You can ‘raise your hands’ digitally by clicking on the ‘participants’ icon at the bottom of your screen. 03:07:07 Cathy Lee: I did not know that, Ericka. Thanks! 03:09:40 Toyo Tsuchiya: I agree with Sue it would be nice to chat afterwards. 03:09:43 Cathy Lee: We did have time to chat after the shares in our group of four. It felt like a good balance. 03:10:01 Kyle Wasserman: we broke the rules too (hehe) 03:10:02 Stephanie Patil: During our zoom coffee hour after Sunday service, small break out groups of 2-3 allowed great exchange. 03:10:05 Rose Ann: It was lovely to be heard without suggestions being offered to help or to ease my discomfort. 03:10:18 betsyloeb: very insightful; i didn’t realize it but i think id like that opportunity as well 03:10:35 Ellen De Guerre: In a contemplative end of life course I'm taking, we did these break out rooms and they allowed 5 minutes after to talk. You could try something like that. 03:10:48 Linnaea - Spokane WA: I have something to share 03:10:55 Susanna: I totally relate to what Sue is saying...I felt like I had lost my voice almost...its been awhile since Ive spoken outloud... 03:10:57 Kathleen Aguilar: I love hearing sharings without cross talk; it's one of the few places in life where people don't jump in to "fix" or "lead" 03:11:04 Nanette Bulebosh: I agree with Rose Ann.