Lung-gom-pa runners use multi-day running journeys as their meditative practice. In Copper Canyon, Mexico, 50-mile barefoot races across the rugged desert comprise an integral part of the Tarahumara Indians’ spiritual fabric. For Kay’s sought-after class, The Spirituality of Running, students read scripture from the religious tradition of their choice, and then go for a run, using the time to reflect on what they read. Or, they run first, and then come back to journal their thoughts. Across the country, at the Shamb- hala Mountain Center, in Red Feather Lakes, Colorado, 51-year-old Marty Kibiloski, an Ironman veteran, com- bines Buddhist teachings with trail runs during a three-day running meditation retreat. “What we are trying to show is that
you can overlay the practice of medita tion onto so many aspects of your life, not just sitting on a cushion,” says Kibiloski. He once lived what he called, “… a high achievement, low satisfaction life,” as a competitive marathoner, but has evolved a less competitive, more thoughtful pace
“We are rediscovering food as a link between us and God,” says L. Shannon
Jung, professor at Saint
Paul School of Theology… adding that many of his students have gone
on to start congregation community gardening programs in churchyards.
in both his running and personal life. Whether running for miles or walk-
ing from the car to the grocery store, simply focusing on your cadence and your breath and being mindful of where your thoughts take you can illuminate great things, he says. “Once you start really paying attention, you will be
amazed at all that you’ve been missing.”
Delicious and Divine L. Shannon Jung, a professor at Saint Paul School of Theology, in Kansas City, Missouri, says he sees the bur- geoning local food movement and surge in backyard gardening as wel- come signs that people are rediscov- ering the heavenly roots of Earthly bounty. “We are rediscovering food as a
link between us and God,” he says, add- ing that many of his students have gone on to start congregational community gardening programs in churchyards. “When you watch a tiny green bud of spinach break through the surface of the soil, it really reminds you of our depen- dence upon things far beyond us.” Meanwhile, in Liverpool, England, members of the Somewhere Else “bread church” meet twice a week to bake bread and talk about life as they wait for it to rise, the comforting smell filling the kitchen. Half of the bread, the staff of life, feeds the homeless. To McGehee, the mere act of eat-
38 Collier/Lee Counties
swfl.naturalawakeningsmag.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72