Hosting as an Art: Deepening Practice through Meditation
On October 26 – 28, SMCC co-hosted weekend of meditation with the Art of Hosting and ALIA communities. Shambhala is an ancient tradition based on a very straight-forward logic: on the ground of basic goodness, a path of meditation leads to the realization of enlightened society. In modern-day western culture it is best known as a social change movement, having clear resonance with the Art of Hosting.
During this weekend, we explored the view, “Why meditate?” as well as some of the methods that have proved useful to many people for millennia. We practiced inside and outside the 4 walls, with instruction in sitting stillness practice, sensory awareness, aimless wandering and connecting directly with our environment.
This was not a survey course, but a feet-on-the-ground, bum-on-the-seat weekend of joining the earthy practicality of our lives with our highest aspirations for benefitting this world. The method for joining these is meditation.
What did this have to do with hosting? In order to host others in conversations that matter, and transformations that work, we have to have real experience in hosting ourselves. One of the most direct and effective means of hosting ourselves, or “making friends with ourselves”, is meditation, which is just a word for the process of relaxing, waking up and connecting with what is.
When does hosting manifest as an art? When hosting is based purely on methods learned in a “training”, it can remain stiff and mechanical, an awkward and not-so-useful process. It is freedom from concept that releases hosting from cookbook linearity and raises it into genuine creativity. Meditation is a powerful practice for recognizing our already-existing natural awareness before we think about it or even label it as awareness.
If we are to be truly helpful in hosting others, we must become excellent hosts of ourselves. This weekend of meditation could be a fertile beginning or a deepening of our already rich personal practice.
Click here to learn more about the Art of Hosting. To learn more about the Authentic Leadership in Action Master Class, click here.
Jim Drescher is co-director of Windhorse Farm, a leadership learning centre in Nova Scotia. He is a forest ecologist, beekeeper, husband, father and grandfather. A student of Chogyam Trungpa since 1973, he has been practicing and teaching meditation for almost 4 decades. Most of his practice these days is in the natural landscape.
To learn more about Windhorse Farm, click here.
Written by Jim Drescher
Photos by Phong Nguyen
