Smells and Bells

This may be a bit of an unconventional blog post, but I wanted to share some thoughts I had after Elizabeth came to our class on Monday. First, I want to say that much of what Elizabeth shared with us, I agree with or relate to in some way. Meditation, communicating to the body and listening and learning from it, these are all things that I've been actively practicing for years and that I feel are very important for healing and health, both mentally and physically. I know that times when I've meditated and connected with my body has helped me relax, center myself, and understand what I need in the moment. All that being said, I found the class to be difficult, and this is something that I've experienced before. It started with the guided meditation, which is something that has always bothered me. As I said, I do think that meditation is important and can be beneficial. However, I've always struggled with guided meditations. I find that the experience of someone tell...

In class we discussed different definitions of the universal purpose of religion. One idea presented was that religion teaches us how to behave with human and non human beings. While others claimed that religion is not about teaching people ethics that this is more a realm of cultural context and part of human nature. Therefore the definition that seemed the most reasonable to me is that religion is about cultivating cosmic sensitivity. The text  Shulhan Shel Arba  by Rabbenu Bahya ben Asher a medieval Jewish mystic and translated by Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus presents its readers with a guide to cultivating cosmic sensitivity with the alter of the table. He presents four gates of knowledge. These gates work to explain 1) the blessings over the table and other obligations, 2) an explanation of the nature of eating and how this prepares one for their life purpose 3) ethics and table etiquette and 4) an explantation of the meal to come. Throughout the text Rabbenu Bahya ben Asher...

When Ackerman writes on touch she mentions that "our fear of pain contributes to it. Our culture expects childbirth to be a deeply painful event, and so, for us, it is" (102).  The idea that we could control the amount of pain we feel just by changing our mindset fascinates me. I once had a friend who dislocated his shoulder while diving. We drove to the hospital and after many hours of waiting they informed him that they would just pop it back in. Steve had the choice of being awake or being put under. I was very uncomfortable with the thought of just hearing and seeing his shoulder being returned back to its natural resting place and couldn't even image his thoughts as he would be the one feeling it to. To me the choice was obvious. But much to my surprise Steve said he'd been practicing meditation and that he would be fine without any medication. He told the doctor to give him a minute and then to proceed. What I saw next amazed me. My friend simply closed h...