Sit.Walk.Listen

05/27/2022

Dear Community, SWL LA will be gathering at LA City Hall this Sunday May 29th 10 am - 11:30 am and will also host an online event (see link below for event )

More than ever we are called to be peace, to do peace. Our children are relying on us in order for them to have a future.
We will be gathering in front of LA City Hall in Downtown LA to bring forward the energy of peace.

Together we can foster compassionate loving action to transform the violence present in these times.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sit-walk-listen-together-for-peace-tickets-349754504137?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=escb

03/05/2022

* event in LA * In support to Ukraine and the multiple manifestations of oppression across the world .

Dear friends, dear sangha, dear community,

With the aspiration of speaking from the heart it is that we write to you. The current times are calling for peace , for nonviolence , for collective healing.
Sit Walk Listen LA is inviting all who would like to gather in Peace this Sunday March 6th from 10 am - 12 pm at the "Seoul International Park, 3250 San Marino Street Los Angeles, CA 90006".

May all beings be together in peace.

Event information and registration : https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sit-walk-listen-together-for-peace-tickets-288234496137?utm-campaign=social%2Cemail&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-source=strongmail&utm-term=listing

Schedule of Events:
10:00 - 11:10 am // Arrival and welcome
10:10 - 10:30 am // Mindfulness meditation
10:30 - 10:50 am // Movement
11:00 - 11:50 pm // Listening circles
11:50 - 12:00 pm // Closing and announcements



Promise me,

promise me this day,

promise me now,

while the sun is overhead

exactly at the zenith,

promise me:

Even as they

strike you down

with a mountain of hatred and violence;

even as they step on you and crush you

like a worm,

even as they dismember and disembowel you,

remember, brother,

remember:

man is not our enemy.

The only thing worthy of you is compassion –

invincible, limitless, unconditional.

Hatred will never let you face

the beast in man.

One day, when you face this beast alone,

with your courage intact, your eyes kind,

untroubled

(even as no one sees them),

out of your smile

will bloom a flower.

And those who love you

will behold you

across ten thousand worlds of birth and dying.

Alone again,

I will go on with bent head,

knowing that love has become eternal.

On the long, rough road,

the sun and the moon

will continue to shine.

03/02/2022

Dear friends, dear sangha, dear community,

With the aspiration of speaking from the heart it is that I write to you. The current times are calling for peace , for nonviolence , for collective healing.
Sit Walk Listen LA is inviting all who would like to gather in Peace this Sunday March 6th from 10 am - 12 pm at the "Seoul International Park, 3250 San Marino Street Los Angeles, CA 90006".

May all beings be together in peace.

Event information and registration : https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sit-walk-listen-together-for-peace-tickets-288234496137?utm-campaign=social%2Cemail&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-source=strongmail&utm-term=listing

Schedule of Events:
10:00 - 11:10 am // Arrival and welcome
10:10 - 10:30 am // Mindfulness meditation
10:30 - 10:50 am // Movement
11:00 - 11:50 pm // Listening circles
11:50 - 12:00 pm // Closing and announcements

Promise me,

promise me this day,

promise me now,

while the sun is overhead

exactly at the zenith,

promise me:

Even as they

strike you down

with a mountain of hatred and violence;

even as they step on you and crush you

like a worm,

even as they dismember and disembowel you,

remember, brother,

remember:

man is not our enemy.

The only thing worthy of you is compassion –

invincible, limitless, unconditional.

Hatred will never let you face

the beast in man.

One day, when you face this beast alone,

with your courage intact, your eyes kind,

untroubled

(even as no one sees them),

out of your smile

will bloom a flower.

And those who love you

will behold you

across ten thousand worlds of birth and dying.

Alone again,

I will go on with bent head,

knowing that love has become eternal.

On the long, rough road,

the sun and the moon

will continue to shine.

03/30/2021

This Sunday we are offering a refuge space for BIPOC identifying friends. We come together as a community to take care of ourselves and each other. We hope to restore and heal through stillness, to release through movement, and connect through sharing what we are carrying in our hearts.

On this day of liberation in the Jewish tradition and resurrection in the Christian tradition, we commit to our own rebirth and regeneration. To the the liberation of us all. We hope you will join us ❤️

To non-BIPOC allies, thank you for understanding the need for an all-BIPOC space.

03/22/2021

Photo of the organizing team from yesterday's Sit Walk Listen to . Thank you to all who facilitated, helped with caretaking, and contributing your loving presence and energy. The space is only possible because of you.

03/22/2021

Dear community,

Thank you all for coming to the Sit Walk Listen event yesterday - either in-person in front of San Francisco's City Hall or online with Sit Walk Listen New York. The event was deeply healing and nourishing for many of us. May our time together remind you that you are not alone. We honor your grief, anger, pain, and sorrow, and make space for it to be seen and held with tenderness.

Some folks asked about the poem Melanie read during the opening ceremony. Here it is; please ask before sharing more broadly: https://melaniegin.com/poetry/sunflowers/

Please take good care, dear friends, and we hope to see you again. Enjoy the photos!

Best,
Sit Walk Listen organizers (Melanie, Suan, Ivan, Sophie)

Photo credit: Sheila Fitzgerald

03/19/2021

Join us this Sunday at 11am in front of San Francisco City Hall to mourn and honor those lost in the Atlanta area shootings this past Tuesday. Let us gather together in solidarity against anti-Asian racism arising in the U.S. Let us fight all manifestations of white supremacy. Let us create the more peaceful, beautiful city, society, and country we want to see. https://www.facebook.com/events/743250929897703/

Image source: "I Still Believe in Our City", a public awareness campaign by multidisciplinary artist Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya. The public awareness campaign was developed with the NYC Commission on Human Rights to combat anti-Asian discrimination, harassment, and bias as a result of COVID-19, and launched with the support of the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs.

01/24/2021

TOMORROW ONLINE GATHERING

Dear friends, neighbors, and beloved community,

A cry for racial justice some 400 years in the making moves us. The dream of justice for all will be deferred no longer. - President Joe Biden in his Inaugural Address
Let us gather in community for the first public Sit Walk Listen of 2021, to reflect on this past year, this present moment, and all still to be transformed. We will be offering practices of renewing as an individual and as a community, with the aspiration to cultivate justice and peace in these transitioning times.
10:00 - 10:20am // Welcome and check-ins
10:20 - 10:30am // Reading
10:30 - 10:50am // Guided meditation
10:50 - 11:00am // Guided Movement
11:00 - 11:55am // Listening circles
11:55am - 12:00pm // Closing

01/08/2021

Friends, we hope you are taking good care in the wake of everything. Take the time you need to nourish yourself today. If it is possible, go slowly, delight in the trees, make space for all that is arising in you. Your anger, rage, grief, fear, joy, hope, optimism, whatever is there is welcome.

We strongly condemn the act of domestic terrorism carried out by armed pro-Trump supporters at the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. This insurrection has caused harm and anguish to people across the United States, and we rise today in anger and grief. We acknowledge the racism inherent in the light resistance and limited number of Capitol police (and later, National Guard members) that met the armed mostly White mob storming the Capitol.

We will be holding online space for BIPOC friends this Sunday 11am-12pm. This is intended as a refuge offering for any people identifying as Black, Indigenous, and/or a Person of Color to share space in community. Please look for the Facebook event on our page shortly for more details.

If I were a bomb
ready to explode,
if I have become dangerous to your life,
then you must take care of me.
You think you can get away from me, but how?
I am here, right in your midst.
(You cannot remove me from your life.)
And I may explode at any time.
I need your care.
I need your time.
I need you to defuse me.
You are responsible for me,
because you have made the vow
(and I heard it) to love and to care.
- Excerpt from Thich Nhat Hanh's poem "Defuse Me" (full text in link)

If I were a bomb ready to explode, if I have become dangerous to your life, then you must take care of me. You think you can get away from me, but how? I am here, right in your midst. (You cannot remove me from your life.) And I may explode at any time. I need your care. I need your time. I

12/06/2020

Thank you for helping to co-create Sit Walk Listen gatherings for the past six months. So grateful to have you as part of our community. Here is a video slideshow of our time together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFnNmexyhN4&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=Sit.Walk.Listen.

SWL San Francisco Bay Area + Los Angeles + New York City