We grow together

So Good to begin again with you!

PARENTS & CHILDREN gathered in the Davis as we formed our welcome circle... HAZEL invited the bell, & together we arrived. 

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"Waking up I smile

24 brand new hours before me

I vow to live them mindfully 

              with love and compassion for all beings"  -Thich Nhat Hanh

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Stretching TALL with arms open wide we moved to our waking up Gatha. This poem and stretch is an Excellent way to start the day, & bring the mind and body together.  Why not make up your own family poem & stretch? You might create one for any reason, occasion, or mood. They can be especially helpful when preparing for a transition, or navigating a difficult situation. SHORT or long, they serve as a gentle reminder and bring much needed awareness to any moment. 

Theme: Watering seeds.    

"With each happy step, we plant a happy seed" 

- Thich Nhat Hanh

"We ALL have helpful and unhelpful seeds of emotion inside of us. Depending on which seeds we choose to water, certain seeds grow more than others. Mindfulness helps us build awareness around what seeds we are watering". from Teach Breathe Learn by Meena Srinivasan. "When I tell my students I care about them, and act in caring ways I water helpful seeds inside of them and inside myself." Goodness, generosity, friendliness, patience, anger, jealousy, resentment, intolerance etc. Whichever seeds we water grow strong and can become our habit patterns of reaction. The seeds we water become our inner garden, and inform our way of being with ourselves and with the world. So join us this month as we set our intention to practice "selective watering" and mindfully commit to watering helpful seeds in ourselves and in others. 

The Two Wolves

a native american teaching tale

One Evening while sitting around a fire under the open sky a cherokee elder was teaching his grandchildren about life. "There is a battle between two wolves going on inside us all, he said. One wolf is hatred, greed, anger, and jealousy, the other wolf is kindness, peace, love and generosity. The children sat quietly, staring into the fire, thinking about what their grandfather had said, and imagining such a battle. After a long silence the oldest of the grandchildren spoke, "which wolf will win grandfather?" he asked. His grandfather replied "Which ever one you feed"

Jody, Zoe and the younger kids had a blast recreating this story in an interactive way with furry wolf puppets, and a lot of attitude!   

In the older group, working with the book Teach Breathe Learn by Meena Srinivasan, we uncovered some essential questions: What is mindfulness?  How do we know which wolf we are feeding / seeds we are watering?  How can mindfulness help? TURNING to the SCIENCE FACTS of Hebb's rule for some help, we discovered that "neurons that fire together wire together" Which was good news… it meant the more we practice mindfulness, the more mindful we become! In her book Meena points out that mindfulness is "a skill that improves our ability to stay focused, remain calm in challenging situations, and increases our understanding of ourselves and others."

WE HAD FUN testing  our focus by balancing books on our heads and observing just exactly what is happening  as we try to keep the book from slipping. We tested our focus a second time, by choosing an object of focus and noticing in a 30 second period just how often our mind wanders. Each time we noticed our minds wandering, we brought it back to the object of focus.

MINDFUL CHALLENGE: count how many times your mind wanders in a 60 second period & record your findings - do it twice or over a few days, and see if there are any changes. Try noticing if your mind wanders more to the past or the future?

Bringing the kids all together we decorated vessels & planted seeds of happiness, gratitude, hope, peace, love, patience and more before heading over to the cafeteria to meet up with parents & friends for a delicious community dinner*.

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What a lovely way to spend our Sunday afternoon! 

Come join us next time as we strengthen our intention and continue our exploration of "Watering Seeds"!

Planting Seeds In Petersham 

The Davis Memorial, Petersham MA

workshops 4-5pm

community soup / potluck 5:15-6:30pm
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*WE invite all  to join us in sharing a meal together. Planting Seeds in Petersham offers a Vegetarian Soup, so everyone can feel welcome regardless if they have prepared a potluck dish. Any donations received will go towards the next soup supper.  
All types of potluck dishes are welcome.

We Begin Anew

Hello Planting Seeds in Petersham Families & Friends!

This season we’re gathering at a new time, and experimenting with a new family inclusive format. We hope to explore a direction that supports you – our parents and caregivers, as well as strengthens our commitment to building community.

Planting Seeds In Petersham

1^st and 3^rd Sunday’s of the month
February thru April 2015

The Davis Memorial, Petersham, MA

Beginning Theme:

“Watering Seeds”

·      4-4:10pm Families gather @ the Davis

·      4:15-5pm Children’s workshop  0 to 7yr - The Davis meditation rm

·      4:15-5pm Children’s workshop   8 – teen  - The Davis stage

·      4:15-5pm Parents forum - the Cafeteria

·      5:15-6:00 Community Vegetarian Soup Supper & potluck

Making room for new routines and rituals can be difficult when family life already seems such a balancing act, but we believe in the value added of coming together in this way. Together we hope to create a nourishing space in our busy lives where we can bring families together to connect, practice, and celebrate community.

After the workshops, at about 5:15, we will gather in the cafeteria inviting all members of the community to join us in sharing a meal together. Planting Seeds in Petersham will offer a Vegetarian Soup, so everyone can feel welcome regardless if they have prepared a potluck dish. Donations received for this soup will go towards the next soup supper.  All types of potluck dishes are welcome.

We hope you will join us as we grow our commitment to family and widen our practice community. All are welcome.

Here’s more information about what we’re planning…

Each Month will have a theme for the 2 Sundays we meet.

With a central theme explored by all, we hope to encourage the sharing of perspectives through continuing conversations at home during the week. Bringing this theme back the 2^nd time, allows us to share our experiences together & see where these mindfulness practices will take us.

Children’s workshop

Over the next few months the Children will workshop these different themes, exploring ideas through music, movement, story, discussion, art, games, journaling, meditation, and relaxation. The idea is to invite each child to experience an assortment of mindfulness and meditation practices designed to calm the body & mind, navigate strong emotion, and explore the inner cycles between thoughts, feelings, & actions.

By forming two children’s workshops, we hope to engage the children with activities better suited to their specific age group. We welcome Zoe Burch who will be joining Jody Bird in leading the 7 and under children’s workshop, and Amy Rocheleau will join Christine Word in the 8 and older group.

Caregivers of infants and children 4 & under are invited to join their children in the 7 and under workshop.

Teens are encouraged to take part in the 8 & older group. By developing or deepening a mindfulness practice of their own and sharing their perspective, they water seeds of generosity! A teen presence would be most welcome!

Parents Forum

In eliminating the drop-off aspect of the children’s program, and offering a simultaneous mindful parenting workshop instead, we commit to supporting both parents and children equally. In her article “ A Family Affair”, Sumi Loundon Kim writes: “Parents need a forum to explore the relationship between parenting and spiritual practice and to connect with other parents for spiritual friendship, learning, and problem solving.” She goes on to site the benefits of parental  involvement in a mindfulness program, “it  allows parents to extend their children’s learning at home throughout the week and to integrate new habits into the family as a whole.” This sounded really good to us, and so we are delighted to welcome Lisa Bilotta Kunkel as facilitator of our Parents forum.