“I Am Large”

Cultivating a Practice of Generative Expansion → Contraction → Action

Mushim Ikeda led this EcoDharma Exploration on Sunday, February 23rd. Please find the recording below and welcome your support for this program.

Otter family next to a rivers.
River otter on the Salmon River in Oregon © Stephen Ikeda, used with permission

“I Am Large,” is a daily EcoDharma practice in three short steps to connect us to a path of action. It is a dynamic and generative brief practice that offers hope, humor, and a deep Dharma perspective. Because as a social media meme says, “so many coping strategies are based on the idea that your anxiety is unwarranted, and right now needs more of an ‘okay, extremely warranted but you still gotta water the plants or you’ll have fascism AND dead plants’ approach.”

 

 

Mushim Patricia Ikeda is an internationally-known secular mindfulness and Buddhist teacher working primarily with justice activists and Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) meditation practitioners and with people with disabilities and chronic illnesses. A core teacher at East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, California, she is an author whose writing has been published in Lion’s Roar, Tricycle, Buddhadharma and various anthologies. She is the recipient of an honorary doctor of sacred theology degree from the Starr King School for the Ministry. Mushim was selected by Lion’s Roar Buddhist media magazine as one of twenty-six “Great Buddhist Teachers” in the January 2022 issue. Mushim’s website is www.mushimikeda.com

     Pieces on One Earth Sangha

This program is donation-based, with no required registration fee. We welcome your contributions to support this program and the work of One Earth Sangha.

Support this Offering

One Earth Sangha and our featured speakers offer these explorations on a donation basis, with no required registration fee. We invite you to participate in the tradition of offering dana, or generosity. Your support makes these gatherings possible, and any amount offered is greatly appreciated.

Another way to support us is to share what this exploration has meant to you in a way that we can use in our materials. We invite you to share a “testimonial” here! (select “EcoDharma Exploration Participant” from the dropdown menu.)

Recording

Additional Resources

Inquiries for Group Discussion
  • Ways that I feel fearful, contracted, stuck, overwhelmed, in despair in regard to climate crisis are …
  • Ways that I feel large, open, playful, grounded in my spiritual being are …
Mushim shared this slideset during her presentation:

More EcoDharma Explorations

Upcoming

Turning Toward the Darkness Without Bypass or Collapse

Jess Serrante will share what she's learned in her years of friendship with Joanna Macy and her own experience carrying this lineage forward. Come ready to be tender with yourself and each other. We won't leave with answers — but hopefully with a little more room to carry what's true, together.

Past

Social Transformation Begins Right Here

What can open up for the beleaguered heart and mind when we slow all the way down and just breathe? What does this body already know about the magnificent compassion of this Earth, even as we might struggle to receive it?

Past

Meeting the Paradox of Inaction with Compassion

What if we better understood each other? We have a responsibility to investigate our own perceptions about how others are feeling the challenge of existential crises. What possibilities might such understanding open up for us all?