Sangha

I've come to realize that what i missed last year was sangha, or community. It doesn't matter what form the community takes- it doesn't have to be a yoga community, a buddhist community, or any other specific form, but just having people who are kind, thoughtful, and care about you. MJ and I had a small party on Saturday, and it was a great party- a nice mix of people came, and I made lavender chocolate cupcakes, and we realized "yes! we have more than 2 friends now!". We have a community of acquaintances, which we never really had last year much. She has some saxophone homies and I have some viola homies, but we have some non-sax-viola friends, which is nice. I also 'joined' (if you call it that) a buddhist sangha in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh, called the blooming lilac sangha, which met yesterday. It was only about 8-9 people, and we meditated for an hour, listened to a dharma talk, and had dharma discussion afterwards, and it was great. Everyone was so kind and welcoming, and this was the first of the three buddhist groups that really embraced me, which makes me want to return. The Tibetan group was very nice as well when I went, but there were too many people, and I sort of fell into the cascade of anonymity in the group. They also didn't meditate, which I really wanted anyway. The zen center people were nice, but the practice itself seemed too sterile for me, what with people wearing robes all the time, and the infamous "stick" that you hit people with. I also felt like I stuck out in the meditation, because I didn't have any fancy-pants robes to blend in with. But this group, Blooming Lilac, seems to be for me. In our discussion yesterday, everyone wanted to know what I did, where I was from, and everything else, and it was really quite nice to be supported already by a group of loving and caring people. Afterwards, I went to the studio viola party, and joined another sangha, to be cared for once again, and it was lovely. So yes, sangha is important, and it is one of the things I lacked last year. I look forward to having more caring people in my life again.

listening to: bjork, dark was the night, arcade fire, michael jackson