BPF | Weekly Meeting, a BASE Story

We tumble in the front door of Maylie's house, some exhausted from a day at the cancer center or keeping vigil at hospice. We gather for a half-hour sit. One of us comes in halfway through, scratching her mosquito bite and loudly squishing her buckwheat-hulled zafu. The bell rings and we bow to one another. We are an eclectic group in sweats and jeans and ethnic shawls. Mix of races, classes, sexual identities, choosing to live simply as we do this work. One says the news she heard today on KPFA was so devastating she has been in tears since 6 pm. (They're rounding up the homeless in Golden Gate Park, no end in sight to the war in Bosnia--) We offer thoughts on maintaining mindfulness through periods of overwhelm. Wisdom from within gets circulated, to calm the fear, frustration, anger. Moments of suffering (our own and others) brought to an end through trying again and again to be awake together. Momentary cessation. Relief.