Author Archives: lena

I’ve never been on a formal meditation retreat before that’s longer than a few days, but this Sunday evening I’ll be participating in a week-long sesshin, or Zen meditation retreat. We will wake at 4:30 the morning in Noble Silence to begin the first of eight total hours of silent zazen, or sitting meditation each day. There will also be kinhin, or walking meditation, work meditation, as well as formal meals in silence called oryoki. There will be chanting and bowing, a time for rest or exercise, and time to ask our teachers questions about our practice in a private interview process called sanzen. Each evening a Dharma Talk is given by the abbot of the temple, followed by a tea ceremony; an evening vespers chant wraps up the day before lights out at 10pm. Then six and a half hours later, the bells will ring and we’ll wake up and do it all over again, for the next seven days.

Mindful Birth PDX has had a long gestation period, but I am excited to finally be able to launch this new childbirth and parenting education series to the Portland community. The seeds were first planted around six years ago, when as a pre-nursing student on her way to midwifery school, I stumbled upon Nancy Bardacke’s book, Mindful Birthing: Training the Mind, Body, and Heart for Childbirth and Beyond. I remember reading it at the time and feeling a deep, full body resonance with the way she wrote about the transformative power of birth and the potential benefits of cultivating a daily mindfulness practice to support the parenting journey.