2010.01.31 08:00 - Guardian Session: San Francisco ReTweet

There were 13 guardians present for today's first post-Malta meeting: Arabella, Calvino, Doug, Eliza, Fael, Genesis, Maxine, Pema, Riddle, Steve, Widget, Wol, and Yakuzza. :)

The session naturally focuses on retreat topics, and begins with reflections from Wol, Pema, and Arabella.

-Eliza, who apologizes for this title... ha

Wol Euler: hello maxine, nice to see you again
Maxine Walden: hi, Wol, very nice to see you and everyone. Thinking a lot about you retreaters and hear it was a wonderful experience
Pema Pera: We just heard a marvellous description of the Malta retreat, from Wol
Wol Euler: indeed :)
Maxine Walden: ah, will look forward to reading the log
Riddle Sideways: hI eVERYbODY
doug Sosa: :)
arabella Ella: Hiya Riddle
Wol Euler: hello riddle
Wol Euler: and hello steve, didn't see you earlier
stevenaia Michinaga: :) hello wol, always a pleasure to see you again
Wol Euler beams
Fael Illyar: meep meep! :)
Pema Pera: one thing that struck me in Wol's report of the retreat was how comfortable we all were with each other from day one, hour one really -- the same happened in the previous two retreats, in California in August and in Princeton in November
Fael Illyar: I think I would've been surprised if I'd heard that it had been different for other retreats :)
Maxine Walden: the level of comfort, even intimacy possible perhaps is wonderful
stevenaia Michinaga: is there a link to the Retreat Reports Pema?
Pema Pera: it's consistent, but also quite different, I felt, in each retreat
Wol Euler: http://playasbeing.wik.is/PaB_Retreats/2010-01_Malta/2010-Malta-Accounts
Wol Euler: and future sub-pages
Pema Pera: and then there will be ten PaB sessions with reports by the ten attendants -- we just had Wol's one, and mine will be coming up in five hours
Pema Pera: see http://playasbeing.wik.is/PaB_Theme_Sessions
Riddle Sideways: oh that is very nice for those of us not able to get there
Wol Euler: we'll each present our experience of the retreat, then two weeks after that a kind of post-mortem
Wol Euler: suggested by Yaku
arabella Ella: anyone who wishes could hear ten different perspectives on the Malta retreat during the week and a final one with all of us present after 4 weeks
Pema Pera: on February 27, 1 pm (-> Wol)
Widget Whiteberry finds this very agreeable
Wol Euler: where we talk about how (whether) we were able to incorporate what happened at the retreat into our lives and practices
arabella Ella: yes

California dreaming...

Pema Pera: meanwhile, you're all welcome to come to the next retreat, in San Francisco, in late April!
Pema Pera: April 18-24
Pema Pera: that will have a different flavor: it will be an "urban retreat"
Pema Pera: right in the heart of San Francisco
Widget Whiteberry: oh!
Pema Pera: we'll see how we can integrate our more meditative exploration with busy city life
Pema Pera: meeting in cafes, etc :-)
Pema Pera: walking through parks
Pema Pera: riding trolley busses
Wol Euler smiles.
Widget Whiteberry: There is a major Zen Center there
Widget Whiteberry: and Green Gulch is just over the Golden Gate Bridge
Pema Pera: yes, there are several centers, for many different traditions
Pema Pera is wondering what a "silent day" in an urban retreat will look like
Wol Euler: :)
Pema Pera: everybody reading the newspaper in the cafe??
Riddle Sideways: ah the great religious center "little Italy" where I worship Pasta
Eliza Madrigal: :)))
Maxine Walden: ...will sound like?
Fael Illyar laughs.

Silence shines a spotlight on chit-chat...

Pema Pera: the challenge will be perhaps to refrain from chit chat . . . MUCH harder than not speaking at all !
Pema Pera: like dieting being harder than giving up (smoking, drinking, etc)
Fael Illyar: can you define what is chit chat? :)
Pema Pera: no
Wol Euler: but you know it when you feel yourself about to say it :)
Wol Euler: at least, I learned that during hte silent day.
Pema Pera: but we can collectively experiment with meaningful speech
Wol Euler: I was surprised and upset how much of what I felt like saying was pure "filler"
Pema Pera: learning to find your own inner compass
Maxine Walden: perhaps chit chat in this context might be to become swept up in the noise of the surrounding everyday city
Pema Pera: one option: think for two seconds before saying the sentence that was on the tip of your tongue
Wol Euler nods.
Pema Pera: like typing here -- deciding whether to hit return
Pema Pera: or just let it go
Maxine Walden: rather than hold space for inner discourse to emerge
Pema Pera visualizing a group of PaBers in a cafe, each with a beermat with "return" printed on it
Wol Euler: oh, that's an idea. Give out sentence tokens :) 10 per day
Wol Euler: to speak a sentence, you have to give up a token.
Pema Pera: if you go over your quota, you buy a round
Wol Euler: and then be silent
Maxine Walden: :))
Widget Whiteberry: perhaps should be a word token rather than a sentence token
Widget Whiteberry: kind of like twitter
Pema Pera: :-)
Wol Euler: :)
Riddle Sideways: hmmm both dieting and chit chat have the serious problem of when to keep month shut
Widget Whiteberry: lol
Pema Pera: hahaha
Widget Whiteberry recalls twitterchat
Wol Euler: :)
Fael Illyar smiles.
Pema Pera wondering about taking a course in ventriloquism (?)
Wol Euler laughs.

Suggestions for urban retreating...

Pema Pera: but seriously, what suggestions does everyone have for an "urban retreat"? It will be a totally new experience!
Calvino Rabeni: I suggest outdoor meditation in a noisy setting
stevenaia Michinaga: inner silence is easy when you have RL silence, I suspect it will take a bit more effort to see that silence in the city
Widget Whiteberry: long walks
arabella Ella: lovely parks for meditating
Widget Whiteberry: tour parks and coffee houses?
doug Sosa: where will be home central in SF?
arabella Ella: perhaps a PaB flash mob?
stevenaia Michinaga: or busy street corners
Eliza Madrigal: poetry club... night dancing ...
Wol Euler: heheheh
Pema Pera: a hotel somewhere, Doug
Eliza Madrigal giggles @Ara
Pema Pera: we're about to try to reserve a block of rooms
Widget Whiteberry: look south of market
Pema Pera: hehehe
Maxine Walden: I would suggest mining the experience from Malta as one source of suggestion...but also consider what pressures toward 'chit chat' or getting into the busyness of the outer city...consider these pressures might help to discern the inner from the outer
Riddle Sideways: long noisey up the hily streets walking meditations
Widget Whiteberry: there may still be some funky hotels
doug Sosa: anything atthe presidio?
Calvino Rabeni: Probably don't want to "do San Francisco"
Widget Whiteberry: no hotels there
Pema Pera: if anyone has a suggestion for a reasonably priced yet not "too" funky hotel, please IM or email me (piet@ias.edu)
Maxine Walden: actually I think the Presedio might have some 'retreat' possibilities, if I recall from a few years ago
Widget Whiteberry: Pema, I'll ask around
Calvino Rabeni: Yes, check Presidio
Widget Whiteberry: how big a block of rooms?
Pema Pera: we'll have to see how many people come
Pema Pera: typically we have about ten
Widget Whiteberry nods
Pema Pera: so far, ten +- two
stevenaia Michinaga: there is a sort of Playgota ain Japantown
Pema Pera: hahaha
stevenaia Michinaga: not sure if it's meeting worthy

PlayasBeing on Tour ...

Pema Pera imagines having a PaB lemonade stand in a corner of a park . . . .
Wol Euler: Being in a bun.
Maxine Walden: meditation, 5 cents
Pema Pera: we could in principle combine an urban retreat with a kind of outreach event (*not* on the silent day :-)
Wol Euler: though silent outreach would be quite an inspiring challenge.
Pema Pera: have a PaB panel discussion at one of the cafes there
Pema Pera: any suggestions?
Widget Whiteberry rummages in her memory banks
stevenaia Michinaga: http://www.sfjapantown.org/UserFiles/Image/Templates/banner_rates_index_4.jpg
Riddle Sideways: San Francisco is a city where anything goes
Pema Pera: again, sent me an IM or email, if you have a suggestion
Maxine Walden: if there is a serious wish for outreach, perhaps some forward publicity targetting possilbly interested folks might be something to consider; that would take a lot of planning and specific times, places, etc....might be more daunting that we could do at this time
Pema Pera: well, if it would be just in a cafe where people sometimes have authors, etc, speak, it might not take much preparation
Pema Pera: there must be many places like that in San Francisco
Maxine Walden: that might be more in the spirit of PaB, I agree, Pema
arabella Ella: or a bookstore perahps
Pema Pera: it could be quite inspiring, for the group as well as for the others
Pema Pera: to talk directly spontaneously from the base of the group's atmosphere!
Pema Pera: quite a nice challenge
Maxine Walden: not sure if City Lights Bookstore...famous in the past, at least in fantasy, still exists
doug Sosa: yes, but no space.
Calvino Rabeni: A tip for that - find a venue that does "open mic" spoken word events
Pema Pera: (how to find that?)
Maxine Walden: it would be impressive to "talk directly spontaneously from the base of the group's atmosphere" as Pema has just suggested; that could be very moving for everyone
Pema Pera: and might further strengthen the group too -- not as an intrusion, but rather a challenge to share even more broadly
Widget Whiteberry: http://www.exuberance.com/docs/openmic/
Pema Pera: wow, Widget hit the pot of gold !!
Maxine Walden: yes, nice link, Widget
Pema Pera: great list of places to meet too, during that week, in general
Fael Illyar: sounds quite interesting, that :)
Riddle Sideways: bringing our little sessions into a public urban populated event is not what is usually named retreat
Widget Whiteberry: If Hotel Utah is still a hotel, it's worth checking out
Riddle Sideways: it is more an extent
Calvino Rabeni: http://www.bayareaopenmics.com/index.php?regionRef=1
Widget Whiteberry: as a home base
Widget Whiteberry: and I agree with Riddle
arabella Ella: trying to find out where people congregate during their lunch breaks could also be an opportunity ... as they do in parks in london when the weather is good for example ... perhaps this is also the case in SF
Pema Pera: we can change the name, Riddle :-)
Pema Pera: just "treat" perhaps?
arabella Ella: it could be just a part of the retreat ... would not happen throughout
Widget Whiteberry: outreach is not what would draw me to a retreat
Widget Whiteberry: what draws me is all of you
Wol Euler smiles.
Pema Pera: yes, it would be less than 10% of the time -- the rest would be retreat
Widget Whiteberry: if 10 of us sat in a circle in the middle of say, golden gate park, we would draw some interest from passers by
Pema Pera: as for hotel Utah: http://www.bayareaopenmics.com/venue.php?venueRef=2&dayRef=1&regionRef=1
Pema Pera: yes, very much like in SL !

Our international Five Bells Cat...

Pema Pera: thank you all for so many great suggestions! Does anyone wants to bring up a different topic, perhaps?
Eliza Madrigal would just like to thank those who filled in for sessions, and remind everyone to keep giving ideas for the name of the 5 Bells cat :)
Widget Whiteberry: what would be Italian or German for '5 bells'?
Widget Whiteberry: or?
Wol Euler: Fünf Glocken
arabella Ella: cinque campane
arabella Ella: (italian)
Pema Pera: for short: funglock
Widget Whiteberry: lol
Widget Whiteberry: at this rate, well have names ready for the first litter
Fael Illyar smiles.
Pema Pera: hahaha
Wol Euler: hehehehe
Widget Whiteberry slips away
Wol Euler: bye widget
arabella Ella: i must go too i hope to be back for Pema's session later :)
arabella Ella: bye for now
Wol Euler: bye ara
Maxine Walden: bey ara
Riddle Sideways: yes, me too, bye all
Eliza Madrigal: Yes, seems the meeting is winding down naturally :) Thanks, Everyone
Wol Euler: bye riddle
Pema Pera: bye Arabella!
stevenaia Michinaga: leaving to
doug Sosa: bye
Wol Euler: well, shall we wrap up?
Wol Euler: bye riddle, doug
Pema Pera: sure
Maxine Walden: yes, see you all soon, I hope
Calvino Rabeni: Calvino Rabeni joins mass exodus too
Wol Euler: bye all, see you at 1pm
Pema Pera: yes, in four hours :-)
Fael Illyar: meep meep :)