A new online acquaintance suggested I join this group. I have worked for 7 years as a middle school librarian in very poor neighborhoods. I started a mindfulness practice to cope with the spike in emotional and workload demands compared to public and university libraries.
There is so much raw emotion and lack of civility, as there is also great joy and friendship. I needed a new way to 'hold' it while being a role model and without resorting to punitive discipline, which is common in desperation.
In addition to the unordained teachers (people being difficult and very needy) that give me plenty of opportunity for practice, I listen and read Thich Nhat Hanh and many of the widely known secular mindfulness gurus like Rick Hanson and Tara Brach.
I see a mindfulness based cognitive behavioral therapist once a month and she has been very good, especially as my first mindfulness teacher for the classic MBSR.
Most of my discussions with practitioners outside classes have been live and geared toward applicability and arising of teachings in the context of our lives rather than pure book-studies. Moving from intellectualistic interpretation of spirituality, a remnant of growing up with a historical religion where the Word was all, toward an intuitive, emotional path with the 'how to' that Buddhism offers has been transforming. Yet as I have become more in touch with emotions, it has made me pickier in dating men who also can have a healthier relationship with their emotional lives. Not numb, not over-identification, but recognition.
As for weekly practice, I am in a discussion group at The Unity Center and recently a small sangha of suburbanites who follow along with Thich Nhat Hanh nuns and monks' interpretations of his works.
I am currently taking my second course with Mindfulschools.org and acquiring a solid curriculum to teach secular mindfulness for students K12 in another year.
