Happy Sunday, everyone, and happy Pride Month to my fellow queer folks!
This Week’s Photo
I recently bought this amazing jacket from Verillas, and it definitely adds to my strong monk vibes. No complaints here. :)
The Week That Was
It was another busy week, as usual. Last Sunday I went to my first kirtan meditation led by Chay Tanya Lila and friends, who usually does events in the Portland area, but they are starting to do some Seattle events as well. It was pretty inspiring, and the vibe was very similar to in-person satsangs I’ve attended with Deva Premal and Miten in the past, albeit on a more intimate scale. I’m working on learning more about chanting and leading kirtan/satasang in relation to my own Cryptid Soup musical sangha.
I finally gave in and bought a combo box tanpura / swarmandal, which I plan on unveiling at the Cryptid Soup retreat in July. If you have no idea what that is, here’s a great video of Michael Angelo Leone playing one (as well as a shruti box, which is likely my next instrument purchase).
I also started finally writing my book on Xenomes in earnest this week, and I’m already close to 40 pages in. There’s still a ton of work to do, but it’s rewarding to finally see it start to take shape.
What I’m Reading
Teaching Mindfulness-Based Groups: The Inside Out Group Model has taken a backseat for now to the guides for the two creativity coaching classes I’m taking. Despite thinking I might postpone for a bit, I decided I didn’t want to miss out on the current creativity coaching cohort, which starts June 3rd, and I’m probably going to dive into the existential wellness coach training next week as well. While I am still gearing up for eventually getting trained and certified as a mindfulness teacher, it will most likely happen after I finish the coaching training and certifications, as it is another expensive and time-consuming endeavor with a lot of requirements. For now I’ll just continue my daily meditation practice with the Seattle Buddhist Center.
My goal is to integrate as much of this as possible into my Cryptid Soup group work, and also start offering 1-on-1 coaching once I’ve got my head around it all. I have to log 100 hours of coaching before I can pursue certification, so I’ll be looking for volunteers at some point in the near future.
What I’m Watching
I saw Furiosa with my cute datemate yesterday, and it was pretty good despite some cheesy bits and the stoned dude who laughed loudly through several minutes of the film towards the end. It was good to see an appearance by Chumbucket, and I’m tempted to boot up the Mad Max game on my PS5 for a trip down memory lane.
My spouse and I are into season 3 of The Umbrella Academy, and it was really refreshing to see how well they wrote in Viktor’s transition. There’s a moment of debate of “should we celebrate or not make a big deal of it”, ultimately landing on simple expressions of love and acceptance, that was very heartwarming. If only all our dysfunctional families were this accepting. We definitely need more representation like this, and I’m so proud and grateful for how Elliot Paige and the show’s writers worked this out on screen.
Buttons
That’s all for this week! Thanks as always for reading. Leave a comment (or reply to the email) and let me know what you’ve been up to!