Before we begin

Observe the instructions below as you enter through the door

  • ·Laptop closed, every device off
  • ·Phones away, screens dark, headphones out
  • ·Let the room be quiet for the next few minutes

The work will still be here. Let us start somewhere else.

The practice

Detachment

hands on your lap · feet on the floor · a slow breath

Detachment is loosening the grip of whatever has a grip on you.

  • ·Name what is pulling at your attention right now
  • ·Say to each one: not for the next fifty minutes
  • ·Let your hands fall open on your lap as you do
  • ·She lived sixty years beside a river she never looked at

Spiritual Disciplines Handbook · Adele Ahlberg Calhoun · Part 3 · Relinquish the False Self

breathe

“For sixty years she lived beside a river
and never lifted her eyes to look at it.”

Amma Sarah · Sarah 3

Amen.

Open your laptops. Let’s begin.