Next Stop March

One expression that I grew up with was “March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb.” Back in England winter slowly relinquishes its grip, while here in the Bay Area, blossoms are plentiful and the temperature nudges up towards seventy this week. Crows congregate and chatter in the soft morning light, hummingbirds flash and zoom, parrots noisily gather and scatter (I have been thinking about parrots a lot as I plan to use my story about the notion of parrots commuting in one of the recordings I need to do this weekend).

This week was one of those where I had a lot of teaching sessions – one corporate meditation, which is shared between a few Within teachers, has gone from just Fridays to Mondays and Wednesdays. I did both days this week, and wanted to ensure I didn’t repeat myself as I know many people were attending both; in the second session I used the quote from Shundo Aoyama that I posted yesterday. And, since I have discrete audiences, I also used it for my regular Within class, and the Zen Center online group on Thursday evening; we had a very interesting discussion at the latter, which I find often happens.

The Monday Suzuki Roshi discussion group and my ongoing student group, who are getting their teeth into Bendowa, are going well. I was able to remember that even those days that seem full still have a lot of space, and that teaching is often more energising than draining.