| Honoring
the Teacher
First Week’s Meditation
“An Indian wise man was teaching the children of his tribe
when a boy said, “If you’re so wise, tell me if this
bird in my hands is alive or dead.” The wise man thought
a minute and said, “If I say the bird is alive you will
crush it and if I say it’s dead you will let it go free.
Therefore, the bird is whatever you want it to be.””
--Unknown
Welcome, Dear Friends, to our Winter Usui Retreat of 2003. Mari
and janeAnne called upon me once again to facilitate our time
together and I, in turn, called upon spirit to guide me to an
appropriate topic. In the weeks that followed, I had a wonderful
reunion lunch with a Rabbi who has been a great teacher to me.
At 91, his gate is a little slower, but he still maintains a full
active schedule, his mind is as sharp and clear as ever, his cherubic
face and beaming smile can open the hardest heart, and every time
I hear him speak, he gifts me with a gem of wisdom. As I sat with
him, my heart filled with gratitude for all of the gifts he had
given me and all of the doors of knowledge he unlocked. As with
all great teachers, he led me to those doors and unlocked them.
It was up to me to open the doors and enter. This lovely meeting
triggered a stream of memories of the numerous teachers who have
graced my life and the countless doors they unlocked for me. It
also was spirit’s way of guiding me to the topic of this
retreat….honoring those special teachers who have touched
our lives with wisdom, insight and love and imparted a thirst
for learning and growing.
“We think of the effective teachers we have had over the
years with a sense of recognition, but those who have touched
our humanity we remember with a deep sense of gratitude.”
--Anonymous student
When I was in Junior High School in the mid 1960’s, I thrived
on science. I was fortunate to have a fabulous science teacher
who introduced us to chemistry, biology and physics and made these
topics not only exciting but fun to learn. I volunteered to be
the lab assistant and worked with him and the lab teacher (whom
he later married). We had many hours of conversation in the sanctum
of the lab office and talked about every thing under the sun.
I would continually ask questions about what I used to call the
“unknown” and “unseen” forces in the universe.
They both would smile but never would engage the subject, keeping
the focus on the physical sciences. By the same token, they never
discouraged my curiosity or made me feel foolish for asking. I
sensed that their smiles reflected an inner knowing and a silent
prodding of encouragement. When I graduated from the school, they
gave me a gift, in part to thank me for my service and in part
to encourage my pursuit of something they could not directly address.
The book was Sir James Frazer’s classic work, the Golden
Bough. For those not familiar with it, it is a study of ancient
religions, including ritual magic, energy work and folklore. On
the front leaf, these two wonderful teachers inscribed a note
that set the tone for my future explorations: “May this
book be your introduction to your quest of the unknown.”
In their own way, they gently led me to the door of a subject
matter they could not officially teach and handed me my first
key. It is in the spirit of gratitude for teachers such as these
that we begin our first week’s meditation.
"You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him
find it within himself." – Galileo Galilei
Each of you can relate to the experience I just shared. There
was that special teacher (or teachers) who first recognized something
special in you and nurtured that spark or inspired you to learn
and grow.
For our first exercise, take out your pad or journal and pen
or pencil and as a heading, write down the name of that teacher.
(If the name temporarily escapes you, you may use a nick-name,
an impression or, for those artistically inclined, a sketch.)
Under that heading, list the unique qualities that made that teacher
so special for you. These may include teaching style, communication
quality, study materials, classroom setting, empowering skills,
and extra-curricular activities, sense of humor, compassion, warmth
and humanity. Continue your list with the breakthroughs, learning
experiences and new vistas that this teacher facilitated for you.
Finally, think of your life as it is today and what would be different
if that teacher had not been there to lead you to the door and
help you to open it. When finished, read through your notes once
or twice and let the memories slowly become more vivid and real.
When you are ready, prepare for meditation.
The focus of this meditation will be a reunion with this fabulous
teacher…to review the gifts you received and express your
gratitude.
"The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be
ignited." – Plutarch
Begin by preparing your sacred space for meditation. Create a
special altar or environment for this occasion by gathering objects
that reflect your time with that special teacher or your personal
accomplishments that resulted from that relationship. Photographs,
year books, diplomas, report cards, certificates and even graded
papers may serve as energetic reminders. Equally valuable are
benchmarks of your professional, personal or spiritual achievements
that can be attributed to that teacher empowering you.
When your space is ready, assume your favorite meditation posture,
allow your body to relax and begin with some gentle stretches,
inhaling as you extend your arms to a comfortable position above
your head and exhaling as you allow your arms to gently float
down.
Slowly turn your head from side to side, inhaling as you turn
to the left and exhaling as you turn to the right. Do this several
times, allowing all of the tension to release.
Return your head to center and allow your hands to rest gently
in your lap.
Close your eyes and begin to take a series of slow, deep breaths,
holding each inhalation to your comfort level and then slowly
exhaling completely. Repeat this breath several times until you
feel very relaxed, centered and cleansed, and then allow your
breath to return to its normal rhythmic pattern.
As you deepen your meditation, begin to recall the setting or
classroom where this wonderful teacher graced your life. Sense
or visualize the familiar surroundings and begin to feel yourself
actually transported back to that place and time. When you are
ready, ask the teacher to join you in this safe, comfortable and
familiar setting. You may reminisce about favorite times and experiences,
share your accomplishments and growth, and even ask any questions
that come to mind. When your reunion is nearing the end, begin
to express your gratitude to this teacher for showing you the
way, encouraging you and empowering you with the tools you needed
to move forward on your path.
Finally, knowing that you may return to this setting for another
reunion whenever you choose bid your teacher farewell and sense
them withdrawing from the scene, joyous and content. Begin to
make the journey back to you current physical reality and start
taking slow deep breaths at your own pace and level of comfort.
Slowly begin to move your fingers, toes, and any other parts of
your body necessary to return you to the awakened state. Keeping
your eyes closed, take three more slow deep breaths and when you
are ready, open your eyes. Journal this experience, including
the answers to any questions you may have posed and save this
material to review at a later time.
Our second meditation will focus on honoring ourselves as teachers.
Blessings, light and peace.
Namaste’
Vic
“A good teacher is like a candle - it consumes itself to
light the way for others.” --Author Unknown
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Second Week’s Meditation
“Every teacher, book, writer, practitioner, sage, guru
or peanut vendor, by whatever name, title or label they go by,
is an aspect of the awareness "we" are. We take the
book from the shelf most likely to render a specific service at
a given moment. Exactly so, we have appeared to go to the philosophy,
teacher, church, friend, stranger or peanut vendor that has unfolded
as sufficient for the moment--but that philosophy, teacher, church,
friend or stranger is within the awareness we are. So is the peanut
vendor. We are forever looking at our self.” --William Levey
Samuel
Blessings, dear friends, as we begin the second week of our Winter
2003 Usui Retreat. I hope that all of you enjoyed last week’s
experience and that your meditations inspired fond memories of
cherished teachers. What were the qualities that made those teachers
so special to us?
As we examine those qualities, we may begin to recognize the
same qualities within ourselves. Whether learned from our teachers
or organically part of our nature, these are the skills and aspects
of self that make all of us teachers.
I had the privilege of having a partner who was a consummate
teacher. Judy, who passed away six years ago, was a career special
education teacher in the New York City Public School system. She
worked with seventh and eighth grade special needs students in
a Harlem based experimental school. Many of her students came
from difficult home environments and had emotional challenges
as well as learning issues. In Judy’s care, these kids thrived.
They healed, learned and succeeded. I once asked Judy how she
managed to get beyond their blocks and stimulate and encourage
them. She said that she never trusted the labels that these kids
were given by the social workers and diagnostic testing. She would
spend time with each of them and using heart based intuition,
find that one key to reach each student as an individual. “Show
me what turns a kid on, and I’ll show you how to get them
to learn, grow and succeed,” she would often say. One of
the most joyous experiences I had with her was when she invited
me to spend a day with one of her classes teaching them to meditate.
It was wonderful to witness a group of 14 inner city kids sitting
quietly in a circle with their eyes closed for 15 minutes and
the expressions of joy on their faces when they opened their eyes
after the meditation concluded. Many of them asked her to make
meditation a regular part of their curriculum.
When she passed, more than 200 former students came to the funeral
to spend one last time with the teacher many affectionately called
their “second mom.” Most of them had gone on to college,
successful careers, and yes, several became teachers. When they
stopped by to offer their consolations to me, I asked them what
made Judy so special. Their response was like a sweet mantra.
“She listened, really listened…and she cared.”
"Teachers who inspire realize there will always be rocks
in the road ahead of us. They will be stumbling blocks or stepping
stones; it all depends on how we use them." --Author Unknown
The focus of this meditation will be to find those unique qualities
within yourself that make you a special teacher (and we are most
definitely all teachers) and to bring those gifts and talents
to your consciousness so that you can use them with greater awareness.
Prepare your usual place of meditation, but make the setting
into a classroom of the mind. Bring into this space the tools
that energetically stimulate learning…favorite books, notebooks,
pieces of artwork, personal creations and items of discovery.
Create an altar with these objects. If you are not sensitive to
incense or candles, burn some Nag Champa incense and light a blue
candle. (Please observe fire safety practices when working with
candles and incense during meditation and never leave these items
burning while unattended.)
When your space is ready, sit in a comfortable position with
your spine as straight as possible, and your head held comfortably
in alignment with your back. Release any tension or stress in
your body and begin taking a series of slow deep breaths to your
own level of comfort. While focusing on your breath, begin to
relax and go deeper into the meditative state.
Directing your focus to your third eye, (the energy center between
and just above your brows), begin to sense or visualize a screen
similar to a television or movie screen. See the screen first
as a pleasant shade of blue and slowly visualize a scene forming
on the screen. In the scene, picture a classroom setting with
desks, chairs, students and some of the items that you had placed
on your altar. See yourself as one of the students, waiting for
the teacher to arrive. Sense the joy of the students anticipating
the arrival of this wonderful teacher. Then see the door to the
classroom open and the teacher enter. This teacher is you. You
are observing yourself as a teacher through your student eyes.
Observe how you feel and how the other students react. What are
the qualities this teacher brings to the classroom that makes
the students respond the way they do? Notice the voice, eye contact,
gestures, props, and other physical aspects of the teaching technique.
Be aware of the way dialogue takes place. Is it lecture or discussion?
How does the teacher use questions and answer questions? What
other gifts does the teacher bring to this class that makes it
special and unique? Finally, thank yourself as the teacher for
the insights and lessons learned.
Being mindful of all that has taken place, begin to return to
your normal state of consciousness, taking a series of slow deep
breaths at your own pace and level of comfort. Just before ending
the meditations, with your eyes closed, repeat the following affirmations
(or those of your own creation) three times:
“I am both student and teacher in the classroom of life.”
“I have gifts and skills that make me a wonderful teacher”
“I follow in the path of the great teachers before me.”
“When I teach, I work with love.”
When you are ready, open your eyes, spend a few minutes reflecting
on what has happened and journal the experience.
Our final meditation will focus on the Universe as teacher.
Namaste’ and many blessings,
Vic
“A student is born with wings, but a teacher shows them
how to use them to fly." --Copyright © 2003 Shelby Stollery
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Third Week’s Meditation
“The role of teaching and learning is actually reversed
in the thinking of the world. The reversal is characteristic.
It seems as if the teacher and the learner are separated, the
teacher giving something to the learner rather than to himself.
Further, the act of teaching is regarded as a special activity
in which one engages only a relatively small proportion of one’s
time. The course, on the other hand, emphasizes that to teach
is to learn, so that teacher and learner are the same. It also
emphasizes that teaching is a constant process; it goes on every
moment of the day, and continues into sleeping thoughts as well.”
– A Course In Miracles, Manual for Teachers
Blessings dear friends as we come to the third and final week
of this season’s Usui Retreat. In our process of honoring
the teacher, we’ve examined the great teachers who have
touched our lives, the qualities that made those teachers special
and the qualities in ourselves that make us all teachers. Our
last exercise will be to examine and honor the ultimate teacher,
The Universe.
Whether we look at the Universe as Cosmos, Nature, or personified
as Deity, the class room of “All That Is” gifts us
with an infinite curriculum that nourishes our intellect and spirit
lifetime after lifetime.
It is noteworthy, as we enter this last week of retreat, that
a celestial event of human engineering is unfolding. A space probe
is scheduled to land on Mars and, if successful, relay data back
in its search for the elements of life on the Red Planet. The
name of that space probe is, fittingly enough, Spirit! This is
a magnificent symbol of human kind’s spirit reaching out
into the Universe to seek answers to ancient questions. The argument
could be made that this achievement would not be possible without
modern technology. Yet that technology is based on thousands of
years of our ancestors asking questions and getting answers, building
a base of knowledge from the ultimate source.
“Gazing past the planets
Looking for total view
I've been lying here for hours
You gotta make the journey out and in
Wonders of a lifetime
Right there before your eyes
Searching with this life of ours
You gotta make the journey out and in
Out and in, out and in”
--“Out and In” –The Moody Blues,
To Our Children’s Children’s Children, 1969
I had the privilege and pleasure a few months ago of re-visiting
Sedona, Arizona, a magnificently beautiful and vortex energy filled
sacred place in the South West United States. I attended a seminar
on communicating with and entering the realm of nature’s
energy elementals, i.e. fairies, sprites, etheric forms. As our
teacher guided us to several sacred sites, she would remind us
before entering to close our eyes, center and ground ourselves,
open our hearts and express gratitude in advance for the gifts
of knowledge we were about to receive. Upon opening our eyes there
was a perceptible shift in the appearance of things. Colors and
hues were more intense, auras were more defined and there appeared
to be a more open channel of communication between the human and
natural realms. This reminded me of similar experiences when I
first began my meditation practice and also after my first Reiki
Attunement. Each of these openings enhanced and expanded my ability
to “see” and learn from nature and the Universe. Our
final meditation of this retreat will open this special connection
for each of us and allow us to honor Nature, Cosmos, and Universe
as teacher.
"Come forth into the light of things. Let nature be your
teacher."
-- William Wordsworth
Let’s take our last meditation of this retreat to a place
of nature. For those of you who live in climates conducive to
going outdoors, travel to your favorite place in nature. For those
without a suitable place for outdoor meditation, find an indoor
location such as a greenhouse, atrium or perhaps among your plants
at home.
Ask your inner guide to lead you to the setting that “feels
right” for this exercise.
As this will be an “active” meditation, stand in a
comfortable posture with your knees flexed and your back straight
but soft. There should be no effort involved in this meditation…allow
your body to find its natural center so that you can stand comfortably
for several minutes. (For those of you who cannot stand for any
length of time, please answer and honor the needs of your body
and sit as necessary.)
Find your center of balance and begin to observe everything around
you. Use all of your senses in this process, remembering the sights,
sounds, feelings and smells of your surroundings. Observe the
colors and hues, the way the air feels against your skin, the
temperature, the sounds and the odors…even tastes in your
mouth. After a few minutes of taking this in, begin to close your
eyes and take several deep cleansing breaths at your own pace
and level of comfort.
In your mind, begin to recall all of the wonderful gifts of knowledge
and experience the Universe and Nature have given you throughout
your life, your joy of discovery and your gratitude for all that
you have received and continue to receive. Dwell in this energy
of remembrance and gratitude for several minutes and when you
feel ready, take several more deep cleansing breaths. Slowly begin
to open your eyes. When fully opened and aware, begin to notice
the subtle and remarkable changes of perception. Spend as much
time as necessary to appreciate the gifts of this new panorama,
making note of the changes, how they make you feel, and the insights
gained from the experience.
Finally, express gratitude to the Universal Teacher, her magnificent
classroom, and her infinite curriculum!
It has been my pleasure to once again facilitate our retreat.
My gratitude and thanks to two wonderful teachers we have been
gifted with, Mari and janeAnne…and to all of you for teaching
us!
Blessings, love and light,
Vic
Rev. Vic Fuhrman, MSC, RM
reikivic@aol.com
http://enervision.org
"Nature is man's teacher. She unfolds her treasures to his
search, unseals his eye, illumes his mind, and purifies his heart;
an influence breathes from all the sights and sounds of her existence."
-- Alfred Billings Street
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