Sangha Is All
An embodied awareness community
Priviledge and Community Care
Identity
Community Identity Statement:
Sangha Is All is an awake and awakening community working toward the arising of the next Buddha as community. We do this through dedicated practice in the ways that suit us best as individuals, meditation, yoga, tai chi, Focusing, resting, sharing our unique wisdom, and by simply being connected. We are not insular; we actively practice with, support, and promote other practice communities with aims that are similar to and supportive of ours.
Founder’s Identity Statement:
I Identifiy as a spiritual being incarnate in a body that is racialized, sexualized, and parsed into many other categories by the culture I live in. I reject this deconstruction while at the same time I accept that such categorization is the current norm. I am descended from peoples who lived in the western part of the landmass of Asia that we call Europe. Historically colder and darker than some other continental areas, European heritage affects the melanin and other biomolecules in my body and consequently my skin is of a relatively light hue, my hair texture is smooth, my hair color is relatively light (although I dye it purple), and, for better or worse, I am accumulating abundant wrinkles and sagging skin as I age. Society racializes me as white. In cultural terms, my body is considered chronically ill and disabled. In functional terms, my body is my teacher and my heroine, providing my spirit and soul a beautiful and vibrant home in this relative world and inviting me into the present moment with every breath.
I was born into a normatively enabled body. This privilege, my status of racialized as white, and other talents, abilities, and characteristics that are viewed favorably by the culture I was raised in enabled me to accumulate experiences and resources that people with different identities and capacities may not have been able to experience or accumulate. While I practice and share to gain wisdom and insight, I accept that because everything I read, learn, experience, interpret, practice, and create comes through my body and my experiences, I am inherently ignorant. Despite my best intentions, what I say or suggest may not resonate with everyone in the community. I urge community members to care for themselves in any moments you feel triggered, to listen as deeply as you can to what you are experiencing and explore how self-care might best go forward. Self-care options during live gatherings include turning your volume off, moving away from your screen, or leaving the gathering, knowing you are welcome to come back at any time or listen to the recording later. Your experiences are valid. I am always available for healing dialogue.
I am not an expert. I am not a teacher. I am not an enlightened one. I am simply a person practicing on the path with the identities I embody who invites all beings to practice with me in that way.