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I’m thinking of tonight as a kind of bridge between the conversations we’ve just been in around politics and social engagement, and the theme we’ve been with since the beginning of the year: “Dharma life reset.” We’ll start thinking about daily meditation and its role in sustainable spiritual practice, well-being, and our lives in the worlds of relationship, work, and community.

At the heart of social engagement discourse now is the understanding that the persistent and pervasive harms that inspire activism frequently cause particular flavors of suffering among those who care about them: overwhelm, burnout, and despair. I think it’s helpful to think about this suffering as a distinct form of dukkha, not just framed as the suffering of craving based in illusion. It is not illusory that beings and ecosystems are being harmed, and so the suffering that arises in us around these harms is a close relative to compassion and spiritual urgency, or saṁvega.
In this overwhelm-centered version of engaged practice, the concept of self-care arose—initially from within the Marxist left as a way of talking about the human costs of activism, and drawing on feminist theories of emotional labor and the radical power of health and well-being as resistance to neoliberal and fascistic norms. (This post is full of keywords from the left that probably flag the algorithms now… 😉 ) Buddhist thinkers have taken up this approach as well, weaving it with Mahāyāna ideas of Bodhisattva action. (See Sangha friend Mushim Patricia Ikeda’s iconic article in Lion’s Roar: “I Vow Not to Burn Out”.)

So tonight I’ll talk about meditation as paradigmatic self-care, and start to feel into how our internal practices live in a reciprocal and symbiotic relationship with external, relational, and political action.

SEAN OAKES
Sean Feit Oakes, PhD (he/they, queer, Puerto Rican & English, living on Pomo ancestral land in Northern California), teaches Buddhism and somatic practice focusing on the integration of meditation, trauma resolution, and social justice. He received Insight Meditation teaching authorization from Jack Kornfield, and wrote his dissertation on extraordinary states in Buddhist meditation and experimental dance. Sean holds certifications in Somatic Experiencing (SEP, assistant), and Yoga (E-RYT 500, YACEP), and teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, East Bay Meditation Center, Insight Timer, and elsewhere.

LINKS
Website: seanfeitoakes.com
Community Page: In It To End It
YouTube channel: In It To End It
Spirit Rock: spiritrock.org/teachers/sean-oakes
Insight Timer: insighttimer.com/seanoakes

GIVING
All of Dr. Oakes’ independent teaching is offered on the model of Gift Economy, in the Buddhist tradition of dāna, inspired giving. Support of our teaching and community is gratefully received. Thank you for your generosity.

Donate:
seanfeitoakes.com/gift-economy

Blessings on your path.