In my last blog, I shared my experience of being abruptly pulled out of a silent retreat by COVID-19. I had intended to remain in silence for a month. Nonetheless, I felt fortunate to have participated in 12 days of rigorous spiritual exploration. Having been home for nearly a month and not having held an …
Dear Friends, I hope this finds you healthy in body, mind, and spirit. Although the acupuncture clinic is closed due to COVID-19, I am still here to support you and this community and am excited to offer new opportunities for optimizing your health during this challenging time. While I am unable to offer acupuncture at …
Telehealth Consultations and Community Meditation with Jordan Van Voast, L.Ac. Read More »
Someone asked me today how acupuncture works. My first answer is always, “I don’t know”. My second answer is this: Think of an ecosystem in balance. Clean water flows from the mountains to the sea. Forests absorb carbon dioxide and breathe oxygen. The rain, wind, cold, warmth, sun, moon, and seasons all come and go …
No Peace without Justice; No Meaning without Service. Read More »
Human experience, perceived and filtered through the deeply conditioned and unconscious belief in a separate, inherently existent self, is pure fiction. The ultimate goal of meditation, from a Buddhist perspective, is to remove these faulty perceptual filters, and to free the individual from the confusion and negative consequences of being lost in delusion. Wisdom is …
Meditation – More than Simply Powerful Self Care Read More »
It has been four years now in CommuniChi’s current location on Mount Baker and 2017 was our best ever. I say “our” because to each one of you who came for acupuncture, I give thanks, not only for supporting my work, but for supporting your own path of healing. We are all connected. Supporting each …
Ten thousand leaves flutter in the breeze on the big maple tree out my window. Suddenly, the sun bursts forth, lighting them all aflame, changing my visual palette from a dull brownish yellow to a brilliant gold against a checkered blue and white sky. The raindrops on my head from ten minutes ago are still …
stories are part of being human, and we need them. Make your story, our story, a good one. May all beings be free from suffering and attain the supreme state beyond suffering.
Marching in the streets, and signing online petitions, are easy responses. Speaking out in the community, attempting to bridge ideological divides through dialogue, organizing and participating in public actions which spring from mindfulness and love, informed by a long term vision of sustainability, with awareness of our interdependence – these are the more difficult challenges of this time we live in.
Now more than ever, each one of us needs to touch that place of inner strength, serenity and peace – individually and collectively. We will need it in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead. So if you have a meditation practice, please go to your cushion now and tune into cosmic love and awareness of the interdependence of all life. If you don’t have a meditation practice, get one. I can teach you. It’s pretty simple really. All you have to do is…..
B R E A T H E.
What does it mean to be mindful, not merely of my breath rising and passing, sensations of the body and mind, but of my carbon footprint? My white male able bodied, naturalized citizen, English speaking privilege? What does it mean to be mindful of the suffering of sentient life due to my dietary habits and choices?
