• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • ABOUT
    • MEET JOSH AND TERRY
    • GRATITUDE
    • OUR FAVORITE THINGS
  • CONTACT
  • WRITING
    • BOOKS
    • BLOG
  • PODCAST
  • My Courses
  • Log In
  • Cart
Josh & Terry Summers

Josh & Terry Summers

Creative and functional approach to the spiritual path, weaving insights and practices from Yin Yoga, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and ancient wisdom traditions

  • PRACTICE ONLINE
  • ON-DEMAND EDUCATION
    • Short workshops (2-3hrs)
    • In-depth courses (7-10hrs)
    • Teacher Training Modules (25-50hrs)
    • Summers School of Yin Yoga
  • LIVE/ONLINE EVENTS
  • 1:1

Mercy, Mercy, Mercy

January 30, 2013

Just over a week ago, I was driving a few friends back to Boston after a meditation retreat with Rodney Smith and Narayan Liebenson Grady at the Insight Meditation Society. The first few hours after a silent retreat are often a bit wobbly, if not giddy. One hasn’t talked in a good while. The senses tend to be heightened, and there can easily be a feeling of overwhelm (for a few hours, at any rate).

In the car, my friends and I chatted about our experiences on retreat, the highs and lows, the struggles, the issues, the insights. And soon enough, the short journey back to Boston was over, the luggage on the curb, and I noted a desire to be free again from the demands of conversation –no matter how pleasant. I was also keen to turn on NPR and catch up on all the political dish I had missed.

At first, I didn’t recognize the commentator’s voice, and it took some time for the story to come into focus. But there it was: the massacre of Newtown, CT. Now, as then, I am at a loss for words when confronted by abject, senseless tragedy. In some ways, I find all the talking and debating to be a diversion, a palliative, a way of glancing past the raw pain and implacable grief that the victims’ families are forever seared by.

I don’t intend to add to the noise. But some of you may enjoy a small forum of articles on the tragedy that Tricycle Magazine just published, where leading Buddhist teachers share some reflections.Buddhist Reflections on Newtown.

One of my all-time favorite jazz musicians, Cannonball Adderly, used to introduce a song with these words like the soul preacher he was: “You know, sometimes we’re not prepared for adversity. When it happens, sometimes we’re caught short. We don’t know exactly how to handle it when it comes up. Sometimes we don’t know what to do when adversity takes over… And I have advice for all of us… and it sounds like what you’re supposed to say, when you have that kind of problem…. it’s called Mercy, Mercy, Mercy.”  Have a listen here: Mercy, Mercy, Mercy.

I wish you all a healthy and peaceful holiday season.

Originally published on December 24, 2012

Practice Opportunities: 

  • Weekly Classes with Josh and Terry (Yin Yoga, Yin Meditation, Yin Qi Gong, Yang Qi Gong)

Primary Sidebar

  • Yin Yoga Essentials
  • Qi Harmonization and Yin Yoga
  • Traditional Chinese Medicine
  • Yin Meditation
  • Qi Gong
  • Dharma

Recommended Posts

How Yin Yoga Harmonizes Qi: A Holistic Model – Part 1

The Way of Yin – Receptivity and Creativity on the Path

The Biochemistry of Qi

The Four Principles of Yin Yoga

Footer

Find us around the web

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

Instagram

Loading...

Join us!

Walk the path with us and receive our regular updates and reflections, along with a free copy of Josh’s ebook, “The What, Why and How of Yin Yoga” and a FREE 2-week trial to our online Sangha.

Copyright © 2023 · Josh & Terry Summers. Design by Great Oak Circle. Privacy Policy

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings.

Josh & Terry Summers
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.