Here is a link while it's still April is Autism Acceptance Month to an interview I just did about my book, autism, and spirituality. I apologize for the scratchy sound, my fault, but people have actually listened to it!
Live in the Asperger's Jungle
My views on life and Asperger's syndrome. I am a 65 year old woman, self-diagnosed at age 59, when my 35 yr old son was officially diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. I have written a book about our adventures and this blog is my thoughts as I go through the days. My book is available at Amazon in paperback and also in a Kindle edition.
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Saturday, April 27, 2019
Blurring Boundaries
I need to be around blurred edges
where the ocean blends into the sky
where the leaves dance with the sunlight
where the air and the flowers mingle.
Bodies that are lumpy in places
soft furry things
minds open to new possibilities
open to transformation.
Then it becomes easier
to slip from my confining body and ego
into the infinite wonder and timelessness
of here and now.
where the ocean blends into the sky
where the leaves dance with the sunlight
where the air and the flowers mingle.
Bodies that are lumpy in places
soft furry things
minds open to new possibilities
open to transformation.
Then it becomes easier
to slip from my confining body and ego
into the infinite wonder and timelessness
of here and now.
Monday, July 10, 2017
Ukulele Lady
Sometimes it is fun to dress up.
I love my new plastic ukulele.
It's a Waterman made by Kala and really plays and stays in tune. It won't rust or warp and is small enough to take along.
I love my new plastic ukulele.
It's a Waterman made by Kala and really plays and stays in tune. It won't rust or warp and is small enough to take along.
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Autism and Zen: Interview with author Anlor Davin
While researching autism and zen practice I found a link to an amazing book and woman and autistic zen circle and practice.
The book is Being Seen, and the woman Anlor Davin, and her story is worth reading and I recommend the book as a way of understanding more about autism and how a meditation practice can help with surviving in a noisy and chaotic world.
RAVEN: You said you do 2 hrs
sitting a day. Is that all at once or separated, night, morning, when
stressed?
ANLOR: First of all, nobody is
behind you watching and counting how long you sit, it is totally your
own business. I personally sit 2 hours first thing each morning as
this is the time I feel best and less stressed. Please always
remember that five minutes sitting by a beginner is easily the equal
of any two hours by an experienced sitter. Without this sitting
practice I could not function as well the rest of the day. In fact,
the more I am stressed and tired after having gone outside during the
day, the more difficult I find it to sit! I do most of my sitting
first thing in the mornings, before I have eaten anything and done
distracting things -like answering emails! Often I break that time
down into two periods. The first period lasts usually between sixty
and ninety minutes, depending on what needs to be done (for example
prepare breakfast, do some exercise and yoga, even answer some Skype
calls from my French family as it is the best times for us to talk
due to the time zones). Sometimes I sit some more in the evenings,
but I find that then I am unable to sit for as long as I do in the
morning.
RAVEN: I have never sat Soto
Zen. Could you describe the meditation techniques.
ANLOR: The meditation
techniques that I, a California resident at the beginning of 2000,
have observed or been told about is that no specific focus point is
given while one sits zazen. Only the breath, always returning to
awareness of the breath.
I –and we- sit zazen while turned
toward a non-cluttered wall. The round black cushion one sits on(called a zafu) is black and so is the
flat larger mat (zabuton) on which the round cushion is. Chairs are accepted but they are rare in a zen
meditation hall. Zen meditation (zazen) is done in silence, very rarely will the leader say anything
during zazen. The color black is most often seen in the priest robes. Whether in a chair or on the zafu
cross-legged, the spine is erect, the hands are in the lap, the eyes are downcast.
After zazen there is either another
period of zazen or other rituals, for example slow walking mediation (kinhin) in shorter periods, dharma
talks, and services. And let’s not forget the time to eat, oryoki style, which is also performed in a
silent “dance” whose goal, as always, is awareness.
RAVEN: Do you feel sitting Zen
as a spiritual practice is different from purely secular meditation?
ANLOR: Yes I do. Zen is made of
individuals sitting, both alone and together. The group is called a
sangha. I find it of utmost importance to have a sangha and be with
others at times. It nourishes and supports my practice at home and
without that I would not have been able to sustain my practice, or I
might have started to find ways to be distracted (in my experience,
guided meditation can do that) and slumped in my posture. When I
first started my zen practice 17 years ago there were monks who, by
their living example, gave me faith that this practice had a positive
effect; It is a zen friend who helped me find proper medical
diagnosis of my autism, it is yet another two friends who advised me
to start writing a book, and on and on.
RAVEN: Your Autsit retreats in
Lake Tahoe sound wonderful. I even liked the social awareness
learning that went on. And I do love wilderness. Could you add some
comments about them?
ANLOR: On
the downside though I have to say that as the organizers, my partner
and I run into challenges. For example, we want to keep it
affordable, but between the lodgings and the food costs it is not so
easy to juggle. We often end up “paying for” it ourselves in one
way or another, and we are not rich at all. Also, there is room for
only seven people, it is a cabin after all, so as more and more want
to participate the limited space becomes another problem.
In order to fill the need for more
people and in a more convenient setting I have started to facilitate
a monthly meditation group, held at Dominican University in San
Rafael, California, for people on the autism and neurodiverse
spectrum. See more information about it on my website http://autismtheory.org/Autsit/.
RAVEN: For those who haven't
read your book could you talk a bit about how you started and the
immediate and long term benefits?
ANLOR: My book is called Being
Seen and more information about it can be found on my website,
https://autizen.wordpress.com/author/anlordavin/. I like the short description a friend wrote about it:
“Anlor Davin is an author, teacher, mother, French immigrant and a
Zen student. She has recently published her book, Being Seen,
a memoir about an autistic woman struggling not only to be seen but
to be understood and respected. Today Anlor works daily to help
people understand autism of the kind that she experiences, and to let
people know the value of basic meditative practice in living, and
thriving, in autism."
RAVEN: Do you sit with your
eyes open or closed and do you feel that makes a difference?
ANLOR: I sit with my eyes
downcast and very slightly opened, that’s is the form used in Soto
zen. The few times I had my eyes open, like the first minute of a
sitting period, I find that I do not “listen inside me” as well
and I do not do it at any other times. However I constantly try to
sit while I am waiting somewhere in public, and for that my
preference seems to be to close my eyes shut…as if shutting them
would take away the constantly changing noise! I have never been able
to sit very long in such situations, but I have noticed that when the
noise remains somewhat stable (for example once I am inside the
plane) I have a better chance.
RAVEN: Did the lack of dogma
help you to choose Zen?
ANLOR: Yes and no. Yes because
I am a person who does not like any kind of external input, neither
in guided meditation or in being asked to focus on something outside
(for example an image). When I was a child I badly wanted to not talk
as much as I did (I was hyperlexic, a condition often seen in
autistic children, which felt to me like if I had diarrhea of the
mouth).
No because I am not sure I had a choice
when I found Zen: I feel extremely grateful to have stumbled upon
this practice, which despite –and may be because- of its challenges
seems to me the best shortcut to…let’s call it “contentment”.
Sunday, February 5, 2017
How the Zendo Saved Our Lives
I have been finding that zen sitting quietly with what is (we never called it meditation because that word has so many other connotations) has gotten me through the last rough times I've been having with sensory and emotional issues.
I decided to research this further, and would also like to hear from other Autistic meditators, whatever kind you do, and maybe write another book. I have also been researching how the brain reacts to mindfulness (although this is another word with too many definitions) meditation.
You can leave comments and I will try to respond and dialogue with you if you like. I have an upcoming online interview I am working on and it will be my next blog post.
I decided to add the chapter I wrote in my own autobiography of how Zen sitting changed my and my son's lives and helped us to cope and become more centered.
I decided to research this further, and would also like to hear from other Autistic meditators, whatever kind you do, and maybe write another book. I have also been researching how the brain reacts to mindfulness (although this is another word with too many definitions) meditation.
You can leave comments and I will try to respond and dialogue with you if you like. I have an upcoming online interview I am working on and it will be my next blog post.
I decided to add the chapter I wrote in my own autobiography of how Zen sitting changed my and my son's lives and helped us to cope and become more centered.
How the Zendo Saved Our Lives
I’d
joined the Nichiren Shoshu Buddhists right after high school, and had
stayed closer to the Buddhist spiritual path and world view than any
other. When I discovered (they tried to hide themselves) the Ring of
Bone Zendo I was welcomed in regardless of race creed or sex. They
didn’t even care if you practiced some other religion in your off
time. And no one “normal” is desperate enough to tie their legs
in knots and sit around in silence for long periods of time.
For
Aspies it can be like coming home. First off, it is a group of
people that get together on a regular basis and spend most, if not
all, of that time NOT TALKING to each other. And during the long
retreats we were even forbidden from making social gestures to each
other. Oh bliss and thanksgiving. Rules that said “DON”T look
any person in the eye. No talking. And the best part, don’t even
talk to yourself. Just breathe, count, and try to answer (without
words perhaps) senseless riddles. There is no visualization or
mantras, in fact you keep your eyes open but lowered and unfocused.
The idea is to be present and ok with what is, without having to
change anything.
The
teaching and monitoring of our “progress” was done in a separate
hut, and was just between each practitioner and our roshi, or
teacher. So no one knew what we talked or didn’t talk about or how
far we were on our path. In fact, it is quite traditional and common
just to sit and stare at
Roshi
until one of the two bows, or yells, or leaves. Or just wiggles
eyebrows. Roshi’s have a great sense of humor, if a bit unusual
(quite Aspie-like).
Since
everything was done in silence, the weekly sitting and longer
retreats were carefully organized and scheduled so everything could
go on with a minimum of talking. Each person was assigned a job at
the beginning of the sesshin and the recipes and menus for the cooks
were written out and planned in advance. Choppers chopped their
assigned vegetables early in the morning and got the rest of the day
off. Jobs were rotated for the regulars so we couldn’t complain
(well, I did whine a bit). If you showed enough progress you could
become a leader (they had meetings and talked the most). I was a
leader at the Monday night sittings sometimes. I specialized as Ino,
or chant leader. I loved the chants, and bringing us out of
silence.
I
also cherished the time away from my life and children. Learning to
observe my thoughts and letting them go without judgment like bubbles
or clouds in the sky was immensely valuable to me. Without even
trying, my life became more fulfilling and meltdowns less frequent.
When both my children were living at home they often criticized my
abandoning them for spiritual enlightenment and coming home “spacey”.
I wouldn’t be ready to deal with whatever disaster had happened or
was happening.
After
Astrid moved out, Eric became interested in finding inner peace and
living life differently. One day he read Thich Naht Hahn’s book
Being Peace
that I owned, and had left laying around the house. Eric started
asking me if he could go to the Zendo on Monday night with me. At
first I thought he wanted to go because he was just learning how to
drive and the three mile dirt road to the Zendo was one I would let
him drive on. But when I told him I wouldn’t drive home (I was
already next door to the Zendo) and get him, he started crying over
the telephone and revealed that he’d read Being
Peace and had started
crying then, just thinking there were other people in the world that
thought that way, of interdependence and lovingkindness, and
non-violence.
I’ve
mentioned the success of Eric’s Jr. High therapy which definitely
shifted his world and made him a much easier person to be with. But
the everyday stress of adolescence and high school took their toll.
Already different, he entered high school as a “ridge kid”. The
entire group of kids from his elementary school were ostracized from
the beginning and forced to eat at their own separate table in the
cafeteria. There weren’t enough kids of other racial backgrounds
to discriminate against, so they had to go geographical. And
economic level, we were poorer out there. He had episodes of suicidal
thoughts perhaps more frequent than I knew.
He
was still bullied (the boys were getting bigger and more violent now)
but he still didn’t want to fight back. The Zendo gave him a model
for a peaceful man. Eric became a regular with me at the Monday
night sittings. For awhile we took an earlier Monday evening Yoga
class that helped calm our minds, stretch our bodies, and have just
enough time to get to the Zendo. The women in the yoga class loved
his dedication and lanky body trying to stretch into the poses. He
made friends here that would help him through the years. One of the
women he met would hire him to help correct the homework in her
remedial math classes in high school, and gave him rides home when he
needed to stay after the bus left. With a 30 mile round trip down
and up a canyon road to and from high school, this was quite a bonus.
And an ally in the school.
Eric
started sitting the weekend sesshins when he was 15. He was the
youngest member to sit sesshin. He also started sleeping outside in
a tent, and setting an alarm so he could wake early and sit before
school started. One day I talked to Gary Snyder, famous poet and
founder and neighbor of the Zendo, about Eric. He said if I lived in
Japan I’d just send him down the road to the nearest Monastery.
And I would have done it one or two years ago. Perfectly normal.
That was a help.
In
Eric’s junior year we were both having relationship problems and
decided to apply as a team to run the Honolulu Zendo. This was fun
to think about. I would have pulled Eric out of school and he could
have used the break. The qualities we offered as a team would have
made us good contenders for the job. At least that’s what we were
told. But fear of change and fear of giving up the dysfunctional
relationships kept us from formally applying. It was fun thinking
about it.
Later
when it became time for Eric to find his own home, and he didn’t
know what to do or where to go, I sent him off to a five day sesshin,
and when he got out he knew just what to do, and moved in with John
Strapek, an ex-boyfriend (did I mention how he got along with my
boyfriends only after we broke up). This was a wonderful decision
for him, and let him live with adult male supervision, a lesbian
couple next door to feed him, and John became a father figure in his
life. John died just after Eric received his AS diagnosis.
Thursday, September 29, 2016
A Week Without Facebook
OK. It's been over a week now since I left Facebook. My mind is calmer I'm sleeping better and serenity is returning to my soul.
As an autistic empathetic person with a long term visual memory and the ability to read rapidly while scrolling, my Facebook timeline, with over 800 friends and multitudes of pages and groups, was becoming a journey into the pathos and pain of the entire world. I quit watching television news over 30 years ago because the images stayed in my brain. If I have to watch the suffering of the world I just don't have any energy left to do good works or communicate efficiently with friends and neighbors.
And then listening to the conversations of friends near and far and neighbors complaining on the neighborhood groups had become too much for me. Friends from far away made me long for other beautiful places and friends nearby had conversations and posts it was just better not to hear about.
I found I was spending way too much time thinking and worrying about people who had no impact or influence in my life anymore and knowing what my friends were doing without ever inviting me was like being a lost Aspie girl in school again, wondering why no one invited me to parties. BTW autistic people like being invited even if they can't or don't go.
I find I am thankful for much I learned and people I met on Facebook but I am still enjoying my respite.
I got a ride this morning from the father of a young friend of mine, who lives in Southern California when not visiting here, and he said his wife knows everything going on in the world just from reading my timeline. So maybe I might have done some good with my forwarding information and humor.
But I'm off duty now.
More musings later
Saturday, September 17, 2016
I'm off Facebook!
I'm going to try something new now. For awhile at least I am going to post in my blog when I have things to say. Ha ha! Today I am posting from my tablet to see if I can do it without a computer. Windows euthanized my Windows Vista system.
I was beginning to feel my Facebook news feed was looking like the evening news I had quit watching over 30 years ago. And I found myself angry with friends who wouldn't listen to my arguments in the pursuit of truth. And I was tired of hearing about what my friends were doing and not inviting me. And group conversations on Messenger. And messages on Messenger. Then my Facebook and Messenger apps quit working on my tablet and one beautiful morning I was out of bed early and social media social anxiety free. I think I can do this.
So now I am going to rant and rave here for awhile.
Maybe someone is out there listening.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)