Our contemplative circle, held the first Saturday of each month at HAMAKOM, is a sacred and serene space where we gather together to engage in deep introspection and mindfulness practices. It is communal in nature, and is designed to promote peace, self-awareness and spiritual growth by targeting the heart, spirit, emotion and body. We gain access to our inner landscape through meditation, chanting, study, gentle movement, breath and prayer.

 

Led by Rabbi Richard Camras, Hazzan Mimi Haselkorn, Cantor Jenni Asher and Valerie Edwards. 

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Our next circles will be held on:

​Does changing our interpretation of the world change our destiny?

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In Australia, Babe, a young piglet, watches wistfully as all the other pigs are trucked away, never to return. They are going to Pig Paradise, he thinks, a place so wonderful that nobody ever comes back. But Babe is spared this fatal trip to the slaughterhouse when Farmer Hoggett wins Babe at the county fair and brings him back to the Hoggett farm, where Babe is adopted by Fly and Rex, the farm’s prize winning border collies, and befriended by Maa, the sheep herd’s wise old matriarch. As Babe learns from the collies and the sheep, he begins to demonstrate strange behaviors that attract the curious attention of Farmer Hoggett. While Mrs. Hoggett sees Babe as nothing more than a tasty pork dinner, Farmer Hoggett begins to see Babe as the key to an unlikely, but magnificent, destiny. 

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​​​​Watch the film on your own, then join us for the discussion, hosted by Valerie Edwards. This event is free and open to the community. 

In this course we discover ways to apply the four foundational tools of the Wise Elder (Positive Attitude, Mindfulness, Spiritual Qualities and Reframing Our Life Stories), which we practiced in the "Introduction to Wise Aging" course, to the challenges and opportunities of our everyday lives. Topics include Our Changing Bodies, Cultivating Nourishing Relationships, and Finding Light While Living With Loss. By deepening our practice of Wise Aging through text study, discussion, meditation, journaling, art and storytelling, we continue the journey towards becoming our most authentic, joyful, and resilient selves.

 

​Study texts, drawn from “Wise Aging: Living With Joy, Resilience and Spirit” by Rabbi Rachel Cowan and Dr. Linda Thal, and “Getting Good at Getting Older” by Richard Siegel and Rabbi Laura Geller, will be provided. Participants are encouraged to acquire their own personal copies of these wonderfully uplifting and practical books, which will enable them to deepen their experience of this and subsequent Wise Aging courses.

 

Participants must have taken “Introduction to Wise Aging” (or its equivalent) in order to be accepted into this class.