{"id":11388,"date":"2016-07-28T08:00:36","date_gmt":"2016-07-28T08:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ink.verticalplus.co.uk\/archive\/?p=11388"},"modified":"2020-12-14T13:43:11","modified_gmt":"2020-12-14T13:43:11","slug":"pat-tompkins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/pat-tompkins\/","title":{"rendered":"Pat Tompkins"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n<strong>First Practice<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Welcome to Beginning Meditation. After I explain a few basic principles, we\u2019ll start with a three-minute meditation, a sort of trial run. By the end of the course, you\u2019ll be making a 10-minute practice part of your daily routine.<\/p>\n<p>Ten minutes? Doesn\u2019t sound like much. I really need to relax. How can 10 minutes make a difference? If it sounds too good to be true. . . . At least I can say I tried.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s begin. You\u2019re trying to calm your monkey mind. Just close your eyes and sit comfortably. Focus on your breath. I\u2019ll let you know when three minutes are up.<\/p>\n<p>Three minutes is a pop song. This will be a cinch. Oh, right. We\u2019ve started. Empty my mind. . . .Wait till Jan hears about this. . . . OK, my breath: in, out, in, out. What did the guy next to me eat? Garlic city. . . . Whew. I\u2019m going to sneeze. No. In, out. Don\u2019t forget to . . . let it go. Let it be. Now there was a song\u2014more than three minutes, though. There will be an answer, let it. . . . Why is this so hard? In, out, my mind is blank. Blink. . . . Maybe there\u2019s a book that would help. Ask the teacher. . . . In, out. In, out. In, out . . . three, I did three seconds. Don\u2019t think. Just be. In, out. No wonder it\u2019s called monkey mind. Let it GO. . . . Isn\u2019t three minutes up yet? In, out. How can anyone do this for 10 whole minutes?<\/p>\n<p>one fragrant, one carved<br \/>\nblossoms in the buddha\u2019s hands<br \/>\nworn by the wind<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pat Tompkins<\/strong> is an editor in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her poems have appeared in <em>The A3 Review, Confingo, A Hundred Gourds<\/em>, and other publications.<\/p>\n<p>NB: This haibun was first published in <em>Thema<\/em>, 2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; First Practice Welcome to Beginning Meditation. After I explain a few basic principles, we\u2019ll start with a three-minute meditation, a sort of trial run. By the end of the course, you\u2019ll be making a 10-minute practice part of your daily routine. Ten minutes? Doesn\u2019t sound like much. I really need to relax. How can [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-haibun-tanka-haiku-haiga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11388"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24015,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11388\/revisions\/24015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}