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Zen, Silent Holidays, TransPeople, Back in the World

Kaliya Young · January 8, 2006 · Leave a Comment

I abstained from Christmas for the second year in a row. It was fun to watch it all go buy and not participate. I had a few flashed of positivity that made me think next year I could get into the season again. I had papers in hand for the first time in 4 years to go to Canada and back but my aunt said I couldn’t sleep in her basement so… I just declined to return.
I found a retreat to go on at Manzanita Village for 10 days. I was not quite thinking it would be about 6 1hour+ sits each day – this with meals and a work shift left little time for myself. All that meditating and eating in silence was GREAT though. Of course they didn’t mention Christmas at all (Even though I was there for Christmas) but we did all 8 nights of Hanukkah and 7 of Kwanzaa. I should add that not mentioning Christmas at all was sad for me – I generally think of myself as a happy Episcopalian and I get tired of inter-religious meaning ‘everything but christianity’ in California.
I got thinking about our community around identity while there because there was several non-binary-gender choice folks who were also meditating. Are we going to build identity systems that are inclusive of non-binary gender choices?
I sat beside a young Transwoman named Hanah, beside her was a woman named Fred who by the end of her stay was wearing a bright orange button that said I might be transsexual. There was a Transgender Man named Jaran. It is not to surprising that there would be some transgender folks at the treat because Caterian Reed one of the Dharma teachers there is a Transwoman. In the end sitting there meditating – people are just people.
It is good to be back now. Everything is moving just a bit slower. I am breathing more consciously and overall refreshed. I just did a sidebar revamp that includes events that I am going to or might go to all the way to October (you have to scroll down to get it).

Community, Identitification, me Caterian Reed, community around identity, Jaran, Manzanita Village, Silent Holidays, TransPeople, Transwoman, Zen

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