I'd like to begin by reminding us of one of the most quoted of the Buddha's expressions,

which he says that the entire Dharma is to be experienced in this fathom-long body.

He said, all the teachings of the Dharma, of the path, we find in this fathom-long body.

He said, we see suffering, we see the cause of suffering, and we see freedom from suffering.

And it's an amazingly important teaching to remember because one of the biggest misunderstandings

about spiritual life is that in some way we're trying to exit out from this earthly plane

and experience some transcendent bliss somewhere else, right?

And so the Buddha is saying, no, it's actually when we bring a full presence right here to

this living being, right here, that's the only place that we can experience love, our creativity,

our joy.

In other words, everything that you cherish is found by bringing a presence to the

aliveness that's right here.

So I'd like to explore that, the beauty of embodied presence and the spirit we discover

in embodied presence, and to begin with one of my favorite writers and teachers and philosophers

who passed away a few years ago, John O'Donohue, who calls this the temple of our senses.

And he says that our bodies know that they belong to life, to spirit,

says it's our minds that make our lives so homeless.

Isn't that beautiful?

This phrase, it's our minds that make our lives so homeless.

So we'll explore together how it is that we leave home because we do over and over every

day, and the practices that really help us to come right here into this life and into

this spirit.

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