2011 Lynchburg Christmas Parade

A group of members and friends from The Peace Practice participated in the 2011 Lynchburg Christmas Parade, distributing candy to the crowd with invitations to our inaugural Lynchburg Community Peace Pageant.

November 2011

Autumn in Viriginia Visual Meditation

Leaf peeping scenes from around Central Virginia to feast the eyes on...

October 2011:

Tibetan Monks Create Healing Mandala

In October of 2011, a group of six Tibetan monks traveled to Randolph College to create a Medicine Buddha Mandala, a sacred sand painting that was created over the course of their week's visit in Lynchburg. The monks, who are members of the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism (the same school as the Dalai Lama), receive many months of training to qualify as practitioners of this ancient sand painting tradition. Following a closing ceremony at the end of the week, the monks swept up the sand of the completed mandala and released it into the James River as a symbolic gesture emphasizing the impermanence of all things, and to carry the blessing to other parts of the world. In the words of one of the visting monks, Geshe Tenzin Tinley, "The Dalai Lama says it's important to pray for peace for all sentient beings. This promotes peace throughout the world."

August 17, 2011

Meditation with Shivabalananda

The Peace Practice was pleased to host a meditation with the master Shivabalananda as part of his 2011 U.S.Tour. The evening included a 45-minute silent meditation, a Q & A period, and enjoyment of prasad, a tradition of sweet refreshments following the meditation.

One of the memorable points Shivabalananda made was the suggestion, "don't worry about your bad habits", explaining that with a regular meditation practice, over time we just naturally lose the desire for whatever individual vices we cultivate. He also stressed that without regular meditation, we are too often "misguided by our minds", getting caught in an endless cycle of worry, fear, jealously, and other emotions that the mind creates and perpetuates, interfering with our natural state of calm attention.

August 13, 2011

Peace Prank

For our most recent Peace Prank, we visited the Riverside Park Sprayground to hand out free sodas to the parents and children. A refreshing break for a family outing!

July 23, 2011

Adopt-A-Street Clean Up

The Peace Practice volunteers four times each year to pick up litter in Lynchburg as part of the Adopt-A-Street program. Our "adopted" stretch of road is the quarter-mile of Concord Turnpike just past the parking lot for the Percival's Island biking trails. As a result of the city program, volunteers get some fresh air and exercise, while the citizens of Lynchburg enjoy a clean city!

July 15, 2011

Guru Purnima at Yogaville

The Guru Purnima ritual in India is celebrated on the first full moon after the summer solstice. As the earth begins moving away from the sun, the ritual is a means of recognizing and honoring teachers, or gurus- (those who dispel darkness). which is considered especially important as the daylight hours decrease and nights become longer.

Memorial Day, 2011

Yogaville

Satchidananda Ashram - Yogaville was founded by Yogiraj Sri Swami Satchidananda in 1980. The ashram is the international organizational headquarters of Swami Satchidananda's documented teachings, located near Charlottesville, VA.

The primary vision of this world-traveled guru Yogiraj Sri Swami Satchidananda (1914-2002) was interfaith understanding as a vehicle to world peace. To this end, with his vision and much work from thousands of disciples and admirers, the LOTUS (Light Of Truth Universal Shrine) was constructed in 1986.

Expert museum-quality displays are located in the lower chamber of the shrine, with sacred and beautiful authentic artifacts and scriptures from the world's major religions and those lesser known. The faiths represented in the shrine are African Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Native American, Shinto, Sikhism, Judaism, and Taoism. By displaying a shrine to each of these religions, the temple is a living environment to honor Swami Satchidananda's teachings and motto of Integral Yoga, "Truth is One, Paths are Many."