BRW Live in Brooklyn on the Beach w/ EcoDharma Teacher Lin Gordon

Join us on Sunday, September 28, from 4:30 pm until 7 pm or so. Here's how our time will flow:

• gather at 4:30 pm at the East end of Brighton Beach - Location details will be sent after you register.
• mingle and enjoy our potluck snacks and wines and sodas (bring your own plate & fork & cup or glass in the spirit of sustainable living)
• at 5:30, Lisa guides us into a brief round of meditating and freewriting that we'll use to introduce ourselves to one another.
• then Lin leads us into a meditative communion with the beach and ocean around us, and Lisa offers a poem and invites people to freewrite a gratitude to summer. We will share these in small groups and collaborate on an improvisational presentation to the whole group.
• At 6:15 or so, it's time to mingle and share food and drink again.
• Starting at 6:45, we close our time together with a sunset embrace of fall and the potential power of the dark.

Lisa & Lin guide all the activities. You can kick back and let your creativity flow.

NOTE: It can get chilly on the beach, so please bring layers.

Be sure to register if you want to join us. This way, we can send you detailed instructions to our spot on the beach, and we can get in touch with you if the weather is bad and we have to re-schedule.

What's this about a potluck?

Bring your favorite yummy treat to share OR pick up some exotic food to share from shops on Brighton Beach Avenue, such as Tashkent Supermarket at 713 Brighton Beach Avenue near the B/Q train exit.

Everyone who wants to enjoy the potluck should bring their own plate, fork, knife, spoon, and glass to minimize our impact on the environment.

Your favorite poem or song or freewrite or story (ocean themes encouraged) are also welcome at the potluck.

BRW at the Beach will take place in the sand at the east end of Brighton Beach close to the water. To get here, take the Q train to the Brighton Beach stop and exit from the back of the train or the north end of the train. Follow the signs for Brighton 7th Street. Further details will be sent when you register.

What to bring besides your potluck food, utensils, plate, and glass?

• plenty of water - stay hydrated!
• your favorite pen or pencil to write with
• your favorite notebook to write in
• some nice warm layers, a coat & hat perhaps
• if you have your own beach chair, please bring it ~ if you need a beach chair, let us know in the registration survey, and we will provide one

What is BRW?

In Breathe/Read/Write circles, we gather, and Lisa guides us into a few minutes of meditation. Then Lisa offers a poem or short piece of prose as a starting point for a timed freewrite. Sharing is optional, and we listen closely to let the writer know what we like the sound of. We don't critique or workshop the freewrites.

Come enjoy this chance to tune into the outdoors, cultivate stillness, and express what arises.

What are people saying about BRW?

Lisa brings together a lovely group of perceptive and mindful writers in her Breathe/Read/Write circles. These experiences are exceptionally valuable for the person as well as the writer, in strong part because of the care, both formational and emotional, that Lisa shares in guiding us through her unique process. Cate D.

In BRW, there is no limit set on your imagination. The bonds developed between students and teacher and self are the richness of these free-writing circles. Rochelle S.

Your method of teaching -- as well as your encouragement -- has inspired me to start writing poetry again, which I used to do years ago. Alma C.

Today’s round of BRW was wonderful. I wish I could do it all the time. Incredibly healing and fruitful. Laura R.

To sit with Lisa and quiet down, then write, is a great feeling....no one knows what will surface, and the sharing is such a relief from the noise of daily nothings. Highly recommended for poets and for all those who feel. Pamela B.

You and the marvelous people of BRW not only inspire and support my writing, but also give me a contaminating sense of joy. Such magic you midwife. Veronica P.

Will we be riding the Cyclone Rollercoater after the BRW Circle and the Potluck?

This activity exists firmly within the realm of possibility.

What if I have questions or I get lost? You can reach Lisa at (917) 319-4100 or at [email protected].

Lisa's bio:

L isa Freedman is an author, activist, and professor of creative writing at The New School in New York City. She holds an MFA from the New School and is certified as a mindfulness meditation teacher by Dhama Moon/Tibet House. She founded and directs Breathe/Read/Write, an online community where Lisa weaves mindfulness together with writing and revising. As Lisa puts it, meditation is about listening, listening without judgment, and cultivating the ability to open one’s heart to all that is. She also brings this perspective and this pair of practices – meditation and writing – to her work as a writing coach who offers developmental and editorial guidance on a wide range of projects.

Lisa has taught and presented extensively -- for the International Women’s Writing Guild, New York Zen Center, United Nations, Extinction Rebellion, and many others. Lisa’s poems and prose have appeared in Satya Magazine, The New York Times, the anthology Resist Much, Obey Little, and more.

Lin's bio:

Lin Wang Gordon has dedicated over a decade to studying insight meditation (Vipassana) and has recently deepened her practice through the Tibetan Dzogchen traditions. Through her meditation journey, she discovers the transformative power of Buddhist philosophy and practices to help live a life of flow, joy, wonder, and resilience.

She graduated from Mark Coleman’s Awake in the Wild Nature Meditation Teacher Training in 2017 and is currently enrolled in the Community Dharma Leaders Program (CDL7) at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Lin has gained experience leading ecodharma retreats and co-founded the Sacred Earth Sangha of the New York Insight Meditation Center. In addition to sharing earth-based practices and ecodharma, she hopes to guide others in meditation to foster inner transformation and cultivate a deeper sense of purpose and belonging in everyday life.

Host or Publisher Breathe Read Write