BRW Tuesday Tea Time Circles: Holding & Responding to the World

In these circles, we help each other look head on at what's happening politically, feel our reactions, and mindfully express our responses.
About this Event

Breathe/Read/Write welcomes everyone. In BRW circles, we combine short periods of meditation with timed free-writes off a prompt. Lisa Freedman facilitates the breathing, the writing, the sharing, and the responding. You can relax and write. If this will be your first time, see "What is BRW?" below.

Upcoming Tea-Time BRWs from 4 to 6 pm ET:

Tuesday, February 11 ~ theme of immigration

Tuesday, February 25 ~ theme of education

I might update the themes depending on what's happening in the federal government.

What is Breathe/Read/Write?

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 Brown

Breathe/Read/Write combines short periods of meditation with timed free-writes off a prompt. Lisa Freedman facilitates the breathing, the writing, the sharing, and the responding.

BRW circles are open to everyone. Just bring your curiosity.

No meditation or writing experience required. And the free-writing is free, as in wide open, no need to be correct or logical. Just let the pen move non-stop. This opens space to express the vastness of your unfettered mind.

After each round of meditating and free-writing, everyone has the option to read what they’ve written. We listen deeply to one another and briefly reflect back (without evaluation or criticism) what stands out. This is where the BRW magic happens. As June F. says, strangers become family.

The Tea-Time BRWs happen in Zoom. They last two hours (4 to 6 pm ET) and include three cycles of meditating, free-writing, sharing, and responding. With larger groups, zoom breakout rooms give everyone a chance to be heard and get encouraging responses.

Lisa describes BRW in the Zen Studies Center Newsletter:

"It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and reactive these days. Every time we guide our wandering minds back to the breath, we offer ourselves a fresh start. Every time we meditate and then pick up our pens to write in response to a poem, we are in a realm of unlimited possibilities."

Why does BRW have a tree logo?

When Lisa guides the BRW meditations, she channels what she has learned from her teachers, including those who use the Alexander Technique, and she encourages people to let gravity help them settle their bodies into their chairs and to imagine roots growing down through their sit bones and through the bottoms of their feet. As participants are able to rest their attention on the breath, the breath becomes the trunk of the tree, connecting our rooted bodies with our wide open sky level minds.