Founding Spirit Rock teacher Sylvia Boorstein writes:

“Barbara Bogatin, a cellist with the San Francisco Symphony and Clifford Saron, a neuroscience researcher at UCDavis, and I led a day-long workshop at Spirit Rock called Tuning Your Instrument: The Buddha, the Brain and Bach. 

It was great learning and great fun! Barbara played the Prelude from Bach’s First Cello Suite (and the Sarabande, and the Courante, and the Gigue) and she talked about her sense of practice as perfecting the ability to most clearly transmit the composer’s intention. Cliff and I talked about practicing mindfulness as a meditation. I presented mindfulness practice in terms of the intention to develop clear understanding so that compassion and kindness could be spontaneous. Clifford presented research data showing the positive physiological and emotional changes that are the result of practice. Participants (nearly 200!) shared their thoughts with each other in small groups and although I don’t know what everyone talked about, I do know the room was lively.

Many of the group attending were already members of the Sangha of Thousands of Buddhas and more joined during the day. Thank you all for your support. From the beginning of the Sangha of Thousands of Buddha initiative, I have been urging people to think of this as both fundraising and friend-raising. It definitely feels as if both are happening!”