Recorded on May 9, 2026, at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY This dharma offering by guest teacher Kaira Jewel Lingo addresses how grieving abides in the body and how taking refuge in ourselves offers healing and stability. Her offering includes a brief period of paired sharing, a guided meditation practice, a writing practice, a ceremony for holding grief together, and a dharma talk. The audio includes periods of unclear sound and silence. Time stamps are provided below. Kaira Jewel read the poem, “After I Fell in the Canyon of Grief,” by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer. The poem can be found here, on the the poet’s poetry blog: The poet’s website: https://www.wordwoman.com/ Time stamps 5:20 – 9:30: Paired sharing about “something tender or unfinished in your heart” 11:15 – 13:20: “After I Fell in the Canyon of Grief” by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer 14:15 – 21:25: Guided meditation practice on finding places of support and grief in the body 21:25 – 25:00: Writing exercise, a sentence or phrase conveying a present grief 25:00 – 32:07: Holding the Grief Together ceremony, with choral harmonic humming and reading of phrases 32:07 – 54:32: Dharma Talk Kaira Jewel Lingo is a senior Dharma teacher in the Plum Village Zen lineage and a Vipassana teacher, and a member of the Plum Village North American Dharma Teachers Council of Elders. Her work continues the Engaged Buddhism developed by Thich Nhat Hanh, drawing inspiration from her parents’ lives of service and her father’s work with Martin Luther King, Jr. After living as an ordained nun for 15 years in Thich Nhat Hanh’s monastic community, Kaira Jewel now teaches internationally in the Zen and Vipassana traditions, as well as in secular mindfulness contexts. Her teaching focuses on the intersection of racial, climate, and social justice, with particular care for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities, as well as activists, artists, educators, families, and youth. Based in New York, she offers spiritual mentoring and is faculty in a Buddhist Eco-Chaplaincy training, and one of the guiding teachers of One Earth Sangha. She is the author of We Were Made for These Times: Ten Lessons in Moving Through Change, Loss, and Disruption, and co-author of Healing Our Way Home: Black Buddhist Teachings on Ancestors, Joy, and Liberation. More information about her teachings and events can be found at www.kairajewel.com The BZC Podcast is offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. If these teachings have benefited your life, please consider supporting the program with a donation (suggested $2-7/episode, or whatever feels right for you!). You can donate to Brooklyn Zen Center at brooklynzen.org under ‘Giving.’ Thank you for your generosity!
