[Downtown Dharma Sangha Listserv] Musicality of Being returns October 25, November 8 & 22

Sunday, 19 October 2025

[Downtown Dharma Sangha Listserv] Musicality of Being returns October 25, November 8 & 22

Hi Friends,

Next Saturday is the next Musicality of Being community walking meditation in Rock Creek Park. As always, the workshop runs 10am-1pm and returns every 2 weeks. Below I share a recent poetic description of what the experience is like.

More workshop description and registration here (scroll all the way down if you would like to access the sliding scale payment option).

Would love to connect with some of you in the park next weekend!

Warmly,

Seth Dellinger

Moving under the sun-speckled tree canopy,
Leaves of orange-yellow, red-green, red-yellow, orange-green,
The sun realigning each time I step,
The trees streaming past me as I flow forward.

My vision bounces to the rhythm of my walking.
Rhythmic pulsing patterns of light-shadow-light-shadow-light
That match the way the trail massages my feet.

"I'm noticing the shape of the land," says my walking partner
And suddenly my perception is rearranged. Vision widening,
I feel the contours, slopes and curves of the world
Pressing into me, then pulling me forward
With their nearness and their distance.

Just at the moment that I open my mouth to respond, a bird calls.
I hesitate, recalibrate and wait to see if it calls again.
It does. "Hearing that," I say, "I'm noticing that melody,"
Pointing my finger to the treetops, to the bird that I can't see.

Like this we walk, trading silence and sound, resonance and rest,
Speaking and listening, and listening to the sensation of listening,
Feeling the feeling that we may or may not be separate beings,
That we may or may not be human beings
Or wind or trees or sky or bird calls
Or memories or laughter or sunshine through colored leaves.

This is here for us to share, anytime and anywhere,
Just because we are alive and we know how to feel, how to listen.
All we need to do is remember that we know how to remember,
Then invite ourselves to remember and invite the others.

Each human being that walks by my side reminds me
That the musicality of being weaves eternal melody,
Infinite layers of rhythm and irrepressible harmony
Through the winding up-and-downhills of our collective journey.

Inhales, exhales, heart beats, left-right-left-right footfalls,
Sunlight sparkling across the moving surface of the creek
Where we pause to sit and be mesmerized by the divine
Before we turn again towards each other, feeling together
The terror and beauty of looking into each other's eyes.

We are alive. We are alive. We are alive. We are alive.