PAUSE • BREATHE • SMILE
Awakening Mindfulness When Meditation is Not Enough
Gary Gach and Maxine Hong Kingston
Thursday, November 8, 2018, 7:30 pm
The Hillside Club
2286 Cedar Street
Berkeley
tickets:
$12 advance tickets: brownpapertickets.com T:800.838.3006, or Marcus Books, or Books Inc. (Berkeley), or Pegasus Books (3 shops), or Moe’s, or Mrs. Dalloway’s, or Walden Pond Bookstore, or Diesel a Bookshop
$15 door, KPFA benefit, co-sponsored by St. John’s Presbyterian Church & Mindful Schools
Information: kpfa.org/events
photo credit: Maxine/Michael Lionstar
Pause… breathe… smile Three small words each containing a universe of wisdom. With these words we are invited to bring the practice of mindfulness into every moment of our lives. This handbook supports the cultivation of awareness, compassion and joy.
Writing for students of all levels, Gary Gach draws on 50-plus years of study and practice to present this elegant, accessible demonstration of three central aspects of mindful living. The Pause is about setting our intention before we think, speak, or act —the ethical dimension of Mindfulness. When we Breathe we unite mind, body and spirit, making every moment an opportunity for meditation. With a SMILE, we open to wisdom beyond words. This simple process will “water your own innate seeds of awakening to help you pave your own path to total fulfillment and peace.”
Gary Gach is a writer, mystic, and lifelong meditator who has engaged in many roles: actor, bookstore clerk, dishwasher, hospital administrator, office temp, stevedore, teacher and typographer. Lay-ordained by Thich Nhat Hanh in 2008, he has authored eight previous books, including The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Buddhism.
Maxine Hong Kingston , daughter of Chinese immigrants, is a poet, memoirist, and fiction writer who was born in Stockton, California, and educated at the University of California–Berkeley. She is the author of the book-length poem I Love a Broad Margin to My Life (2011). Kingston’s numerous nonfiction books include The Fifth Book of Peace (2003), To Be the Poet (2002), National Book Award–winner China Men (1980), and National Book Critics Circle Award–winner The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts (1976). She is also the author of the novel Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book (1989). She edited the anthology Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace (2006), compiled from the work of participants in the therapeutic poetry workshops she has led for more than 500 veterans of war. Her honors include the National Endowment for the Humanities’ National Humanities Medal (presented by former President Bill Clinton), the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Award in Literature, the National Book Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and the title Living Treasure of Hawaii. She is a professor emeritus at the University of California–Berkeley and lives in Oakland, California.
Kris Welch is a veteran, very popular KPFA on-air host, a mother, and a devoted grandmother.
