Archive for Uncategorized
Thoughts on Cloth Diapers
Are you interested in an alternative to disposable diapers? Pittsburgh is very fortunate to have Pittsburgh Cloth Diapers as a great resource for learning about the many different cloth diapering options that are available.
If you are thinking about cloth diapering and live in the Pittsburgh area, then I highly recommend “shopping local” at Happy Baby Company whenever possible. They provide great customer service and cloth diapering support and it is great for the economy and more “green” when you shop local. This being said, I bought a lot of my starter supplies at Green Mountain Diapers because they offer such wonderful package kits for starting with cloth diapering. Also, they sell incredibly high quality pre-folds that are economical and easy to use. Green Mountain isn’t local to Pittsburgh, but it is a small business that is owned by a mom who is passionate about cloth diapering. Wherever you are, please always consider the impact of shopping local and supporting small businesses.
On the other hand, if you are expecting and need to create the easiest wish list all in one place, then I highly recommend using the Amazon website as the home for your baby registry. Most of these cloth diapering supplies (except for the Cloth-Eeze pre-folds that I adore) are available through Amazon and you can register for them.
Everyone who uses cloth diapers has their own tricks and favorites, but these are mine and I tried quite a few options:
#1: For the 1st month, plan on using mostly disposables and maybe some cloth. The babies are really tiny at this point and you have to make sure you avoid their umbilical cord before it dries up and falls off (Josephine’s fell off at around day 10) and then heals (generally another 4-7 days after it falls off). I recommend buying a case of SEVENTH GENERATION diapers from AMAZON MOM, the case is much less than if you bought them in the store (about 1 penny more per diaper than a case of regular diapers from Costco) and they are delivered for free. SEVENTH GENERATION does not have any scary chemicals, dioxin or bleach, so they are safe for baby and for the earth.
#2: If you do want an all in one cloth diaper that will be great for a newborn and for at least 3-months, then I recommend either the GRO VIA newborn diaper ($14.95 each) or the Swaddlebees newborn ($16.95 each) [Note that these newborn ones are different from the regular sized GRO VIA or SWADDLEBEES]. I had two of the GRO VIA newborn and two of the Swaddlebees newborn and that seemed like enough. Expensive, but great for when you are out and about and super easy for grandparents and husbands because they are just one piece and you put them on just like a disposable.
#3: For months 1 through 3, you can use these Cloth Eeze diapers (these are $24 per dozen and you need at least 2-dozen) from Green Mountain. You will also need a cover for them and I recommend the size S from Thirsties Duo ($12.25 each for solid color) or the Mother’s Touch cover ($15.95 each).
So, my suggested list would be:
4 all in one diapers $60
2 dozen newborn Cloth-Eese prefold diapers $48
3 Thirsties Duo Covers $37 (you can use these up to around 6-months!)
4 Mother’s Touch Newborn Covers $64 (you can use these up to around 4-months)
Total: $179
You will also need some kind of diaper pail bag (it’s a special laundry bag and you put it into a regular kitchen size garbage pail—no special garbage needed), some kind of wet bag to travel with to place used diapers and wipes in, at least 24 cloth wipes and some kind of diaper spray. I’m not a big fan of the Kissaluvs that they sell through Green Mountain and prefer California Baby Diaper Area Wash (my first bottle lasted me for 4-months). You can buy these items through Green Mountain or somewhere else.
Green Mountain sells a Cloth Diaper intro kit that is absolutely worth it—-one mini-kit for around $100 and one full-kit for $200. The $200 one is the better deal because it includes everything you need almost through about 5-6 months. It also has a few different types of covers that you can try so you can see which ones you like best and fit your baby best. The only thing is that it does not include any all in one diapers. But, it does include the other stuff you need that I have listed above. I use SEVENTH GENERATION disposables every night and do not cloth diaper at night. I do 2-loads of diaper laundry per week.
Speaking of laundry, you would use the COUNTRY SAVE powdered laundry detergent. You can get it from Amazon and it is about $63 for a case of detergent that will last you over a year of washing not only your diapers but ALL your laundry with it. We all have sensitive skin in my house and it is GREAT detergent—-also eco friendly. Can’t beat it. I have recently had a new problem with ammonia that had previously resolved by just using Country Save. I used Rock n Green detergent and it solved the problem.
Zen Sitting Group of Pittsburgh
Hogen Green has recently posted the new sitting schedule for the ZSGP. Everyone is invited to sit with this group that meets by donation at Yoga Matrika in the Peace Room on some Sunday mornings and Tuesday evenings. The Zen Sitting Group of Pittsburgh has been very generous to Yoga Matrika and it is their beautiful Buddha that creates a sanctuary out of the Peace Room. If you are interested in Zen, I encourage you to contact Hogen directly. He provides orientations for those in the community who are new to Zen if you let him know ahead of the meeting that you are coming and require this introduction.
Here is the focus for the next group of sittings as communicated by Hogen in his most recent e-mail to the group:
Sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save them
Desires are inexhaustable, I vow to put an end to them.
The Dharmas are boundless, I vow to master them,
The buddha way is unattainable, I vow to attain it.
We chant these vows 3 times.
This is not a casual chant we do. Taking a vow, these vows, sitting after sitting is transformative. Can be transformative if we begin to make a connection between how we live in response to the challenge of our life, and what these vows are poinying at. Transformation is the point of Zen practice. But transforming what, from what to what? And how does this happen? How does our life actually change in a way that helps our self and others?
Over the next several months, I’ll be giving a series of monthly talks on the path of the Bodhisattva. We will look at that path from the perspective of Vow, from that of the Prajna Paramita Sutra- the Heart Sutra as well as from the perspectives of what the great teachers of our tradition have offered. I invite you to make a special effort to attend both the scheduled talks and the sittings so that the words of the talks and the experience of investigating the Bodhisattva path can be given life: your life. I would encourage you to deeply question what is said in these talks and if it is helpful, to bring these questions up for exploration.
Tuesday evening May 25th 6:30 zazen
Sunday morning May 30th 9:30 AM, zazen, liturgy and senior’s talk
Tuesday evening June 8th, 6:30PM zazen
Sunday morning June 13th, 9:30 AM zazen liturgy
Tuesday evening June 22d 6:30PM zazen, liturgy
Sunday morning June 27th 9:30 AM, zazen, liturgy and senior’s talk
Sunday Spring Schedule (9:30 to 11:30 am):
May 30
June 13
June 27
Tuesday Evening Schedule (6:30 pm):
June 8
June 22
http://www.yogamatrika.com//contact-us/zen-sitting-group/
Posted by Sharon Fennimore Rudyk, Owner and Director of Yoga Matrika. Yoga Matrika is located in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of the City of Pittsburgh.
http://www.yogamatrika.com/
Cabin Fever & Yoga in Pittsburgh
There was one very brave student at tonight’s class. She was new to Yoga Matrika and was curious about what the class title, Mindful Yoga, really meant. I prattled on about Vajra Yoga and not making a distinction between asana practice and meditation and how we create a moving meditation through our practice……….but during our practice together, I started to question the whole thing entirely.
You see, that’s the problem with having an answer to everything—-you miss opportunities for reaching a greater understanding. In this case, I was incredibly inspired by the clarity of this student’s practice and she taught me a lot about mindfulness. So, thank you dear student, and hope you come back soon!
What I realised is that what I don’t know about mindfulness is a lot. While there are so very many things that I hope that my Mindful Flow classes mean, the real mindfulness is in the interpretation. I asked my student to choose an intention for her practice and to anchor that intention with awareness of the breath or awareness of sensation in the body. As we moved through the Vajra Opening series, I made some slight adjustments and made requests of the student to move in different ways or experiment with various modifications.
I was delighted to watch as this student’s mind literally moved from place to place in her body and she fully explored each asana. Thanks to this student and her beautiful practice, I realised that it is possible to see mind. A great gift to a yoga teacher on a snowy night after a long week of being indoors.
I received a similar gift through my dear friend and colleague on the teaching team at Yoga Matrika, Kristie Lindblom. She posted a beautiful entry in her blog about how she is personally experiencing this long week of a storm and nature enforced hibernation. Again, a new lesson on mindfullness. By staying present in the moment, Kristie rides out the storm, the cabin fever and the heavy nature of this weather. Her mindfulness includes all of the wonderful things that are growing, changing, transforming and preparing for birth right under our very feet in this very moment.
Thank you dear student and Kristie for the lessons in mindfulness.
When in Pittsburgh, study Mindful Flow with Sharon Rudyk at Yoga Matrika. Don’t worry, when there hasn’t been a recent snowfall of over 20 inches, there’s normally more than one student! So, not everyone gets watched so closely.
Posted by Sharon Rudyk
Owner and Director of Yoga Matrika
http://www.matrikawellnesscenter.com
http://www.prenatalyogapittsburgh.com
http://www.yogamatrika.com/
Check-out Kristie’s Blog entry here:
http://searchingforsattva.blogspot.com/
Zen Sitting Group of Pittsburgh
The Zen Sitting Group of Pittsburgh (ZSGP) meets at Yoga Matrika on alternate Sundays. Please see the schedule and more information about ZSGP below.
What is ZSGP? What is Zen practice? Who can participate?
The Zen Sitting Group of Pittsburgh (ZSGP) is a member of the Society of Mountains and Rivers (SMR), a network of Zen Buddhist sitting groups and affiliates of the Mountains and Rivers Order (MRO). The MRO’s spiritual founder and director is John Daido Loori Roshi, abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery in upstate New York. WWW.MRO.ORG
Zen practice can help us to wake up to who we are and to live out of that understanding. The questions that we take up during the course of our practice are the questions of our human existence: What is life? What is death? How can we truly be alive and live and die in a way that is real and fulfilling?
The door of ZSGP is open to anyone wanting to enter deeply into these questions. Newcomers and experienced practitioners are welcome. Beginning instruction in zazen (sitting meditation) will be offered at each sitting for those attending ZSGP for the first time. If you are attending the ZSGP for the first time, please call head to arrange beginning instruction on your visit.
Suggested Donation is $5. No one is turned away for lack of ability to donate. All donations are used to cover the cost of the use of the sitting space.
Sitting Schedule
We meet on alternating Sundays starting from 9:30 AM-11:30AM at Yoga Matrika located at 6520 Wilkins Avenue in Squirrel Hill (closest intersection is Beechwood and Wilkins and the space is next to WHEEL DELIVER) for zazen and a liturgy service. On the second Sunday of each month there will also be a senior’s talk by the group leader, Hogen Green. These talks on the Dharma will focus primarily on the relationship of Zen practice to daily life.
Autumn Schedule:
Sunday August 23: Liturgy, Zazen, Senior’s talk By Ron Hogen Green
Sunday, September 6: Liturgy, Zazen
Sunday, September 20: Liturgy, Zazen, Senior’s Talk
Sunday, October 4: Liturgy, Zazen
Sunday, October 18: Liturgy, Zazen, Senior’s Talk
Sunday, November 8: Liturgy, Zazen
Sunday, November 15: Liturgy, Zazen
Sunday, November 29: Liturgy, Zazen, Senior’s Talk
The group’s leader, Ron Hogen Green, MRO, is a senior lay student of John Daido Loori Roshi, abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery. Hogen studied Zen with Roshi Philip Kapleau between 1978 and 1991, then became a student of Daido Roshi in the Mountains and Rivers Order that same year. Hogen was in full-time residential training at Zen Mountain Monastery from 1995 until 2007, serving as a senior monastic. He lives in Pittsburgh with his wife Cindy Eiho Green.
Contact the Zen Sitting Group of Pittsbugh:
Ron Hogen Green
Hogen@dharma.net
Tel. (412) 421-5176
Resources
Training in the MRO: http://www.mro.org/zmm/training/
Lay and monastic training in one of the West’s most established Zen Buddhist lineages
Meditation Instruction: http://www.mro.org/zmm/teachings/meditation.php
Clear, simple instructions in zazen (sitting meditation), the core of all Zen Buddhist practice
Retreats and Programs At Zen Mountain Monastery: http://www.mro.org/zmm/retreats/
Register online for weekend introductory retreats, week-long intensives and more
Monastery Store: http://www.dharma.net/monstore/
The Monastery Store is the online catalog of Dharma Communications, offering meditation supplies in the form of sitting cushions, books, audio and audio-visual teachings and altar supplies. The Monastery Store mission is to support home practice.
Mountain Record: The Zen Practitioners’ Journal is a quarterly published by Dharma Communications http://www.mro.org/mr/mountainrecord.html
For the last twenty-seven years, Mountain Record has offered powerful teachings of realized Buddhism from masters East and West, past and present, as well as essays, poetry, media reviews and art.
WZEN Web Radio: http://www.wzen.org/
WZEN is an original webcast produced at Zen Mountain Monastery, including discourses by Abbot John Daido Loori, Roshi, and talks by the teachers of the MRO, as well as a diversity of other programming relating to a life of spiritual practice.
Dharma Communications: http://www.dharma.net/
The educational outreach arm of the MRO, DC presents Zen teachings in a range of media
Changes in the Light
A little bird was making the most glorious call outside my window at dawn this morning. It sounded like a last hurrah or a gathering of spirit for the change in season. While life is a series of transitions, a study of seasonal changes provides a glimpse at the delicate folding and unfolding that occurs on the spectrum of tremendous change. As the birds sing a different tune and the evening light comes to cloak our homes at an earlier hour there is a gentle call to return your focus to your own folding and unfolding process. What does the autumn wind call to you? How will you use your voice this season? Is there something that should be uncovered? Covered?
This is a most exciting time for the studio as new instructors start and beloved instructors return and we welcome new students into the supportive community of those who already share their practice at “The Mat.” If we haven’t seen you for a while, don’t be shy! Just dust off your mat and shake your well summered self over to the studio. If you’ve been meaning to “try that new studio on Negley” for the past year, we can’t wait to meet you!
Do you have any questions about the new schedule or where to start? Please do not hesitate to contact me. I hope to see you at our first “First Friday Karmic Salon” on September 5th. After a soothing restorative yoga class, there will be some snacks and child friendly live music with Chris Fennimore playing guitar, Wendy Mackin on her banjo and other live music treats!