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Author: Ann Zimmerman

The Icebreaker

By Clark Zimmerman, MAc.OM.

This weekend my daughter and I strolled through Lithia park during a lunch date. It was an especially cold day; as we walked past the lower duck pond, we noticed that it was encased with a thick layer of ice. My daughter was instantly pulled over to the frozen water. When we arrived to the shore, we noticed a plentiful smattering of debris, mostly sticks and small tree limbs, covering the ice. At first I imagined that the wind had knocked these off of the surrounding trees and blanketed the frozen pond. On closer observation however, I noticed some logs and large rocks mixed in with the sticks. I figured out that most of the debris was actually unsuccessful attempts at breaking the ice. My daughter made it her mission to reach the water underneath. She disappeared for a bit and returned with a long stick that she used to reach a rock that was on the ice just beyond her outstretched arm. She then threw the rock again and again until she finally smashed through the ice.

There is something almost magnetic about a covering of ice: Whether a lake, pond, or a roadside puddle, most children are especially tempted to try to shatter the surface.  I even find myself seduced to linger for a moment next to frozen water and see if my boot heel may be enough to break through. I suppose this is true for many people. Perhaps it is because we all know what it feels like to be frozen: Stuck in old ways, worn stories or limited possibilities.  Sometimes we mistake it for the truth. “That’s just the way it is,” we tell ourselves. This can be true of personal struggles or relationships, or with our beliefs about the world in general. We may resign ourselves to things remaining fixed in their broken state. This often comes with a large dose of resentment or grief. But something deep inside us beckons us to try to break through. Like the limbs and rocks on the duck pond, we may throw attempts at the frozen places. If the ice is too thick, our efforts can bounce off with a thud: A unfulfilling sort of violence that can leave us frustrated and defeated, and the surface littered with detritus.  Despite our sometimes fruitless efforts, part of us remains undeterred. Like my persistent daughter, the soul craves freedom. In fact freedom, open spaciousness is our natural state.  This enduring truth encourages us to find ways to remove obstacles. We stretch, we shake and we move when we are stuck in the body. We speak, we listen, and we ponder when we are stuck in the mind. We breath, we notice and we allow when we are stuck in emotion. There are so many tools to which we have access to break through the ice. When all else fails, we can can simply sink into the warmth of the heart and wait for the ice to thaw. The point is to know and trust in our natural state of freedom, and to invite in the things that can help to open up the parts that are stuck, even when it feels like a foolish endeavor.  

There was such a delightful hop of victory when my daughter finally broke through the ice. Just as the soul keeps nudging us to reach past the places where we tend to get stuck, her persistence and her desire to reach the fluid freedom of the deeper water supported her in her task.   Even if she had been unable to crack the surface, she could have rest in the knowing that eventually the sun would come out, and the warmth would thaw even the thickest layers of ice.

2025 Ann’s Wise-Women’s retreat

Imagine this…..

We will gather together in the sanctuary on my land in the hills above Talent.  The sanctuary  is a beautiful cozy octagon that has been used intentionally for mediation for over 20 years.

 I’ll supply back-jacks for everyone and also have several meditation cushions and chairs available. You are welcome to make yourself comfortable by bringing extra pillows or your personal set up. 

You will be asked to give up your phones for the day and enter into sacred silence. 

Retreat days will include periods of sitting and walking meditation, qigong, dharma talks, lunch, and circle sharing. In each retreat we will be exploring different practices and focus. The meditation periods will vary in length from 20-35 minutes at a time.

Day Flow

-Arrive 8:45

-Begin at 9-Settling in together-INTENTION setting

-9:30-10:00 Qigong

-10-10:30 Guided meditation(sitting)

-11-12:15 Dharma talk and Q&A

-12-1  Meditation(walking or sitting)

1-2 LUNCH break–Soup and sides at Ann’s house

2-3:15 Dharma talk and Q&A

3-4  Mindful movement and meditation

4-4:30 closing circle.

RAIN-A practice of radical Compassion

-popularized by Tara Brach, this practice helps you become for conscious of navigating your response to shame and big emotions. RAIN can be done in meditation or anytime you find yourself navigating big feelings. The basic steps are to R-recognize, A-allow, I-investigate, and N-nurture what is unfolding in the present moment.

METTA-Lovingkindness practice

Metta is a concentration and mindfulness practice that invites the practitioner into a more loving, connected state of mind. In metta meditation, we wish happiness, safety, and ease toward ourselves and others. In the most common version of metta practice, we offer these feelings of goodwill through the use of simple phrases first to ourselves, and in succession to someone we love, someone we’re indifferent towards, someone we consider a “difficult person,” and finally to all beings, everywhere.

JOY

Through our meditation practice, we can consciously cultivate the natural well-being and joy that we were born with. Using mindful attention, we can directly experience the aliveness of genuine well-being in the body, mind, and heart as we connect with the goodness inside and around us. To access this natural joy, we don’t merely know we’re feeling good; we actually feel what it’s like to feel good.

Without efforting to make something happen, we can invite well-being and joy by simply inclining our mind in that direction as we connect with what brings us delight and appreciation, letting ourselves mindfully relax into it when it is here. Our own well-being and joy can be a gift to others as it awakens those qualities in those around us.

FORGIVENESS

Often our deepest suffering is the sense that something we have done—something about us—is fundamentally wrong and unacceptable. Finding a way to make peace with our human imperfections is the ground of all healing.

True Forgiveness does not deny the suffering of the past but has tremendous dignity and courage and power of love in it, That says….we will, and can, start again. -Jack Kornfield-

Ann’s mindfulness journey and teaching….

My life’s passion is practicing, studying, and inspiring a deeper sense of connection with ones’ true nature.

I became a devout student of yoga, meditation, and all things healing after my first yoga class at 18 years old in 1995.  This was a new world for me as I grew up  in a conservative farming community in Northern Indiana where I had NO exposure to anything Eastern at all.

A year later, my father and I took my first trip to Nepal where I was able to witness cultures approaching their life from a place of sacred reverence. This mind blowing travel exposed me to Buddhism, Hinduism, Chinese medicine, and the amazing energy of the Himalayan mountains. I was really never the same after discovering yoga and visiting Asia.  In spiritual circles, it would be said that I had a soul-awakening. 

It became clear to me that life was more than chasing money, accumulating things, and looking for happiness to come from the outside of me.  I knew in my heart that I wanted to be in deeper connection to the sacred aspects of life and to inspire this in others. 

30 years later…….I’ve made my life a practice of using whatever shows up on my path as an opportunity for spiritual growth and deeper connection. Professionally, I have dedicated my healing practice to help others awaken to the gifts of their lives.

I’m incredibly grateful for my many teachers and community!!  I have studied and been inspired by the great traditions of  Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Zen, and Indigenous Earth Wisdom. I do not consider myself a certain religion, but simply that my religion is kindness. I believe we are each sacred beings with an innate goodness to our hearts.

The great teachers that have specifically influenced my life are; Amma, Neem Keroli Baba, Buddha, Jesus, Ram Dass, the Dalai Lama, Jack Kornfield, Tara Brach, Jill Satterfield, Adyashanti and Laura Roe. I have also been deeply touched by the teachers in my life who have shown up as my husband, daughter, parents, family, friends, healers, patients, pets, antagonists, and all of nature.

We each need one other to help us remember our basic good nature, the interconnectedness of life, and to use whatever shows up in our life as an opportunity for growth.

By now…you are probably getting the picture that I am kind of crazy for all things sacred….which is all things, if you practice the perspective of holding this very moment as sacred. 

I believe and try to emanate that we are spiritual beings having a human experience. That our basic nature is to be loving. 

And just like you, I am human, I forget and get caught in my thoughts, the dominant cultures ideas of how I should be,  I have my triggers, baggage from my upbringing, and moments of holding too tight. However, every morning I start again by dedicating myself to cultivating self awareness, to serving others, and to being kind with the clunkiness of being an imperfect human. 

I have been teaching yoga, meditation, qigong and healthy living since 2000.

I currently am a co-practice leader for the Dharma kids program at Kagyu Sakyu Choling in Ashland, Oregon and just finished a 2 year mindfulness meditation teacher training with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. 

Thank you for reading about me and I wish you many blessings.