Lo-Fi & Hushed / Spring Equinox Session / A Poem on Hope (Connect via Zoom or Riverside)
2025 Spring Equinox Practice Session
“The young ask the old to hope. What will you tell them?
Tell them at least what you say to yourself.”
— Wendell Berry
Lo-Fi & Hushed Contemplative Practice Session for Wed, March 26, 2025 at 6:30am MT (GMT - 6)
Spring is breaking through during Lent. New life sprouting in the confusion of winter weather that sticks to the earth’s ribs in the northern hemisphere. The seasons offer a cycle that I wish our human community would draw closer. Too many humans want to stave off discomfort for their dissected lives. This is sickening our planet, our communities, and ourselves. Old man winter has put away his ax and is watching spring hope, won’t you join in? Each solstice and equinox Contemplify offers a public Lo-Fi & Hushed contemplative practice session for both free1 and supporting subscribers of the Non-Required Reading List. Now you can connect via Zoom or Riverside. All are welcome. For those interested, go tell it on the mountain…
Spring wind coming in, can you feel it? It is not too warm and it kicks a little dust into my teeth. When you know a place, you sense your belonging in its rhythms. You look forward to them, notice their turning over. As we move towards Spring equinox, Wendell Berry’s “A Poem on Hope” will be our vessel for this Wednesday’s Lo-Fi & Hushed Equinox Session. You can follow the link to the entire poem or wait to be surprised in the practice.
May Spring sweetly seduce you into more of life.
How to Participate
You can participate live in Lo-Fi & Hushed at 6:30am MT (GMT -6) on March 19, 2025 by going to:
RIVERSIDE: to view Lo-Fi & Hushed live on Riverside go to https://riverside.fm/studio/lo-fi--hushed
No one can see you, check the tech details on how to use Riverside
If this is your first time, check out the helpful links below
ZOOM: to view Lo-Fi & Hushed live on Zoom go to https://us05web.zoom.us/j/86940947986?pwd=RJPSjpMqirnfHXRppvABwI6rltGgDv.1
Possible for other practitioners to see you on Zoom if you keep your camera on.
If this is your first time, check out the helpful links below
If you are a regular attender, remember the equinox Lo-Fi & Hushed practices are public and use an unique link. Use one listed above. A deep bow to all of you supporting subscribers who have joined this circle of practice. Your presence and practice nourishes this poetic lectio divina. As Spring beckons, may we pace ourselves into the growing light.
In hushed prayers,
Paul
Recording of March 26, 2025 Lo-Fi & Hushed will posted on the Substack post when available.
Helpful links for Lo-Fi & Hushed…
Lo-Fi: Tech details
Hushed: Contemplative details
Question: FAQs
Instructional Flow for Lo-Fi & Hushed (March 26, 2025)
Go to one of the Lo-Fi & Hushed links at 6:30am MT (GMT - 6):
To View Lo-Fi & Hushed Live (No one can see): https://riverside.fm/studio/lo-fi--hushed (if this is your first time, check out the helpful links above)
To View Lo-Fi & Hushed Live Zoom (Possible for other practitioners to see you): https://us05web.zoom.us/j/86940947986?pwd=RJPSjpMqirnfHXRppvABwI6rltGgDv.1 (if this is your first time, check out the helpful links above)
Light a candle (as possible): To physically acknowledge and welcome the fire of the Spirit’s presence
Hum: The research shows that humming (like singing and laughing) calms our nerves and enhances our sympathy. I begin with 3 long hums (feel free to join in). Humming settles my body and spirit while slowing the chug of my train of thoughts.
Bow: I bow to symbolize my head dropping into my heart as well as to literally bow before Mystery.
A thought before Lectio: A short musing and grounding to prepare us
I will mark the transition of each movement in the practice with a brief introduction to guide you through the practice.
Lectio / Reading: (~ 5 - 10 minutes)
Poem will be read 2-3 times.
Notice any words, phrases, thrusts, or themes that draw your attention.
Meditatio / Discursive Meditation (~5 minutes):
What is this poem saying to me? What word/phrase/thrust/or theme hovered? What surprised me? What am I being asked to notice? How did my body respond? My mind and heart? My spirit and soul? Who does this remind me of and why? How might God/Mystery/Higher Power be speaking to me through it? These are some example questions of inquiry to startle bring attention into active engagement with the poem.There is a level of effortful engagement in this movement of the practice. This can be done interiorly (that is what I do), in a journal (sometimes I do this), or talking aloud (rarely for me).
Oratio / Prayer (~5 minutes):
What is this poem calling out of me? How does this change my rutted ways of viewing reality? How is this poem asking me to show up in the world? What conversation does this start with the Beloved? You can see how this movement is prayerfully active out of the text and into conversation with God/Mystery/Higher Power. These are some example questions of prayerful longing in active relationship with God through the poem. I often find meditatio and oratio swing back and forth towards one another like a porch swing in a prairie wind. Once that wind settles to stillness, the invitation to the fourth movement opens.Contemplatio / Contemplation (~ 10 - 15 minutes):
This movement is being open to the passive reception of undisciplined grace.
Reflection:
After the Lo-Fi & Hushed session (and throughout the week), practitioners can return to this post and share any reflections or insights on the practice in the comment section below. The purpose is to 1) meaningfully integrate the practice through reflection 2) bear witness to the practice of others through reading their experiences 3) connect across the common bonds of a shared practice.
Sharing Reflections after Lo-Fi & Hushed
Communal reflection can be powerful, restorative, and encouraging. That is what the comment space after a Lo-fi & Hushed session is for. To help orchestrate that, here are the snappy guidelines.
Share from the heart what you experienced in the practice. Let that guide what you post. Some insights are given in contemplative practice to be shared. Paradoxically, more is not always more. Contemplative teacher James Finley says that “brevity forces clarity.” Let that guide the length of your post.
Be good to yourself. Allow the Divine to hold what arises as you can. And be patient with yourself.
This is not a therapeutic space. Best to take therapy to the professionals.
Above all, be kind. If you post unkind things here your comments will be deleted and you will be booted from Contemplify. This is a place of written reflection to edify the journey. Do not self-promote or market (no urls to your website, books, sales, etc).
Enjoy the gift of sharing and learning from one another. Your contribution means a lot. Thank you!
Shared a reflection on the practice by clicking the “Leave a comment” button below.
"Found your hope, then, on the ground under your feet."
Nothing more local than the ground beneath you and the air you are breathing. In the practice I thought about my seat on the rug, on the cement, on the ground. My breath flustering the candle flame. My next door neighbor asleep directly above me. There is something in shared space of ground and breath that I find hope in. I read the chaos creeping in, feel the impact on friends and neighbors, me. This mugging from positions of power. Hope from the ground I stand and walk on is what I can do. That is my prayer for those walking around this planet. Hope on the ground you are on, if you hold positional power, use it, drawn from that hope. That is the hope I walked around with since this practice. Thank you all.
What a joy to begin the day contemplating the sacred playground of the imagination. Entering into the mystery together, I (interestingly) welcomed thoughts of building sand castles. Myself and Trinity playing and laughing, building and creating…other worlds and dimensions, restoring and re-storying. Thoughts, hopes, dreams and imaginings each a grain of sand, one building upon another.
It was all very hopeful. Beautiful. Thank you, Paul and all!