This month, we are celebrating new beginnings as we approach Summer Solstice, symbolic of the Positive Masculine energy of the "Infinite Light" of Amitabha, our universal Buddha Nature.

I will be present at all the meditation groups during June, along with my co-facilitator Shelley Niebuhr, especially on Sundays and Wednesdays at the new Dallas Meditation Center. We will be co-facilitating along with other solid practitioners all summer long.

The theme for the summer is "Awakening Joy."

I am writing to you from Minneapolis, Minnesota, where I facilitated a few meditation workshops for beginners and advanced practitioners. The response has been so overwhelmingly positive, it is so encouraging. My new approach to teaching Dharma has been very powerful and effective. The new approach is a unique blend of specific sequences of practices that focus on the Heart of Lovingkindness (Amitabha = bodhichitta = metta = compassion, etc.), blending the essence of Zen, Vipassana, Pure Land and Tibetan Buddhist methods. It is a harmonization of devotion, discipline and delight. The result is a profound opening of Peace, Joy and Nurturing Power within just 3 hours.

I encourage you to attend group meditation every week this summer. This will help prepare us to experience the next profound collective shift that is to occur in October this year (10-10-10) on the way toward 11-11-11 (Oneness) and the Great Shift of 12-21-12 (the Great Re-Reversal).

These are just numbers and dates, of course, but they can be utilized to our advantage through our mindful intentions. We are co-creating a "New Earth" together. And we can do it ... playfully! Why not? :-)

Please check the website each week for updates: www.AwakeningHeart.org and see our June 2010 Newsletter. Also, check out the Dallas Meditation Center website (www.DallasMeditationCenter.com) to see all that is happening there.

And enjoy the following adapted excerpt by Mark Unno, a Pure Land Buddhist priest —