Chapter 1 of “Power and Presence”
Power is rarely discussed Ken: We’ll keep this fairly short because we’re late already. There are a few things that we wanted to cover this evening. This is the introduction to the Power and Presence retreat here at Mount Baldy, October 8th, 2008. Several of you—in discussion we had in the introductions and […]
Chapter 2 of “Power and Presence”
Power adjusts to feedback Ken: The general impression was that I totally confused everybody yesterday. This is October 9th. This is our first morning teaching, the first teaching on power and presence. And I did a good job confusing everybody yesterday so Jeff’s going to straighten you out. Jeff: So that exercise we […]
Chapter 10 of “Power and Presence”
[…] how you’re doing it. And what’s happening. In rapidly moving situations it really is moment by moment. Handling conflict Ken: Most people want to know something about power because they don’t know how to handle conflict. So I want to talk a bit about conflict. First bit. What is conflict? Conflict is the experience […]
Series
In this retreat, Ken McLeod and Jeff Bickford offer a deep, embodied exploration of how power functions in our lives and practices, especially in relation to presence, intention, and internal conditioning. Through guided exercises, evocative storytelling, and group dialogue, participants learn to recognize power not as dominance, but as the ability to stay present and act clearly in the midst of complexity and challenge.
Chapter 3 of “Power and Presence”
Expressions of power Ken: So, I walk in here with a sword and there are a bunch of giggles. Why is that? Student: I’m being flippant. Women always laugh at men carrying big swords. Ken: I’m not sure how much I want to pursue that one. Why do women laugh at men carrying big […]
Chapter 1 of “The Warrior’s Solution”
Most people access power only through anger Ken: The retreat is called The Warrior’s Solution. Of course, this means the warrior has a problem. And you might be curious what is the warrior’s problem. The warrior’s problem is how to live without being run by power. How to live in power without being run […]
Chapter 5 of “Guru, Deity, Protector”
[…] yidam meditation, you’ve got to be thorough about this, you know. No half-measures. Judith? Judith: I was inspired by Anita’s question about Red Tara, about compassion and power. Ken: Yes. Judith: And yet when I was doing my meditation, I kept feeling like if I exerted my power I wasn’t being compassionate. Ken: What’s […]
Chapter 11 of “A Trackless Path I”
Power exercise Ken: Saturday, August 29th, A Trackless Path. Tomorrow a number of you are going to be heading back to your homes. And as you’ve discovered you’ll be saying something about your experience here this evening. Early in the retreat I talked about the four ways of working: power, ecstasy, insight and […]
Chapter 4 of “Power and Presence”
[…] it all this evening. First off, any questions coming out of our work earlier this afternoon? Sophie. Sophie: I was just curious about this whole notion of power because when we were using the sword I got the sense that we were forming a relationship with it. And yet when I reflect on it, […]
Chapter 5 of “Power and Presence”
[…] present? Ken: I think that can be very helpful. Yeah. Sonia, you had a question? Sonia: Going back to the definition or one of the definitions of power, power is presence in action. And is power also finding balance within that situation? Ken: Balance is the optimum condition for presence. If you’re out of […]
Chapter 6 of “Power and Presence”
[…] Betty? Betty: I would say 98 percent? 99? Ken: 98 percent of the time. So, this is something you can relate to. Betty: Oh yes. Oh yes. Power is the ability to implement intention Ken: Okay. So you have an intention. Power we’ve talked about in various ways. It’s the ability to implement intention. […]
Chapter 14 of “A Trackless Path II”
[…] the sky, and there’s just all that energy of the light coming in filling your whole mind and being with light and energy. So it’s quite a powerful practice. And as your mind or the thinking process crumbles and disintegrates, and it doesn’t do this immediately so don’t give your hopes up [laughter], you […]
Chapter 33 of “Then and Now: A Commentary on The Jewel Ornament of Liberation”
[…] because what you’ve done is replace all of the discursive thoughts, even the ones that operate beneath the surface with the mantra. And that’s one of the powerful aspects of mantra practice is that you say it so much that it replaces the subconscious gossip, it replaces the discursive mind completely. And now you […]
Chapter 17 of “Then and Now: A Commentary on The Jewel Ornament of Liberation”
[…] it. One of the consequences of that, was that when I was writing Wake Up to Your Life, I practiced these meditations in retreat and appreciated the power of them, but was well aware of these difficulties. And so I went through them very, very carefully and found that the meditation on receiving kindness […]
Chapter 8 of “Power and Presence”
[…] will Ken: Okay. What’s important—last point before we stop here—attention, intention, and will. Attention, intention and will. Attention can be viewed as a directed energy. It involves power. Intention can be viewed as directed attention. We start mobilizing the whole system in a given direction. Will can be regarded as directed intention. Commonly, people […]