The Transformational Power of We
Sitting is co-creating a field of interbeing and interbecoming.
A Field of Belonging:
There is a sacred potency in the quiet alignment of many hearts.
When we come together—not to impress, not to convince, but simply to sit—we step into a field that is more than the sum of its parts.
We co-create a field of interbeing and interbecoming.
This is the power of “we.”
Sitting practice isn’t a solitary escape. It’s a collective re-entry. A returning to the truth that we are shaped by our relationships. That our nervous systems co-regulate. That our breath responds to the presence of others around us.
This is the truth that the stillness of our presence, when offered generously, creates felt sense of safety around us.
To sit is to come into alignment—with our posture, but also with a deeper purpose for our life. We do this by dropping out of the mind’s endless chatter and into the vast, undefined spaciousness of the heart.
In this place, our perception softens and open. Reaction gives way to grounded receptivity and judgment gives way to attuning acceptance.
From this fuller sense of presence, generosity naturally flows. We give ourselves to the moment, and to each other, not in sacrifice, but in offering.
This is the offering of our attention. Without expectation or need for getting something in return. It becomes a tending to the shared moment. It becomes a rare, particular kind of contribution—an offering to something larger than us, to the whole. To the we.
In sitting, a guiding principle is that we give our ourselves—our breath, our stillness, and our caring compassion—not to fix, but to belong.
In the field of belonging we are able to co-create together, something quiet, subtle, and real emerges without any effort on our part. There is a sense of being held, being supported, of being carried along, from moment to moment.
This allows us to relax and open up.
And when we do, there is a feeling of deep remembering in the body, that our true human purpose is not to optimize ourselves for material gain, but to become the fullest version of ourselves in service to life itself.
This is how we learn how to live each moment inside the "we" of life.
By sitting together. Slowly. Generously. With presence, care, and tenderness.
The Practice: The Transformational Power of We
Below is the lightly edited transcript of a talk introducing a Sitting Lab sitting.
“Okay. Let’s begin by putting ourselves into a frame of mind that’s conducive for our practice today.
What’s interesting about that frame of mind—is that it’s no frame of mind.
It’s stepping back from the usual restrictions we put on ourselves, the usual patterns we fall into, the usual reactions we have created.
This is a totally ordinary place for us—but rarely fully felt or experienced.
It’s stepping back into a place of dynamic relationship with ourselves and with each other.
It sounds like we just say “with each other,” but we shouldn’t underestimate the power of we, the effects of us aligning ourselves in intention in this activity with each other.
People have researched this. Studies have found that to come back into a place of relationship with others that feels calm, and safe, and supportive, is deeply healing for us human beings.
So we begin by aligning ourselves with ourselves. Finding an upright sense of posture. Bringing ourselves into balance—right to left, front to back.
Bringing your attention down—out of the head and into the torso, into the heart of your being.
Cultivating a real feeling of resting and settling, right here. in the center of our being. And allowing yourself to feel what it’s like to perceive, to be conscious from that place.
It’s a different kind of consciousness than our usual consciousness.
There’s an expansiveness to it. A spaciousness to it. An undefined quality to it. But it is there. Perceiving. Receiving.
And then, lastly—we can orient this entire activity within a field of generosity.
Giving ourselves to each moment. Moment after moment. Giving our presence. Giving our acceptance. Giving our compassion. To ourselves, and to each other.
Extending it out to all living beings—the mountains, and the rivers, and the oceans, the forests, the deserts, and all the living beings who occupy those ecosystems.
Wishing all living beings happiness, a genuine sense of well-being, peace, and freedom from suffering.
And now, feeling grounded by the continuous movement of the breath going in and out of our body, we can continue to sit quietly, together.”
The sound of three bells and then silence.
Each weekday, a small group of us sit quietly together four times a day, using Sitting Lab’s community platform. We invite you to check it out and join us if you believe that a regular, deepening sitting practice could help you become the fullest version of yourself.