Tony Nguyễn Wiederhold (he/him)
I am a Vietnamese person born in Indiana, a child of the working class and a product of both US imperialism and the love of many people. I am one of ICY's three Co-Organizers and leader of most of our silent meditation practices. Practicing with others and making it easy to practice are my favorite things to do. My life is organized around both practice and caring for my elderly, disabled mother. I also study Buddhist texts and frameworks, play with Chinese calligraphy, eat ice cream, nurture my plant and animal siblings, and live not-online as much as possible.
On April Fools Day, 2017, I led a free yoga practice outside at the 100 Acres. I didn't set out to "start" anything. I wanted to practice in a circle with friends on the grass under big shade trees. I also wanted to see what would happen if I 1) didn't charge money, 2) actualized equality by practicing-with from within a circle of equals, breaking the usual "teacher-student" power dynamic, and 3) led practices in a natural setting where every other being is just being natural. One practice led to another. We kept going nearly every Saturday since, and added practices on all of the other days and now we have in a worker-led, boss-free cooperative offering free and accessible yoga, qigong, meditation, and nature walk practices throughout Indianapolis and on Zoom.
My mother was my first teacher. She came from people who farmed, fished, and foraged. We practiced Buddhist rituals at home, resting our hearts on Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and making offerings to our ancestors. I learned from her suffering and care. Her paternal grandmother was her first teacher. I first became aware of meditation around age 10, when I began attending Chùa Quang Minh in Chicago with Mom and came into contact with the monk Thích Đúc Niệm, who taught me through gifts of books, warm smiles with pats on the shoulder, and just being a kind adult in my life. He transmitted the Dharma to me by handing me a broom. The temple was about 90 minutes away from where we lived, but it was an oasis for both Mom and me. It was a center for Vietnamese culture and container for the ocean of grief of hundreds of Vietnamese far away from home and family, where we would hear the monks and nuns give talks, chant our sutras, do our prostrations, grieve, mourn, cook fantastic meatless meals together, and enjoy a bit of joy in community. I did more eating than cooking in those days, and quite a bit of sweeping.
I've completed a lot of training in yoga and American mindfulness over 8 years that revealed the exploitative, authoritarian, and capitalist norms at the heart of the American wellness industry. I also spent over 15 years employed by a large pharmaceutical corporation where I saw the same forces. My resistance is to lean into and grow from my Vietnamese Buddhist roots, the gift from my mother, her grandmother, countless ancestors, and my other first teacher Thích Đúc Niệm. I am grateful to our Buddha ancestors, scholars, translators, and ordinary people, ancient and modern, over centuries, who gifted their work, and I am grateful that I can both receive those gifts and become a small link in the chain by passing along those gifts to those who practice with me.
May we all have the courage to be at ease with ourselves, and may we all have the courage to stand with and befriend others.