The Yogabliss on-line Moving into Meditation class met this morning.  We explored ways of bringing our practice to our every day lives.  We do this by bringing four fundamental meditation skills to what every we are doing:  concentration, clarity, caring and equanimity.  We drew on the work of mediation teacher and author, Jeff Warren.  You can find his article, Finding the Right Practice, on his web-site along with many resources aimed to empower you to find the practice that works for you.  You can also listen to a fascinating discussion, Crisis Advice from Meditation MacGyver, between Jeff and Ten Percent Happier podcast host, Dan Harris.  It’s about “democratizing” meditation practice and teaching and the various activities we value in life can be done as a meditation.

We ended practice with poet Mary Oliver’s beautiful poem, Invitation which you will find below.

Many of us want to keep our friend Mike in our hearts this week.  Mike is living with a serious illness.  Some of us plan to do Metta Meditation as we hold Mike in our hearts.    You can explore Sharon Salzberg’s Guided Loving Kindness Meditation.  You can also make up the phrases that resonate with your heart.  Here are the ones I practiced with this week:

May you be safe,
May you be well,
May you love and be loved,
May you be free from suffering,
May you know peace.

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The Yogabliss on-line Moving into Meditation class met this morning.  We shared the practice of cultivating compassion.  All of us have been deeply touched by the pain and suffering we witness every day.  Sometimes it’s really hard not to look away or shut down.  The mindfulness practice of cultivating compassion or loving kindness is a way of responding by staying present with what is difficult and also tapping into the love and kindness that truly is our super power.

We started with a short loving kindness practice inspired by Diana Winston. Diana is  Director of Mindfulness Education at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center.  You can practice at home by going to her podcast, Getting Out of Your Head.

We drew on meditation instructor, Oren Jay Sofer including his recent talk,  Introduction to Loving Kindness.  His very worthwhile talk offers context, instructions and helpful suggestions including a guided meditation.

Next time you need a little breathing break you might check out meditation and author, Sharon Salzberg’s delightful short animation, Where Does Compassion Really Come From?

Explore giving your heart’s attention to Corinna Luyken’s children’s book, My Heart.  You’ll find it toward the end of Maria Popova’s post on Favorite Children’s Books of 2019,

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The Yogabliss on-line Moving into Meditation class met this morning.  We explored the practice of being mindful of difficult emotions focusing on anxiety.  We’re living with great uncertainty:   a global pandemic and an intense social struggle for racial justice.  Our personal sharing about illness, loss, connection and joy evokes our vulnerability and our deep caring.

Our emotions arise to help us survive.  Bringing mindfulness to our anxiety can help us recognize it and relate to it  and to let it be.  We can experience how the feeling expresses in physical sensations that move and change or transform altogether.  We can grow our tolerance for being with the unpleasant experience.  We can tap into our inner resources and offer ourselves tender caring and compassion.  We did a guided meditation developed by mediation teacher and Nonviolent Communication trainer, Oren Jay Sofer. You can find his guided meditation, Meeting Anxiety, in the text of his article Handling Anxiety.

In our relaxed reflection we drew on a talk given by Mark Nunberg, the guiding teacher of Common Ground Meditation Center.  You can find the talk, The Teachings in Brief for Troubled Hearts in Troubled Times, at the Dharma Seed podcast.

In closing we spoke a bit about the Dalai Lama.  You can find his live webcasts at his web-site.  You can also hear The Dalai Lama’s Advice for Right Now, in his interview with the Ten Percent Happier correspondent, Dan Harris and Richard Davidson, the founder of the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin.

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