We had our third Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss yesterday.   We shared a guided meditation of breathing, relaxing, feeling, watching and allowing.  Sound simple?  When you actually go to try this practice, often the first thing you experience is resistance, doubt and distraction.

I’m often pleasantly surprised to see people take time out on a sunny weekend in Seattle to come inside to affirm the value of pausing.  Michael Stone, author and guiding teacher of Centre of Gravity, a meditation and yoga center in Toronto observed our “forward-headed” tendency by invoking Rollo May.

Rollo May, the American existentialist psychologist once wrote: “It is an ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way.” How many of us want to live simpler lives? Coming here and sitting still is part of a process of touching our foundation, coming back to what we value.

After meditation we discussed the value of what we’re doing.  A student mentioned the article, Riding the Wave of Secular Meditation, printed in the Seattle Times this weekend.  The article queries whether meditation is narcissistic.  My greatest hope is that meditation be learned, practiced and shared as an antidote to narcissism.  An unhealthy concern for “I”, “me” and “mine” is often at the heart of those choices that lead to painful distractions, cravings and reactivity.  This concern has a drive with a powerful “forward-headed” (as opposed to forward-hearted) momentum.  Stopping and just sitting can almost be viewed as a subversive act in our consumer driven culture.

What if sitting in silence together is a way to leave our “islands of selves” and realize we’re on this ocean, this planet together?  Sangha is a Sanskrit term that you can think of as a community of caring friends.  I value our sharing as an integral part of our practice.  We become in relationship with each other – from our very beginnings.  Leaving the island we think of as home takes a fair bit of courage, faith and imagination.   I found this post’s picture and this beautiful poem by John O’Donohue on ShamanTube‘s cool FaceBook site this morning.

Compassion is the ability to vitally imagine what it is like to be an other, the force that makes a bridge
from the island of one individuality
to the island of the other.
It is an ability to step outside your own perspective,
limitations and ego, and become attentive in a vulnerable, encouraging, critical, and creative way with the hidden world of another person.

You can find this week’s homework and other resources at:

Sunday Meditation Class 3 Homework