In our Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss we practiced mindfulness of breathing and physical sensations in both sitting and walking meditation. We drew on guidance offered by author and meditation teacher, Michael Stone. In a recent “dharma talk” or lecture he reminded aspiring meditators of the following:
As the breath gets quieter . . . the mind gets quieter; as the mind quiets the breath quiets . . .
He observed that when our minds get caught up in thinking or “story-making” our breath often becomes more labored. One of our group members described her very stressful life and the difficulty she has breathing. She often falls asleep in the final relaxation period in yoga class. The breath is like a mirror or reflection for our state of mind. We discussed ways that we can adapt our approach to mindfulness to support our current state of being. In very stressful times – it may be most beneficial to relax and do some belly breathing. While it may be really challenging to stop one’s busyness – a short afternoon nap might be what you really need.
We held our Monthly Meditation & Communi-Tea practice at Yoga Bliss. One Sunday a month we will offer students more time to go a little deeper and make new friends. We’re drawing inspiration from Karen Armstrong’s“Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life”. Ms. Armstrong is a best selling author and TED Prize Winner who created and launched the Charter for Compassion.
During our first meeting we focused on the 1step: learning about compassion. Last month’s 2nd step involved taking a deep hearted look at the world around us and focusing on how we can actualize compassion within our family, workplace and nation. This month’s 3rd step explored extending compassion toward ourselves. Why bother? Karen Armstrong writes that if we cannot love ourselves we cannot love others:
“We have a biological need to be cared for and to care for others. Yet it is not easy to love ourselves. In our target-driven, capitalist . . . societies, we are more inclined to castigate ourselves for our shortcomings and become . . . down by any failure to achieve our objectives and potential. It is a terrible irony that while many . . . are suffering from malnourishment and starvation, in the West an alarming number of women – and . . . men – are affected with eating disorders that spring from a complex amalgam of self-hatred, fear, feelings of failure, inadequacy, helplessness and yearning for control. . . . The Golden Rule requires self-knowledge; it asks that we use our own feelings as a guide to our behavior with others. If we treat ourselves harshly, this is the way we are likely to treat others.”
We held our Monthly Meditation & Communi-Tea practice yesterday at Yoga Bliss. One Sunday a month we will offer students more time to go a little deeper and make new friends. We’re drawing inspiration from Karen Armstrong’s “Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life”. Ms. Armstrong is a best selling author and TED Prize Winner who created and launched the Charter for Compassion.
Last month we focused on the 1step: learning about compassion. This week’s 2nd step: taking a deep hearted look at the world around us and focusing on how we can actualize compassion within our family, workplace and nation. Life passes quickly while we are swept up in our day to day busyness and digital distractions. Having a regular mindfulness practice – developing a habit of pausing to simply be in the present moment completely aware of unadorned experience – makes a sincere examination of the world possible.
We held our January Meditation & Communi-Tea practice yesterday at Yoga Bliss. The last Sunday over every month we will offer students more time to go a little deeper and make new friends. We’re drawing inspiration from Karen Armstrong’s “Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life”. Ms. Armstrong is a best selling author and TED Prize Winner who created and launched the Charter for Compassion.
Karen spent years researching and studying religious traditions in many parts of the world. In her initial TED presentation, “My Wish: The Charter for Compassion,” she shares her concern that
” . . . we are living in a world . . . where religion has been hijacked. Where terrorists cite Quranic verses to justify their atrocities. Where instead of taking Jesus’ words, “Love your enemies. Don’t judge others,” we have the spectacle of Christians endlessly judging other people, endlessly using Scripture as a way of arguing with other people, putting other people down. Throughout the ages, religion has been used to oppress others, and this is because of human ego, human greed. We have a talent as a species for messing up wonderful things.”
Now is the time to know
That all that you do is sacred.
Now, why not consider
a lasting truce with yourself?
Now is the time to understand
that all your ideas of right and wrong
were just a child’s training wheels
to be laid aside,
When you can finally live
with veracity and love.
Now is the time for the world to know
that every thought and action is sacred.
That this is the time
for you to compute the impossibility
that there is anything
But Grace.
Now is the season to know
that everything you do
is Sacred.
I listened to one of his more recent talks focuses on Gratitude. I appreciate his down to earth authenticity in speaking of all the things that go right in the world – there are so many of them we often don’t recognize them. For many, 99.99% of life works to support our well being yet we focus on the 0.01% that may not be working. My body is functioning, I have food, shelter, electricity, transportation. I could go on and on about the blessings I enjoy and often take for granted.
This morning I was looking for some inspiration from Roshi Norman Fischer. He’s a poet, writer, teacher and Zen master. His writing and teaching are informed by his experience of being a spouse, father and friend. I was seeking him out after reading his beautiful book about growing up: Taking Our Places. The book describes his years long mentorship of a group of teenage boys. I was drawn to his approach of not having a specific agenda other than supporting these young people in their search for meaning and purpose at a pivotal time in their lives. They created the group together and it took shape as a living thing which grew to meet the boys’ needs. Here are a few tastes from the book:
We are all struggling with our own maturity, none of us can claim the job is finished to satisfaction. But we feel for each other, and that feeling softens and opens us, driving more room for us to grow. Although the process of maturing is endless, and all of us are in the midst of it, we can help each other through our human feeling, which is always wiser than we are. . . .
. . . I eventually came to see that, paradoxically, my vow never to grow up and my vow as a Zen practitioner to become mature myself and to work to mature others were quite compatible. In fact . . . these two vows were necessary mirrors for each other. “Not to grow up,” not to drop the endless search for truth because it is too difficult or too risky or too impractical or too costly, really meant “to grow up,” to become a person capable of true responsibility and real love because true responsibility and real love depend on a constant involvement with the truth. . . .
What is true maturity, anyway? It’s a good question, one that needs to be pondered for a long time. There are answers to life’s most important questions, but they are never final; they change as we change. Maybe true maturity is finding a way of keeping such questions alive throughout our lifetime. For when there are no more questions, we stop maturing and begin merely to age.
The beautiful feeder tree or nursing log I filmed seemed to illustrate the endless cycle of growing, maturing and touching each other in feeling, intimacy. According to Wikipedia, “a nurse log is a fallen tree which, as it decays, provides ecological facilitation to seedlings. Broader definitions include providing shade or support to other plants. . . . Recent research into soil pathogens suggests that in some forest communities, pathogens hostile to a particular tree species appear to gather in the vicinity of that species, and to a degree inhibit seedling growth. Nurse logs may therefore provide some measure of protection from these pathogens, thus promoting greater seedling survivorship.”
Okay – these are words which can only point at the tree. Being there I was able to experience the tree – the shared space of change, growth, death and decay. Tree body, human body, wind body, water body. Moist greenness, crispy brownness. Wind currents, moisture vapors. And then, there is ineffable feeling.
I’m so grateful to be alive. Thank you nurse tree, thank you Roshi Norman, thank you Zen.
In our Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss we returned to the practice of building a posture of awareness. Our bodies come to express the quality of attention we are cultivating with our minds. We explored narrowing and broadening our focus using the breath as our home base. We always begin with the physical sensations of breathing and then notice other sensations as they arise. We investigate experience with bare attention, nothing added.
Then we notice our feeling response to sensation – whether it’s pleasant, unpleasant or simply neutral. What is the direct experience of pleasant feeling? Is “pleasant” in the body, the mind, the heart? Does our response arise in thought forms? Do these forms have bodies? Can you explore the body of a thought? Then we notice emotions – their arising and passing away. What and how do anger, joy, irritation, boredom and love live in our experience?
As we open ourselves in pausing we come to know that nothing is still or solid. All experience changes and it’s hard to find a lasting essence. Even the “me” we navigate the world with is ever changing and can’t be known completely. This realization is tinged with sadness and perhaps a sense of deep appreciation for the gift of life.
In our Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss we explored one of Dr. Christopher Germer‘s “mindful self compassion” practices. We began creating a state of mindfulness by feeling the six points of posture in our bodies. Taking time at the beginning of a seated meditation period to adjust our position and build stability. We used Dr. Germer’s guidance to cultivate a soft, allowing, loving attitude toward our bodies: a mindful attitude.
He suggests we try his Soften, Allow and Love practice. He explains that when we soften around our physical discomforts we might avoid the tendency to tense up and reject our experience. Allowing refers to letting thoughts come and go without judging ourselves for their occurrence or content. Cultivating self love and compassion can encourage us to respond to difficult feelings with tenderness. I like the way he incorporates breathing, gestures and words or “mantras.” You put your hand on your heart and breathe . . . direct love to any part of your being in distress . . . silently say soften, allow or love, love, love . . . Most of us would be happy to do this for a fretting child or elder in our care. How willing are we to do this for ourselves?
In our Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss we focused on observing our mind’s activity. We established concentration by focusing on the breath and physical sensations. Our walking meditation almost felt like a procession. We synchronized our pace and felt particularly attuned to each other.
We all experienced mental “busyness.” One student shared a familiar feeling of anticipation. She described “always feeling poised or perched” as her life’s stance. We explored the way this impulse “to do” drives us forward – often away from experiences, issues and people we could benefit spending more time with.
In our Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss we practiced mindfulness of breathing and physical sensations in both sitting and walking meditation. We drew on guidance offered by author and meditation teacher, Michael Stone. In a recent “dharma talk” or lecture he reminded aspiring meditators of the following:
