We had our tenth Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss.   We practiced a guided  meditation inquiry, Who Am I?   Instructor and author, Tara Brach, uses this practice to  help us see beyond our stories of self and enter the revealing the mystery of our true nature.

In Tara’s book, True Refuge,  she encourages readers to use the inquiry both formally, in meditation, and informally, in every day life, by taking a few moments to pause, look into our awareness  and question what is true.  Then we let it be.

Over time our sense of being a “separate self” becomes apparent and we can also experience the boundless nature of pure awareness.

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We had our ninth Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss.   We practiced a guided  meditation, Exploring Inner Space, that instructor and author, Tara Brach, uses to touch pure awareness – the mystery of our true nature.

In Tara’s book, True Refuge, she encourages us to engage in a sincere inquiry into what she calls:  “the refuge of pure awareness.”

In pure awareness we are no longer creating, defending or fortifying a sense of separate “self.”  We’re free from our daily preoccupations and habits of mind, free from grasping or pushing experience away.

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We had our eighth Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss.    We explored a guided practice meditation instructor and author, Tara Brach, says can help us cultivate compassion:  Seeing Past the Mask.

In Tara’s book, True Refuge, she describes the way we develop in relationship to others – from
our early months in the womb and then with our mothers and close caregivers.  We learn the “dance of attunement.”

Our bodies are designed to feel a connection with each other.  We have specialized “mirror neurons” that attune us to another person’s state – to sense their emotions, even the intentions underlying their movements.   She calls the mirror neurons and the other structures in the prefrontal cortex our “compassion circuitry.”

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“Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.  Live in silence.  Flow down and down in always widening rings of being.”  Rumi

We had our seventh Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss.  We discussed how most of us fall into habits of worry or repetitive thoughts.

Anxiety, stress or unpleasant surprises unleash spirals of planning and problem solving.  Uncomfortable interactions replay with shades of anger, regret or shame.   Meditation instructor and author, Tara Brach, says we reflexively lapse into these patterns as a way of trying to control life.  Tara says:

the common denominator is that whenever we’re lost in thought, we’re disconnected from our body and our senses. We’re cut off from the perceptiveness and receptivity that underlie our natural intelligence and kindness.

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We had our sixth Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss yesterday.   We shared a guided meditation called RAIN:  Recognizing, Allowing, Investigating, Nonidentification.  I drew this inspiration and meditation instruction from meditation instructor and author Tara Brach.

In her book, True Refuge, Tara  explains that this practice is intended to help us cultivate mindfulness in difficult times.

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We had our fifth Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss today.   We shared a guided meditation of A Pause for Presence:  Wakeful, Open & Tender.  I drew this inspiration and meditation instruction from meditation instructor and author Tara Brach.  In her book, True Refuge, Tara describes Natural Presence as the integrated expression of these qualities.

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We had our fourth Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss yesterday.   We shared a guided meditation of Embodied Presence, Home Base & Remindfulness taken from meditation instructor and author, Tara Brach.  Again, I deeply appreciate that students are willing to dedicate the time and presence to this practice.  It’s almost a revolutionary act to stop and disentangle ourselves from the web – digital and real – of busyness and distraction.

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