We had our Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss yesterday.  We’ve been working with the four foundations of mindfulness:   awareness of the body, feeling tone, thoughts, emotions and then all phenomena.   We drew our practice inspiration from B. Alan Wallace’s Minding Closely:  The Four Applications of Mindfulness.  We included two practice periods and a walking meditation.

We used Alan’s Mindfulness of the Body practice in which we scanned the body’s tactile sensations in three dimensions.  We used the in-breath to enhance our awareness of feeling in the area of focus and then moved to a different location with the out breath.  Body scanning is a common stress reduction technique.  This approach is unique in the way it expanded focus in three dimensions.  This novelty helped students enhance and sustain their attention.

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We had our Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss yesterday.  We’ve been working with the four foundations of mindfulness:   awareness of the body, feeling tone, thoughts, emotions and then all phenomena.   We drew our practice inspiration from B. Alan Wallace’s Minding Closely:  The Four Applications of Mindfulness.  We included two practice periods and a walking meditation.

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We had our Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss yesterday.  We’ve been working with the four foundations of mindfulness:   awareness of the body, feeling tone, thoughts, emotions and then all phenomena.   We drew our practice inspiration from B. Alan Wallace’s Minding Closely:  The Four Applications of Mindfulness.  We included two practice periods and a walking meditation.

In meditation we work with the mind to establish cognitive balance, a direct experience of equanimity.  Alan describes balance as having two critical aspects:   seeing the impermanent as impermanent and differentiating the true sources of happiness from false ones.  In cultivating mindfulness we first focus on the “the body and physical sense fields”; then attend to feelings of pleasure, pain and indifference; then events arising in mental domain; finally to the space of all phenomena and their interdependent relationships.

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We had our Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss today.  We’ve been working with the four foundations of mindfulness:   awareness of the body, feeling tone, thoughts, emotions and then all phenomena.   We drew our practice inspiration from B. Alan Wallace’s Minding Closely:  The Four Applications of Mindfulness. We included two practice periods and a walking meditation.

Alan suggests observing what we perceive and how we perceive it.  Oh yes, and don’t get caught up with proliferating thoughts about whatever “it” your awareness lights on.  Sounds simple but it isn’t easy.  The key to practice is to feel the body as the body; feel thoughts and emotions simply as thoughts and emotions; experience all phenomena, internal and external, just as phenomena.  Notice when you are embellishing the direct experience of what you perceive with a projection of your own.  How are you cloaking your experience?  Are your windows of perception clear?  Sometimes the veils are so thin they’re really tough to recognize.

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We had our Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss today.  We’ve been working with the four foundations of mindfulness:   awareness of the body, feeling tone, thoughts, emotions and then all phenomena.   We drew our practice inspiration from B. Alan Wallace’s Minding Closely:  The Four Applications of Mindfulness. We included two practice periods and a walking meditation.

Alan suggests ways of enhancing concentration by balancing two mental faculties:  mindfulness and introspection.  He writes that “mindfulness requires discerning, ethical concern. We must apply mindfulness strategically and discerningly because we care about ourselves.  Are we flourishing or are we sowing the seeds of our own misery and discontent?”

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We had our Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss yesterday.  We expanded our focus to include awareness of the body, feeling tone, thoughts, emotions and then all phenomena.   We drew our practice inspiration from B. Alan Wallace’s Minding Closely:  The Four Applications of Mindfulness.  We included two practice periods and a walking meditation.

Alan guides students in systematically settling the body, breath and speech.  He encourages relaxation and vigilance while allowing all that arises in the various modes of perception to simply be and then pass away.  What remains is the luminous quality of unwavering awareness which “knows” or “cognizes.”  This awareness illuminates appearances.

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We had our Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss today.  We continued to focus on the tactile field of the body.  We drew our practice inspiration from B. Alan Wallace’s Minding Closely:  The Four Applications of Mindfulness.  Like last week we included two practice periods and a walking meditation.

Alan teaches an approach to meditation which is informed by a traditional saying in the Buddhist contemplative tradition:  “Good in the beginning, good in the middle, good in the end.”  These “goods” can be explained by three aspects of successful practice. Good in the beginning refers to our motivation.  We start each session by generating our highest aspiration for the practice.  Good in the middle refers to maintaining a continuity of focused attention. Good in the end refers to dedicating the value of our practice to the achievement of everyone’s most meaningful aspirations.

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We had our Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss today.  Today we focused our practice on the tactile field of the body.  We drew our practice inspiration from B. Alan Wallace’s Minding Closely:  The Four Applications of Mindfulness.  Like last week we included two practice periods and a walking meditation.

Alan writes about settling the body, breath and speech into their natural states.  He describes this as a process of  balancing three essential qualities:  relaxation, stillness and vigilance.  We could observe the process of our bodies settling by consciously feeling  specific areas – feet, legs, torso, arms, neck and head – relaxing.  Aaaah, if you’re reading this right now you can take some deep breaths and feel what I’m describing.

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We had the fourth meeting of our four week Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss yesterday.  During the month of November we’re focusing on the basics in order to help each other build a personal practice.

We attended to the four foundations of mindfulness:  body, feeling tone, emotions and thoughts.  We enhanced our concentration by sensing into these areas to allow what may be calling out for healing to arise in our awareness.  We enriched the healing experience of meditation by opening to a sense of a healing quality might answer a particular call.   An experience of physical tension could be soothed with relaxation.  General anxiety could be assuaged with peace.  Feeling a sense of heartache could be met with love.  A busy racing mind could be quieted with calm.  In each part of the journey we paused long enough to recall the last time we experienced the healing quality.  We enriched the memory by activating it with as many senses as possible.

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We had the third meeting of our four week Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss today.  During the month of November we’re focusing on the basics in order to help each other build a personal practice.

We began with a body scan and revisited the six points of posture.  Bringing awareness to feeling sensation in the whole body and then different body parts helps to calm and center our minds.

We brought a sense of being safe, satisfied and connected into our awareness.  We shared a comfortable, warm and safe room.  For the moment, our basic needs were substantially met.  We were among accepting, supportive people with whom we could share a sense of connection.  These are the three states that give rise to “homeostatic equilibrium.” This state is the foundation for an experience of well being, an ability to cope and an instinct to heal.  Dr. Rick Hanson describes this as the brain being in the “Green Zone.”

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