We had the second 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.
Category Archives: Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class
Heart Light
We had the first 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: alone and together!
Self as Sky
We had our Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss. We practiced a guided meditation to explore the sense of self adapted from Dr. Rick Hanson‘s book, The Buddha’s Brain: the Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom.
Glimmer & Glow
We had our Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss. We practiced a guided meditation to deepen concentration adapted from Dr. Rick Hanson‘s book, The Buddha’s Brain: the Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom.
Whole Body Breathing
We had our Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss. We practiced a guided meditation adapted from Dr. Rick Hanson‘s book, The Buddha’s Brain: the Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom. We explored a gradual expansion of focus from the area where we felt the breath most distinctly, to feeling all parts of breathing, to the whole body and finally on the faculty of being aware itself.
Let’s Make a Circle
We had our Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss. The class was dedicated to the memory of Kim Werdel and her family. We practiced an adaptation of Dr. Rick Hanson‘s guided meditation called Expanding the Circle of Loving Kindness. The meditation is drawn from his book, The Buddha’s Brain: the Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom.
Wings of Relationship
We had our Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss. We practiced Dr. Rick Hanson‘s guided meditation called Opening to a Growing Sense of Contentment. The meditation is drawn from his audio series, The Enlightened Brain. In this meditation we experienced empathy and acceptance by attuning to our own bodies, emotions and thoughts.
Empathy
We had our Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss. We practiced a loving kindness meditation inspired by author and meditation instructor, Tara Brach. We discussed some of the neurological underpinnings of empathy as outlined by Dr. Rick Hanson in his book, The Buddha’s Brain: the Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom. We also discussed some of the exciting new research about stress that Dr. Kelly McGonigal outlined in her TED Talk entitled, How to Make Stress Your Friend.
Equanimity
We had our Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss. We practiced Dr. Rick Hanson‘s guided meditation called Equanimity. The meditation is drawn from his book, The Buddha’s Brain: the Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom.
The meditation encourages students to explore the “mind of no preferences”. My partner Tim’s photo of this amazing mushroom inspires me to reflect on equanimity. We’ve recently enjoyed one of the most beautiful summers ever – day after day of sunshine followed by intense thunder storms. Rather than be dismayed at the returning rain, Tim and I have been enraptured by these magical mushrooms blanketing the forest floor near our home. It’s described as a fungus, developing from a primordium. It’s fruiting body eventually to be surrounded by a universal veil. Now how cool is that!?!
Feeling Strong
We had our Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss. We practiced Dr. Rick Hanson‘s guided meditation called Feeling Strong. The meditation is drawn from his book, The Buddha’s Brain: the Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom.
Rick explores what motivates our behavior. A guiding principle of his work is the practice of using our minds to change our brains – which in turn predisposes us to have healthier minds. He asserts that it’s important to cool causes of suffering and to warm up causes of happiness with our intentions. Intentions involve strength applied to clear and appropriate goals, sustained over time. Acting with healthy intentions requires awareness. Yet most intentions are operating outside our awareness!