Meditation Support : METTA

" Life only unfolds in moments.
The healing power of mindfulness lies in living each one as fully as we can."

Hello All,

In this moment, and the remaining sitting time before Sunday, we invite you to try a bit of Metta practice. 'Metta', a pali referring to the mind state of loving-kindness is also a particular practice in meditation to develop this attitude toward ourselves and all beings.

May I Be Safe
May I Be Happy
May I Be Healthy
May I Live with Ease/Ease of Heart

It is the practice of offering these wishes of safety, happiness, health and ease as a way to nurture ourselves and others and engender a sense unselfish interest in our own and others' welfare. We begin planting these seeds by internally repeating the above phrases first for ourselves. Often it is uncomfortable to truly offer these thoughts, wishes to oneself; in order to genuinely act from a state of loving kindness we must first work with ourselves. Be persistent, as with the breath, returning again and again to the phrases, noticing what is arising with a willingness to feel and accept.

The full Metta Practice offers these wishes in this order to
1. Ourselves, May I be...
2. A benefactor, someone important to us who has had a resounding impact
3. Some person or being who is Beloved, spouse, child, friend
4. A neutral person or being for whom you hold no judgment nor know in any particular way
5. A person or being with whom you are in Conflict, or harbor ill will towards
6 All beings

Try it out for a sit or part of your sitting time. As with all of the tools we've explored and the meditation of mindfulness in general, Metta can be quite powerful when you stick with it.

We meet again on Sunday December 5 at 630pm...sitting, walking, sitting with breath in awareness!

Much Metta,
Jenn

Mindfulness of thoughts and emotions

We live in illusion
And the appearance of things.
There is reality.
We are that reality.

When you understand this
You see that you are nothing.
And being nothing,
You are everything.
That is all.

~Kalu Rinpoche

The quality of mindfulness, being with our experience as it is, is challenged in many ways. Some of these distractions are explored by looking at the "5 hindrances or guests" that often show up when we sit on the cushion.

The Hindrances, Guests
1) Restlessness (worrying, remorse, agitation)
2) Sloth & Torpor (sleepiness, boredom)
3) Desire (wanting, attachment, craving)
4) Aversion (anger, frustration, irritation, fear)
5) Doubt

Continue to sit or walk for 20 minutes daily or in whatever schedule your commitment has taken. Notice and include " this too" in your daily life and come to join us this Sunday as we continue to unravel the ways of meditation and mindfulness.

Sunday November 25 2010
630pm
Eyes of the World, Providence

Meditation Support

" The Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn has written that the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. It is not as if only others have anger , fear, hatred, greed, and aggression. It is not someone else who is the cause of all the problems in the world, but the nature of all of us together. So it is a very important task in Meditation to learn how to be with the most powerful energies in our own being and to find some compassion, mindfulness and openness in the midst of all of our feelings and emotions."

"...The answer is that this too, is fine. Sometimes the theme of meditation is sleepiness; sometimes it is tears and sorrow; sometimes it is joy. Whatever it is, let the feelings come and go as they will, and that will be your meditation. Sometimes the clouds need to weep themselves to their end, a poet said, in order for us to have the clear sky shine out from behind them. So do not be afraid of what ever feelings arise in meditation. let them be a part of your practice."
~ Jack Kornfield

A lovely gentle reminder to allow whatever is present. If you have been troubled by any part of practice try to cultivate a willingness to look again, to begin again, to allow yourself to be yourself without judgment and with all the feelings, thoughts, emotions. Check in with the sensations in the body and the continuous rhythms of breath anchoring you to the here and now.

As well, if the cushion is not always available try the car, the waiting room, your office chair, even a few minutes of practice keeps the meditation muscle more pliant, supple and helps to keep us developing the habit of awareness.

Finally, adding a new menu practice as we head into the weekend and next week...

Mindfulness in Daily Life: "This Too"
We all have a tendency to push away much of what is showing up in our day, lives, communities, world. THIS TOO practice is to notice whatever is showing up with the mantra, "THIS TOO" as in, "this too is a part of my experience." It's really a practice of inclusion, of acceptance of whatever is arising in the moment. Remember, acceptance of what is arising does not imply a passive acquiescence to the greed, hatred and delusion in our inner and outer worlds. But it is about having an honest, open and spacious relationship with what is happening, noticing our inner reactions, softening to them, being present for the rich spectrum of our lives. From that place we have a much better chance to act out of compassion and wisdom rather than reactivity and aversion. Other versions of "THIS TOO" practice are "YES" practice, and also, "BREATHING IN ACCEPTANCE, BREATHING OUT LETTING GO." Choose whichever...

May your sits and walks be fruitful, may your awareness grow boundless as you discover "this Too"

Love,
Jenn

Mindfulness in Daily Life:

Shadow

Becoming aware of the interplay of light and shadow is great fun! Whenever you can (whenever you remember!) notice whatever shadows are present in your immediate environment. You may discover a subtle shading of the pepper shaker on your kitchen table or a sharp display of a tree’s limbs on the pavement. This practice encourages you to SEE the spaces in between the objects of our lives. Sunny days are wonderful for this practice, but cloudy orindoor days require a keener eye. As always, notice your judgments (“wow!” or “whatever…”) and come back to simply seeing. Consciously attending to this play of light and shadow opens us up to the extraordinary nature of the ordinary.

HOME PRACTICE GUIDELINES #4

“Mindfulness is often likened to a mirror; it simply reflects what is there.”

~Larry Rosenberg

We are now asking you to sit or walk for 20 minutes a day!

Seated practice
This week we ask you to open your awareness to include a broader spectrum of what shows up on the cushion. While you are still focusing (and returning to) the breath, you are allowing for greater awareness of what draws you away, particularly the feeling tone of what draws you away. Is a sound, sensation or thought pleasant, unpleasant or neutral?

Our emotional world is driven by an interplay of sensations in the body and thoughts in the mind: thoughts trigger sensations, which trigger more thoughts and so on. We are not interested right now in the content of the thoughts so much as our emotional response to whatever is arising (including thoughts) in the moment.

As we begin to open to the complex world of emotions and thoughts, it is helpful to be familiar with what is classically referred to as the “hindrances:”
The Hindrances
1) Restlessness (worrying, remorse, agitation)
2) Sloth & Torpor (sleepiness, boredom)
3) Desire (wanting, attachment)
4) Aversion (anger, frustration, irritation, fear)
5) Doubt

Remember to honor these hindrances as guests—we aren’t denying or pushing them away but we also aren’t letting them decide who we are, take over our house and run the show.

Gatha Walking
Gatha Walking is simply a meditative walking practice in which we use a “gatha” or verse as the focus of our meditation. The gatha we are offering in class is from Thich Nhat Han:

When I walk the mind will wander.
With each sound the mind returns.
With each breath the heart is open.
With each step I touch this earth.

"...to experience the mind thoroughly and fully just as it is, with whatever level of clarity we have. As we do that, we begin to see that mindfulness takes the energy out of our mind states, so that they arise but no longer have so much power to push us around. We no longer act automatically at their commands...We've grown intimate with these mind states, and that changes our relation to them...we are learning to observe these states in a friendly way, instead of identifying with them, resisting them, or rejecting them."

~Larry Rosenberg
Breath by Breath

Ahhh, It's time to sit!

Join Rebecca & Jenn as we dive into
thoughts, emotions, feeling tones!

Meditation this Sunday,
11/7/2010,
630 - 8pm

Mindfulness in Daily Life

Sound

Whenever you can (whenever you remember!) notice whatever sounds are present. Hear the tone quality, the loudness, softness, continuity, sharpness, dullness, roundness, even the silence underneath. Notice the sounds of walking, eating, cooking, breathing, going to the bathroom, computer keys clicking, voices, wind, cars, birds, plumbing, whatever it is. And of course, notice if you have a “relationship” to the sound—a drawing in or a pushing away. How does that relationship, positive or negative, get in the way of hearing the sound just as it is, without judgment? As always, meet whatever shows up with curiosity and acceptance, and then come back to the physical quality of the sound itself. Enjoy!!

Breath

Breath, the mindful breath,
the rhythm, out and in,
the wave that washes
through our days, creating
space for stillness, sorrow,
joy, or exaltation. Full,
then empty, ebb and flow,
breath accompanies each
step into the unknown.
In the breath, the soul
finds an opportunity to
speak. Images or intuition,
poetry or wordless wisdom,
come and go - no effort but
to breathe and listen.

~Danna Faulds

HOME PRACTICE GUIDELINES #3

“Always mindful, the meditator breathes in; mindful, the meditator breathes out.”
~Anapanasati Sutra

This week we ask you to really focus and steady your seated practice on the breath. Choose one specific place in the body where the breath sensation is strong (below the nose, the chest, the belly) to be the “anchor” of your meditation and stick with it. All manner of distractions may arise (sounds, other sensations in the body, thoughts, emotions, etc.) but your intention is to simply notice these distractions and return to your anchor-- over and over again.

If a body sensation other than breath becomes very strong, explore it in the way we’ve been practicing, staying interested in the changes and moving with intention and awareness if need be. As the “pull” of the sensation diminishes, return your attention to the breath.

Instead of increasing the length of your daily sit (which if you are following along with us is now 15 minutes a day) focus this week on strengthening whatever commitment you have made to yourself. This is not a suggestion that we judge ourselves for falling short, but rather that we bring an extra bit of will into the mix and see what happens. You might recall why you made the commitment in the first place. Or, you may identify where your commitment tends to break down and come up with an alternative plan.

If even getting to the cushion seems impossible, make a commitment to simply sit down, notice, and then move on to the next thing. If you happen to feel like noticing a breath or two great, but for many people, the act of simply sitting down with the intention to meditate is a big step.

Supports to concentration

In / Out: Many people find that a soft gentle label (“in” as the breath enters, “out” as the breath exits) supports their ability to stay with the breath. When concentration grows, you can release the label and just be with the direct experience of the breath itself.

Counting: There are many traditional methods of counting to help build concentration. One easy strategy is to count backwards from 10 to 1 for each breath. Whenever the mind wanders, you start back at 10 again. Once you are able to move through a number of full sets without getting distracted, release counting and stay with the direct experience of the breath.

“Breath”/”not breath”: Begin by imagining a blank screen and anchoring your awareness to the breath as we’ve been doing. Then, with as much vigilance as you can muster, notice whenever anything shows up on the screen that is “not-breath.” There is no judgment here!

We are simply learning to identify all those moments where something other than our breath has our attention.

Next class: this Sunday, October 17th, 6:30pm

In our next class (October 17), we will move from the general experience of the whole body to the direct experience of the breath. We will explore this basic life giving force in a myriad of ways while continuing to strengthen our concentration muscles. Why the breath? Aside from being utterly profound (essentially the difference between life & death!), the breath also happens to be a simple and accessible doorway into the present moment, and therefore a very useful tool in developing mindfulness...

Speaking of which, here is a nice reminder of what this mindfulness thing is all about:

"Mindfulness can be described as intentionally paying attention to the present moment without being pulled into the mind’s usual elaborations of judgment, internal dialog and the emotional reactions such elaborations can trigger. It is being with the experience of the moment with gentle compassion and a strong disciplined intention to simply stay present with whatever is happening in the moment, allowing space for the experience to rise and fall away without adding our usual overlay of suffering, frustration or panic." ~John Steven Shealy

Ah yes... staying present without adding our usual overlay of suffering, frustration and panic... sounds like a pretty good idea, no?

See you on Sunday!

Best,
Rebecca (& Jenn)

Mindfulness in Daily Life: Hands!

Hi all-- In these last few days before we meet again (Sunday October 17th, 6:30pm) consider shifting the focus of your attention from the feet to the hands...

Awareness of hands is a connecting practice-- our hands are often the interface between our internal and external world-- we reach for a door knob, shake someone's hand, open the fridge, hold a cup of tea, write a letter, pick up the phone, etc. It's an opportunity to connect physically with the rich textures of our lives.

This is a practice in which we can really be like children in a candy shop! So many textures, shapes, temperatures, etc. It also facilitates a little bit of "pause" in between all the "doing" of life -- we simply stop for a moment and experience directly the world around us. Enjoy!

Best,
Rebecca

Mindfulness in Daily Life #1

A "daily menu practice" is a good way to support bringing mindfulness practice off the cushion and into our daily lives. A menu practice just means bringing a particular focus of awareness to each day. Like the various strength, flexibility and balancing postures that we might practice in a yoga class to develop overall vitality and health in the body, the menu practice offers us a “cross-training” method for cultivating awareness in daily life. Over time you will notice that as the various skills develop, there is a growing sense of overall connection and appreciation for whatever is arising. This is really where the awareness we bring to formal meditation practice opens up and meets our lives in a wonderful way.

THIS WEEK: Mindfulness of FEET

This week’s “menu practice” is to bring attention to our feet at various moments throughout the day. The practice of focusing awareness on our feet is a grounding practice, one that brings us right to the "here" of the "here and now." It is incredibly helpful, especially when caught up or feeling lost. It is also a way to build awareness into the transitional elements of our life (when we are walking) or to the static elements (waiting in line). Whenever you remember, whether you’re watching television, driving a car, headed to the copy machine or stepping into the shower, bring attention to the actual sensations taking place in the feet.

May footsteps and grounding connections abound :-)
Jenn & Rebecca

Home Practice Guidlines #2

“With gentleness and precision, meditation practice will bring us joy.”
~Sakyong Mipham

SEATED PRACTICE

This week we ask you to really focus and steady your seated practice on the body. Learning to work with body sensations not only offers us a direct window into our basic moment to moment human experience, it is an invaluable skill as we negotiate the many difficult physical experiences that can show up on the cushion (or chair). Often when we begin to sit for longer periods of time, unpleasant sensations can arise in the shoulders, knees, hips, etc. Sometimes the discomfort is sharp, sometimes broad or pulsing, sometimes deep or numb. Our practice here is to notice with curiosity and kindness WHATEVER is arising. Moreover, learning to compassionately observe physical sensations serves us greatly when we encounter strong emotional states (which we will explore inweek 4 of the meditation series).

Please incorporate the following practices into your seated meditations:

BODY SCAN: Slowly scan the body (head, neck, shoulders, etc), staying alert to whatever sensations are present. Feel yourself as a physical body. If you are lost or not sure where to place your attention, direct your focus to the physical sensations of breath and then return to the body scan.

BODY EXPLORATION: Begin with your attention resting on the breath but notice whatever physical sensations arise in your field of awareness. Allow your attention to go to that area and explore. What are the basic elements (size, temperature, intensity, etc.) of the sensation? How does the sensation move, change, intensify or dissipate? How does the act of observation affect the sensation? When your attention wanes, gently return to the anchor of the breath.

STONG SENSATION: Explore strong physical sensations and/or the desire to move with kindness. We are looking to cultivate stillness but if you need to move, do so with interest and curiosity, paying attention to the changing sensations before, during and after.

For those of you who are new to meditation, we ask you to up your daily practice by 5 minutes a day (so if you’ve been sitting 10 minutes a day, now practice sitting 15 minutes a day). Notice what the extra 5 minutes feel like. Are you aware of the extra time? Does it make you more anxious or more relaxed? Does it allow you to go deeper in or do you notice more resistance arising? Remember, whatever you notice is an integral part of the practice, not an obstacle to the practice.

Carving out 15 minutes of stillness can seem daunting in a busy life, but what most people find is
that the stillness actually creates time in the day by generating a greater sense of spaciousness and perspective.

For those of you with an established practice, continue to augment your practice in a specific way—a longer sit, sitting more frequently during the week or adding an additional short sit during the day.

Weekly Support Notes / October 1, 2010

"Look at the tree in the front yard. The tree doesn’t seem to be doing anything. It stands there, vigorous, fresh, and beautiful, and everyone profits from it. That’s the miracle of being. If a tree were less than a tree, all of us would be in trouble. But if a tree is just a real tree, then there’s hope and joy. That’s why if you can be yourself, that is already action. Action is based on non-action; action is being."

Practice it is! 10 minutes today, 10 minutes tomorrow, 10 minutes the next day, and so on and so on and so on...

Join us again this Sunday October 3 as we narrow our focus and explore the landscape of the body in walking and sitting meditation. Gaining insight thru experiential means as we discover more about what it is to be us.

Jenn & Rebecca

Weekly Support Notes / September 23, 2010

How are your minutes (10 or so) on the cushion shaping up?
In this weekly support letter we offer you a bit of inspiration/wisdom as well as some questions to reflect on and an opportunity to draw your awareness from the cushion into every moment of your waking life! Consider keeping a journal to track your experiences and if you like share your challenges and insights with us all right here!

While our intentions are important, this quote from Larry Rosenberg cautions us about goals...

"It is important to emphasize, in discussing the art of meditation
(and the practice as you continue becomes an art, with many subtle nuances), that you shouldn't start out with some idea of gaining. This is the deepest paradox in all of meditation: we want to get somewhere -- we wouldn't have taken up the practice if we didn't - but the way to get there is just to be fully here. The way to get from point A to point B is really to be at A. When we (meditate) in the hope of becoming something better, we are compromising our connection to the present, which is all we ever have."

So, in this practice, we are asked to hold an apparent contradiction -
the willful effort of showing up with our best intention and the letting go of all expectation...but this week just for about 10 minutes!!!

REFLECTION
We ask the question "Why Bother?" Pause for a moment to reflect on this...in your journal or on the blog

• What about meditation is of interest to you?
• What motivates you to engage in this practice?
• What is your intention?
• What will bring you back to your cushion or chair even when your resistance is high?

PRACTICE IN DAILY LIFE
Pause for some moments in your day, notice the sounds that abound, the breath moving in and out, the thoughts racing and stumbling, the sensation of your smile. Take the time in a few of the "in between" places in your life, stopped at a red light, in line at the market, on hold on the phone, tune in to the moment, look at what is really happening...don't think, just see.

Post or comment or email with any questions, concerns, challenges etc and we will do our best to support you.

Jenn & Rebecca

Fall Meditation Series To Begin Sunday!!

Join Rebecca Foster and Jenn Thomas for
A Practical Exploration of Mindfulness Meditation Practices

Through simple structure and guidance we join together to uncover
some of the mysteries of mindfulness meditation.
Come to one or all sessions, deepen your practice or try it out for the first time...

Sundays 630-800pm Eyes of the World Yoga
September 19, October 3 & 17, November 7 & 21, December 5

We look forward to sitting with you

Meditation Minder Week 6

Hello Hello fellow persons in pursuit of OOPS! I mean in the moment...

As we come to our final week exploring the practical application of techniques in mindfulness meditation we wish to share this oh so wonderful attitude of mind, from Jon Kabat-Zin - NON STRIVING ! The whole passage is perfect just as it is and embodies so much of what we have been exploring these past months.

Take the time to sit for 30 minutes ( or an amount of time that is appropriate for the growth of your practice) before we meet tomorrow. Ask yourself, " what is happening right now", explore that happening watch it shift, change and morph into something different, float along the river of your experience, live the ebb and flow.

Almost everything we do we do for a purpose, to get something or somewhere. But in meditation this attitude can be a real obstacle. That is because meditation is different from all other human activities. Although it takes a lot of work and energy of a certain kind, ultimately meditation is a non-doing. It has no goal other than for you to be yourself. The irony is that you already are. This sounds paradoxical and a little crazy. Yet this paradox and craziness may be pointing you toward a new way of seeing yourself, one in which you are trying less and being more. This comes from intentionally cultivating the attitude of non-striving.

For example, if you sit down to meditate and you think, "I am going to get relaxed, or get enlightened, or control my pain, or become a better person," then you have introduced an idea into your mind of where you should be, and along with it comes the notion that you are not okay right now. "If I were only more calm, or more intelligent, or a harder worker, or more this or more that, if only my heart were healthier or my knee were better, then I would be okay. But right now, I am not okay."

This attitude undermines the cultivation of mindfulness, which involves simply paying attention to whatever is happening. If you are tense, then just pay attention to the tension. If you are in pain, then be with the pain as best you can. If you are criticizing yourself, then observe the activity of the judging mind. Just watch. Remember, we are simply allowing anything and everything that we experience from moment to moment to be here, because it already is.

In the meditative domain, the best way to achieve your own goals is to back off from striving for results and instead to start focusing carefully on seeing and accepting things as they are, moment by moment. With patience and regular practice, movement toward your goals will take place by itself. This movement becomes an unfolding that you are inviting to happen within you.


Please join us tomorrow SUNDAY APRIL 18, 2010 at 630pm for a special meditation practice! If you've never been let this be your beginning, if you joined us once or twice or five times let yourself continue, we look forward to seeing you all!

Much Metta
Jenn & Rebecca

Ahhh, the trick is...

Going to Walden

It isn't very far as highways lie.
I might be back by nightfall, having seen
the rough pines, and the stones, and the clear water.
Friends argue that I might be wiser for it.
They do not hear that far‐off Yankee whisper:
How dull we grow from hurrying here and there!

Many have gone, and think me half a fool
to miss a day away in the cool country.
Maybe, but in a book I read and cherish,
going to Walden is not so easy a thing
as a green visit. It is the slow and difficult
trick of living, and finding it where you are.

~Mary Oliver

Home Practice Guide - Week Four - Thoughts

“Mindfulness is cultivated by assuming the stance of an
impartial witness to your own experience.”

~Jon Kabat-Zinn

Seated Practice
This week we ask you to cultivate your inner witness by bringing a little more precision and discrimination into your practice. Begin by imagining a blank screen and anchoring your awareness to the breath as we’ve been doing. Then, with as much vigilance as you can muster, notice whenever anything shows up on the screen that is “not‐breath.” There is no judgment here! We are simply learning to identify (perhaps even using counting as a tool) all those moments where something other than our breath has our attention.

Once you feel more confident in identifying “breath” from “not‐breath,” begin to notice the characteristics of the “not‐breath” moments. Are they images or words? Are they fleeting commentary or part of a bigger story? Are they background noise or main stage? Do they have an emotional tone? Do they interact with body sensations (thoughts giving rise to sensation, sensation giving rise to thoughts)? Note: We are not analyzing the content of the thoughts or the stories and beliefs that are underneath them. We are simply becoming more aware of the nature of our thinking. This is a tricky distinction and it is easy to get lost here. Notice what you can and come back to the breath!

We are now asking you to sit for 20 minutes a day! As well, you may choose to begin your sitting practice with a pranayama exercise to clear and focus the mind.

For those of you with an established practice, continue to reinforce your practice in some way— committing to a slightly longer meditation, strengthening your intention as you sit or filling the gaps in the regularity of your practice.

Mindfulness in Daily Life: Shadow
Becoming aware of the interplay of light and shadow is great fun! Whenever you can (whenever you remember!) notice whatever shadows are present in your immediate environment. You may discover a subtle shading of the pepper shaker on your kitchen table or a sharp display of a tree’s limbs on the pavement. This practice encourages you to SEE the spaces in between the objects of our lives. Sunny days are wonderful for this practice, but cloudy or indoor days require a keener eye. As always, notice your judgments (“wow!” or “whatever…”) and come back to simply seeing. Consciously attending to this play of light and shadow opens us up to the extraordinary nature of the ordinary. Enjoy!!

Weekly Meditation Minder March 18-12

Hello springtime meditators!!

How are sounds working in your daily life? The peepers have begun here in the country !!

Well, this week we began to explore the nature and quality of our emotions; we are practicing with R.A.I.N. & HINDRANCES as ways to recognize, accept and become less personally invested in them. The previous attitudes of beginners mind and patience continue to be significantly helpful elements to cultivate as we delve more deeply into our awareness of what is happening moment by moment. Now, this next attitude of mind, Acceptance, from Jon Kabat-Zinn, is crucial to our mindfulness practice. Without it we may well miss our real lives.

"Acceptance does not mean that you have to like everything or that you have to take a passive attitude toward everything and abandon your principles and values. It does not mean that you are satisfied with things as they are or that you are resigned to tolerating things as they "have to be." ... Acceptance as we are speaking of it simply means that you have come around to a willingness to see things as they are. This attitude sets the stage for acting appropriately in your life, no matter what is happening. You are much more likely to know what to do and have the inner conviction to act when you have a clear picture of what is actually happening than when your vision is clouded by your mind's self-serving
judgments and desires or its fears and prejudices.

In meditation practice we cultivate acceptance by taking each moment as it comes and being with it fully, as it is. We try not to impose our ideas about what we should be feeling or thinking or seeing on our experience but just remind ourselves to be receptive and open to
whatever we are feeling, thinking, or seeing, and to accept it because it is here right now. If we keep our attention focused on the present, we can be sure of one thing, namely that whatever we are attending to in this moment will change, giving us the opportunity to practice accepting whatever it is that will emerge in the next moment."

So, this is the real deal, this attitude of acceptance shows us, allows us to see, what is actually happening right now, what is really true for each of us is only what is here in any given moment. In these next few days continue sitting for 15 minute segments, really notice as you witness breath what else shows up and how you meet it. Consciously bring your accepting mind into the moment, it really changes everything!

We meet this Sunday March 21, 2010 630-745pm. We will continue to develop attention, focus, and skill working with emotions and now thoughts, creating peaceful presence and stillness.

Accept, Allow, Be

Jenn & Rebecca

Home Practice Guide-Week 3 - Emotions

“Acceptance. . .simply means that you have come around

to a willingness to see things as they are.”

~Jon Kabat-Zinn

Seated practice

This week we ask you to put to use these two practice elements —R.A.I.N. & the Hindrances—in your home practice. Play with them. Maybe in one sitting you commit to using the R.A.I.N. technique and in another you bring some particular awareness to what Hindrances are showing up for you. Or you might loosely integrate them into your practice, intentionally bringing acceptance and interest to your aversion or restlessness, etc. Note: The anchor of your meditation is still the breath.

R.A.I.N.

R: Recognize

A: Accept, Allow

I: Interest, Investigation

N: Non-identification-letting go: “Not me, Not mine, Not who I am”

THE HINDRANCES

1) Restlessness (worrying, remorse, agitation)

2) Sloth & Torpor (sleepiness, boredom)

3) Sensual desire (wanting)

4) Aversion (anger, frustration, irritation)

5) Doubt & Fear

While you are still focusing (and returning to) the breath, you are allowing for greater awareness of what draws you away, particularly the emotional quality of what draws you away. We are NOT interested right now in the story. Instead, allow yourself to briefly explore the texture of your felt experience (where in the body you feel the emotion, its weight, its breadth, its changing quality) and then let it go and come back to the breath. Remember to honor the hindrances as guests—we aren’t denying or pushing them away but we also aren’t letting them decide who we are, take over our house and run the show.

For those of you who are new to meditation, we are now asking you to sit for 15 minutes a day.

For those of you with an established practice, focus this week on really grounding your practice in some way— committing to a specific length of time, strengthening your intention as you sit or filling the gaps in the regularity of your practice.

Mindfulness in Daily Life: Sound

Whenever you can (whenever you remember!) notice whatever sounds are present. Hear the tone quality, the loudness, softness, continuity, sharpness, dullness, roundness, even the silence underneath. Notice the sounds of walking, eating, cooking, breathing, going to the bathroom, computer keys clicking, voices, wind, cars, birds, plumbing, whatever it is. And of course, notice when there's a mental story or judgment about the sound; whenever there is, meet it for a moment with curiosity and acceptance, and then come back to the physical quality of the sound itself. If you find yourself caught up in an emotion, a personal drama or any kind of mental gymnastics during the day, come back to the simple experience of the actual sounds arising in that moment. Enjoy!

Rebecca & Jenn

Weekly Meditation Minder March 12

Hello all,

SIT! 15 minutes once before Sunday evening when we meet again, yes??

Another attitude of mind from Jon Kabot Zin for you to digest:

Patience is a form of wisdom. It demonstrates that we understand and accept the fact that sometimes things must unfold in their own time. A child may try to help a butterfly to emerge by breaking open its chrysalis. Usually the butterfly doesn't benefit from this. Any adult knows that the butterfly can only emerge in its own time, that the process cannot be hurried.

In the same way we cultivate patience toward our own minds and bodies when practicing mindfulness. We intentionally remind ourselves that there is no need to be impatient with ourselves because we find the mind judging all the time, or because we are tense or agitated or frightened, or because we have been practicing for some time and nothing positive seems to have happened. We give ourselves room to have all these experiences. Why? Because we are having them anyway! When they come up, they are our reality, they are part of our life unfolding in this moment. So we treat ourselves as well as we would treat the butterfly. Why rush through some moments to get to other, "better" ones? After all, each one is your life in that moment.

Where are the places that you rush in to fix, change, manipulate? Reflect for a moment and see how knowing this may alter your experience.

...To be patient is simply to be completely open to each moment,
accepting it in its fullness, knowing that, like the butterfly, things
can only unfold in their own time.

Much Metta, Bundles of Patience,

Jenn & Rebecca

March Dates: Sunday the 14th & Sunday the 21st See you there!! 630-745p At Eyes of the World

Excerpts from Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabot Zin.

"The richness of present-moment experience is the richness of life
itself. Too often we let our thinking and our beliefs about what we
"know" prevent us from seeing things as they really are. We tend to
take the ordinary for granted and fail to grasp the extra-ordinariness
of the ordinary. To see the richness of the present moment, we need
to cultivate what has been called "beginner's mind," a mind that is
willing to see everything as if for the first time."

Lovely Meditators,

A bit later than I had planned but here now, my apologies :-)

We would like to encourage you to increase your daily sitting time by 5 minutes. It may not be possible everyday but do create an intention and commit to trying the 15 minutes at a few of your allotted practice times...

Although breath continues to be the focus, the anchor, let us adjust our perception and view our experience here in a new light. Beginners mind or the ability to look at the world anew as if for the very first time is one of several attitudes of mind we each must develop as we "cultivate the healing power of mindfulness"

An open, "beginner's" mind allows us to be receptive to new possibilities and prevents us from getting stuck in the rut of our own expertise, which often thinks it knows more than it does. No moment is the same as any other. Each is unique and contains unique possibilities.

This really becomes an openness of mind as well as an act of letting go of the need to be in judgment about or able to control anything. Encourage a great curiosity about what is happening in this moment. Watch, see, witness. Continue to begin anew with each breath, noticing when you've drifted off and enjoy each of these moments as an opportunity to look again, to see the coming back in yet another way, a fresh way.

Take a moment to reflect on the how this habit of mind may open up for you as you sit with the breath. As if this breath is the first one you have experienced.

Now, take it beyond the sitting practice, make a connection to your daily life. How are you seeing the people in your life, at work, in your family, in the market, on the street, in the news? How about familiar problems or relationship dynamics? Are you able to see these people and experiences as they are right now with a clear and uncluttered mind? "Or are you actually only seeing them through the veil of you own thoughts and opinions?"

Do take a moment to jot down some of your thoughts. Check in on the blog, sit regularly, let us know if you have any questions!

Many blessings, much metta,
Jenn & Rebecca

Breath

Breath

Breath, the mindful breath,
the rhythm, out and in,
the wave that washes
through our days, creating
space for stillness, sorrow,
joy, or exaltation. Full,
then empty, ebb and flow,
breath accompanies each
step into the unknown.
In the breath, the soul
finds an opportunity to
speak. Images or intuition,
poetry or wordless wisdom,
come and go - no effort but
to breathe and listen.

~Danna Faulds

Weekly Meditation Minder February 26 - March 4

"We take a simple instruction & create a drama of success or failure around it. We're succeeding when we're with the breath and failing when we're not. Actually the whole process is meditation: being with the breathing, drifting away, seeing we've drifted, gently coming back. Extremely important to come back without blame, without a feeling of failure. If you have to come back a thousand times in a five minute period of sitting, just do it.
It's not a problem unless you make it one."

Hello friends in meditation,

We have upped the sitting time in this past week to 10 minutes! How is that sitting :-) with you?

The breath continues to be the focus, the anchor. To follow the sensation of the breath at the tip of the nose, the belly, the chest, this is the intent, the place to keep coming back to. When the time we practice increases it is easy to fall prey to a judging mind. As Larry Rosenberg reminds the entire process, every element is meditation. It is the judgment, the blame, the sense of good or bad that must let go as we settle down to watch the breath come and go, a gentle floating of attention on ebb and flow. Counting or a simple in/out labeling can be very helpful ways to draw attention to breath. Experiment a little with concentrating your attention. Keep in mind that what you practice gets stronger.

Take a moment to reflect on the judgments that arise for you. No need to attach any import to them just notice, record, comment on what shows up for you. Perhaps one day not much bothers, simple breath by breath and, another moment, just rife with hardship, judgment galore. It can be very instructive, supportive, to track some of the experiences you have in sitting, building and strengthening a resolve to practice. Like the breath we come back to over and over, the cushion we must come back to over and over as well to build a practice.

And, attempt to make a connection to your daily life. As you sit in practice with the breath your sense of it out in the world may become more apparent to you. So, during the day when it shows up in the field of your awareness, really notice it, stay with a few breaths while in line at the market, or as you meet exasperation with a child or co-worker, a sigh at the end of a day, wherever you come to the breath honor it with your attention.

In closing... from Lama Surya Das:

~[practice] teaches us how to be precisely
present and focused on this
one breath, the only breath; this
moment, the only moment. Whether
we're aware of it or not, we are quite
naturally present to this moment -
where else could we be? Meditation is
simply a way of knowing this.

Check the blog, sit regularly, let us know if you have any questions!

Many blessings, much metta,
Jenn & Rebecca

POEM

“Mindful”

Every day
I see or I hear
something
that more or less

kills me
with delight
that leaves me
like a needle

in the haystack
of light
It is what I was born for -
to look, to listen,

to lose myself
inside this soft world -
to instruct myself
over and over

in joy,
and acclamation.
Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,

the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant -
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,

the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help

but grow wise
with such teachings
as these -
the untrimmable light

of the world,
the ocean's shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass?

~Mary Oliver

Home Practice Guide - Week Two - Breath

Seated Practice
This week we ask you to really focus and steady your seated practice on the breath. Choose one specific place in the body where the breath sensation is strong (below the nose, the chest, the belly) to be the “anchor” of your meditation and stick with it. All manner of distractions may arise (sounds, other sensations in the body, thoughts, emotions, etc.) but your intention is to simply notice these distractions and return to your anchor‐‐ over and over again. If a body sensation other than breath becomes very strong, explore it in the way we’ve been practicing, staying interested in the changes and moving with intention and awareness if need be. As the “pull” of the sensation diminishes, return your attention to the breath.

For those of you who are new to meditation, we ask you to up your daily practice to 10 minutes a day. Carving out 10 minutes of stillness can seem daunting in a busy life, but what most people find is that the stillness actually creates time in the day by generating a greater sense of spaciousness and perspective.

For those of you with an established practice, continue to augment your practice in a specific way—a longer sit, sitting more frequently during the week or adding an additional short sit during the day.

Supports to concentration
In / Out: Many people find that a soft gentle label (“in” as the breath enters, “out” as the breath exits) supports their ability to stay with the breath. When concentration grows, you can release the label and just be with the direct experience of the breath itself.
Counting: There are many traditional methods of counting to help build concentration. One easy strategy is to count backwards from 10 to 1 for each breath. Whenever the mind wanders, you start back at 10 again. Once you are able to move through a number of full sets without getting distracted, release counting and stay with the direct experience of the breath.
Metta (loving kindness meditation): As mentioned in class, metta is a concentration practice! You might try beginning your breath practice with a few minutes of metta to help steady the mind.
May I be Safe
May I be Happy
May I be Healthy
May I live with Ease (of heart)

Mindfulness in Daily Life
This week, whenever you "remember," take a few deep breaths into the belly or heart. You can use a mental support like saying to yourself, "breathing in, I know that I am breathing in, and breathing out I know that I am breathing out" (a suggestion from Thich Nhat Han) or simply be present to the physical sensations as they are. You might notice the differences in the breath when you are waiting in line, in an argument, caught in traffic, talking to a child, about to take a bite of something, etc. Taking this pause to notice the breath throughout the day can be a tremendous support to building mindfulness in your life.

Enjoy!! Let us know any questions or concerns here or via eyesyoga@gmail.com

Jenn & Rebecca

Using the Blog

Thank you all for joining us here virtually. We'd like to encourage you to share some of your meditation experiences here on the blog. Your adventures in mindfulness may serve to inspire at least one, if not all of us readers!

I've sent an invite to everyone who left their email address at the workshop, this invite enables you to create a post. Just follow the link in the email create your account and let us know you are here in our virtual sangha(community).

We will continue to post the home practice guidelines following each session and our weekly meditation minders as well.

Please comment on these as you like. Don't hesitate to share an experience, a helpful tip, or a question with a direct post - get feedback and insight from others. Perhaps you have a poem, verse or reading that you find inspirational, definitely include it.

And for now stay with the breath! Keep coming back

Be Well
Jenn & Rebecca

Weekly Meditation Minder

A quick check in with you all! A chance to remind you of the practice, keep it going :-) Remember, whenever life drags you away or you forget to take the time you can begin again simply by settling down in one quiet spot and noticing the body for several minutes (3-5 to be exact).

We'd like to encourage you to increase your sitting time to 5 minutes for these next few days. Stay with sensation in the body, really sink into what's actually showing up in the body, explore, be curious, stay with it.

Reflect on how you respond to increasing your time, see if anything changes or shifts. What challenges from the previous weeks continue to show up? Just notice.

A wonderful and encouraging reminder from Norman Fischer

"In formal sitting we practice the journey of return in a literal way, returning awareness to the breath, to the body, to the present moment, whenever it strays away. Most simply understood, formal sitting meditation is the effort to return to the concrete feeling of being alive, a feeling that is always with us, but that we almost never notice, so preoccupied are we with our problems and issues.
Meditation in general, and formal sitting meditation in particular, is radically simple. There's almost nothing to it. Letting go, coming back - that's all. The only difference between meditation and non-meditation is that when we meditate we are not grasping anything or trying to do anything; instead, we are releasing ourselves to our lives, with trust that our lives are all we need."

Remember to thank yourself for practicing !! Each time you come back to this moment is a celebration!

Jenn & Rebecca

PS. Hey, you can feed the fish - just click your curser in the fish pond and see what happens!

Weekly Support Notes

How are the 3+ minutes of sitting going for you?
In this weekly support letter we offer you a bit of inspiration/wisdom as well as some questions to reflect on and an opportunity to draw your body awareness from the cushion into every moment of your waking life! Share your challenges and insights with us right here!

While our intentions are important, this quote from Larry Rosenberg cautions us about goals...

"It is important to emphasize, in discussing the art of meditation
(and the practice as you continue becomes an art, with many subtle nuances), that you shouldn't start out with some idea of gaining. This is the deepest paradox in all of meditation: we want to get somewhere -- we wouldn't have taken up the practice if we didn't - but the way to get there is just to be fully here. The way to get from point A to point B is really to be at A. When we (meditate) in the hope of becoming something better, we are compromising our connection to the present, which is all we ever have."

So, in this practice, we are asked to hold an apparent contradiction -
the willful effort of showing up with our best intention and the letting go of all expectation...but this week just for 3 minutes!!!

REFLECTION
In our first meeting we asked the question "Why Bother?" Pause for a moment to reflect on this...in your journal or on the blog

• What about meditation is of interest to you?
• What motivates you to engage in this practice?
• What is your intention?
• What will bring you back to your cushion or chair even when your resistance is high?

MINDFULNESS IN DAILY LIFE
As we begin a seated practice, it is important to remember that meditation is in service to an awakening in our daily life. In focusing on bodily sensations this week, look for physical sensations in all the "between" moments of your life. Whenever you notice, ask yourself what sensations are present and feel them: the warm water in the shower, foot sliding into a sock, hot coffee on the tongue, hand reaching for the brass doorknob, derriere on the car seat, fingers on the keyboard, etc. Mindfulness is about intimacy with the present moment - allow yourself the luxury of really feeling what it's like to be an animal body. Don't worry-- it's not about being there in every moment! Even remembering to notice just a few times a day will begin to strengthen the continuity of your practice.

Post or comment with any questions, concerns, challenges etc and we will do our best to support you.

Each time you notice that you've wandered off is a celebration, an opportunity to begin again...

Jenn & Rebecca

Home Practice February 8 - February 21, 2010

“Keep it simple, and stick to the present moment.”

~Ajahn Chah

If you are new to meditation, a daily practice can seem daunting if not impossible. We invite you to simply put a toe in the water by practicing for 3 minutes a day. This commitment to just a few minutes a day will have a deeper impact in the long run than sitting occasionally for a longer period of time.

• Find a quiet space and carve out the 3 minutes away from distractions or interruptions. Use a watch or set a timer so you can drop into the exploration without worrying about how long you’ve been sitting.
• Find your “seat”—comfortable, upright and alert. Like royalty!
• Take a deep centering breath, settling into the moment just as it is.
• Scan the body (head, shoulders, etc), staying alert to whatever sensations are present. Feel yourself as a physical body. If you are lost or not sure where to place your attention, direct your focus to the physical sensations of breath.
• Explore strong physical sensations and/or the desire to move with kindness. We are looking to cultivate stillness but if you need to move, do so with interest and curiosity, paying attention to the changing sensations before, during and after.
• You may wish to end the sitting with a bell, a small bow to your practice or an ”om”.

If you already have a regular practice, look for one small way you might deepen or expand your practice.

Reflecting: Many people find journaling or keeping track of their experiences to be a helpful tool in building a practice. We encourage you to keep a notebook next to your chair or cushion as well, consider sharing your experiences or questions on this blog.

Support Letters: At the end of each week we will send, via email, a short note in service of your practice. We may pose a question for you, remind you of helpful hints or suggest ways to deepen your practice. The letter is intended as a support—use it this way! It is not meant to be an additional burden.

Intention & Overview

In this series of classes we aim to:

• Uncover some of the mysteries of mindfulness meditation practices
• Provide a 
roadmap 
for 
negotiating
 common
 obstacles
 and
 pitfalls
• Introduce 
a 
variety
 of 
complementary 
and 
supportive
 practices 
to
 build 
concentration 
and 
connection
• Create 
a
 supportive
 community 
for
 sustaining 
practice 
over 
time
• Offer 
techniques 
to
 strengthen 
presence 
in 
daily 
life
 activities 
and
 relationships.




Class 
Practice



Each class
 will 
include
 a
 combination
 of 
seated
 and
 walking
 meditation,

concentration 
practices 
and
 breathwork.





Week
1
(Feb
7):
 Mindfulness 
of 
Body

Week
2
(Feb
21):
 Mindfulness
 of
 Breath

Week
3
(Mar
14):
 Mindfulness
 of
 Emotion

Week
4
(Mar
21):
 Mindfulness 
of
 Thoughts

Week
5
(Apr
11):
 Open
 Awareness

Week
6
(Apr
18):
 Deepening 
the 
Practice



Home 
Practice

We will skillfully build a practice with the goal of reaching:

• A 
daily 
½ 
hour
 seated
 meditation 
practice
• Greater 
mindfulness 
and
 presence 
in 
daily 
life
 activities

Being is Action

An excerpt from the writings of Thich nhat Hanh:

"Look at the tree in the front yard. The tree doesn’t seem to be doing anything. It stands there, vigorous, fresh, and beautiful, and everyone profits from it. That’s the miracle of being. If a tree were less than a tree, all of us would be in trouble. But if a tree is just a real tree, then there’s hope and joy. That’s why if you can be yourself, that is already action. Action is based on non-action; action is being."