All true things must change,and only that which changes remains true.
- Carl Jung
Friday, July 11, 2014
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Mindfulness: Practice Makes Perfect
Mindfulness is used to deal with chronic pain. Jon Kabat-Zinn writes about it in his first book: 'Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of your Body and Mind to face Stress,Pain, and Illness'. He taught these techniques at the Harvard school of medicine.
Mindfulness Meditation is a Buddhist meditation technique but is available to anyone, J. K-Z teaches in his talks, books and videos.
Mindfulness Meditation is a Buddhist meditation technique but is available to anyone, J. K-Z teaches in his talks, books and videos, like his early video:
Mindfulness Stress Reduction And Healing
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSU8ftmmhmw
How to Use Mindfulness Meditation in your Life
Life in modern times has become so rushed and stressful for everyone that if we don’t find ways to cope with the pace, we will struggle more physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.
Using mindfulness meditation techniques and learning how to be mindful moment to moment in our daily lives can transform us into a person who has a clear mind and an open heart.
Even with its hectic pace and demands, life can be more peaceful.
In a blog by Mary Jaksch, of goodlifezen.com it was said:
being mindful is simple but not easy.
It takes practice.
BE MINDFUL:
Knowing our mind may be engulfed in the past and the future,
we need to find ways to bring ourselves back to the moment.
We are fully human and can be fully awakening.
This deepening opens us to what some would say is the essence of enlightenment.
Awakening is ongoing:
Zen proverb:
“Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.
After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.”
This proverb demonstrates two things:
- all daily life tasks become moments of awakening and enlightenment and
- once we are enlightened or awakened we are still a human on a human journey. After we become “enlightened,” we still have to brush our teeth.
This viewpoint of mindfulness takes us to an understanding that even enlightenment deepens and deepens.
Mindfulness is a daily practice that allows us to embody more and more wholeness.
BUT HOW DO I DO IT?
It’s important to remember that everyone goes through stressful events in their lives – no one is exempt from this.
Our task is to work with life as it is.
Since we know that we have some participation in creating it, actively trying to stay mindful will allow us
to be in every moment of our lives.
This allows us to embrace it, learn from it, resolve it, and release it.
As we process and become more aware of these difficulties, they release, we can relax and we are more in the moment.
WAYS TO BE MINDFUL
Besides your sitting mindfulness meditation practice, every few hours during your day, bring yourself back to your breath; notice the sensations in your body and what you are feeling emotionally.
As best you can, face your upsets head on, glean the goodies and the lessons - then let them go and breathe.
TRY this Meditation: Mindfulness Body Scan by Jon Kabat Zinn
http://youtu.be/SJxQ8CWxzPw
Take a good deep breath in…and now let it go…another good deep breath in…and let it go…take just a moment to notice the sensations in your body…start from the bottom of your feet and notice any sensations you have…move up through your legs and into your torso…
YOUR HOMEWORK: Practice
.....................................
Jon Kabat-Zinn
en.wikipedia.org
- Jon Kabat-Zinn is Professor of Medicine Emeritus and creator of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Kabat-Zinn was a student of Zen Master Seung Sahn and a founding member of Cambridge Zen Center. His practice of yoga and studies with Buddhist teachers led him to integrate their teachings with those of Western science. He teaches mindfulness which he claims can help people cope with stress, anxiety, pain and illness. The stress reduction program created by Kabat-Zinn, called Mindfulness-based stress reduction, is offered at medical centers, hospitals, and health maintenance organizations.
Uploaded on Apr 13, 2011
The Tucker Foundation and Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center
present
Jon Kabat-Zinn
"The Healing Power of Mindfulness"
April 7, 2011
Spaulding Auditorium
Dartmouth College
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Link:http://youtu.be/_If4a-gHg_I
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Guided Meditation with Joseph Goldstein
Published on Apr 27, 2012
A guided "big mind" meditation with Buddhist teacher Joseph Goldstein.
"In India, I was living in a little hut, about six feet by seven feet. It had a canvas flap instead of a door. I was sitting on my bed meditating, and a cat wandered in and plopped down on my lap. I took the cat and tossed it out the door. Ten seconds later it was back on my lap. We got into a sort of dance, this cat and I...I tossed it out because I was trying to meditate, to get enlightened. But the cat kept returning. I was getting more and more irritated, more and more annoyed with the persistence of the cat. Finally, after about a half-hour of this coming in and tossing out, I had to surrender. There was nothing else to do. There was no way to block off the door. I sat there, the cat came back in, and it got on my lap. But I did not do anything. I just let go. Thirty seconds later the cat got up and walked out. So, you see, our teachers come in many forms."
Munindra-ji used to say that in spiritual practice, time is not a factor. Practice cannot be measured in time, so let go of the whole notion of when and how long. The practice is a process unfolding, and it unfolds in its own time. It is like the flowers that grow in the spring. Do you pull them up to make them grow faster? I once tried to do that with carrots in my first garden when I was eight years old. It does not work.
We do not need any particular length of time for this process of letting things be.
~ Quotes by Joseph Goldstein
"We are motivated more by aversion to the unpleasant than by a will toward truth, freedom, or healing. We are constantly attempting to escape our life, to avoid rather than enter our pain and we wonder why it is so difficult to be fully alive.
~ Stephen Levine
All beings turn away from pain and suffering,
All beings seek happiness, security and peace.
Free from craving, clinging and sentimental attitudes,
May my mind be a place of happiness, peace and refuge for all beings.
For more dharma teachings and guided meditations, please visit:
http://www.dharmaseed.org/
"In India, I was living in a little hut, about six feet by seven feet. It had a canvas flap instead of a door. I was sitting on my bed meditating, and a cat wandered in and plopped down on my lap. I took the cat and tossed it out the door. Ten seconds later it was back on my lap. We got into a sort of dance, this cat and I...I tossed it out because I was trying to meditate, to get enlightened. But the cat kept returning. I was getting more and more irritated, more and more annoyed with the persistence of the cat. Finally, after about a half-hour of this coming in and tossing out, I had to surrender. There was nothing else to do. There was no way to block off the door. I sat there, the cat came back in, and it got on my lap. But I did not do anything. I just let go. Thirty seconds later the cat got up and walked out. So, you see, our teachers come in many forms."
Munindra-ji used to say that in spiritual practice, time is not a factor. Practice cannot be measured in time, so let go of the whole notion of when and how long. The practice is a process unfolding, and it unfolds in its own time. It is like the flowers that grow in the spring. Do you pull them up to make them grow faster? I once tried to do that with carrots in my first garden when I was eight years old. It does not work.
We do not need any particular length of time for this process of letting things be.
~ Quotes by Joseph Goldstein
"We are motivated more by aversion to the unpleasant than by a will toward truth, freedom, or healing. We are constantly attempting to escape our life, to avoid rather than enter our pain and we wonder why it is so difficult to be fully alive.
~ Stephen Levine
All beings turn away from pain and suffering,
All beings seek happiness, security and peace.
Free from craving, clinging and sentimental attitudes,
May my mind be a place of happiness, peace and refuge for all beings.
For more dharma teachings and guided meditations, please visit:
http://www.dharmaseed.org/
Joseph Goldstein - Buddhism The essential points -
Published on Apr 23, 2013
Teaching given in Geneva at Vimalakirti Center in April 2013 .
Link;http://youtu.be/LgkBnMu_cdM
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