Most of us know the suffering of feeling separate from others. In this guided meditation, we explore how we can re-open our hearts by intentionally bringing a caring mindful presence to our own vulnerability, and then extending that presence to include others. When inhabiting that presence, we are able to respond to relational conflict and distance with a growing creativity and love.

Mindfulness of Feeling Tones Using Breath, Body, Sounds

Cultivating mindfulness of feeling tones and becoming aware of their changing nature

Mindfulness inside and outside, the step of open, and relationship as the object.

This talk explores how the four foundations of mindfulness can be richly experienced and cultivated in nature meditation retreats. Nature provides in particular a rich arena to cultivate an embodied awareness and to explore vedana, citta and the nature of reality.

Let faith be our foundation for a mindfulness that never tires of examining how we are within us. We may eat well, dress well, and look good but what is the real state of the mind? Day by day, finding safety in virtue, aware of the right qualities that direct, protect, and teach us to root out unworthy habits, let us harvest the profound joy and goodness of this life. It’s not how much we work or gain but how well we honour the noble Dhamma as servants of selflessness and human kindness.

Contemplating our mortality personally as well as learning how Buddhism utilizes Mindfulness of Death as a gateway to Awakening. The Advice to Anathapindika gifts us with the deeper teachings on letting go of attachment; letting go of our identity; letting go of life!

Reflection and what mindfulness is and how it can be developed

Day one settling in the first foundation of mindfulness of breath and body sensations.

This talk offers reflections on the dimensions of mindfulness of breathing that are explored in the Guided Meditation entitled: A Few Dimensions of Mindfulness of Breathing

Reflections about the dimensions of mindfulness of breathing that are explored in this guided meditation are offered in the dharma talk entitled, Discovering the Home of the Breath.

Ways mindfulness can help lessen afflictive emotions.

After settling our attention through concentration and/or mindfulness, there are further instructions in noticing any reactivity (involving grasping or pushing away in a more automatic way at the levels of mind, body, or emotions), then in attending to the feeling-tone (especially a moderate or a little greater sense of pleasant or unpleasant), and lastly in recalling an experience of reactivity in the last few days and exploring it with mindfulness.

This talk is structured around the acronym H.O.M.E. which stands for: Honoring our true nature, Opening to embodied awareness, Mindfully letting go, and Engaging with wholesome habits, all of which guide us to come home to ourselves in a way that benefits both our own lives and those of others.

How remarkable it is that mindfulness helps us investigate reality and how we relate to it starting from the Building Blocks of our experience

This is a fairly lightly guided meditation on ways to practice with a sense of mystery, linked with the talk on this theme. After grounding in posture and intentions, basic instructions in developing stability and concentration, and then in mindfulness, are given, with later periodic suggestions on ways to practice with a sense of mystery.

Instructions on mental noting, a guided meditation and a 20 minute talk on learning to take care of what's happening now, and now, and now.

Questions are précised: 01:17 Q1 You mentioned during meditation to start with breathing out. I noticed in my own practice that I don't fully breathe out. In fact breathing out intentionally is more exhausting. How can I be more balanced? 12:27 Q2 I have a mental pattern with deep roots, obsessing over details like the entomology of words that arises when I get panicked or upset. This seems to give me some respite from the panic. Can you offer any advice? 19:02 Q3 I feel both sense of fatigue and desire for connection. I'm confused about how to be with this desire because my mind tells me I should go out and connect with other people. But this isn't the point of meditation is it? How can I understand this tension between internal and external needs in this case? 25:03 Q4 In the last retreat I would wake up not knowing who I am and dream about somebody stabbing my heart. These feelings returned when I went back to domestic duties. In my dreams I am lost. How can I move past this black hole? 30:02 Q5 For me it's very difficult to be mindful every minute every second of my daily life. I do my best. It's easier on retreat or in a monastery. Can you comment? 36:17 Q6 The state of becoming entails grasping and craving then suffering. How can one abide in non becoming?

A few words on mindfulness, a guided meditation, and a few words on walking meditation

The Buddha taught that mindfulness is the most direct way to overcome suffering and realize the highest happiness. This talk explains power of mindfulness and why it is so liberating.