Includes chanting

Mindfulness directed equally to every experience in the style of Dipa Ma opens us to shift from happiness dependent on conditions to unconditional happiness.

Insight Santa Cruz Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation - Week Three Homework: 1. Daily meditation: 15-20 minutes. 2. Ride out an emotion. 3. Notice feelings of happiness and contentment.

One of the seven factors of awakening is investigation-of-dhammas (or phenomena), which includes an attitude of patient curiosity or keen interest. This important factor works together with strong mindfulness to help us discriminate between the wholesome and unwholesome mind states present at any given moment. The Buddha described this as one of the key qualities that led to his awakening. This talk will explore how we can better understand this factor and begin implementing it more in our practice.

Q1 [from an online participant] I bumped into some Jehovah's witnesses on a walk sometime and they asked me what do Buddhists believe. How would you answer this question? Q2 09:15 When I'm doing Qigong I feel a lot of heaviness in my feet and after a while pain. Is this normal? Q3 11:07 I enjoy solitude to limit sensory input and unnecessary chatter. Is there such a thing as too much solitude? Q4 29:47 can I please ask about how you start an end your days? Do you have intentions you set? Any specific recollections or practices? Do you practice mindfulness of sleep and dreams?

Suggested Homework: 1. Daily meditation: 10-20 minutes. 2. As with last week, choose a routine activity and practice mindfulness whenever you do this activity. This week specifically focus on mindfulness of body while doing the activity. 3. Try eating a meal mindfully. Consider doing this once per day or a few times this week.

We begin by hearing from two members of the community about how they are experiencing and responding to what's happening in the larger society and world in our times. Donald then discusses how we might respond on the basis of our practice, identifying the three areas of training--in wisdom, meditation, and ethics. Guided by wisdom teachings, we can see the society and world as both manifesting greed, hatred, and delusion, and also awakened qualities. In our meditation, we can practice on many levels, including working with challenging emotions, seeing through social conditioning, and bringing mindfulness to our thoughts, emotions, and bodies. We focus especially on "ethical practice," re-framed as developing caring and compassionate responses. We briefly outline the five ethical precepts, and then focus especially on the guideline of non-harming, clarifying how this is understood both more individually and socially, identifying teachings from the Buddha, King Ashoka, and Thich Nhat Hanh. We ask what our practice of developing "caring and compassionate" responses might look like, bringing in also material from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., including his nonviolence and understanding of interdependence, and Elie Wiesel, including his commitment always to speak up whenever there is suffering.

Attuning to the energetic effects of breathing in and breathing out

This recording includes a brief talk followed by a guided meditation on The Arriving Sequence, which is an important way we establish sati (mindfulness) in the "Naturally Arising Practice Method," which was created by Phillip Moffitt. The Arriving Sequence cultivates grounded presence and includes: arriving in the present moment, becoming available to the felt sense in the present moment, aligning with our aspirations.

Mindfulness isn't about pretending to be peaceful, it's about being real. Don't be afraid to be completely yourself. You are good and the world is waiting for you to stop believing otherwise.

Day 1 sitting instructions. Very short practice suitable for beginners emphasizing relaxed relationship to the objects of attention, balanced attitude, and how to set appropriate expectatioins about unintentional thinking during meditation.

In this talk we explore the roots of self-judgment, and the ways in which mindfulness, loving kindness, and the recognition of our shared humanity and inner goodness can work together to alleviate the critical mind. This talk was given at a metta retreat so it pays particular attention to using metta to heal the inner critic when obstacles arise .

How do we practice when the world feels overwhelming? This talk reflects on mindfulness and compassion as essential qualities for meeting difficulty.