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Thanks for subscribing! In this issue we bring you an
exclusive article, as well as news of the events running in October. We
hope you can join us on one of them!
1. Laying
Down the Burden of Self
On this 42-day online course we will explore a
meditation practice taught by the Buddha himself — the Six Element
Practice — an earth-shattering and yet profoundly beautiful
reflection on the interconnected and impermanent nature of our being.
Buddhism teaches us that the deepest source of our
anxiety and suffering is that we have mistaken views of who we are. Our
central challenge in life is therefore to critically examine these
false notions and, ultimately, to let go of them. We need to learn to
see not that there is a self that we have to lose, but that there never
was one in the first place. We need to learn to see through our deluded
views of separateness and permanence and plunge into the mystery of our
own being.
2. The Art
of Connecting with a Spiritual Partner!
In this 28-day online event, we’ll look at the art of
connecting spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, and physically
with our romantic partner — as part of our spiritual practice. For most
of us who follow a path of personal growth and spiritual development,
intimate relationships are an important area for practice. Intimate
relationships can present us with opportunities for deep connection,
joy, and self-transcendence, but they can also be challenging. As
Robert Holden said, "Love brings up everything unlike itself for
the purpose of healing."
The challenge of intimate relationships is that they
are like an uncompromising teacher, unrelentingly directing our
attention toward that within us which needs to be transformed.
3. Being
Continuously Present With Our Experience
Mindfulness has been clinically proven to reduce
stress, promote feelings of wellbeing, and improve mental and physical
health. It's a powerfully transformative quality that helps us develop
greater presence and calmness, reduced emotional reactivity, and
greater emotional stability. In short, mindfulness puts us back in
change of our own lives.
This 28-day online meditation event offers guided
meditations, exercises, and tips to help you bring more mindfulness
into your life and experience the powerful benefits of this practice.
It's suitable for people of all levels of experience, including
complete beginners.
The Body-Wide
Wave
When I’m teaching a refresher course on meditation,
I’ll often ask people first of all just to meditate for a few minutes
to arrive, paying attention to the breathing as they normally do. After
letting them settle in to their meditation practice for a few minutes
I’ll ask that they take one hand and — as they continue to pay
attention to the breathing — “draw” in the air over the body the
outline of whatever it is they identify as “the breathing.” You might
want to try that right now, before reading further.
I wonder what kind of shape you drew on the body, and
where? Most people end up inscribing a very small area. Sometimes they
show that they are paying attention to a column of air moving up and
down their airways. Most often they draw a small oval, perhaps the size
of an open hand, in the center of their chest.
It seems that many people, when they hear the
suggestion to observe “the breathing,” take this as a suggestion to
observe “the breath.” But the breathing and the breath are two very
different things. The breath is air (or the sensation of air) flowing
in and out of the body. The breathing is all and any sensation
connected, however indirectly, with the process of air flowing in and
out of the body. This potentially includes sensations from the whole
body, since indirect sensations connected with the process of breathing
can be experienced even in the hands and feet. But it at least involves
the whole of the trunk of the body: the front, sides, and back of the
chest and abdomen, sensations on the skin that covers those parts of
the body, the shoulders, the spine — and of course air flowing through
our airways.
When we’re paying attention to the breathing in this
more expensive way, the practice becomes much more interesting.
Focusing on just a small area of the breathing just doesn’t give the
mind enough to do, and because the mind doesn’t like being
under-occupied it invents distractions for itself. When we pay
attention to many different sensations the mind has plenty to do, is
less likely to go wandering, and is more engaged and absorbed.
This absorption can go even deeper than simply
noticing lots of different sensations. Once we open ourselves to
noticing sensations of breathing over the entire body (or at least a
large part of the body) we can notice how those sensations are
connected with each other and move together.
After all, the breathing is one process. No matter
which sensations we observe, they’re all part of a single wave of
movement driven by the movements of the diaphragm. Air flowing in and
out of the nostrils, the rise and fall of the shoulders, the
ever-changing pattern of sensation where our clothing moves over our
skin, the movements in the spine, and of course the movements of the
rib cage and of muscles in the abdomen — all of these are part of a
wave of sensation, surging back and forth through our entire being.
Paying attention to the breathing as a body-wide,
dynamic, rhythmic flow is far more engaging than observing just one
small area of the breathing, and even more fascinating than observing
several sensations at the same time. It brings about a deep level of
absorption in which we can be content, calm, and fully engaged with our
sensory experience.
With love,
Bodhipaksa
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