During this session we be explore life’s basic necessities and drives, and the critical difference between ‘getting along’ and ‘getting ahead.’ Our meditation practice will be based on the Wise-Heartedness Bhavana to help us cultivate skilful response to distractions in daily life.
A transcript of this session is available here.
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Recorded :
Being human includes feeling great and feeling pain; given the changing nature of experience what kind of happiness is possible for us? Can we cultivate freedom, happiness and contentment that are less reliant on things ‘going our way’? The attitudes of goodwill, care and friendliness are some of our greatest allies in practice, and also…
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The path of the Bodhisattva asks us to dedicate ourselves to the well-being of all sentient beings – to show up as best as we can for ourselves, each other, and the natural world with a quality of no-matter-whatness. It’s an impossible though necessary task. Yet the teachings and practices of everyday dharma offer accessible,…
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So many of us struggle with self-hatred and self-judgment. Self-compassion is so deeply needed in these times, and brings together mindfulness, loving kindness practices, and a recognition of our shared humanity. This session explores the cultivation of this core set of practices.
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The huge popularity of mindfulness is accompanied by a lot of confusion in relation to mindfulness in and of itself and how much it embodies the wider teachings of the Buddha. What is dharma? When, if and how is mindfulness the same as or different from dharma? This topic will be discussed in relation to…
We’re fortunate that Ulla Koenig has generously offered to lead our Daily Meditation sessions for this week. May they be of benefit to your practice.
This week’s theme is: The Myth and Reality of Interconnection
According to the Buddha’s teachings, nothing exists in isolation – everything is part of a constantly shifting web of relationships. This week, we’ll explore the deeper, and sometimes challenging reality of interconnection beyond spiritual clichés. Through reflection and practice, we’ll develop a grounded, practical approach to living this insight in everyday life.
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This session explores different ways in which attention works and associated meditation practices: from focused awareness, to flexible awareness, to natural awareness. We do a number of fun experiential practices in hopes of understanding a variety of ways to meditate and how we can refine our own practice.
This week’s topic is “Mindfulness of the nervous system: transforming fear, struggle and separation into love and connection”. We humans are social animals and need each other to feel safe and secure, to grow and to nourish ourselves. How can we live with a sense of connection, loving-kindness, and inner family? Our meditation practice allows us to take a break between stimulus and response. When we come into contact with our loved ones, we all too easily lose the inner freedom we think we have achieved and avoid our difficulties, also called spiritual bypassing. This week we explore what supports us to react flexibly to the internal and external world, to relax and to allow closeness and real intimacy. We will look into the first foundation of mindfulness, mindfulness of the body, including harmonizing the body formations and nervous system to meet our difficulties with gentleness.
This week’s theme is “Which comes first, your practice or your life?” Does your life support your practice, or your practice your life? For me, things have been shifting recently, leaving me with lots to contemplate, particularly around the overlap between practice and systemic change. I’ll share some ideas and embodied relational techniques for working at these interesting edges, whilst giving you lots of open quiet meditation time, over our five mornings together.
Thank you so much for making known the work of the onastery in Thailand.
I especially appreciate your emphasis on the certainty of our own death and how that informs your intentions to ‘get along’ with life and all its manifestations.
I also appreciate your clarity, the guided meditation and the ordinariness of your application of mindfulness as ‘remembering to remember’ among other things the old part of the brains’s job of keeping us alive at all cost and our heart’s inclusivity and capacity for ease and contentment.