We’re fortunate that Martin Aywlard and Kaira Jewel Lingo have generously offered to lead our daily meditation sessions for Europe and the UK this week.
Links mentioned during these sessions can be found at the bottom of this page.
To find out more about Martin, and to view his other contributions to Sangha Live, click here.
To find out more about Kaira Jewel, and view her other recordings on the platform, click here.
Song “Breathing in breathing out“.
Lyrics and the guided meditation:
Breathing in, breathing out Breathing in, breathing out I am blooming as a flower I am fresh as the dew I am solid as a mountain I am firm as the earth I am free Breathing in, breathing out I am water reflecting What is clear, what is true And I feel there is space Deep inside of me I am free, I am free, I am free
Song “I entrust myself to the earth“.
Song “Arrived arrived“.
The words of the guided meditation:
I have arrived, I am home
In the here, in the now
I am solid, I am free
In the ultimate I dwell
Recorded :
What do sitting on the meditation cushion and running have in common? How might this form of movement be included in our mindfulness practice? Brian Dean Williams, both an insight meditation teacher and an avid trail runner, explored this with us at our weekly Sunday session.
Recorded :
The practice of equanimity supports us to find balance, stability and steadiness within the changing conditions of our lives. We can then respond with wisdom and compassion to whatever is unfolding. Equanimity is a fruit of the practice, as well as a way of relating that we can cultivate intentionally. We will explore ways to…
This week’s topic is “Awakening into Experience Here and Now”. “You shouldn’t chase after the past
or place expectations on the future.
What is past
is left behind.
The future
is as yet unreached.
Whatever quality is present
you clearly see right there,
right there.
Not taken in,
unshaken,
that’s how you develop the heart.” (MN 131)
The essence of the Buddha’s teachings lies in these words. Unshakability and freedom are at the heart of awakening, they are what we cultivate in our practice. This week we will practice turning to our experience in ways that wake us up, right here and now.
Recorded :
Many long for a way to “integrate” their Buddhist practice with what is often called “the rest of my life.” This often fails. Doesn’t integration refer to separate things that must be brought together? In this talk, Gregory offers what he calls the Five Tenets of a Whole Life Path, a practical, yet demanding, way…
This week’s theme is “Tending to Fire – An Exploration of the Third Noble Truth”. The third of the four noble truths, which the Buddha offered as a framework, invites us to reflect on ways to tend to the inner fires or urges, which we all experience. ‘Nirodha’ is a concept which invites us to explore ways to handle that fire: to contain it, to create safe space around it and not to fuel it further, so that it eventually expires. This week, we explore concepts like ‘freedom of/from/to’ as well as letting go and letting be.
Recorded :
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.
This week’s theme is “Preparing the Heart and Mind”. In Buddhist practice we often hear we should let go. And often enough we would really like to let go of those thoughts, impulses, moods and contractions which keep us agitated and in unease. But letting go is rarely something we decide to do; and neither is holding on. In the upcoming week we will explore why the heart-mind holds on to something and how we can prepare, nourish and soothe it, so that letting go becomes a natural process, not a willful command.
We’re fortunate that Martin Aylward has generously offered to lead our daily meditation sessions for Europe and the UK this week. To find out more about Martin, and view his other recordings on the platform, click here.