Meditation

Meditation

Through the practice of meditation we are able to cultivate peace and stability within ourself. This allows us to respond to situations in our daily life with wisdom and compassion instead of fear, craving, and aversion. As a result, a true happiness is born that is not dependent on external conditions.

Posture

By sitting in an upright and stable posture the body and mind become more unified, relaxed, and alert. Instruction will be given on traditional postures for sitting on the floor as well as the use of mediation benches and chairs.

Awareness of Breathing

By gently and persistently bringing our awareness to the breath the body and mind become even more unified. After regular practice the mind stops being carried away by thoughts and emotions and is able to dwell in the present moment. We are able to experience what is happening inside of us and around us more directly and clearly. We build our capacity to be with strong emotions such as fear, anger, craving, jealousy, etc… without reacting to them. We are able to let them come and go. As a result a sense of peace and space manifests.

Resting in Open Awareness

As the mind becomes more stable we can let go of focusing on the breath and just rest in open awareness. Our mind becomes open like the sky allowing the clouds of thoughts, emotions, and sensations to come and go freely without having to control or react to them. We naturally keep coming back to the present. The sun of awareness becomes more and more vivid and clear. We experience a silence, a stillness, a sense of presence from the ground of our being.

Pointing the Mind Towards its Source

As this experience of presence and stillness becomes more vivid we can gently point our mind towards it as a way of deepening the experience even more. It is as if our mind is a wave on the ocean and we are looking back into the ocean, to our Source, to what we already are.