41. Thank you Pick up a leaflet with details of upcoming workshops and courses Also offer distance learning courses, advanced training Silent days Retreats coming soon! www.LearnMindfulness.co.uk
Notas do Editor
1. A warm welcome to you all. 2. Thank you for taking the time to come along today. Much appreciated. I hope you get out what you want from it.
1. What motivated you to come to a talk on mindfulness?
Listen to the answers as to why they've come along...
Kabat Zinn "meditation is best thought of as a way of being, rather than a technique or a collection of techniques. I'll say it again. Meditation is a way of being, not a technique. This doesn't mean that there aren't methods and techniques associated with meditation practice. There are. In fact, there are hundreds of them, and we will be making good use of some of them. But without understanding that all techniques are orienting vehicles pointing at ways of being, ways of being in relationship to the present moment and to one's own mind and one's own experience, we can easily get lost in techniques and in our misguided but entirely understandable attempts to use them to get somewhere else and experience some special result or state that we think is the goal of it all. So it is helpful to just keep in mind that above all, meditation is a way of being, or, you could say, a way of seeing, a way of knowing, even a way of loving."
Mindfulness is the energy of being aware and awake to the present moment. It is the continuous practice of touching life deeply in every moment of daily life. To be mindful is to be truly alive and present with those around you and with what you are doing. We bring our body and mind into harmony while we wash the dishes, drive the car or take our morning cup of tea. Thich Nhat Hanh
Story of Jon Kabat-Zinn 1. Worcester, Massachusetts New England’s utility closet a place where generations of people worked very, very hard in that staunch, New England mill-town sort of way None of the top-ten Zip Codes for flyers about yoga, meditation, chi gong and feng shui Where mindfulness based stress reduction course started 2. Kabat-Zinn trained at MIT as molecular biologist. He was into yoga and went for a retreat one day. Thought - wow, maybe this could work in a hospital. Like a flash of insight. Took mindfulness where the pain was. 3.
In 1979 the first MBSR began...
- This book was published 1990 - Everyone i know that's read it has enjoyed it. - detailed description of 8 week mindfulness based stress reduction course and story on mindfulness - Read a passage from it .... http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1296&Itemid=0
cookie poem
Act 3, Scene 1, Hamlet 'To be or not to be, that is the question'
Conscious and unconscious or Materia and spiritual or Mindful and mindless or Part of Ocean and Sky and Universe....
'i can't stop the damn thoughts' 'there's no time for meditation' 'breathing is difficult' Quote from Kabat-Zinn "meditation is not relaxation spelled differently. Perhaps I should say that again : Meditation is not relaxation spelled differently. That doesn't mean that meditation is not frequently accompanied by profound states of relaxation and by deep feelings of well-being. Of course it is, or can be, sometimes. But mindfulness meditation is the embrace of any and all mind states in awareness, without preferring one to another. From the point of view of mindfulness practice, pain or anguish, or for that matter boredom or impatience or frustration or anxiety or tension in the body are all equally valid objects of our attention if we find them arising in the present moment, each a rich opportunity for insight and learning, and potentially, for liberation, rather than signs that our meditation practice is not "succeeding" because we are not feeling relaxed or experiencing bliss in some moment.
- Practice 2 minutes of awareness of the breath - Sitting meditation "Breathing in and out is very important, and it is enjoyable. Our breathing is the link between our body and our mind. Sometimes our mind is thinking of one thing and our body is doing another, and mind and body are not unified. By concentrating on our breathing, "In" and "Out," we bring body and mind back together, and become whole again. Conscious breathing is an important bridge. To me, breathing is a joy that I cannot miss. Every day, I practice conscious breathing, and in my small meditation room, I have calligraphed this sentence: "Breathe, you are alive!" Just breathing and smiling can make us very happy, because when we breathe consciously we recover ourselves completely and encounter life in the present moment." Thich Nhat Hanh
Walking Meditation 1. Bring awareness to the breath 2. Everywhere you go, it feels like a walk in the park!
Thich quote - Peace is every step " Every morning, when we wake up, we have twenty-four brand-new hours to live. What a precious gift! We have the capacity to live in a way that these twenty-four hours will bring peace, joy, and happiness to ourselves and others. Peace is present right here and now, in ourselves and in everything we do and see. The question is whether or not we are in touch with it. We don't have to travel far away to enjoy the blue sky. We don't have to leave our city or even our neighborhood to enjoy the eyes of a beautiful child. Even the air we breathe can be a source of joy. We can smile, breathe, walk, and eat our meals in a way that allows us to be in touch with the abundance of happiness that is available. We are very good at preparing to live, but not very good at living. We know how to sacrifice ten years for a diploma, and we are willing to work very hard to get a job, a car, a house, and so on. But we have difficulty remembering that we are alive in the present moment, the only moment there is for us to be alive. Every breath we take, every step we make, can be filled with peace, joy, and serenity. We need only to be awake, alive in the present moment."
The Guest House This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still, treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.