Food For Thought, For Practice

Don’t get attached
to anybody, anything, any place.
Freedom,
absolute freedom
is the only thing
to be attached to.

Dharma

Joy = Meditation

According to folks like Eckhart Tolle, if you are enjoying what your doing, allowing love to flow through the experience then you may be in meditation.

The idea of meditation is to focus us in the present away from our worries and stresses and to quiet mind chatter that takes us into the past or future.  Sometimes the practice of just sitting quietly opens an even greater space for mind noise and it takes great discipline detach from it.  Dance movement brings our focus away from the mind to the body.  

Don’t confuse meditative dance with ballroom dancing.  In ballroom dancing each step is precise, patterned and counted.  The idea is to execute the steps correctly, and any deviation from proper form usually engages mind comments.  It is possible for ballroom dancers to be come so accomplished that they move beyond the thought process of accomplishing each step in the right way, dancing into a flow and ease that approaches the meditative.  

Meditative dance movements vary with the music.  The act of listening to music engages the brain in such a way as to stop the mind chatter and the body movement brings the practitioner present in the now.  

The music may vary in rhythm.  It may be soft and flowing; bold and territorial; patterned and trance like; lyrical or playful or even move into the quiet of stillness while moving from one rhythm to the other.  As the body moves form one rhythm to the other the experiences within the meditative state change.  Flowing, circling, rounded movements tend to connect one to more emotional experiences while fast repetitive, patterned movements promote a more trance-like state.  

Dance as meditation involves listening, feeling, moving all in the present moment, thus bringing the practitioner into a freedom from the cares and worries of the past or future. 

I AM….AT PEACE

Mantra based mediation is the use of sound to go beyond the distractions of the mind and open one to the relaxation and peace of the meditative state.  There’s a lot of disagreement about which mantras one should use.  When you search the internet you will find a wealth of different mantras and directions for their use. What does seem to be in agreement is that certain sounds possess a vibrational quality that has positive effects on the human psyche.  

Probably the best known of the mantras is OM or the Sanskrit word for the sound of the universe.  Some of the on-line meditation authorities think that you need to focus on the meaning of the mantra as you chant it and others say that the sound vibration itself is all that is necessary.  Online you will find a number of other  Sanskrit mantras.  If you are confused about how to pronounce the Sanskrit you will find both phonetic pronunciations and downloads of the chanting. Of course, you can chant in English.  For example you can breathe in as you say I AM and breathe out as you say AT PEACE.  You can chant a simple word like God or Love.  

Breathing and a focus of calming and peace are a continual thread throughout all the information about mantra meditation.  Some reasons for doing a mantra meditation include simple relaxation, using sound as a healing vibration, spiritual enlightenment and as a spiritual or mental discipline.   

Whatever your reason, you will need to carve out some time that is just for you.   Make sure you shut off the phones or turn down the ringer and ask others to give you this time and space free from interruption.  Wear comfortable clothes.  Take some deep breaths.  If you do yoga, you might also want to do some stretching and breathing as this will begin to relax the body.  For your sitting and chanting find a comfortable position.  Let the chanting follow your breath.  You might want to chant for a minimum of 10 minutes and some meditation experts recommend that you chant for up to 60 minutes. 

What Is Really Meant By “Mindfulness”?

The Buddhist notion of mindfulness is something that we can all use in our lives because it sets us free – at least temporarily – from our quotidian cares.

To be mindful simply means to pay attention. But in this context it means more than that. Living mindfully means completely focusing on whatever task we have in hand – adding up figures, playing tennis, walking to school – whatever.

This has the effect of turning the task into a meditation. Try it with the next thing you do – even reading this sentence, just focus in on this page and block out everything else: extraneous noise, smells, the sensations of your body. Immerse yourself in the act of reading – absorbing each word.

Maybe you did that for a moment. Now choose a task that’s more routine; less full of surprises than this text. Making dinner is a good one. As you prepare the food go about each task with deliberation. You may realise that for certain tasks, especially creative ones, such as cooking, it’s normal for you to enter a meditative state.

So now try really focusing when you’re doing something you don’t like – or something that bores you – like vacuuming, ironing or the accounts. Let the rest of the world fall away. Relax into your work.

Free Meditation Music

For free meditation music from Sri Chinmoy go to http://www.radiosrichinmoy.org/meditation_music

Radio Sri Chinmoy has a diverse selection of music for meditation. The recordings are mostly available in m4a format. (Some are also available in mp3 format) You can listen online using Apple Quicktime or download to an iPod.There are also meditation music recordings available for Real Player using Real audio format.

Sri Chinmoy is a contemporary Spiritual Teacher seeking to inspire others through his writings and music. Sri Chinmoy emphasizes both the ancient Eastern arts of yoga / meditation and also leading a dynamic outer life. His yoga could be termed “integral yoga” – seeking to balance the benefits of meditation with offering service to others.

Sri Chinmoy himself is a remarkable example of the outer capacities that can flow from an inner life of prayer and meditation. Sri Chinmoy is a noted musician, having composed over 17,000 songs in both English and his native Bengali. During the past 20 years Sri Chinmoy has offered 777 concerts of meditative music.

Taoist Meditation Classes (monthly), Oakland, CA

Taoism and Meditation Classes are held the last Friday of every month at 7 p.m. at Zhi Dao Guan, 3824 MacArthur Blvd. in Oakland. Dr. Alex Feng gives lessons and leads discussion from the Dao and leads Taoist meditation and qi gong exercises. These events are free and open to the public with donations gratefully accepted. There are padded folding chairs and some floor cushions. Please feel free to bring your own sitting cushion if you like. Tea and cookies  follow the class.

Dr. Feng is an acclaimed Taoist Master who is the lineage holder of the Zhi Dao Taoist Tradition. Taught and mentored by his father, Dr. Wei Ren Feng, Master Feng grew up immersed in an environment of Taoist culture. Dr. Feng has taught Taoism and been a leading force in bringing Taoism to the West since the early 1970s.

For information please visit http://www.thetaoistcenter.com/Home%20Page.html

Ex-Beatles’ Gift to School Children: Meditation Training

An American super-gig featuring ex-Beatles Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr will enable schoolchildren in South Wales to learn to meditate.

The fundraising concert at New York’s Radio City Music Hall raised money for the David Lynch Foundation, which aims to promote the benefits of transcendental meditation worldwide.

A portion of the profits will enable the National Meditation Centre of Wales, based in Llandaff, Cardiff, to offer training courses in Welsh schools.

Centre director Helen Evans said: “The money will help teach 10,000 children to meditate across the UK – and some of that will be available for us in Wales.

“It’s fantastic because so little is known about transcendental meditation.

“When people hear it’s from the East they assume it’s a cult or a religion, which is a shame because it’s neither of those things.

“It’s not even a way of life, it’s just a technique to enable you to relax and help you cope better with your day.”

The concert, called Change Begins Within, was the first time Starr and McCartney had played together publicly in seven years. Their involvement was down to their beliefs in the benefits of transcendental meditation, a practice they learnt in the 1960s when The Beatles sought spiritual guidance from an Indian guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

“It was a great gift that Maharishi gave us,” McCartney told a news conference to promote the concert.

“For me, it came at a time when we were looking for something to kind of stabilise us toward the end of the crazy Sixties.

“It’s a lifelong gift. It’s something you can call on at any time. I think it’s a great thing it’s actually coming into the mainstream.”

The concert also featured Sheryl Crow, Donovan, Jerry Seinfeld, Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder, blues-folk star Ben Harper and dance musician Moby.

It raised an estimated $3m (£2m) for the meditative foundation set up by film-maker David Lynch.

While his screen credits include Twin Peaks, Mulholland Drive and Eraserhead, Lynch today dedicates his time to making meditation more accessible to schoolchildren.

Studies have claimed that transcendental technique can lower stress levels, anxiety and blood pressure.

It involves relaxing without concentrating on anything by sitting comfortably and chanting a mantra with eyes closed.

James Purvis, a Cardiff-based consultant for the National Meditation Centre of Wales, said the mantra aimed to create a pleasant and calming ambience. He said: “If you’re at school and the teacher’s nail scratches on the blackboard as she’s writing on it, we know that sounds unpleasant.

“But there are certain words or sounds that create an enjoyable melody that the mind can engage with – and that’s what the mantra is.

“Transcendental meditation is sitting quietly and comfortably while enjoying that mantra.”