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Do you want to start a Buddhist meditation practice?
Do you want to explore new ways to meditate and deepen your practice?
Do you want to catch up with yourself and stop spinning so fast?
Do you want to know yourself more authentically, feel greater spaciousness
and self-awareness, feel more real and alive, and realize a deeper truth?
The course consists of eight sessions which provide a solid informational
and experiential exploration of Buddhist meditation. The class is designed
especially for those beginning meditation, but has also been valuable and
informative for many experienced sitters. Subject matter consists of
Vipassana/Theravada and Zen Buddhism, but also draws from Tibetan Buddhism, ancient
Indian Buddhism, Hinduism/Advaita, Christianity and Judiasm, academic and clinical psychology,
literature, and Western philosophy. Each session meets for three hours, and contains lectures,
discussion, individualized attention on posture and student questions, and
two sitting periods with guided instructions. There are also handouts and
meditative homework assignments.
Developing an upright and relaxed meditation posture
Why breath meditation is such an universal practice
An overview history of Buddhism
What differentiates the three main schools of Buddhism
Exercise -- watching the breath
Awareness and attention
Samatha, the tranquility practice of concentrating the mind
Vipassana, the wisdom practice of being aware of exactly what is so
How to integrate Samatha and Vipassana practices
How to use the technique of internal noting
Exercise -- sweeping the awareness through the body
Exercise -- general body awareness
Tips on developing a regular sitting practice
Mindfulness in everyday life
How to meditate when sleepy
Positive and negative outcomes a meditator can expect to encounter on the path
Exercise -- watching vedena, your internal positive, negative, or neutral reactions
Exercise -- walking meditation
The Four Noble Truths
The Eightfold Path
The three poisons of attachment, aversion, and unconsciousness - how they cause suffering and how to work with them
Exercise -- mantra practice
Exercise -- sound/listening meditation
How to develop an awareness of the freshness of every moment
Why our thinking is less helpful than we think it is
How to let thinking flow naturally and mindfully
Exercise -- listening to the sonic contour of speech
Exercise -- meditating on internal conversation
Why we often avoid meditating, and how to turn that to our advantage
Mindfulness, non-reactivity, and equanimity
How purification works during meditation
How to meditate with intense pleasure or pain
Exercise -- meditating on internal images
Exercise -- body, image, and conversation meditation
How pleasure and pain are two sides of one lived experience
How what we face in meditation is a vaccination for what we face in everyday life
How acceptance on the inside works with action out in the rest of life
The five hinderances
Exercise -- eating an apricot mindfully
Exercise -- sitting with another person mindfully
Generating gentle self-acceptance and compassion for others in meditation
Being motivated and making an effort in meditative practice
Finding the middle way between effort and letting go
Why to use techniques and intentional practices
Turning wisdom into compassion
Exercise -- remaining focused with a TV on
Exercise -- metta loving-kindness meditation
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