Meditation Activities Archives - Page 10 of 10

January 15, 2015 By Admin

Anahata – Heart Chakra

Anahata – Heart Chakra Meditation Practice

Rumi noted that to reach the sky we must use our hearts.

The Heart Chakra is a very popular focus of meditation practice. Here we will simply review some characteristics and then move on to a meditation practice.

Specific characteristics: Green color, YAM sound (say at least three times with a soft A), sense of touch, located in center of chest (cardiac plexus and thyme area), and malachite or emerald stone.

Functional characteristics: Respiration, circulation, immune system, and life itself.

Emotional characteristics: openness, unconditional love, duty, devotion, peace, harmony, awakened compassion, and emotional consciousness.

Now for the meditation practice.

Just rest in meditation on the breath just as it is now – just be aware. In and out. In and out.
Now gently bring full attention to the feelings of a deeper, slower, more complete breath. In and out. In and out.
Pay full attention to your heart chakra area, and bring full attention to it. If you wish, you may place both hands over your heart area.
Breathe in green energy very slowly and deeply, and say YAM to yourself at least three times. Say it slowly.
Go deeper with your emotional consciousness into your heart area. Appreciate it! Appreciate it!
Use your imagination and breathe in the feelings of inner peace and harmony. In and out. In and out.
Awaken your deeper emotional consciousness, and feel the sense of unconditional love for yourself and others. In and out. In and out.
Now simply rest with yourself. Hold yourself emotionally in this unconditional love and inner peace.

CLICK THE LINK BELOW for the PDFWorksheet

Anahata The Heart Chakra Practice

By Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont

Author of Mindful Happiness

CLICK HERE to Order!

November 16, 2014 By Admin

Self-Medication Via Your Hand-Held Devices

Self-Medication: Is Your Hand-Held Device a Dopamine Device?

Mindfulness Activities:

Here is a simple activity that may inform you about your personal level of addiction to your digital/electronic devices.

Simply click the link below to download the PDF Worksheet; answer each question according to your personal opinions. Dr-Anthony-Quintiliani_HandHeldDeviceActivity

Be sure to complete the meditation activity noted at the end of these questions.

1) What is auto-texting? Do you think you suffer from it? Yes or No?

2) What is auto-texting while driving a vehicle? Do you think you suffer from it? Yes or No?

3) What is sexting? Do you think you are addicted to it? Yes or No?

4) On a scale from 0 to 10, rate how lonely or uncomfortable you feel when you are without your hand-held device.

5) If you answered “yes” to any of these three questions, what insights do you have about your addiction to your hand-held devices?

6) Have you ever contemplated WHY you must be “on” your hand-held device? What did you come up with for an answer?

7) Do you think you are using your hand-held device for connectivity with others as self-medication against your unpleasant feelings? Yes or No? Do you know what feelings? – depression, anxiety, fear, loneliness, or other?

8) MEDITATION ON YOUR DEVICE – Please do this meditation activity.

Shut OFF your hand-held dopamine device, and sit with it in front of you. Allow the device to serve as your object of meditation. Just sit and observe it. Be sure it is off. When your mind wonders off onto another thought, simply bring your attention (pure awareness) back to your device. Notice if you work hard at just sitting looking at your device. Clock how long you can just sit observing your device without any attempt to turn it ON to use it. Notice if this is difficult for you. Score (from 0 to 100) how difficult it is for you to sit (looking at your device) for at least 20 minutes without turning it ON or USING it. A higher score (0ver 50) implies that you may be addicted to your device. Another way to consider your level of addiction is to see HOW LONG you can just sit and look at your device without turning it on, doing something else, or using it. If you cannot do this for at least 20 minutes, you may be addicted to the device.

9) How do you feel now that you may know the extent of your addiction to your hand-held device? Some people experience such a strong addiction that they seek professional help from licensed helpers with expertise in habitual behavior.

May you be mindful;

May you be more calm;

May you be healthier;

May you be happier; and,

May you live with more joy and less suffering.

By Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont

Author of Mindful Happiness

CLICK HERE to Order!

November 12, 2014 By Admin

Advanced Meditations on Perception -Part 2

Advanced Meditation Practices on Perception

As the Sutra story goes, the Buddha instructed Ananda to visit the ailing venerable Girimananda, who was very, very ill. In an effort to help the ailing man, the Buddha told Ananda to guide him in the Ten Meditation on Perceptions (on sensory input and the objects of mind). According to the story, Girimananda improved after the meditations.

We begin with basic instructions on how to meditate. Be in a quiet place, both inside and outside. Sit in a stable and somewhat comfortable posture, while keeping your back straight. Bring your attention to the present moment directly in front of your eyes – here, now. Without controlling the breath, bring your full attention to it as you breathe in and out; notice the breath as it passes at the nostrils, the chest, and in the belly. Just notice your breath as it moves in and out, long and short, shallow and deep – just be with it as it is now. Be gentle with yourself, and remain in a positive and peaceful state. Do not judge or evaluate anything. Just be one with the breath!

The Ten Meditations on Perception deal with the five aggregates of attachment, desire and, clinging. These are of form, feeling, perception itself, volitional actions, and overall consciousness – all of which are impermanent in nature. These are difficult meditation to practice. Do your best without becoming discouraged or afraid of the deeper meanings of these meditations.

1) First meditate on the reality of impermanence and the five aggregates. Focus attention without evaluation on each aggregate – form, feeling, perception, volitional actions, and consciousness.

2) Now meditate on the realization of no-self (no authentically real ego, I, Me, Mine in the realities of atomic time and space). These are simply defensive ego-constructs to separate us from others and the world as a whole. Work on meditating on all sensory inputs and experiences as simply happening but without self-attachment to the experiences. This can be the most difficult meditation to practice.

3) Meditate on unattractiveness of the body and its self-consciousness of parts. All parts of the body, including mind, will decay and deteriorate over time; as they decay, they become more gruesome, even ugly. Decaying body and mind is not a pretty sight to behold. Notice your own defensiveness here, and how it relates to protecting your ego-self from dying off into impermanence of form.

4) Now meditate on the dangers of illness to both body and mind. This is the ultimate decaying and impermanence as it may lead to illness even the death of the living body.

5) Meditate on abandoning all thoughts and perceptions of you harming others – both things and sentient beings. Abandoning harmful thoughts, feelings, and behaviors will lead to more compassion, caring, and kindness. As the next unhelpful, harmful thought arises, abandon it. Observe your reactions to people, places, and things you do not enjoy or like. When we abandon these unhelpful processes, we reduce the level of negativity in ourselves and in the world.

6) Meditate on dispassion – that is the energy placed in attachment, desire, and clinging. Be at peace inside as you work on letting go of cravings, especially cravings for material acquisitions. Let go, let go, let go! Practice being satisfied with what you have now, not waiting to be happy with some future acquisition of something concrete or emotional.

7) Meditate on cessation, or the absolute liberation of your mind-body from suffering. If there is no attached craving, there is no emotional disappointment. Wanting, desiring, attaching, craving, and clinging are all causes and effects of human suffering. Cessation brings freedom and liberation from suffering. It will also open you up more peace and happiness.

8) Do your best to meditate on letting go of your personal delight in being in experiences you find pleasurable. This does not mean you should not enjoy happiness when it exists. It does mean you should practice letting go of craving for happiness and sense-pleasures as a way of being, as a way to create happiness. All life experience, both pleasant and unpleasant, are impermanent experiences – they always change in one way of another. You cannot hold on to pleasant life experiences – just be with them fully when they occur.

9) Meditate on the actual impermanence of all conditioned experiences and phenomena. If you become effective here, you will notice that your suffering decreases dramatically. This, itself, is part of the path to liberation and realization. This is also a most difficult meditation to practice.

10) End your Ten Meditations on Perceptions with mindfulness on the breath. Just simple mindful awareness of your breath, in and out, short and long, shallow and deep, into and out of the body, the arising and falling away of the breath experience – as simply impermanent. Rest yourself in the reinforcing rapture and deep peace of pure awareness on the breath. Appreciate the breath for keeping you alive here now.

Hopefully you will have the self-discipline and motivation to practice these perception meditations. They will be most helpful to you on your own personal path to enlightenment.

For more information refer to Gunarantana, B. (2014). Meditation on Perception: Ten Healing Practices to Cultivate Mindfulness. Boston: Wisdom Publications. Also The Girimananda Sutta from Bhikku Bodhi (2012) in The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Arguttara Nikaya. Boston: Wisdom Publications, pp. 1411-15.

By Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont

Author of Mindful Happiness

CLICK HERE to Order!

November 11, 2014 By Admin

Contemplative Practices of the Skillful True Self

Contemplative Practices – Affirmative Self-Inquiry

Contemplation and affirmative self-inquiry may be helpful in improving your awareness of your better parts of self – your positive strengths and traits. Our self-critical mind often causes us to spend far too much time on critical, negative thinking about ourselves and about others. The practice below may be helpful to you in shifting your mind to a happier, more productive, positive stance. This approach combines some of the processes found in adaptive lectio divina, contemplative inquiry, and appreciative inquiry. Some aspects of these approaches to creative cognitive processes have ancient roots.

Simply follow the steps below.

Step One) Simply sit in mild meditation. If you are not a meditation practitioner, simply sit quietly with a cup of tea and look out a window or look at a neural object in your home. Just sit! Relax! Notice! Do your best to stay focused on an object of meditation (your breath or object at home) or the scene outside your window. Do your best NOT to evaluate anything. Remain in the present moment of just sitting. Simply rest.

Step Two) Within your deeper, meditative state simply ask yourself (inquire) WHAT is your most positive, meaningful trait as a person. Do your best NOT to be too perfectionistic OR too devaluing in this inquiry. Find the middle way – What is your most positive or most meaningful strengths or trait?

Answer here:_____________________________________________________________

Step Three) Repeat step two.

Answer here:______________________________________________________________

Step Four) Contemplate when, where, why and how this positive trait activates itself in you. Are there any patterns? If so, what is the pattern?

Answer here:____________________________________________________________________________

Step Five) Focus on your innermost feelings when this strength activities in you. What is that feeling?

Answer here:____________

Step Six) Going deeper into yourself in a meditative state, what is your most important, meaningful strength as a person?

Answer here:

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Step Seven) Simply sit in the feelings of joy with the reality of having that strength. Allow!

Step Eight) Stop! If you keep a journal, write a statement in your journal about this personal experience of positive inquiry.

Note: This inquiry contemplation may also be done in dyads or with a significant other. One person thinks and speaks; the other person listens (no comments). Then switch roles.

For more information refer to Appreciative Inquiry into Organizational Life: Toward a Theory of Social Innovation.

By Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont

Author of Mindful Happiness

CLICK HERE to Order!