MINDFULNESS PRACTICES Archives

July 3, 2015 By Admin

Mindfulness Practices

Mindfulness Practices to help Reduce Your Worry & Suffering

My last post dealt with various mindfulness-based practices and skills that may help to reduce created suffering due to excessive worrying. I will add a few more practices in this post. First, let us go back to Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, and his Meditations. In Book 2, page 14 he advises himself (also us) to allow nothing to interfere with our emotionally stable directing mind (as I interpret – the mindfulness-based mind using prajna/wisdom skills). He also reminds us that we are an integrated part of the force of NATURE that governs all worldly and universal activities (change, impermanence, our good/bad fortune). Since we have no independent origination, and since we are subject to all forces tied to cause and effect in NATURE, Marcus tells us to deal with our tasks in a diligent manner – but a diligent manner including dignity, sympathy and dispassionate justice. It does appear that Marcus Aurelius had a touch of Buddhism and/or Taoism in his philosophy of life.

Recently Tricycle Magazine presented five other practices that may be helpful in reducing secondary suffering related to compulsive worry. Zen teacher Barry Magid recommends that we learn to leave ourselves alone. Do your utmost best to STOP self-criticism, self-devaluation, and feeling “less than” in your worldly activities and interactions. Just sitting in zazen will open up your mind-doors to this possibility. So do more meditation – just sitting and observing your thoughts go by like clouds in the sky. Practice bare attention and pure awareness without any storylines or evaluations whatsoever. Just be aware of what comes up (worry, reasons to worry, stories about your worrying), and LET IT GO as you bring attention back to your breath. Do this over, and over, and over again.

Teacher Gil Fronsdal recommends that we practice more and more metta, loving kindness meditation. This is my personally most favored meditation practice. It can do wonders for one’s troubled mind. It is both a practice in self-compassion and compassion for others. Since you are the one worrying, do your loving kindness meditation on yourself – and possibly for the person/s you are worrying about. May I be safe. May I be healthy, May I be free from suffering and worry. May I be happy. May I live with more ease.

The Sri Lankan monk, Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, recommends that we practice more and more vipassana meditation (insight meditation). Practice on both your joy and your suffering. Bring full attention then concentration to the very earliest arising of either joy or worry (suffering) in your awareness, and get to know their arising qualities. Just pay concentrative attention to their arising and their falling away. Do not go into storylines and memories about your joy or worry. Just observe closely their arising and falling away while in meditation. Do not track associations or causal thinking. Pay strong attention to only the arising and falling away of these mind-states.

Insight meditation teacher, Peter Doobinin, recommends that you do much more walking meditation. Just walk inside or outside (better I think). Walk at the pace you desire. Pay attention to your feet touching earth and the movement of your legs lifting, placing forward, and landing on the earth. Hold your hands by your sides, in front or behind you. Just pay attention to the walking body movements. Buddhist teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, sometimes add a more sensory approach to his famous standard walking meditation format. After walking in meditation on your legs moving and your feet touching earth (complete stability in sensation), you may want to add paying attention to what your sense-doors perceive. What do you see, hear, feel, taste, smell? Just notice and note it; do not evaluate it or judge yourself or others.

For more information refer to Marcus Aurelius (translation by M. Hammond, introduction by D. Clay). (2006). Meditations. New York: Penguin Classics, Book 2, page 14. Also see http://www.tricycle.com/practice/five-practices-change-your-mind

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!

Loving Kindness Meditation from The Buddha Loving Kindness Meditation (hereafter LKM) is, perhaps, one of the most popular meditation practices in the world. What many practitioners do not know is that one form of it came directly from The Buddha. Along with LKM wisdom we also are guided by the enlightened words of The Dalai […]

What The Buddha Taught About Metta In the Metta Sutta (Anguttara Nikaya, 11:16) The Buddha said that we should seek the following characteristics in how we live our lives: Wholesome goodness; Gentle speech; Human Humility; Personal contentment; Personal calmness; and, Pure-heartedness in all we think, say, and do. By living this way we would be […]

Mindfulness Practices to help Reduce Your Worry & Suffering My last post dealt with various mindfulness-based practices and skills that may help to reduce created suffering due to excessive worrying. I will add a few more practices in this post. First, let us go back to Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, and his Meditations. In Book 2, page 14 […]

More on Yoga Nidra Yoga nidra is sometimes called yoga sleep or yoga relaxation. It is a very powerful mindfulness technique that allows one to relax the body and limbic brain area, while holding mental control for deeper relaxation and projective practices without falling asleep. For some it may be like lucid dreaming, but a […]

Mindful Movement as Part of Practice Mindful movement is an accepted part of regular practice. Such practices as walking meditation, more vigorous yoga asanas, qi gong, and tail chi are all part of this respected mindfulness tradition. Here I will introduce you to a very simple pre-meditation movement sequence. Hope you practice it very soon. […]

Plasticity – The Amazing Human Brain We humans are very fortunate in that our brain is one of the most complex entities in our known universe. Natural selection, genetic modifications, and use-related neuroplasticity have blessed us with a brain quite capable of some of the most complicated tasks imaginable. Some of these tasks (medical miracles, […]

Drink a Cup of Tea with Thich Nhat Hanh According to the article “A Perfect Cup of Tea” by Noa Jones, The Great Meditation Master offers this sage advice about the best way to enjoy a great cup of tea. I suppose if you would rather drink coffee, the same suggestions may apply. Recognize that […]

Mindfulness, Movement, and Meditation Practices Meditation Master Thich Nhat Hanh offers some of the most helpful mindfulness, movement, and meditation instructions available today. His themes here are about reducing your suffering, increasing your satisfactions, and expanding your happiness as a result. Please do not note that “I do not have time to do these things!” […]

Happiness #3 – More Characteristics Here I will continue the discussion on common characteristics of personal happiness. As you read these posts, please do your best to experiment with these characteristics. See if you can experience more happiness without a frantic search for it. Ultimately it is about a special form of human love. Here […]

Our Brains React to Worry According to research by The American Psychological Association in 2015, some of the core sources of severe stress reaction for Americans are: financial problems, job-related problems, family problems, and health problems. Our lives are complete only with joy/happiness, suffering and boredom – sometimes referred to as pleasant, unpleasant and neutral […]

Mindful Happiness – Brain on Meditation Reports from various MRI and self-report measure studies support the proposition that your brain changes (neuronal plasticity) when you practice meditation on a regular (daily) basis. The same is likely true when you practice yoga on a regular basis. Here are some noted changes in brain functioning that […]

Overcoming the Hindrances of Ill-Will and Aversion Although regular daily practice and sincerely following of The Eight-Fold Path in one’s life may be the best ways to overcome various hindrances, there may be some additional practical suggestions to consider on the path. We will begin our discussion with common human pain and suffering; we will […]

Improving Your Self-Esteem – An Action Contemplation The UCLA Higher Education Research Institute’s surveys and V. Mamgain’s ideas about neoclassical economics of happiness help provide a means to deconstruct improved learning in higher education and also personal happiness in the process. According to the UCLA research surveys, higher education students want more spirituality and personal […]

Zen Buddhist Practices – Egolessness In our practice we often inquire, and sometimes experience, the no-self and/or egolessness. What is egolessness? Who and what do we think we are? Some say that when we die the essence but not the ego lives on into new experiences. Karma and re-birth are givens in this spiritual view. […]

How to Offer Personal Tribute to Those Who Have Died The Four Noble Truths tell us sobering news. There is suffering, and impermanence of all things including us and our loved ones. Below I have listed several thing you can do to HONOR a person you have lost. Here is the list. Recall a special […]

Taoist Meditation on Healing Colors of Light In Taoist views the four seasons (five if you include “Indian Summer”) are strongly associated with emotional moods and bodily energies. Healing colored light is also part of this viewpoint. For each of the colors we use, follow the process noted below. Sit quietly and breathe calmly. Circle […]

The Heart Sutra – Thich Nhat Hanh “Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha.” This ultimate mantra is one of the most important in Buddhism. Thich Nhat Hanh’s new translation of The Heart Sutra offers a great deal of enlightened, sometimes more advanced, information and process. Avalokitesvara and other great Bodhisattvas present important views of this […]

Using Mindful Movement as a Form of Meditation Practice with the Body In Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction practices Hatha Yoga has been used as part of the recovery process from both psychological and physical suffering. In my own clinical use of mindful movement with children, youth and adults, I found that basic Qi Gong/Che Kung, Walking […]

Vipassana for Depression, Anxiety, Trauma, and Addictions The integration of Vipassana meditation with various forms of therapy has for many years been a standard of treatment worldwide and in Vermont, especially when impulse control and emotion regulations issues are included. Buddhist Psychology offers clear explanations why this intervention may be helpful for so many suffering […]

A Radical Feminist in her Time Over 800 years ago Hildegard of Bingen presented radical viewpoints on women-power and male-dominance in the Christian Church, stone/gem healing, meditation, insight and intellect, the web of life or planetary oneness, being in nature, environmentalism, and personal stories of suffering, etc. Despite her outspoken manner and her popularity among […]