Dear Friends, At the SIMC practice yesterday evening, Bob led us through a body scan practice. Like mindful breathing, body scan has formal practices you can do – I’ve linked in some resources below – and it can be done informally, discreetly, anywhere or any time. One of my favorite places to do a quick body scan is in the… Read More »
Dear Friends, I’m so glad you will be part of this month-long adventure! We have a great little community that has signed up to be part of this daily email list. Many of you have returned after last year’s initial offering (thank you), and I’m glad to see we are joined by many new folks too (welcome!). The… Read More »
Dear Friends, In the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha mentions several postures for practice: “Again, bhikkhus, when walking, a bhikkhu understands: ‘I am walking’; when standing, he understands: ‘I am standing’; when sitting, he understands: ‘I am sitting’; when lying down, he understands: ‘I am lying down’; or he understands accordingly however his body is disposed. Thinking about lying… Read More »
Dear Friends, In the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha set out the four foundations of mindfulness, the first being mindfulness of the body. There are many ways we can practice mindfulness of the body, including mindfulness of breathing, mindful walking, mindfulness of movements of the body in everyday activities (as mentioned yesterday), and through a body scan meditation. In… Read More »
Dear Friends, In his book Meditation and Relaxation in Plain English, Bob Sharples gives this advice: Don’t meditate to fix yourself, to heal yourself, to improve yourself, to redeem yourself; rather, do it as an act of love, of deep warm friendship toward yourself. In this view there is no longer any need for the subtle aggression of… Read More »
