Lucid Awareness

You can practice being present awake and lucid at any moment. For this, our senses are our friends. There is no need to withdraw from the sensory world. Certainly, if you are surrounded by chaos and turmoil, you need to remove yourself from such an environment so that you can practice awareness with some stability. Once you are familiar with practice then it is quite possible to practice amidst chaos. To give yourself some familiarity with mindfulness and awareness you can notice what is happening now.

Right now, you could be aware of your body position, feel the contact of your body with the support of the earth below you, feel your breath and heartbeat. You can relax, breathe naturally and take in the environment. What do you see, in front of you and around you? What do you hear? What sounds are coming from nearby and from further away? What sounds and sights can you find that were escaping your awareness? Right now I am just noticing a new Ford Mustang driving by this Halifax North End Starbucks. There is a Nirvana song playing in the background. I like the baseline, now that I can hear it. Take a breath. Notice what is around you without adding extra thoughts and labels. Notice the lucidity of the very awareness that takes in all of these aspects of your vivid world.

Then, you can just go back to what you were doing, yet maybe with a little more ease, and a little more wakefulness. That's what I'm practicing right now.


For more on meditation with the sense gates see this previous post:

http://amindfulnessblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/peanut-butter-rainbow-wine-triangle.html

Meditating During A Freakout!

Have you ever had a freakout? Have you ever been on the recieving end of someone elses freakout? A common example is "road rage" which anyone stuck in traffic for a long time can probably palpate. Sometimes it is someone close to us who triggers our freakout or freaks out on us. I don't think I need to define freakout. Unless you come from another planet, you probably know what I'm talking about.

The question for meditators is... what use is sitting meditation and mindfulness in those situations? Does sitting and following your breath have an value in those moments? Well the answer seems to be that it can, yet that is up to us. For example, when you are in a driving freakout, or working with someone in a difficult situation of any kind, there is a tendency to enter a state of high anxiety with lots of mental activity and thoughts. Sometimes the thoughts become overwhelming and we may think "terrible" things. Meditation comes into play on a couple of levels.


Body

Connecting with body: it is possible to notice the state of your body in the middle of a freakout. You can notice the tension in your shoulders and face, the restriction in breathing, you can notice the environment. It is quite possible. Once you notice your state of physical tension, it is also possible to relax. You just have to take a breath and do it. Let the physical tension soften. There still may be a situation, yet our position in it has suddenly shifted by choosing to relax tension. This doesn't mean you stop relating to it, you may still be acting in response to a situation. The difference will be that rather than "re-acting", you can be "responding".

Mind

One thing about a freakout that is helpful, is that thoughts can get really LOUD. Sometimes we have to sit to see our thougths because they are kind of subtle. In sitting we can see them and relax, let go and observe the breath. It often takes sitting to develop clear seeing and relaxation with one's mindstream. Luckily, during a freakout the thoughts are SO LOUD that you don't need to sit to see them. Yet we can apply the recogition of the nature of thoughts in that moment. It is something we train in during sitting, which you can apply in the middle of the choas. So when the thougths get loud you can see then and say "A HA,  that's a thought". There is a gap suddenly between you and your thought, you can see it and see what it is. Then we don't have to act on the impulsive thoughts that tend to come up during a freakout which would be harmful. So, in a way, a freakout creates the intesity of mind that might allow you to recognize the nature of mind. You have to choose to practice with it.

So in short ... during a freak out

• notice your body tension
• breathe
• relax the physical tension 
•  look at your mind 

As to what effect this has during a freakout, there is only one way to find out.


Resource:
Link for instructions on sitting meditation:
http://nalandabodhi.org/courses/path-of-meditation/how-to-meditate

When Desire Was Pure ~ A Poem

by Michael Munro on Monday, September 5, 2011 at 10:03am

 

Do You Remember?
Do you remember
when desire was pure
before the double take
the awkward gesture
that moments hesitation?
I think you were surfing
or riding your bike
or kissing an elephant
or eating an edible flower
or playing in the sky
imagining yourself
to be a dragonfly
or chasing butterflies
with a plastic-handled net
or riding a skate board
desire was not "desire"
movement was movement
time was a meadow
the ground was the ground
sky was sky
clouds were clouds
sunlight was sunlight
and that was what it was like,
when desire was pure.
Do you remember?
Are you still here?
How did we forget?
Heaven and earth
wait patiently
for you and me
and everyone
to forget
forget the fascination
forget the contraction
let the fascination die
let the contraction open up
let the water flow
let duality just be
the mirage that it is
the dignified fabrication
is free in itself.

Looking at Mind

In order to get to know oneself better on the path of mindfulness it is helpful to look at what you will need along the way. To get familiar with mindfulness and the genuine nature of mind actually takes a lot of determination and perseverance. Ironically, one should not be too forceful or use too much effort. We need to be patient with ourselves and realize we need not ever give up. Even when we get results that we want and feel happy about results, there is no need to give up mindfulness. When we get results we don't like then again, there is no need to give up our attentiveness. We can rely on it all the time.

In terms of searching within one's daily life and within one's experience for the genuine nature of mind, there are a few helpful mental attitudes you want to take along with you for the journey. Please remember this is the journey to where you already are and to who you already are. That is the paradoxical part of the path of mindfulness and meditation. We are taking a journey and we need provisions, yet its important to remember that the co-ordinates for what we are looking for are here and now.

There are three things I can think of that are essential to bring along.
1. Truth: a genuine interest in knowing the truth.
2. Cause and effect: a willingness to acknowledge cause and effect.
3. Mind: certainty in the benefits of working with mind.

Truth

It is important to open up to the idea that we would like to know the truth. We usually cannot start out knowing the truth because we are in need of a path to that. If we already knew the truth then we would not need a path. One of the problems is that on some level we have given up the desire to actually know what is true. We either don't believe it is possible or have given up such interest in truth in favor of a series of comfortable or entertaining lies. The comfort that comes from not knowing the truth is not really that comfortable, however, because ignoring our basic state is what causes all of the inevitable suffering that inspires us to look for a solution. So it's important to want to know what is true and what is real. Even it it means abandoning some erroneous belief, pattern or idea that we have held dear to us for so long.

Cause and Effect

It is quite possible to get some nice "spiritual" experiences while meditating or shutting ourselves off from our day to day hassles and struggles. The only problem is that if we are not joining the meditation practice with action, then we are just getting attached to meditation experiences which may distract us from paying attention to the normal daily life experiences which need to be viewed equally as "spiritual". By paying attention to the cause and effect patterns and needs of daily life we make sure we are not getting into an escapist approach to meditation.

Confidence in Mind

To take up the practice of meditation and mindfulness it will save a lot of time, indecisiveness and hesitation, if we can be certain of one thing: mind determines our experience. Mind is what produces happiness, mind is what produces suffering. If we are certain of that then we can have confidence in the practices of training and taming the mind. Otherwise, it may not be possible to maintain the practice over time because of a lack of confidence in power of the mind. Furthermore, we also may have to test a hypothesis. The masters of the past have said that the true nature of mind is naturally peaceful, intelligent, industrious and kind, something beyond what we can normally grasp. If do not have a direct experience of that, then it is important to really inquire from one's own side and experience to see if that is true or not. If it is true, then the path becomes about getting more and more familiar with this genuine nature we have uncovered.

So with these three provisions one is then ready to begin, to begin to take a closer look.

Inspiring Video.

Inspriring Documentary Trailer.

http://www.grassrootsstore.com/default.asp

Transforming Stress ~ Guest Article by Lennart Krogoll

As we travel through our day, figuratively or literally, we all encounter occasional experiences of anxiety or stress – sometimes light and subtle, at other times more obvious and tangible, or even traumatic. This is of course a natural part of our lives. It may be that the traffic does not run as smoothly as we would like or someone cut us off; or maybe we anticipate a difficult conversation and we keep test-running it through our head while busy with other things; or we might remember and re-live an unpleasant interchange or an old emotional wound gets triggered; or we don’t quite feel on top of our world and are inundated with demands we would rather not relate to.

All this is quite common and natural. Rather than rejecting them as obstacles, we can look into how these things can be turned into opportunities for us to grow and be more awake, effective, confident and resilient. However, often we do not notice how these stresses and stressors keep building up and settle into our system, creating tension or blockages. Even very minor amounts of stress and anxiety have an effect on our physical energy, our health and stamina. They also affect our cognitive faculties – how attentive, intentional and effective we interact and re-act. They reduce our emotional intelligence, relaxation and presence, how open and heartfelt we can be for others and in the moment.

If we were ignoring these messages, or pushing them aside with medication and distraction, it would be like removing the light bulb from the little warning lamp in our car, which informs us that it is time to replenish the oil.

Various ancient methods cultivate and direct our inherent capacity for mindfulness and awareness of mind, body and heart. Modern science has recently discovered that these techniques afford us to notice, accept and relieve physical, mental and emotional stress, disturbance and even trauma.

Not only can we relieve current and old stress, re-opening and energizing our channels, but these simple techniques also help us to mange stress ‘as it happens’, on the spot, and give us tools to prepare for situations of stress and develop greater relaxation and resilience.

We can actually enjoy applying simple, elemental wake up ‘tools’, while walking down the street, sitting at the computer or having a conversation – making any moment more delightful and meaningful.   

Lennart will be teaching about stress, mindfulness and using the wake up "tools" mentioned above at our yoga studio in November:

http://yogastudio.ns.ca/workshops.htm#lennart
 

Waking Up in Daily Life: Disclaimer.

Traditional texts on realizing the true nature generally start with a homage of some sort. This thread begins with a homage if the form of a disclaimer. It is quite possible to realize that the actual nature of your mind is free from pain and full of joy, without the extremes of excitement or dullness. This however is only possible when you relate directly with your life. Daily life and mindfulness need to be joined together. You could say that is the real meaning of yoga. Often times people approach yoga and meditation as an alternative to daily life, like some kind of escape. This is natural because dissatisfaction with the ups and downs of life will often lead to a desire to be free. The key here is that with mindfulness meditation and practice, daily life becomes the path and all of life's experiences are opportunities to be present.

So the disclaimer is like this: you will not find mindfulness in the future or in the past, and you will not find it any place other than where you are now. Your current life situation is what you have to work with and the true nature of mind is also found within your current experience.