Meditations

The following are a few of the many meditation techniques taught in Jeanne's classes based primarlily on the work of Shinzen Young.

 

Meditation Focus on Rest: Easy Version

 

 

This is a great meditation for calming and quieting . I find that it really helps to relax the body and quiet the mind when one feels too busy, overwhelmed and worried. It was developed in this form by my teacher, Shinzen Young.


Meditation Focus on Rest: Easy Version

1. Start by positioning your attention.

* Place some attention on the darkness/brightness in front of/behind your closed eyes . We will refer to this as "Blank". Place some attention over your whole body detecting relaxation wherever you find it. We will refer to this as "Relaxed"

2. Now begin to note"Blank" or "Relaxed"

* If all you're aware of is Blank, note "Blank."

* If all you're aware of is Relaxed, note "Relaxed."

* If at any given moment, both are available just choose one to focus on. It dosen't matter which one.

* Focus on that Blank or Relaxed for a few seconds (unless it disappears before that).

* After those few seconds (or its disappearance) note again, either the same experience or a different one.

3. Let other things be in the backround.

* As you note Blank or Relaxed, other (Touch, Sound, Feel, Image, or Talk) may arise. perhaps quite intensely. That's Perfectly okay. Let them arise but in the backround of your attention while the foreground of attention is fascinated by Blank or Relaxed.

* If you get pulled away into a distraction, gently return to the Blank or Relaxed.

4. You can still focus on rest even when there is a lot of "unrest."

* Remember that to experience Blank does not require that mental images be absent. And to experience Relaxed does not require that your body be free from all discomfort, tension or agitation. You can have a lot of unrest in your mind and body and still be doing the technique perfectly!

5. Remember you have options.

* You can speak or think labels or note without labeling, whatever works for you in a given moment.

* You can zoom in, zoom out or zoom both ways or not intentionally zoom, whatever works for you in a given moment.

* You can intentionally restrict what you note to just Blank or Relaxed, or you can use the basic form of free floating between them.

* You can find restful states...

Just look at the darkness/brightness in front of/behind your closed eyes to find Blankness.

Tune into the sense of settledness that automatically accompanies being seated or lying down to find widespread Relaxation.

Tune into the muscle relaxation in your ribcage and abdomen that automatically accompanies each out breath.

* You can creat restful states...

You can try opening then closing your eyes to enhance the darkness/brightness.

You can try to intentionally relaxing individual body parts to create local relaxation, or straightening up and settle in to create whole body Relaxation.

 

 

 

Breath Meditation reminder

 

 

Guide to Restful Breath Meditation

1. sit comfortably and straighten your spine
2. relax and settle into the posture
3. bring your attention to your breath
4. soften the belly
5. breathe normally in a relaxed manner
6. notice where you experience the breath
7. on the out-breath notice a relaxing quality and relax with it
8. if your mind wanders, gently return to the breath when you are aware of it
9. you can make a mental note of "relax" saying it to yourself or aloud on the out-breath to help with focus

 

 

 

 

 

Meditation in Daily Activities

 

 

I wanted to share some ideas for mindfulness practice in daily activities. It has come up in several of my classes where the opportunity to find time to meditate is sometimes a problem. In addition to formal sitting practice, I encourage people to have a meditation experience in the activities that they do every day.
Mindfulness meditation is something we do to develop concentration, clarity and equanimity.
So do your activity mindfully!

For example: driving

1. make an intention when you get in the car to have this be a meditation
2.do not multi task. no radio, music. no phone.
3.for the time that you set aside to drive, do just that
4. be aware of how it feels to sit in the seat , notice how your hands are on the wheel, look at your mirrors....almost like the first time that you got behind the wheel. Be aware of the experience of driving. What does the road look like. What cars are in front ,to the side, in the rear. What does the car, the traffic sound like. How does it make you feel? Where in your body do you feel it.
Whatever comes up in your moment to moment experience of driving, just make an observation.
5. when your mind wanders into memory, planning, fantasy.....gently return to observing the driving experience. This might happen often as the mind gets bored and wants something more interesting to to think about. How many times do we arrive somewhere where we really don't know how we actually got there.We put the driving on auto pilot and our mind went somewhere else.
6. When you arrive at your destination, see if there is a difference in how you can pay attention to other experiences that follow.

This can be done with so many activities..... cleaning, walking, washing, brushing teeth, eating, etc.
Try one or many. See what happens. Be open and gentle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Metta Loving Kindness Meditation

 

 

Metta or Loving Kindness Meditation is a very special meditation practice. It cultivates compassion, friendliness, appreciative joy and equanimity. It bring about positive changes in attitude as it systematically develops a quality of loving acceptance.

What better gift can we give to ourselves, the people around us, and to the world. It is a chance to take an action when you feel overwhelmed by difficulties and negatvity.

Loving-kindness is a meditation of the heart and should be taken outside" to the streets" so to speak and not just a formal practice. Applying the practice to daily life is a matter of directing a friendly attitude and having openness toward everyone you come in contact with, without discrimination.


The Loving Kindness Meditation:


1. Settle into a relaxed posture with eyes closed
2. Bring attention to the heart area
3.Imagine a warmth and softness there
4. Say to yourself"May I be safe from internal and external harm." and really try to imagine that feeling
5. Next say"May I be happy, at peace, content." Use images, internal talk, memories, etc. to help with the feel
6. Next say " May I be healthy, strong, balanced."
7.Next say "May I be free from worry and live my life easily"
8. These are said to onesself. then to someone we love, then to a person we feel neutral about, and then to someone that we have difficulty with.
9. It is then said radiating out into the world in all directions to all beings.

 

 

The Way of Thoughts and Emotions

 

 

This technique involves tracking your subjective experience in terms of visual thoughts(mental images), internal conversations(mental talk) and emotional body sensations.

 

In a psychological sense, this technique allows you to break up negative states into smaller manageable pieces, thus loosing their hold on you. By negative states I mean things like difficult emotions, limiting beliefs, judgements, urges leading to unproductive behaviors, etc.

Learning to focus on just one area at a time in a given moment will reduce the sense of overwhelm.

 

#1 Working with mental images.

 

Position your attention in the area where you experience visual thinking or mental images. When you become aware of an image you will note that as"see in" If there is no image you will note "see rest" . If all or part of an image (or rest) drops away, note that as "Gone"

Every few seconds observe and note.

 

#2 Working with mental talk.

 

Position your attention in the area where you hear self talk, usually in your head or around your ears. Pay attention to see if you can detect the presence or absence of mental talk. If you detect metal talk you will note "Hear in" When it is quiet you will note "Hear rest". When a burst of talk comes to an end ,note "Gone"

 

#3 Working with emotional body sensations

 

At any given time you might experience strong, mild, or no emotion in the body. If it is strong it will be easier to detect than if it is subtle. You can guess , subtle is significant.

Place your awareness in the body and see if you can detect emotion....from negative to positive.

If you detect something you will note "Feel in"

If you detect nothing you will note"Feel rest"

If the emotion or rest suddenly goes away note "Gone"

 

#Free float between the three

 

If you would like to work in the whole subjective state then broaden your awareness to include it all and note what arises or what calls to you noting as above

 

 

~Shinzen Young

 

Nuturing Positive

 

 

"Nurturing Positive" as a meditation technique is a"constructive"one, as opposed to many techniques that are focusing on and deconstructing aspects of our moment to moment experience.

 

 

"Nurturing Positive" is an opportunity to be creative and purposeful in our focus of something positive in our lives...be it a positive aspect or emotion, behavior change, thinking, ideal, situation, or sending it to someone or something outside of ourselves.

Working in this positive way helps us to have a balanced and complete meditative process and experience.

 

It can also be very fun and enjoyable......... so relax and enjoy the process

 

The instruction for "Nurture Positive" meditation

 

1. First choose a specific theme.

for example: a positive feeling or emotion, a behavior you want to change, a goal you want to achieve, a personal ideal you'd like to aspire to, a positive situation you would like to see for yourself or someone else, a more positive thought pattern, etc. You get the picture.....just decide on one for this period of meditation. Don't get overwhelmed...you can keep it simple.

 

2a. For a few minutes you mentally repeat a word or phrase that represents the specific theme you have chosen. At the same time, tuning into any pleasant sensation that may be related to that positive theme.

 

Then....

 

2b. For a few minutes, you create a mental image that represents the specific theme you have chosen. At the same time, you focus on that mental image and any pleasant emotional body sensations related to that positive theme.

 

3. Based on your experience of 2a and 2b, decide on working in a way that comes most naturally.

 

a. in Image

b. in Talk

c. in Emotional body feeling

d. Image and Talk

e. Image and Emotional body feeling

f. Talk and Emotional body feeling

g. freefloating between Image, Talk and Emotional body feelings

 

4. Hold the theme in your chosen mode of working for a set period of time

 

~Shinzen Young

 

 

The Way of the Physical Senses

 

 

The way of the Physical Senses is a tangible strategy for contacting the Power of Now.

The basic idea is to anchor yourself in the present moment by focusing on physical sight, physical sound and physical body sensations.

The ultimate aim is to experience oneness with the outside world.


1. See Out: Work with physical sight

With your eyes open, let your line of sight freely float from direction to direction, object to object, or place to place within an object. Each time your line of sight shifts, note "See Out." It does not matter if the shift is spontaneous or intentional. Neither does it matter if the shift is due to a physical movement of the eye or just a movement in attention.

If, as your line of sight shifts to a new sight, you happen to note the preceding sight drop away or drop off, note "Gone."

If at some point you need to rest, it's okay to briefly defocus your eyes. Note that experience as "See Rest."


2. Hear Out: Work with physical sound

Whenever you're aware of sound , note "Hear Out." If all or part of the sound drops away or drops off, note "Gone." If there is no sound in any direction, note "Hear Rest."


3. Feel Out: Work with physical-type body sensations.

Whenever you're aware of a physical sensation, note "Feel Out." If part of that sensation drops away or drops off, note "Gone."If for a period of time you are unaware of physical sensation in your body, note that as "Feel Rest."Recall that in this case "Out" means that a sensation is of physical origin. It's location may be anywhere within or upon your body.


4 Focus Out: Work with all objective arisings.

Let your attention broadly float between physical sights, physical sounds, and physical body sensations. If  more than one is available at the same moment, just choose one to note. It does not matter which. If something you have been noting drops away or drops off, note that moment as "Gone."

 

~Shinzen Young