MEDITATIONBLOG.FULLCAPACITYLIVING.COM

Delays due to crazy weekend

2010-03-22T03:59:00Z

Well I was going to catch up this weekend, but there was a series of unfortunate events. No serious damage from any but they took a lot of time and the culmination was Sunday evening when I got rear-ended on the way to the store. No real damage but it did shake me up a bit. I got home to find that my 18 month old had placed several books, toys and stuffed animals in her diaper pail. She was so proud of this that she had to show me. I couldn't stop laughing. But needless to say, the summary of last week's class is going to have to wait.

Patience and Hurry

2010-03-09T04:57:00Z

Topics Covered

Patience
Reducing hurry

Patience as a spiritual practice

When we think about patience and how to develop patience, it can be helpful to explore impatience. When we think about impatience, it doesn't really seem to benefit us much, and it certainly takes more energy to be impatient than it does to be patient.
Exploring impatience further it usually occurs when our mind is looking ahead in time and making assumptions about what will happen if things don't change NOW. The fact is that we usually don't know what is going to happen or what the consequences of a delay will be. In this case we can remind ourselves that we can simply accept the not knowing state while we continue to work for things to change. Note that is "work for things to change" and not "wait for things to change". Patience is not about being passive.
We can become more effective at working patiently for things to change by focusing more on the processes we are engaged in rather than just the results. If we focus only on the results then we can be disappointed when they are not as large as we would like. However, when we are aware of both the processes and the results then we can notice that what we are doing has its own benefit, which enables us to trust that it will have positive results in the long run.
One health example of this is losing weight. If we just focus on our weight we will be disappointed because all healthy ways of losing weight cause a rather slow weight loss. However, if we stay somewhat aware of our weight, but also notice how we are being more physically active and enjoying that and learning to enjoy smaller amounts of healthy food, then we are more likely to stay with the program and lose weight and keep it off.
Another activity that helps us develop patience is listening. In a conversation we can feel the urge to speak and often if we act on it we wish we hadn't. This reminds me of a Quaker saying in which before we speak we ask ourselves "Is what I am about to say an improvement upon silence?" When we practice listening and making sure we give the other person time to speak fully before we respond we both develop patience and speak with more wisdom.

Reducing hurry

Hurry, or a sense of being rushed, is a patience-killer. Unfortunately, because the sense of hurry is visceral, i.e. felt, if we try to simply tell ourselves to stop hurrying it can have little effect.
An awareness technique to change the feeling of hurry is to receive the present. We allow what is in our field of view to arrive at our eyes. We allow sounds to come to our ears. We allow touch to arrive at our skin. We allow the breath to fall into our lungs. When we practice this we notice much more through our senses. We have to slow down in order to observe
Once we are sensing more completely by receiving the present, we allow ourselves to receive the future. We allow the future to come to us rather than racing off toward it.

Appreciation and Why Meditate.

2010-03-02T12:40:00Z

Topics Covered

Gratitude for Our Body
Paying Attention to What is Helpful
Can't vs Won't, Need vs Want, and Responsibility
Why meditate?

Gratitude for Our Body

We often take our body for granted, until a part of the body starts causing trouble. Then we feel upset or disappointed. However, how often do we thank our body for feeling good?
One type of meditation is to experience a part of the body and simply cultivate a feeling of gratitude or appreciation for that part, thanking it for working as well as it does.
A variation of this meditation is to bring awareness to various processes in the body, appreciating what that process does for us. This is more abstract than appreciating specific parts of the body, so we may not get concrete visual images.
Some processes to appreciate are:

Respiration
Digestion
Purification
Perception
Regulation
Expression

A complete description of this technique can be found in "Real Meditation in Minutes a Day", Wisdom Publications, 2008, p131-141.

Paying Attention to What is Helpful

Our mind seems to be conditioned to pay attention to what is not working or what is "wrong" instead of paying attention to what is working. If we do a task or someone does a task for us, it seems that we find it more natural to critique ourselves or the other person than to complement them.
This is curious since it takes just as much physical energy to point out what was done adequately or well as it does to point out the defects.
Some people feel that unless they draw attention to the defects in themselves or others, the person will not improve. This has actually been disproved in several areas; negative reinforcement does not work as well as positive reinforcement.
Some people will counter that with the observation that when they give themselves or other negative reinforcement, the person improves. And if they give positive reinforcement, the person does not improve, or does worse. They attribute the change in performance to the feedback the person received.
Actually this observation is simply evidence that people, ourselves included, tend to perform tasks within a range. If we have a performance that is unusually poor, then that was an accident, and the next one is likely to be better, closer to the average. And if we have a performance that was unusally good, the next one is likely to be poorer, again closer to the average.
So the reinforcement has nothing to do with the short term changes in performance. However over the long term consistent attention to what is done well tends to inprove performance, and consistent attention to what is not done well tends to degrade performance.
We need to apply that to ourselves and to others, remembering that it takes just as much energy to give positive or negative reinforcement. We therefore want to spend our energy in a way that will yield improvement.

Can't vs Won't, Want vs. Need, and Responsibility

We want to watch how the words we use to oursevles and others can influence us.
When we think to ourselves or state, "I can't do ...", then it means we are not capable of doing the action. When we say "I won't do ...", then it means we are making a choice and taking responsibility for that choice. Saying "I can't" is often used socially to be nice, however it is usually not true. While we may chose to use "I can't" to be socially appropriate it is probably better to at least be honest with ourselves and say "I won't".
Similarly we often say "I need ..." when the truth is "I want ..." Using "I need" has social uses, however if we confuse our needs and our wants we can put more energy into obtaining something than it is worth. Advertising is essentially the art of causing someone to confuse a want with a need. When we become more honest with ourselves we are less open to such manipulation.

Why meditate?

The question was raised about we can be pusing ourselves in meditation to constantly "do better". Most spiritual traditions are quite clear that we cannot rate the quality of our meditation by the experiences we have while meditating. We can tell that our meditation is working because of the experiences we have while not meditating. That is, we are more compassionate, more patient, more wise, in our interactions with the world.
While meditation can certainly be used to have peaceful, or relaxing experiences during meditation, its spiritual purpose is to train our mind to relate in a loving way with Spirit, a presence that has no essential form. So we meditate to train our minds to be loving without having a form to love.
As we practice this, our mind naturally learns to love and express love without needing to be in "meditation". It is like a skier who practices balance exercises. Their body learns to balance better on the slopes, not just while doing the exercises.
Sometimes the meditation practice time can be quite boring, or uncomfortable. If it is having positive results in our daily lives, then we can trust that it is doing some good. If we are not sure, or if the meditation experience is becoming too uncomfortable, then we should consult with someone and see if a different technique or practice style would be helpful. But we don't do that just to have more pleasureable experiences in meditation. The marker is always how we are relating to others.

Comfort and the Breath

2010-03-02T12:39:00Z

Topics covered:

Experiencing comfort with the breath
Generalizing that comfort throughout the body
Applying this to dealing with physical discomfort
Extending comfort to others

Sorry about the delay in getting the posts up. Life has been busy. These will have to be short summaries of the classes, and I'll do my best to catch up this week.

Experiencing comfort with the breath

When we breathe our body enjoys the process. We want to move our awareness to the comfort we get from breathing in and out and place our attention on specific sensations that are comfortable.
It is that simple. We enjoy any sensations of comfort associated with breathing. If our mind drifts, then we bring our attention back to those sensations.

Generalizing that comfort thoughout the body

Once we are able to pay attention to sensations of comfort without getting distracted for more than brief moments, then we can generalize the experience of comfort to other parts of the body.
We do so by focusing our attention more and more on the comfort and letting that fill our awareness. We do not try to push or spread the comfort around. We simply become the comfort and notice that there are places for it to flow. If we get distracted we sink our awareness back into the sensations of comfort.

Applying this to dealing with physical discomfort

If part of our body is in pain or uncomfortable we can use this technique to help. Start by being deeply aware of the comfort. If the uncomfortable part of your body grabs your attention acknowlege that but then shift back to the sensations of comfort. It is sometimes helpful to find sensations of comfort in a part of the body that is physically separate from the part that is uncomfortable. As you become more aware of the comfort, allow other parts of the body to resonate with that. The goal is not to get rid of the discomfort, but rather to increase the comfort so that the discomfort becomes less important by comparison.

Extending comfort to others

If we want to help someone who is in discomfort or pain feel better then we can use this technique in the following way. We feel the comfort of the breath and allow the sense of comfort to fill our body. Then we bring the other person into our awareness as a space into which our comfort can flow. We are not trying to push or force any comfort into them, we let them be in a space which the comfort we are full of can flow into.
I used this technique at times when doing medical procedures on patients and had some remarkable results in that the patient commented on how little pain the procedure caused.

The Heart Center, Compassion, and other questions

2010-02-09T05:35:00Z

Topics covered:

What if one feels nothing in the heart center. Does that mean one doesn't have a heart?
Does compassion really occur in the heart, or is it in the brain?
How is compassion different from an emotion?
Shifting awareness and shifting form

Does one have a (spiritual) heart even if one feels nothing in the heart center?

Meditations on the spiritual heart center, experienced in the middle of the chest, are usually done to evoke compassion. While the feelings can be comforting and pleasurable they are not a substitute for compassionate action. So if we are able to act compassionately, then we have a spiritual heart, whether or not we feel specific sensations in our heart.
The various statements about certain parts of the body being associated with certain kinds of spiritual energy are really more metaphors than anything else. Different traditions seem to have variations in what spiritual properties are associated with different parts of the body. There do seem to be some general tendencies, for example feelings of compassion are more associated with the center of the chest then sensations in the genital region. Or, opening one's hand seems to reduce feelings of anger and frustration more than clenching one's fist. However, these are still generalities. It is important for us as meditation practitioners to investigate how our awareness and attention vary our experience.
For some people, sensations in the heart center are very meaningful and lead to very positive changes in their actions and lives. For others, those sensations do not occur, but they have other experiences which lead them to experience meeting and love. One is not better or worse than the other. There are systems of meditation which involve placing awareness on specific regions of the body and focusing attention on sensations in those regions. There are other systems of meditation which do not involve that at all. Both types of meditation are equally enlightening. We have to find out what works for us.

Does compassion really occur in the heart, or is it in the brain?

The question as to whether the activity is in the brain or in the part of the body that is feeling the emotion seems somewhat irrelevant, at least from a practical perspective. If I feel something in my body and I direct my attention to that part of my body and it changes my experience in a constructive manner, or helps me to behave in a constructive manner, then that is what I do. It would probably be less helpful for me to try to figure out what part of my brain to pay attention to in the hope of altering some neurochemical processes. A very simple example of this is that if I want to hit a tennis ball then I keep my eye on the ball. I don't try to manipulate my neurotransmitters directly.
Instead of wondering where the "real" activity is taking place I think it is helpful to simply notice that if I place my attention on specific parts of my body with a certain intention I get certain kinds of results. If focusing my attention on the center of my chest helps me feel warmth, affection, or love, and those emotions make it easier for me to act in a loving manner, then I should focus my attention on the center of my chest when I need to act in a loving manner. If focusing my attention on the center of my chest does not help me act in a loving manner than when I need to act in a loving manner I need to find something else to focus my attention upon.

How is compassion different from an emotion?

Compassion is more than just an emotion or feeling. Compassion includes feelings, but also includes action and insight. Our feelings can motivate us to do something, but if we act simply to satisfy our feelings we can end up doing damage. Sometimes I have to ignore my feelings or go against them in order to act compassionately. For example, when we discipline our children we often have to act counter to our feelings of wanting to be kind. When we set boundaries with another person we have to go against our feeling of wanting to be nice.

Shifting awareness and shifting form

We can explore bringing our awareness and focusing our attention on different parts of the body or different forms to see what effects they generate. If experiencing Spirit as formless generates the effect that I need, then I don't need to experience any particular form. On the other hand, if experiencing Spirit in a particular form is helpful, then focusing my attention on that form they generate the effect that I need or that would be useful. Spirit can show up in an infinite number of forms and I need to play around with that to discover what forms are going to be most effective for me.
When we direct our attention toward a part of the body in order to generate a response, we do not necessarily need to know the anatomy of that part in order to generate the response. For example, if one is standing and directs attention to the sensations in the feet and experience how the body's weight is completely supported by the earth under thes feet than people often feel more secure and more stable. We don't need to know the anatomy of our feet in order to have the experience. Sometimes knowing the anatomy does enhance the experience but it is not always necessary.

Meditative exercise:

Bring a person to mind and simultaneously place your attention on a particular part of your body. Notice the thoughts, feelings, and images that arise. Now shift your awareness to a different part of your body. Notice any changes in your experience.

Spirit is constantly engaging in a play between formlessness and form. When we allow our experience to participate in that shift then our spirit is joining Spirit. We become used to generating different forms in our mind as we interact with both form and formlessness.

Meditative exercise:

Imagine a person who is in need, and imagine that your form is shifting to meet the need of that person. Let your imagination be creative here, do not limit yourself because you think "I can't take on that form." If a form arises quickly then let someone else come to mind and let a new form arise. The form may not be visual, sound is a form as well. It is a non-local form. We are not the source of the forms, we are the channel or instrument through which Spirit is expressing itself. We are one with Divine Light. And our form can shift as the Divine Light flows through us. This happens in our mind because our physical body is limited in how much it can shift form, however this prepares us to interact with Divine Light when we are no longer using our physical body.

Dealing with Anger (late post from two weeks ago)

2010-02-07T15:13:00Z

Topics covered

Anger is different from rage
Releasing rage
Dealing with anger
Reducing anger

Anger is different from rage

It is helpful if we distinguish anger from rage. Anger is an emotional response to a situation where we or someone we care about is being harmed, or at risk of being harmed. Rage is the impulse to act destructively in reponse to the anger. Anger and rage serve a protective response in nature. Together they are the "fight" in the "flight/fight/freeze" response to danger. If an animal is trying to eat us, then anger and rage can help us escape. However, in more complex situations rage leads to behaviors which make the situation worse.

Anger is a natural reponse when we or someone else is being threatened. Getting rid of anger is not helpful. We need to make sure that anger does not lead to rage, and if it does so then we release the rage without being destructive. That is, we will get angry from time to time, but we need not feel the urge to act destructively, and if we do we need to channel that impulse in a non-destructive manner.

Releasing rage

When something has triggered anger it is common for us to want to act destructively. This urge or impulse to act is like an energy that can control our behaviors. The impulse, rage, can cause us to say and do things which we are sorry for later. Suppressing the impulse does not work well because it simply goes deeper and recruits more and more cognitive and emotional resources and expresses itself in other behaviors, which are destructive, but not as obvious. Passive-aggressive behaviors are and example of this.

It is helpful for us to acknowlege that we are angry and feel the urge to hurt something. Once we acknowlege that we can do something to release the energy in the impulse without acting destructively. If we feel the impulse physically, like we want to smash or rend something, then it is helpful to do something that burns up that energy. Working out, tensing and releasing our muscles as we breathe are examples of this. It can help if we imagine the physical energy coming out of our body as we do the physical activity. It is NOT helpful to hit something. That simply reinforces the urge to act destructively. Mindless, repetitive activity like pushups or skipping rope, seems best. It is like our body is saying, "Something just attacked you! ACT NOW!" So if we use our muscles vigorously then we satisfy that need to move and the rage dissipates.

If the impulse shows up in our thoughts, then physical activity may not be helpful. A technique for this is to purge the toxic thoughts into a written form, say on paper or into a word processor. We let them out stream of consciousness and they do not have to be coherent. Paper is better for this than typing because sometimes the thoughts do not come out in well formed letter. After releasing the toxic thoughts we destroy the material immediately. We do not save it any more than we save toxic waste. We do not reread the material. Doing that would be like eating our own vomit. Purge the thoughts and destroy the material. I refer to this as cathartic journalling.

Dealing with anger

Once we have released enough rage so that the impulse to act destructively does not control us, we need to deal with the anger. If we don't then the rage will return. To deal with anger we have to look for something that happened that we did not want to happen, or something that did not happen that we wanted to happen. There may be several of these and they may be ongoing. We want to be aware of what leads to anger and not ignore it. Anger is a symptom that something needs to change. We need to make sure that we act to make constructive changes.

When we explore our anger we often find that other emotions are occurring as well. We realize that sadness or fear occurred first and anger showed up after that. If that is the case then we need to find a way to deal with the sadness or fear. I recall working with someone whose close relative was dying of cancer. She talked about how angry she was feeling all the time. I pointed out that her eyes were tearing as she said this and asked her to see if she was really sad. She burst into tears and was able to talk about how sad she felt that this was happening and that nothing could be done. As she accepted the sadness she felt the anger dissipate and she was able to think of ways that she could be helpful to her relative and to other relatives who were grieving this situation. This gave her a number of constructive things she was able to do.

A thorough discussion on dealing with anger would probably fill a book. So I will summarize by saying that anger is a call to action and should not be ignored. However, in order to act constructively we need to explore the situation and ourselves deeply and avoid judgments and stereotyping that justify destructive actions. What feels good in the moment is rarely useful in the long-run.

Reducing anger

Anger is a symptom that something needs to change. But often what needs to change is us. If we find ourselves getting angry often, then we need to look at how we are relating to our environment. We need to look for expectations that are unreasonable or wants that we have mistakenly labeled as needs. Mindfulness practice is useful for this. In mindfulness we explore our thoughts, attraction and aversion, and our way of being in the world. All those can influence our emotional responses to situations. As we learn to reduce our reactivity and develop more equanimity, then we don't get angry over stuff that doesn't matter. Sure, it may irritate us, but we can shrug that off. That enables us to save our energy for the things that do matter so we can deal with them appropriately.

Brief Practice, Posture, and Conflict

2010-01-25T03:31:00Z

Topics covered:

Brief Practice (again)
Posture
Empathy during conflict

Brief practice

Another way of thinking of brief practice is that we are breaking up our rhythm in the world to develop a rhythm with Spirit. Eventually we are able to stay in rhythm with Spirit while moving smoothly through the world.

The simplest brief practice is to remember "I am Light" or "I am Love". That is practicing the presence of Spirit. We are one with Spirit andwe acknowledge that in every moment that we can remember.

We can develop the habit of brief practice by coupling the briefpractice with an action that we do frequently during the day. Forinstance making a phone call or opening a door or using the bathroom, or washing our hands, ... .

Postures for meditation

I advise people to find the posture that facilitates their intention for the meditation and use that. Some people find that it helps them to be in the same posture everytime they meditate. Others find that changing postures helps. Do whatworks for you.

My opinion is that there is no particular position that will work the same for everyone. So what works for some one else may not work the same for you.

Is empathy with someone who is hostile the equivalent of taking in toxic energy?

If I have to deal with someone whose views are extremely different from mine, even ones that I might consider evil, then it is especially important for me to seek to understand them. First of all, too often we jump to conclusions about what people represent or how hostile they really are. By making sure we understand them, then we can avoid conflict with those we may actually be in agreement with.

Second, even if we have significant differences, we may also have areas of common ground, and by letting the other get close enough I may find that we can use our similarities to work through our differences.

Finally, even if our differences are so significant that we are going to end up in conflict, the more I understand the other the more likely I am to engage in that conflict successfully. The first requirement of combat is to know yourself. The second is to know your opponent. Too many conflicts have been lost because someone underestimated or misunderstood their opponent.

The question of how to combat ideas or people who are hostile to us is one that I can't answer in general. I don't think that violence is an effective method of resolving conflict in the long run, no matter how attractive it may appear as a quick solution. However, I can't say that violence is never needed. I am quite certain though that the effects of violence are hard to predict, and that violence is very hard to undo.

I've had a couple of requests to cover anger vs. rage and this seems to lead into that so perhaps I'll explore that in the next class.

Brief Practice - What, Why and How

2010-01-19T04:37:00Z

Topics Covered

What is brief practice?
Why is brief practice important?
How do I do brief practice?

What is brief practice?

Briefly, brief practice involves doing a short meditation technique (2 min or less) with as little break from the daily rhythm as possible. For example, if you are driving you can focus on your breath when you are stopped at red lights. You can also focus on your breath before you start driving and after you finish driving. If you make a habit of this then every time you drive you will have at least two short meditation sessions, and more if you get stopped by red lights.

Why is brief practice important?

Brief practice teaches us several things. First we learn to focus our awareness and attention quickly. Our mind learns that it may not have 15 minutes to focus. So it learns to do so quickly. Second, we learn to apply meditation in real life situations. If we only practice in settings where it is quiet and calm, then we will not learn how to use meditation when the environment is noisy or stressful. Those are the times we really need meditation so it is important to practice in those settings. Finally, because there are many more settings in which we can use brief practices we can create many more meditation techniques. This teaches our mind how to create techniques which develops our ability more than just practicing techniques we have been taught.

How do I do brief practice?

First start by thinking about the "between times" in your day. These are the times when your attention does not need to be focused on what you are doing. For example, walking from one room to another; using the bathroom; washing your hands; ... .

Next find a short meditation technique, or create a short version of an extended technique that you know of.

Then create a way of reminding yourself to do that technique in the "between times" throughout the day.

One of my favorite short techniques is "grounding." Grounding requires you to simply notice how your weight is supported by something. You bring your attention to the part of your body that your weight is resting upon, then you let your weight sink into that support. Grounding can be done anywhere as long as you are not in free fall. If you are standing you ground by being aware of the soles of your feet. If you are walking then you ground by being aware of one sole after another. Grounding helps you relax while staying present. Its excellent for learning to be calm under pressure.

Life got ahead of me, catching up

2010-01-12T04:47:00Z

Sorry about not posting this week.

Lots of stuff happening. Nothing bad, but juggling too many things at once and this post will have to wait.

Christmas Season Reflections

2009-12-28T04:33:00Z

Light and Spirit

It is interesting that in the Christian tradition we celebrate the coming of Jesus as Light with the passing of the shortest day of the year (in the Northern Hemisphere) and the gradual of light to the world. So there is something very important about the connection between Spirit and light.

What does physical light do? It enables us to see. So in some way Spirit and the presence of Spirit must enable us to perceive. I think that just as light clears away darkness, Spirit helps us perceive by clearing away our judgments. When I ponder the Gospels, I am struck by the contrast between the judgmental thinking of the culture and Jesus' refusal to judge.

This, for me, is the beauty in the story of Jesus. He didn't (and still doesn't) judge. Enlightenment is about seeing through our judgements. Our mind, or ego creates them, but the presence of Spirit illuminates them as the illusions they are. When we are enlightened we too are able to see our judgments as illusions and avoid taking action on them.

How are we to act if we are not judging? I don't know. But I find that describing is an antidote to judging. The more I force myself to explore a situation so I can describe it precisely AND completely the easier it is to notice my judgments as judgments and to separate from them. This can be very hard, because a judgment can feel so true, especially if I am judging someone who has hurt me. So a close relationship with Spirit helps here. I ask Spirit to help me perceive the way Spirit perceives. I may still respond firmly, even forcefully, but by disengaging from my judgments I am less likely to over-react, and more likely to notice if my choice of action is not yielding the results I want and therefore needs to be changed.

So as we approach the end of the decade, perhaps we can meditate to find the judgments we hold onto and ask Spirit to help us perceive more deeply. We do this so that we can act more effectively.

Logistic Note

No class on Tuesday 12/29/2009. Next class is on Tuesday 1/5/2010. (Yes! I got the year right the first time. We'll see how long that lasts.)

Quiet Mind, Being Loved, and Justifying War

2009-12-22T04:27:00Z

Topics covered

Does Quieting the Mind Also Quiet the Body?
Eyes Open vs Eyes Closed Meditation Techniques
Meditation and Conserving "Energy"
Prayer and Requests
Reminding Oneself "I am Loved"
Is War Justified?

If I quiet my mind, I often don't feel my heart rate slow or breathing slow.

A meditation technique can affect one or more of the following: perceptual processes, feelings, thoughts, and other body processes. Depending on the type of meditation you are doing you will affect one or more of these processes in various ways. So a technique that quiets the mind may not quiet the body, i.e. slow heart rate or breathing. For example, if I am snowboarding down a difficult run I can apply the meditative skills that enable me to focus intently on my immediate environment. My mind gets incredibly quite when I do that. However my heart rate certainly stays up, nor would I want it to slow down. If I am looking for an experience of inner quiet, then if I am quiet inside I have done the technique successfully. It doesn't matter if my breathing or heart rate change. They may, or they may not.

It is very important for us to evaluate a technique by comparing the results with our intention so that we do not get confused by the lack of extraneous results or epiphenomena. For example, people often believe that spiritual health is associated with physical health. It is true that living a spiritually healthy life often enhances physical health, largely because a spiritual lifestyle keeps us from a lot of unhealthy habits. However rating one's spiritual health by one's physical health is a mistake. if I want physical health than I should practice techniques that enhance physical health. If I want spiritual health than I should practice techniques that enhance spiritual health and look for increases in compassion, patience, and other qualities that are associated with Spirit. Of course, I can practice both kinds of techniques and enhance both physical and spiritual health.

Can practicing with the eyes half-open quiet the mind more than practicing with the eyes closed?

The short answer is "Yes". So you can try both eyes-open and eyes-closed techniques. The long answer is that meditation is not just about quieting the mind. It is about training the mind and body to develop certain skills. Sometimes those skills are developed more effectively with an eyes-closed technique and sometimes they are developed more effectively with an eyes-open technique.

Does meditation reduce our sense of losing "energy"? (Here energy is used metaphorically as a subjective experience.)

Meditation techniques reduce our reactivity to small, unimportant things. By reducing the reactivity to the "small stuff" we waste a lot less energy throughout the day. Meditation techniques also train mental abilities that increase our ability to respond effectively. Effective responses tend to use much less energy in the long run. So meditation techniques increase our effectiveness and efficiency. For example, if something tends to make me angry than meditation can keep me from reacting in a rageful manner. Since rage is often a waste of energy this conserves my energy when events occur. Meditation can also help me explore the situation that tends to make me angry so I can figure out how to respond effectively. Doing so will reduce the frequency of that situation thereby reducing the amount of energy I have to spend responding to it.

Meditation techniques are supposed to increase my sense of energy, but sometimes I feel drained anyway. (The context for this was the sense of emotional fatigue when dealing with a family member in the hospital.)

Meditation is not going to keep us from being drained by events which are supposed to be draining. We can use meditation to keep our mind from making the situation worse and thereby reducing the energy drain we feel from it. However life is going to hand us events that feel like they drain our energy, whether we meditate or not. Meditation keeps us from making the situation worse, and helps us learn from situations so that when they occur again we are able to respond more effectively than we did the first time.

Is it OK to make requests in prayer?

I believe that it is fine to ask for things in prayer. We just have to realize that prayer should be more than just asking for things. Prayer is about developing the relationship with Spirit. If the only way we relate is by asking for things we are not going to develop much of a relationship.

"I am Loved" as a meditation

Many of our spontaneous thoughts, or at least mine, seem to have fear underneath them. Now there is no real reason why spontaneous thoughts should be based on fear rather than based on love. Certainly the habit of listening to fear-related thoughts or worries only reinforces what is a useless, unhealthy habit. We can counter that by reminding ourselves that we are loved.

To use this as a meditation we repeat that statement mentally every now and then, allowing ourselves to feel the thoughts and emotions, images and memories that arise in response to it. Out intention is to return to that thought and open or soften to any thoughts, feelings, images or memories which resonate with it or are coherent with it. Phenomena which are not coherent with the idea of being loved are simply observed in a neutral manner. We can do this for a few seconds, or many minutes. It can be very interesting to notice what shows up as we contemplate the idea "I am loved". (Note: Do not repeat the thought forcefully or rapidly. The thought is to be a gentle reminder.)

As the idea "I am loved" becomes more real and has a greater influence over our spontaneous thoughts and emotions, it also starts to influence our behavior. We begin to express what we are feeling more naturally and the idea "I am loved" gives birth to the idea "I am loving". This helps us experience the prayer "I am Spirit, Spirit is in me, we are one." Spirit is love and when I am one with Spirit than I am loved as well.

Of course, this state of being doesn't become continuous or constant just because we want it to. It takes practice. I use the snowboarding analogy a lot because when I am feeling that sense of being loved and loving it's like when I'm on the snowboard and gliding along effortlessly. However, I get distracted or something upsets my balance and I'm no longer gliding along effortlessly. However, I simply pick myself up and get back to going down the slope. There's no point in blaming myself for getting upset. Falling is part of snowboarding (at least it is for me). So as we move through life and we forget that we are loved and loving and shift back into a fear-based pattern, that's okay. We simply pick ourselves up and get back on track.

One of the most powerful types of techniques for reducing the frequency of "falls" is what I call the "redo". I may not be able to prepare for every event that will knock me off balance, i.e. out of the state of feeling loved. However, if something has knocked me off balance than I want to notice it, and replay the experience in my imagination, this time correcting the mistakes I have made. The more deeply I can explore the situation where I made a mistake the more effectively I can create alternatives that would have been more effective. By imagining them vividly and repeatedly I train my mind to handle that situation in a more loving manner than I originally did. When we make a habit of reviewing events, even small ones, that process becomes automatic and we are learning from our mistakes spontaneously.

I'll use the snowboarding analogy again. After having fallen, I can replay what was happening just before I fell. I can think about or feel how my balance may have shifted incorrectly and imagine it shifting correctly. I may also have to reflect on other factors such as the decision to go down the slope in the first place. Perhaps the redo would involve choosing to go down an easier slope because I had been fatigued. I may also have to reflect on my attitude before I fell. Was I rushing, or frustrated with going slower than I wanted to. If that were the case then I would have to imagine going down the slope with a different attitude, not just correcting my balance. So when we use the redo technique to increase our ability to love we have to reflect on our perceptions, thoughts, feelings, internal state, and way of relating to the situation. By doing so we find numerous ways that we could have done things in a more loving manner.

When I experience being loved and feel joyful as a result what do I do when I then remember all the pain and suffering in the world?

I think the answer is that we need to learn to feel both joy and pain. If we only experience the pain and suffering in the world then we have no resources to draw upon that may change that, other than anger and rage. If we only experience joy and ignore the pain and suffering of the world than we are not useful to anyone else. We need to expand our ability to experience numerous emotions at once and choose which to act upon. We also want to choose which emotions to cultivate. So we observe what is, except the experiences that arise without censoring them, but choose which to cultivate and which to let guide our actions. If we see someone who has been hurt and help them, but with a sense of anger at the person who hurt them, than we am not doing them as much good as if we help them with a sense of joy at being able to render them aid. In the first case, the anger will interfere in the relationship with the person whom we are helping. We will not be focused on the one who needs help but on the one who harmed and that reduces our ability to help.

The media tends to emphasize what is emotionally distressing, rather than what is emotionally soothing or even neutral. For example, in the last week the media has been saturated with the story of Tiger Woods. However, millions of people are faithful to their spouses. That, however, will not make the headlines. So our perception of reality gets skewed in a negative and, I would say, destructive manner.

Can war really be justified? The context was President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech.

I will address this from a spiritual perspective as much as possible and leaving aside the political perspective. The political perspective is associated with what kind of country one wants America to be. If America is to be more of an empire or a world-policemen, or more focused on its own issues? That is a political discussion and I won't go into that.

The question of war being just and justifying war at an acceptance of a Nobel Peace Prize, is different. I think justifying war at the Noble Peace Prize acceptance speech is as inappropriate as justifying corporal punishment at a conference on preventing child abuse.

Second, I think it is always possible to justify war. The question is not whether a war can be justified but whether one chooses to justify it or not. One can usually justify peace just as much as one can justify war. The person who choose to justify war instead of peace is telling you, not about the situation, but about themselves.

Furthermore, the statements that a person makes when justifying war must be looked at carefully. Justifying something so destructive should be done with a meticulous attention to the truth and accuracy of the statements being used to make the justification. Having read President Obama's speech I have to say that it contains several statements which are not true, therefore it is not a logical justification.

I think we need to remember that President Obama is a president not a pope. Expecting spiritual leadership from a politician is as absurd as expecting moral leadership from a golfer. If we want to find spiritual leadership we should really look to ourselves. We all have the ability to live an exemplary spiritual life. It just takes commitment and practice. When we are living each day as the best example we can live as, then we stop looking for external authorities, and we are much harder to fool.

Brief Practice Sessions and Non-Visual Experience

2009-12-14T17:45:00Z

Topics Covered:

How long should I meditate for?
Using short meditation sessions
Divine Light Prayer wording
Avoiding hurry
What if we don't visualize anything when we connect with Spirit?

How long should I meditate for?

Longer meditation sessions allow me to explore a technique more deeply or explore and experience more deeply. However, if I only use long meditation sessions, 15 minutes or longer, then I inadvertently train my mind to take a long time to shift into a meditative state.
In order to use meditation techniques practically I need to train my mind to use them quickly. This means I need to use short versions of the meditation technique, 3 minutes or less, throughout the day in a variety of situations. By practicing both short and long sessions I train my mind to move into a deep state of meditation quickly. I explained this in more detail "Real Meditation in Minutes a Day", pp 4-5 (You are invited to check the link to the right for more information about this book if you do not already have it).

When we use meditation as a spiritual tool we need to do two things. We need to train our mind, and we need to develop a relationship with spirit. Imagine we want to develop a relationship with a person who speaks a different language. Then we need to learn the language, and we need to speak to them in that language. That means we need to spend time studying the language as well as speaking with them. If we only study the language using extended study sessions, then we will not learn to use the language in real life. We need to practice using the language spontaneously in order to become fluent in it.

When we use meditation for spiritual purposes we are training our mind to relate to spirit and then need to use those new abilities to relate to Spirit. Extended meditation sessions and short meditation sessions are needed to train our mind to be able to "speak" Spirits language fluently. Then we simply need to use those abilities to maintain a more and more continuous and deeper awareness of Spirit's presence.

Of the two types of meditation I think that the short sessions are more important than the long sessions. So if you are only going to make time to practice one type of session, cultivate the habit of practicing short meditation sessions throughout the day.

Using Brief Sessions

When we practice short meditation sessions then we start practicing them more and more with the flow of the day. We find ourselves using meditative techniques spontaneously and adapting those techniques to our daily lives. For example, when we use the breath as a cue to a short meditation session, then we always have that cue available since we always have to breathe. We can then use that even in a conversation, taking a long slow breath to calm and to center ourselves and reconnect with spirit in order to make the conversation more effective.

I don't think we have to worry about formulas for meditation, doing them for the right length of time, doing it the right way, when our purpose is to relate to Spirit. Our relationship with Spirit becomes deeper when we allow ourselves to express more honestly. There are times I don't want to sit and meditate and it's almost like I'm saying to Spirit I'm not going to hang out with you if you want me to sit and meditate. I'm going to do some yoga or go for a walk and will talk while I do that. So sometimes I take extended sessions of quiet with Spirit and other times I am spending different kinds of time with Spirit. It's like having a partner. Sometimes you're having dinner together, sometimes you're making love, and sometimes you're sitting quietly enjoying each other's presence, or talking, or doing household tasks together, or even going and doing your own duties remembering each other's presence.

St. Teresa mentioned, I think in her autobiography, that she had gotten upset with a spiritual director who told someone with a lot of household duties to ignore them in order to spend more time in prayer. St. Teresa stated that it would have been much more effective for him to teach her how to engage in her duties in a spirit of prayer since ignoring them caused problems for the rest of the household.

We can meditate, or contemplate, that is, think deeply on, the idea of how to make short sessions happen throughout the day. If we are trying to connect with spirit more deeply, then we should reflect on how we can make that an increasingly continuous experience during our daily lives. Think about the various activities you engage in and what it would be like to feel a strong presence of spirit while doing them. Ask yourself how you would speak how you would hold your body, how you agree, how you reduce your senses, how you would interpret what you observed and how you would react or respond.

When we started noticing how our connection with Spirit varies throughout the day, we start to realize there are certain "triggers" which tend to disrupt that connection. We can use meditation to reflect on these and explore various techniques that will help us maintain the connection even if that trigger occurs. This is important because in my experience the times I need that connection most are when the trigger is occurring. So I want to practice and make sure I can maintain the connection with Spirit even with someone pushes one of my buttons.

Divine Light Prayer Wording

A question was asked about using the phrase "I am loved by Divine Light". I think this is an excellent idea, and I think it is fine to add other verbs into that prayer. Remember, it's about relationship and if you are experiencing something from Divine Light then put that into the prayer to affirm it. Because then you are describing your experience of the relationship.

One Method for Avoiding Hurry

I call this "receiving your experience". Allow your visual experience to come to you, allow sounds to come to you, allow your breath to fall into you, and allow the feeling of being in your body to drop into your feet or whatever you are resting upon. This is a very visceral experience and for me is much more effective at slowing me down than telling myself to slow down. When I am allowing myself to receive the world than I can receive the future as it arrives instead of rushing off toward it.

Do We Need to Have a Visual Form in Our Experience of Spirit?

Based on my readings, the answer is "No". My experience is more of a feeling, or kinesthetic experience than anything visual or auditory. It's like sensing that someone is very very close to me even if I can't see them. Sometimes the feeling is as if that presence is within me looking out through my eyes or feeling with my hands. However, if I look to see who is there a form is not distinct. The presence can have different qualities at different times. I use the word "light" a lot as light is what enables me to be aware visually, and this presence is what enables me to be aware compassionately. When I am sensing the presence and connected to it deeply that is when I feel alive, and when that presence is not there or I am acting in a way that disrupts the connection, then I feel much less alive, though I sometimes notice the difference only in hindsight.

Angels, Infinity, Anger, ...

2009-12-08T04:17:00Z

The discussion ranged widely last week. Each topic got a bit of discussion and there wasn't time to go into any one in depth.

Topics covered

Spiritual qualities as angels
Form, emptiness and infinity
Meditation on form vs formlessness
Are good and evil relative? Light vs. dark?
Dealing with anger, anger is different from rage.

Spiritual Qualities as Angels

One person described meditating on the angel of neatness and how that enabled her to be more organized in an effortless manner. There was a balance and flow to the idea of neatness so that she was able to be neater without obsessing about it. That is a sign that we are connecting with an aspect of Spirit. The quality has a personal feel to it. We are relating to someone, not something. We are expressing the quality in a way that flows smoothly even though we are behaving differently. Our effort, if you will, is put into maintaining the connection with the spiritual quality, in this case the angel of neatness, Spirit then does the work and our behavior seems to change on its own.

When we are expressing a spiritual quality, letting that take form,then we don't have to know exactly how that is supposed to look beforewe start to express it. It is only by daring to express that we learnabout the quality. If I want to express compassion, then I can't waituntil I know everything about compassion before starting to express it,otherwise I will never start. I need to balance contemplation andaction. Action with contemplation will cause a lot of damage, damage bycommission. Contemplation without action will also cause a lot ofdamage, damage by omission. So we meditate on the spiritual qualities,thinking deeply about them, reading about others who have expressedthem well, imagining how we can bring those into our lives, and then weact on what we discover. As we act we reflect on the results of ouractions and our actions become more developed.

Form, Emptiness and Infinity

We spent a good bit of time discussing form and emptiness in the context of something that is infinite. The problem with discussing this is that when we use words we are forced to use concepts and Spirit is beyond conceptualization. Even when we use the word "infinite" our mind limits that infinity with some concept. If Spirit is infinite, then Spirit is infinitely infinite. Even these words are merely metaphors for a reality that is not describable.

Meditation on Form vs Formlessness

Going back to emptiness and form, remember that emptiness represents the space in which a form may arise or where change can occur to an existing form. Meditating on phenomena that are somewhat constrained and yet undefined within those constraints can help us experience this. For example, the seashore is a place where the exact boundary between earth and the sea is constantly changing even though the general location is set. That could help us understand and experience emptiness within form. We can practice exploring how even well-defined concepts still have undefined aspects, or emptiness within them. This can help us avoid being trapped by our own righteousness, when we have fallen prey to the delusion that our conceptualization is the right one.

One question that keeps coming up is if Spirit is everywhere and what is the point of meditating on particular forms. The answer is that if we want to experience Spirit in a world of form then we have to express Spirit in some form. The formless nature of Spirit is certainly present everywhere. However, if I want to affect the world of form in a spiritual manner then I have to express Spirit, or spiritual quality, in particular form, specific thoughts, words, behaviors in time and space. I am not going to be able to affect in the world of form very much if I only express Spirit as formlessness.

Another question had to do with knowing whether what we visualize is a creation of our own mind or a spiritual experience. Any form is a creation of our own mind. The question is are the forms that are arising coming from our interaction with Spirit. One way of knowing this is by looking at the results. Most spiritual teachers have advised that you know that you've had a spiritual experience if your behavior changes for the better. If not, then no matter what form the experience took it was more interaction with yourself or your own ego rather than Spirit. Another characteristic of forms that arise out of an interaction with a transcendent presence is that they develop a spontaneity to their appearance and disappearance. I have a sense that I am not in control of what shows up. I am in control of how I interact with it.

This is related to what Carl Jung called "active imagination" and that could be the topic for another class.

Are Good and Evil Relative?

This led to a question about what results are "better" and whether I am being prejudiced saying that some qualities or results such as compassion or kindness are more spiritual than other results. There are a number of responses to this. First, the qualities that I designate as spiritual tell you the nature of the spirit I am worshiping. It doesn't matter what name I give that Spirit. If I consistently work to develop and express certain qualities than that is what I am worshiping.

Now we can ask if any qualities just as good as any others. If I want to express avarice, is that just as spiritual as generosity? To me the answer I get from studying and experience is that the nature of the Spirit is love. That love is beyond conception so that no matter how I try to express it going to be missing something. However, some qualities are more consistent or more resonant with love then others. To the extent that I want to participate in a close relationship with Spirit then I want to express love more completely.

From Spirit's perspective as infinite love my guess is that no matter what behavior I express Spirit is going to find a way to turn that to the service of love. So no matter what I do or how I behave Spirit is going to win in the end. One of the Desert Fathers in the Christian tradition stated that the last being to enter heaven would be the devil, since no matter how evil the devil was, nothing could withstand the infinite love of God in the end.

A musical metaphor may help here. Imagine a jazz bandin which one of the players is improvising, but not holding to thechord progression well. If the other players in the band are skilful,then they will be able to adjust what they are playing so that theimprovisation still sounds good. So no matter what human behaviorsSpirit has to work with, Spirit is skifull enough to weave a harmony with themso that in the end love will be the result.

Does Light Necessitate Darkness?

One comment was that if you have light then you have to have darkness. I do not think this is necessarily true. Dark is not the opposite of light. Darkness is the absence of light, and darkness only exists when something can obscure the light. In the spiritual world, the world of formlessnes, the light does not come from any direction, the light is the basis for that world and so nothing can obscure it. It is only in the world of form that forms can exist that block the light, or block our perception of it.

Anger vs. Rage

There is a lot of confusion about anger and if anger is bad or if spiritual people will feel anger. I find it helpful to separate anger and rage.

Anger is an emotion, that is all. The purpose of that emotion is to inform us that something should be happening that isn't, or something that is happening shouldn't. We need to explore the anger so that we can decide how to respond to the situation. It may be that after we explore the situation we realize that our anger, our emotion, was misplaced; there was nothing to be angry about. It may be that we need to act firmly, even violently, however we are not doing so because we are angry, but because the situation demands that reponse. If we allow the anger to be in control of our behavior, then we are acting with rage, and that usually makes the situation worse.

Questions about anger came up repeatedly. I will develop these more in another session.

Emptiness, Form, Expressing Spiritual Qualities

2009-11-30T04:44:00Z

There were some excellent questions on emptiness as well as practical questions about quieting the mind.

Topics covered:

emptiness within form
quieting the mind
expressing a spiritual quality in the physical world

Emptiness Within Form

Emptiness is the space in which form arises. Emptiness is therefore not the absence of something, but rather the potential for something to arise. When we hear about "emptying the mind", we often misconstrue that as thinking we need to get rid of all the forms in our mind, especially thoughts. This is not true and causes a lot of wasted effort. The emptiness that we want is the creativity for allowing new forms to arise. In any form that exists there is the potential for new forms to arise. That is the emptiness within form. When our mind is empty form arise without our being attached to them.

When we allow our mind to find the emptiness within a particular form we increase our creativity. For example, a relationship has a form: the things that are said, the actions that are done, the feelings we have about the relationship. In a difficult relationship we usually get stuck with the form of the relationship. We use our mind to reinforce the dysfunctional form. When we look for the emptiness in the form of the relationship, the places in which something new can arise, then we often find a creative way of dealing with the relationship that reduces the dysfunction.

Emptiness is not the opposite of form. Emptiness is the complement of form. In any form there is emptiness, the potential for additional or new forms to arise. Forms also dissolve back into emptiness losing their form and going back into that space and creative potential.

Quieting the Mind

The process of quieting the mind does not involve getting rid of thoughts or stopping thoughts and images. Quieting the mind has two components. The first is to recognize the nature of mind as emptiness, that space in which forms are created. The second is not to get attached to any form but simply notice it as a creation of the mind. Thoughts come and go they are just thoughts; images come and go they are just images. The mind gets quiet because we stop reacting to its contents. If we react by trying to silence the mind using effort than we just create a different kind of noise.

Imagine a chain of dominoes set up so that when you knock the first one over all the rest fall in sequence. That is what our normal thought stream is like. One thought generates a thought as a response which generates another thought as a response and so on. Quieting the mind is like moving the dominoes farther apart so that when one falls it doesn't knock any others over. When our mind is quiet a thought will occur, and that is all. It is just that thought, no response.

When we are trying to quiet our mind using force, then we start checking to see if it has gotten quiet. That is like opening your refrigerator door to see if the light inside the refrigerator has gone off. Just stop and let thoughts be just thoughts.

Expressing a Spiritual Quality in the Physical World

If we want to practice being a spiritual presence we can do so by picking a spiritual quality to express throughout the day. We start by thinking and reflecting on the quality, for example, kindness. This could be considered a form of meditation or contemplation even though it involves thinking. We are thinking deeply here, not reactively. After contemplating the quality we want to imagine how we would act, how we would speak, what our body would feel like, what we would think and imagines as we expressed that quality in our daily life.

After doing this meditative work we will have specific ideas on what we will be doing and saying in order to bring that spiritual quality into the physical world. We then need to figure out how to remind ourselves to do and say these things.

The reminders should be simple. We should also change them every 1-2 days in order to keep noticing them. If we don't change them then our mind will screen them out because they are not changing.

I find it useful to pick a quality and work with it for a week or more. Then I can change qualities. After working with a few qualities I go back to an earlier quality and find that I have a deeper understanding of it.

A couple of qualities that seem particularly helpful this time of year (in the US anyway) are patience and gratitude. It is easy to get stressed out with the holidays and slowing down and being thankful are antidotes to that.

Spirit and Formlessness

2009-11-21T11:43:00Z

Topics Covered

Questions asked:
- Séances
- Coincidences
Spirit as Form and Spirit as Formlessness

Do the spirits of deceased loved ones communicate in séances?

A spiritual experience is perceived in some sort of form. However, that form is the way the spiritual experience is expressing itself on a particular person's consciousness at a particular time. There is not going to be any objective physical manifestation of this that will be experienced the same by a number of individuals. The idea that one has to summon the spirit of a loved one and that spirit will then communicate via the manipulation of external physical objects is, to me, absurd. First, a spiritual presence is not localized in time and space and therefore does not need to come from anywhere. Second, the connection is within our consciousness and the experience will be internal, not external.

Are meaningful coincidences a physical manifestation of Spirit?

Our ability to see meaning in events that we call coincidences is an expression of our relationship with Spirit. In any series of events, my mind tends to pick out those that are significant and may assign a meaning to those. If I choose certain events as meaningful and choose to see those as a sign of Spirit’s action in the world, the events I have chosen to see as meaningful, and the meaning I give them tells you about how I see Spirit. Remember, I do not believe that Spirit is controlling events in the world. Therefore, coincidences are just coincidences. However, the meaning I choose to give those coincidences has a big effect on how I relate to Spirit and to the world. I can choose events and assign meanings that make me cynical, or I can choose events and assign meanings that increase my sense of loving and being loved. There is no objective way of deciding which of these is true. But if I choose the latter I'm going to be happier and the others around me will be happier.

Spirit as Form and Spirit as Formlessness

Some people find that it is hard to connect with Spirit in a particular form. However, we don't need to use a particular form to experience Spirit. Spirit is essentially formless and the forms we perceive in the connection are more of a convenience for our nervous system than anything else. Some mystical traditions start with a particular form and then move toward formlessness. I consider Christian mysticism and Tibetan Buddhism as taking this path. Other mystical traditions go directly to formlessness, for example, Zen, or perhaps the Quaker tradition in Christianity.

If we have been used to connecting with Spirit in a particular form, then it can be distressing when that form starts to become less and less formed. The distress that this causes our consciousness has been described as the "Dark Night of the Soul". We feel like Spirit is becoming more distant or think that we have been doing something wrong in our meditation. These are not the case. In becoming more formless, Spirit trying to teach us that the form was a creation of our mind, and to relate to Spirit more directly we have to let go of that form. In the Christian tradition this is described in John of the Cross’ works, especially The Dark Night of the Soul, and in the anonymous English text, The Cloud of Unknowing.

The experience of Spirit as formless does not have to be distressing. It is our attachment to form that makes it distressing. Our spirit as formless as well so our true nature is formlessness. Meditation techniques that I call "opening techniques" help us let go of our attachment to form. One of these is to imagine that you are looking up at the empty blue sky, perhaps in a very high place so that there is a huge amount of space around you and you can see into the space above you. As you gaze into the emptiness allow yourself to identify with, to feel that vastness as yourself. The emptiness is not nothingness. There is a presence there, but it is empty of form. This is an important distinction. When I speak of the emptiness I am referring to the emptiness of form not to nothingness. Emptiness is presence without form.

As you experience the emptiness as yourself your mind can naturally let go of forms and rest. In the emptiness, forms may arise and you may find yourself identifying with those and losing track of the sense of vastness or emptiness. That is okay, you can always return your awareness to the emptiness. While experiencing emptiness you can repeat a short prayer every now and then. I like to use the Divine Light Prayer, "I am created by Divine Light. I am sustained by Divine Light. I am protected by Divine Light. I am surrounded by Divine Light. I am one with Divine Light."

Over time you will get used to forms arising in this emptinesss and dissolving. As you experience this interplay you realize that "emptiness is nothing but form and form is nothing but emptiness."

After practicing a meditation on formlessness it can take a little bit of time to return to experiencing three-dimensional forms in time and space. So reorient gently returning your awareness to time and place by placing your attention on your surroundings and feeling the usual outlines of your body and maybe wiggling your fingers and toes. If you still feel a bit spacey, then it can help to stretch a bit taking some big breaths. You can also wash your face in cold water. If you still feel spacey you can get something to eat. My experience is that eating something is more effective than having something to drink. So a piece of toast would be better than a cup of tea.

Meditation on formlessness should be balanced by meditation on form. We live in a world of form and the forms that we relate to and express are important. So our meditation on formlessness should help us refine the forms that we perceive and express and express them more effectively in our daily lives. Remember, spiritual practice is not just about being “spiritual”, it's about showing up as a spiritual presence that takes form in and affects the physical world.

Spirit as Family

2009-11-17T04:21:00Z

One question that was raised was why people seem to commit heinous acts of violence.

I am not sure why. Very intelligent people have proposed numerous reasons for this behavior. I am not sure if any of the explanations are useful. However, one process that seems to reduce violence is a deep connection with Spirit. One that increases our ability to love.

Unfortunately, too often religious practices seem to develop a relationship with a spirit that increases our ability to hate. Therefore we have to make sure that we are practicing in ways that increase our love. Connecting with Spirit in certain forms increases love and connecting with other forms does not.

One theme that seems consistent is that relating to spirit as a judge decreases our ability to love. In that case I would not say that one is connecting with Spirit but something that is masquerading as Spirit, since the result is less love.

The way we relate to Spirit determines the effect on our spirit and our emotions and behaviors. We are most often taught to relate to Spirit as all-powerful judge who sits at the top of some sort of hierarchy. Rev. Matthew Fox calls this "worshup". Mystical traditions and the great spiritual teachers propose very different forms of relationship. The common metaphor in the mystical traditions is that of Spirit as lover. Another metaphor, is that of parent, father or mother. A third metaphor implied in the New Testament, is that of Spirit as sibling. (Jesus describes himself as the Son Of God, and ourselves as children of God. That makes us siblings with Him. And since He is God we are siblings with God.)

The key element in the mystical relationship with Spirit is familiarity. We are supposed to become as familiar with Spirit as we are with beloved family members. In fact the root of "familiar" is the Latin word "familia" which means family. So in relating with Spirit, relating as if Spirit is a family member is appropriate.

The meditation therefore involves imagining Spirit as a family member with whom we have a loving relationship. The relationship may be that of parent, sibling, spouse, or even child. When we do this, it can bring up thoughts and feelings about our own family members. Since these are often less than optimal, we may project those difficulties onto the relationship with Spirit in this form.

That can help us work through some of our own emotional pain associated with family relationships. On the other hand, if it makes it too difficult to connect with Spirit, then we can use a different family relationship or allow the relationship to take a different form altogether, or to be formless, which will be the topic of next week's class.

Praying With Those Who Have Died

2009-11-08T22:26:00Z

Several people had a close friend die last week and the issue of death came up. The intention of these techniques it to experience a connection with the presence of a being who is no longer alive. I will explain the instructions for a person who has died, but the techniques can be used for an animal as well.

These notes briefly describe some complex meditation techniques which are accompanied by a lot of verbal explanations. I cannot put all those here, but if you have questions please post them as comments.

Topics covered

Principles of praying with the dead
Techniques for praying with the dead

Principles:

When we do a spiritual practice to connect with the spirit or presence of someone who has died our intention is to evoke a purely internal experience. We are to avoid trying to obtain any experience that others can perceive.

From the spiritual perspective death is not an ending. Therefore there it is perfectly reasonable for us to be able to continue to connect with someone who has died. The difference is that we are connecting with their spirit, their presence, and not their form. In order to do this we need to train ourselves to experience presence without requiring it to be in a particular form.

So in order to connect with someone who has died we need to be able to open to their presence. How to do this?

The physical form of the person, their body, voice, actions, etc. were all an expression of certain qualities. Those qualities are closer to what I mean by presence. The person had a certain way of being in the world. That way of being is their presence. We can facilitate the connection with presence by remembering specific things about the person, and sensing for the qualities that the person's body was a vehicle for, eg. humor, patience, kindness, etc. We want to feel for those qualities as expressed by the person and open to the idea that those qualities can still be present with us.

If you sense those qualities in the way that the person expressed them, then there has been a connection. Realize that the forms that arise in your mind are responses of your mind to that presence. They are not the presence itself. So the forms that arise may change or become very nebulous. That is OK, as long as you continue to have that sense that the presence is still there. Also realize that the form that arises when you connect with the presence of the person may not be what you expect.

When we do this we often feel multiple emotions and some of those can conflict. We may feel a relief or joy at the connection, and also a deep sadness at the loss of the familiar forms that the connection used to take. We must allow all the emotions to flow and not try to limit them based on preconceptions.While I can feel joy and peace at making a connection with a loved one's spirit, I do not want to inhibit any sadness that might arise at not being able to call them, or visit them any more. It is by accepting all the experiences that arise that I deepen the connection.

Practices:

Training ourselves to sense presence.

It can help to practice sensing the presence of living beings so that we become more capable of sensing presence instead of form. For example, ask yourself to sense the presence of a person you know, or of living beings that you observe. For example, when you see a tree, feel for the presence that the tree embodies. There is a huge difference between the presence of a fir and a maple.

Everything has a presence. We need to practice sensing presence. Even though the presence transcends the form, the form is a map if you will of the presence. So if we use our senses to observe more deeply we can use those perceptions to sense the presence more vividly. Observe a form and sense for the presence that the form embodies. Allow the form to inform you.

Opening to the presence of a being who has "died", i.e. no longer has a physical form.

Start by bringing your awareness inward and allowing the thoughts to fade into the background. Connect with Spirit allowing the forms associated with this connection to arise. From that connection invite the presence of the being who has departed to join you and Spirit. Facilite this by remembering their way of being in the physical world when they were present there. Allow these memories to flow and listen or feel for the presence of the other joining you and Spirit. Allow forms to flow though your awareness without censoring them. Accept all the emotions that can arise during this process allowing them to flow and release.

This meditation can also be used by someone who is dying in order to experience connection with those whom they will be leaving behind. In this case the person who is dying opens the to connection with Spirit and then invites the presence of their loved ones into their awareness.

Lower-Lung Breathing

2009-11-02T15:19:00Z

Deep breathing using the lower lungs.

Most people take a deep breath by lifting their chest and shoulders. This actually pulls air into the upper lobes of the lungs and while it is a big breath, it is not really a deep one. To breathe deeply we need to allow air to fall into the lower lobes of the lungs. Those lungs contain more blood-flow than the upper lobes and so we will get more oxygen.

Start by feeling your ribs and find the lower edge of your rib cage. As you feel along the sides and back, notice that the ribs go down quite a ways. Notice how the ribs go down more in the back than in the front. Your lungs will go down almost as far as your ribs.

To allow air to fall into the lower lobes of the lungs we will create a space there by expanding the lower ribs as we breathe in. We then allow the lower ribs to contract as we breathe out. Notice that most of the expansion will be to the sides and back, not the front.

Follow along with the instructions here

Principles for Mind-Body Self-Healing

2009-11-02T14:53:00Z

Key Elements of Mind-Body Techniques

Each mind-body technique is characterized by three attributes:

Purpose
Awareness
Attention

Purpose

Ourpurpose is what we hope to achieve by using the mind-body technique;our desired result. This result may be immediate, like relaxing, or inthe future, like lowering our blood-pressure. If we remind ourselves ofour purpose as we start the technique, then our mind is less likely towander, and we can increase our motivation. We just have to make surewe do not obsess about our purpose and evaluate our resultsjudgmentally.

Awareness

Awarenessrefers to the types of phenomena we are going to focus our mind on.These could be sensations, or thoughts, or images. Awareness can alsobe more specific such as sounds, or tactile sensations. We can alsotune our awareness to a combination of phenomena such as tactilesensations and specific thoughts.

If you think of the mind like a camera, then awareness

Attention

Attention refers to what we are focusing our mind on specifically, and how tight our loose that focus will be.

Ifyou think of the mind like a camera, then awareness would correspond towhat you can see through the viewfinder. Attention would correspond towhat is in the center of the picture, and how tightly you have focusedon that.

Here are links to some self-healing techniques. The focus of attention in each is different and so you get different results.

Breathing, Sore Throats, and Upper Respiratory Infections

2009-11-02T14:39:00Z

We can use awareness of the breath to help reduce the symptoms of an upper respiratory infection and protect ourselves from getting them

One way mind-body techniques affect our health comes from fact that the body changes its blood-flow based on what we focus our attention on. If we imagine our hands being in warm water, then blood flow in the veins under the skin of the hands will tend to increase.

We can use this fact to increase blood flow to the membranes of our upper respiratory tract, our throat, Eustachian tubes which connect the throat with the middle ear, our nose, and our sinuses. In this technique we pay attention to the sensations of warmth, moistness and comfort that naturally occur in our throat as we breathe out, and we use our imagination to increase those sensations and spread them into our nose, Eustachian tubes and sinuses. This causes the body to respond by increasing blood flow to those areas which helps us fight off upper respiratory infections more effectively.

Three notes:

This technique is better used before we get sick then after.
I do not think this technique will help for a lower respiratory infection like bronchitis or pneumonia.
This technique is not a substitute for standard medical care. It will augment care, but if you are running a fever or the symptoms are lasting more than a few days, call your doctor.

You can listen to the instructions for this here