Talk: Rightsize your Heart

download here

know that this is part of a teacher-training program, so there's commentary at the end on the teaching style.

Talk: Mindfulness of Body

Our Bodies, Our (enlightened)Selves

know that this talk was given as part of the teacher-training program at the Interdependence Project so it includes comments on pedagogy at the end.

http://www.mediafire.com/?ri3xtutjpjt11iy

A joyful mind is very ordinary

Appreciate everything, including the ordinary. That's how to click in with joyfulness or cheerfulness. Curiosity encourages cheering up. Pema Chodron

Take time to breath

Just be

There's so much to do at this time of year, even more than for the rest of the year.

Meditation happens when you let go of "to do" and connect with "to be."

• To be with the breath
• To be in touch with the heart
• To be present in the moment
  
• To be kind to whatever arises

Wherever you are, stop and be there.

Then go.

When we are too hard on ourselves and think we aren’t “doing it right”, we keep ourselves cut off from our true nature which is basically good, decent, whole, and awake. Well-being and happiness isn’t something out there we have to struggle towards-- it’s an inherent aspect of who and what we already are. When we make friends with ourselves and learn that our minds and our thoughts are not the enemy, this clarity shines through the way the sun does after a storm.

Lawrence Grecco

wednesday, dec. 7 "Right-size Your Heart"

or How the Grinch Got his Groove Back and Got onto the Bodhisattva Path.

A preview of my latest talk before its NYC debut

when we meditate

it's not love that we're looking for -- it's the things that prevent us from feeling love (and loved and loving)
--vinny ferraro

I am thankful

for my sangha, or community -- in person, online, and especially for those who come on Wednesday nights. Blessings to you!

Be grateful

for excellent meditation instruction

go here

Others' happiness

The happiness or suffering of other depends on their actions, not my wishes for them.
-- the Buddha

To love oneself is to love life

Never underestimate the power of compassionately knowing what's going on

‎"Awareness is the key. Do we see the stories that we're telling ourselves and question their validity? When we are distracted by strong emotion, do we remember that it is our path? Can we feel the emotion and breathe it into our hearts for ourselves and everyone else? If we can remember to experiment like this even occasionally, we are training as a warrior. And when we can't practice when distracted but KNOW that we can't, we are still training well. Never underestimate the power of compassionately recognizing what's going on."
Pema Chodron

Meditate at home

Just because you don't have electrical power doesn't mean you don't have power over anything. Your thoughts, for instance.

No meditation tonight at Samadhi, but find a place to sit and follow your breath. It doesn't have to be perfectly quiet. It doesn't have to be warm. It doesn't have to be for long. Just be with your breath, notice the temperature, hear that there is noise, but then come back to the breath. No stories for now.

And see if you can breath and know that you are breathing and let that be enough.

It's OK to be disappointed

Sometimes things don't go the way you have every reason to believe they will -- and not in the little details but the big picture.

Sometimes nature dumps a foot of snow on your Halloween.

Does meditation mean we'll never be disappointed with what happens?

No. But it could mean that we know we are disappointed, and we sit with that. We don't blame the world for being against us or ourselves for being unlucky or expecting too much. We just feel disappointed.

And then we don't. We move on to feeling something else.

Compassion starts with accepting imperfections

Imperfection is the fuel that allows us to generate genuine compassion.
Sakyong Mipham

Let your mind be like still water

Reflecting what is ... without judgment or interpretatation

You're invited to a thought party

tonight 7:30 p.m. Samadhi Yoga Studio, 283 E. Center St., Manchester

who can turn the world on with her smile?

To smile is not to smile only for yourself; the world will change because of your smile. Thich Nhat Hahn

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My horoscope for Oct. 18: You'll enjoy what you do, mostly because you resolve to enjoy it. Your attitude is stellar. You'll receive invitations and other nifty perks as people respond to your smile.

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I want to be famous to shuffling men
who smile while crossing streets,
sticky children in grocery lines,
famous as the one who smiled back.

--Naomi Shihab Nye

If we see our thoughts as friends

Maybe they won't torment us so much.

Topic for Wednesday's meditation.

Appreciate the joyful aspect

Becoming more clearly aware of emotions and life situations and the space in which they occur might open us to a still more panoramic awareness. A compassionate attitude, a warmth, develops at this point. It is an attitude of fundamental acceptance of oneself while still retaining critical intelligence. We appreciate the joyful aspect...

-Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Stay with a broken heart

"To stay with that shakiness—to stay with a broken heart, with a rumbling stomach, with the feeling of hopelessness and wanting to get revenge—that is the path of true awakening." - Pema Chodron

Mindfulness of Body

Learning to see your body as a source of wisdom and to love yourself unconditionally isn't an easy thing.

Join me Wednesday for a talk on mindfulness of body -- "Our Bodies, Our(enlightened)selves"

The exploration of the body is an opportunity to examine a marvelous and intimate aspect of nature. It's more intimate than the moon and the stars, or the planets or the animal kingdom because you're in it. And as you look into it and see its true nature, there is liberation in that seeing.
Larry Rosenberg

A bright vein of goodness that exists in everyone

Once I learned how to look deep within, I found the bright vein of goodness that exists in everyone,, including me -- the good that may be hidden and hard to trust but is never entirely destroyed. I came to believe that I deserve to be happy and so does everyone else. Now when I meet a stranger, I feel more connected, knowing how much we share. And when I meet myself in meditation,I no longer feel I'm encountering a stranger.

-- Sharon Salzberg
Real Happiness

Meditation group

Meditation

Wednesdays 7:30 p.m.

Samadhi Yoga Studio

283 E. Center St., Manchester

Meditation is a way of making friends with ourselves; it gives us permission to stop doing and simply be present with what’s happening. It’s been scientifically proven to reduce anxiety and stress, and increase focus and listening skills. Through meditation, we learn to be more compassionate with ourselves and others.

Everyone welcome-- beginners to experienced practitioners. Classes will include instruction or suggested contemplations, along with 30 minutes of meditation. Free. Drop in. Led by Nancy Thompson

Friend your mind…

welcome

Meditation practice isn't about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It's about befriending who we already are. - Pema Chodron