Nature contributes to easy relaxation. Mindfulness (nonreactive awareness) is an excellent approach to dealing with anxious states of body and mind, transforming them into opportunities to grow in consciousness, joy, acceptance, and happiness.
Session includes stretching, mindful walking, gently guided meditating, and sharing afterward. Bring a folding chair, shawl, or blanket and an open mind to sit with a heartfelt community nestled in LA's Foothills.
FREE, no donations. RSVP at
Dharma Buddhist Meditation:
How did the misty mountain meditation go?
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| Breathing in, breathing out, calming formations |
Those who braved the mist and drizzle to attend were rewarded. We sat under the ancient pine trees on a soft bed of dry needles. The canopy kept us rain-free as we chanted call-and-response in Sanskrit and Pali, enjoying the weather brushing up against the foothills of the Angeles Crest Forest. Wild animals bounced around, crackling brittle leaves underfoot. The message was clear as
Seven led the meditation:
"This is
mindfulness meditation. That means dispassionate awareness of whatever is, radical acceptance of it, acting as the watcher of experience. So whatever comes up, be as a Beatle: 'Let it be.' Then there will be peace. There is nothing to understand or fix, nothing to grasp at or cling to, nothing to push away.
When we avoid these three bad habits -- grasping and clinging toward the pleasant, resisting and aversion toward the unpleasant, dullness and boredom toward the neither-pleasant-nor-unpleasant -- we can cultivate three useful things:
- nongreed (letting go, sharing),
- nonhatred (loving kindness, friendliness),
- nondelusion (wisdom, knowing-and-seeing)
in all their many positive manifestations, which are the bases for skillful deeds (beneficial karma).
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| It makes sense now. We can sit still. |
"Meditation will happen when we are still, and the way to stop fidgeting is to observe, bear witness, bear discomfort, bear boredom, bear lust and all that attempts to pull one away from being in the present moment. But how will we know we're in the 'present'? That's easy. Observe the breath. It's only in the now.
If we're watching the breath -- without judging, measuring, evaluating, perfecting, changing, bettering, or interfering -- we are sure to be in the present, being in the present with what is, whatever is. That is mindfulness of this moment, of this situation, and all that is needed to see the Truth is to let the mind purify by settling so that it gains the eye to penetrate and see deeply." Then we had a great shared discussion.
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