Practice mindfulness at InsightLA.org

• InsightLA non-profit meditation, practice mindfulness online
• Insight Los Angeles
• Santa Monica Meditation Center
• 1430 Olympic Blvd., L.A. 90406
• Managed by Melissa McKay - Senior Teacher | InsightLA
• Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Dhr. Seven, Jen B., Wisdom Quarterly

Complete Guide to Buddhism, Mindful Meditation

Seth Auberon, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation) (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Who needs practice when one can just read about it? It's a new year and I want to learn to meditate, be mindful, and reduce stress. I could sit, but that's hard. My mind is curious, and maybe this book writer found something that will make it easier. Could 59 raters be wrong? Yes, but it's better than hitting the cushion too quickly.

The Complete Guide to Buddhism, How to Meditate & Mindfulness Meditation to Reduce Stress, Anxiety & Find Lasting Happiness, for Beginners to Advanced

Whew, what a title. It's a 3 in 1 bundle in the Kindle Edition by author Harini Anand. It has a 4.4 out of 5 stars with 59 ratings.

Reduce stress while increasing calmness, clarity, and happiness even for complete beginners who are not Buddhists.

Mindfulness and meditation are simple practices available to all... Research over the past two decades by the California State University Department of Psychology broadly supports the claim that the practices have beneficial effects on physical and mental health.

Billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio was quoted as saying, “Meditation more than anything in my life was the biggest ingredient of whatever success I’ve had.”

Plus, one is not required to have "faith" in the Buddha or live secluded in a distant monastery to reap the rewards.

This means anyone can increase wellbeing to deal with stress in a practical way while learning about Buddhism, mindfulness, and meditation as one wishes.

This three-in-one bundle includes:

• Buddhism for Beginners: Ancient Strategies for Lasting Happiness, Overcoming Stress, Anxiety & Developing a Zen Mind in the Modern World
• Buddhism: Discover Ancient Strategies for Beginners or Advanced to Achieve Lasting Happiness, Mindfulness & Calm Stress in the Modern World
• How to Meditate: Practicing Mindfulness & Meditation to Reduce Stress, Anxiety & Find Lasting Happiness Even if Your Not Religious, a Beginner or Experienced

[One knows there has to be an editing problem with these books if one of the titles contains a spelling error no one caught, where Your should be You're.]

Key concepts discussed in this bundle include:

• Over 9 different ways of meditation, choosing the best way for each practitioner
• What is Buddhism and what do Buddhists believe?
• Elite level meditations used daily by superstar basketball player Kobe Bryant
• Top tips for practicing mindfulness in everyday life
• The benefits of Moving Meditation plus 3 ways to start practicing them now
• Manage anxiety, stress, depression and sleep
• Why chasing success and happiness is making us miserable – and what to do instead
• The three major Buddhist divisions to know about
• How karma affects everyone and will catch up with us eventually
• The fastest way to start the spiritual path without living in a temple
• The Four Noble Truths and how they can end suffering
• Buddhism for kids to help children learn from our mistakes and live a happy life
• and much, much more!

The teachings of Buddhism, mindfulness, and meditation are straightforward and can be understood by anyone even if not religious. Begin the journey today towards stress-free, happy living with this bundle.

Mindfulness vs. cell phones in yoga class

Yoga Teacher Erin Bidlake (erinbidlake.com); Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation) (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Uncomfortable with discomfort

Cell phones in yoga: compassionate approach

As a meditator and long-time yogi, I’m fully aware of how the discursive nature of my mind often keeps me from engaging with the present moment (being where we are, doing what we're doing, remaining mindful of this very moment).

The internal chatter of “pick up some greens for dinner, her comment felt judgey, should I change jobs?” is relentless and often painful.

The human desire to avoid pain and get comfortable is at the root of every addiction. We over-eat, shop, drink, and get high to numb the pain of our situations.

And more recently, we scroll and scroll through our social media feeds, looking for something to validate our lives, even as our lives are happening around us.

In this way, discursivity (the habit of letting the mind wander endlessly in search of something to amuse it and satisfy its cravings) is just one more thing we’ve outsourced to our cell phones.

No, it's okay, I can talk. What's up?

When the vulnerability of our situation becomes too much, a never-ending stream of status updates is there to provide distraction and relief.

Knowing this, compassion seems like the only thoughtful response to students checking cell phones in class. (Who needs mindfulness? I mean, I thought that was why you came to moving-meditation of the postures, but I guess not.)

As a yoga teacher, I want to encourage my students to work with their vulnerability, discursivity, and addiction, so I hesitate to take a hard stand on cell phones in yoga class.

It's not because I condone them, but because I see them as symptomatic of a much larger issue: a widespread and almost pathological aversion to discomfort of any kind.

• Dr, Reggie Ray: Busy-ness is Laziness (elephant journal)

Learning to stay

I don't have to do what craving says?

How do we learn to stay with discomfort? We learn by doing it. Say we notice an itch, whether it be to scratch our nose or check our phone. Then like a patient and loving master says to her dog, we say to our own reactivity: "Stay."

We practice staying, breath by breath, mindful moment by mindful moment. We stay with the discomfort, the itch, the burning, the agony of not reacting to everything in our habitual ways.

In this way, we cultivate resilience; we cultivate an ability to hold our seat (asana, posture) when things get uncomfortable. (What do we do when things get tough? We get going.) Stay. More

• 
  Mindfulness practice takes courage. It’s contrary to how most of us live our lives! But where better to nurture the seeds of resilience and non-reactivity than on our yoga and meditation mats? Once we’ve practiced sitting with "benign discomfort" on our mats, we can take the qualities of attention, presence, non-reactivity, and resilience off the mat and into the world. Who would we be in our daily lives if we actually stayed present? We might hold our position when things really matter: when we’re with our partner, kids, friends, enemies, the boss or stuck in traffic.
• Intention? Cell phones in yoga class (elephant journal)

Free mindful meditation at UCLA (video)

MARC.ucla.edu; Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Ashley Wells (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Free vegan gluten-free pizza, Monday meditation at UCLA Medical Center (Ananda/DBM)

.

Free virtual drop-in meditation schedule 2020

The Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC) is UCLA's attempt to scientifically study Buddhist meditation and MINDFULNESS or the moment-by-moment process of actively and openly observing one's physical, mental, and emotional experiences without judgment or resistance.

Mindful meditation is open to all and free.

Mindfulness has scientific support as a means of reducing stress, improving attention, boosting the immune system, reducing emotional reactivity, and promoting a general sense of health and well-being.

Weekly "drop-in" sessions are led by UCLA MARC's Diana Winston, Dr. Marvin G. Belzer Ph.D., and other MARC-affiliated teachers. They are open to anyone interested in learning how to "live more presently" in life.

• Free weekly virtual drop-in meditation schedule 2020
• Meetup: Dharma Buddhist Meditation, Los Angeles

MARC's virtual meditation drop-ins are 30-minute sessions that offer an online community of meditation support and teachings. There is no need to register; come as you are. Access guided meditations at any time on the free "UCLA Mindful" app. There are also free guided meditation session recordings from UCLA's Hammer Museum.

Stress-Free Zone: Serenity Meditation (sutra)

Amber Larson, Crystal Quintero, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Ven. Thanissaro (trans.), Samatha Sutra, "Discourse on Serenity Meditation" (AN 10.54); definitions by Ven. Nyanatiloka

Strive for serenity and insight.

[The Buddha taught:] "Even if a meditator is unskilled in the ways of the minds of others [unable to read their minds], one should train: 'I will be skilled in reading my own mind.'

 

"And how is a meditator skilled in reading her own mind? Imagine a young woman -- or man -- fond of adornment, examining her image in a bright, clean mirror or bowl of clear reflective water: If she saw any dirt or blemish on her face, she would try to remove it immediately. If she saw no dirt or blemish, she would be pleased, her resolution fulfilled: 'How fortunate I am! How clean I am!'

I'm effervescent with zest from blamelessness

"In the same way, a meditator's self-examination is very productive in terms of skillful qualities [if one conduct oneself in this way]: 'Am I one who achieves internal [as opposed to superficial] serenity of mind (heart), or am I one who does not? Am I one who achieves insight into phenomena through wisdom (the heightened ability to discern), or am I one who does not?'"

 

"On examination, if one knows, 'I am one who achieves internal serenity but not insight into the true nature of [all] phenomena through heightened discernment,' then one's duty is to make an effort for the maintenance of internal serenity of mind and for insight into phenomena through heightened discernment.

"At a later time one will then be one who achieves both internal serenity of mind and insight into phenomena through heightened discernment.

• How can there be "cleansing" of the heart/mind?

No amount of shampoo will cleanse mind

"But if, on examination, the meditator knows, 'I am one who achieves insight into phenomena through heightened discernment but not internal serenity of mind,' then one's duty is to make an effort for the maintenance of insight into phenomena through heightened discernment and for internal serenity of mind.

"At a later time one will then be one who achieves both insight into phenomena through heightened discernment and internal serenity of mind.

 

"But if, on examination, the meditator knows, 'I am one who achieves neither internal serenity of mind nor insight into phenomena through heightened discernment,' then that meditator should put forth extra drive, effort, diligence, endeavor, relentlessness, mindfulness, and attentiveness for gaining those skillful qualities.

"Just as when a person whose hat or head is on fire puts forth extra drive, effort, diligence, endeavor, relentlessness, mindfulness, and attentiveness to put out that [dangerous] fire, in the same way, a meditator should put forth extra drive, effort, diligence, endeavor, relentlessness, mindfulness, and attentiveness for gaining those skillful qualities.

 

"But if, on examination, the meditator knows, 'I am one who achieves both internal serenity of mind and insight into phenomena through heightened discernment,' then one's duty is to make effort in maintaining those skillful qualities to a higher degree for the ending of the defilements of the heart/mind.

  

Things to use, things not

Look at all this s I got! Everybody's going to be so jealous, but my credit cards are maxed.

 

"Meditators, I speak of robes in two ways, those to be partaken of and not. I also speak of alms food... lodgings... villages and towns... countrysides... individuals in two ways, those to be partaken of and those not.

 

"'Meditators, I speak of clothes in two ways, those to be partaken of and those not.' Thus was it said, and with reference to what was this said? Any [article of clothing] of which one has come to know, 'When I partake of this, unskillful qualities increase and skillful qualities decrease,' that sort of clothing is not to be partaken of.

"Any item of which one has come to know, 'When I partake of this, unskillful qualities decrease and skillful qualities increase,' that sort of item should be partaken of.'

 

"'Meditators, I speak of clothes in two ways, those to be partaken of and those not.' It was said with reference to this.

 

"'Meditators, I also speak of food in two ways...'

 

"'Meditators, I also speak of lodgings in two ways...'

 

"'Meditators, I also speak of towns in two ways...'

 

"'Meditators, I also speak of regions in two ways...'

 

"'Meditators, I also speak of individuals in two ways, those to be partaken of and those not.*'

• *The word sevitabba, when used to refer to material items, is usually translated as "to be partaken of." But when used to refer to people, it is usually translated as "to be associated with." The former translation has been kept to maintain the pattern of the original language and to point out the fact that when one associates with another person, one internalizes that person's skillful or unskillful qualities and views.

"Thus was it said, and with reference to what was this said? Any individual of whom one has come to know, 'When I partake of this individual, unskillful qualities increase and skillful qualities decrease,' that sort of individual should not to be partaken of.

"Any individual of whom one has come to know, 'When I partake of this individual, unskillful qualities decrease and skillful qualities increase,' that sort of individual is to be partaken of.'

"Meditators, I speak of individuals in two ways, those to be partaken of and those not.' It was said with reference to this."

• See MN 149; SN 35.204; AN 2.30; AN 4.94; AN 4.170; AN 10.71

Connection: Mind Your Body (video)

TheConnection.TV (video); Ashley Wells, Crystal Quintero, Wisdom Quarterly

The connection is a feature-length documentary film that unveils the latest scientific discoveries in mind-body medicine and proves that we have much more to say about our health than what we ever thought possible.

After being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, Australian journalist and filmmaker Shannon  Harvey traveled the world in search of the missing link in health care.

She asked the world's leading scientists to meet people with remarkable stories who have recovered from cancer, severe back pain, heart disease, sterility, and multiple sclerosis.

This documentary delves into the link between mind (spirit) and body (corporeal form) and how they connect. More

10 Easy Steps to "Zen"

Amber Larson (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly; WikiHow.com

Here are 10 easy steps to a "zen" (jhana) state of mind. Zazen (just sitting) is a type of meditation unique to Zen Buddhism. It functions at the heart of the practice. Zen (Chinese Ch'an, Sanskrit Dhyana, Pali Jhana) is the Japanese word for "meditation," so Zen Buddhists could be called "Meditation-centric Buddhists." This outlines how a beginner can practice zazen, which literally means sitting meditation.

California kids MEDITATE in school (audio)

Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Pfc. Sandoval, Wisdom Quarterly; Katrina Schwartz; Jello Biafra

Children who are nervous about the new school year can relax by practicing “mindfulness” during anxious moments, researchers say. Experts at Duke University, in Durham, N.C., recommend mindfulness, which is a technique borrowed from [Buddhist] meditation... More

  

Meditation is even better than I thought!

The Buddha's original teaching of mindfulness (sati and satipatthana) meditation is being used to help businesses, psychology researchers, therapy patients, prisoners, and now very young school children. The option is wonderful, but force would not be.

Punk rock legend Jello Biafra while leading the Dead Kennedys warned about then Gov. Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown, who by coincidence is again the governor of California. His New Age ideas seem finally to have come true.

Gov. Brown and Linda Ronstadt (latimes.com)

"I am Governor Jerry Brown/ My aura smiles and never frowns/ Soon I will be president/ Carter power will soon go away/ I will be fuhrer one day/ I will command all of you/ Your kids will meditate in school/ California Uber Alles.../ Zen fascists will control you/ One hundred percent natural/ You will jog for the master race/ And always wear the happy face/ Close your eyes, can't happen here/ Big Bro on white horse is near..."

Lynda Jean Carter, the U.S. Wonder Woman

The Dead Kennedys, who are from the Bay Area, were very open to Eastern philosophy and religion in their day. But they were not into having a "nanny state" under Gov. Brown.

At that time Brown seemed to be attempting to legislate happiness, health, and well-intentioned progressive New Age views as he dated Latina-American pop singer Linda Ronstadt. (Interestingly, for those who did not know that Linda Ronstadt was Hispanic, it may come as a surprise that her 1970s contemporary "Wonder Woman" Lynda Carter was, too. Bet You Didn't Know They Were Hispanic).

 

Using mindfulness to teach coping skills

Katrina Schwartz, California Report (Take Two, scpr.org, Feb. 11, 2014)

Richmond, CA children practicing mindfulness in school (Katrina Schwartz/KQED)

 

Finally, I'm a good role model

[The Buddha is not being credited directly but] A group of Nystrom Elementary third graders practice a "mindful minute" with a Mindful Life Project instructor. Every Nystrom class gets 20 minutes of mindfulness training per week.

 

Across California, some schools are experimenting with mindfulness training -- or meditation -- as a way to help students.

Om. Om. Om. Meditating is way cool.

Plenty of school kids deal with a world of emotional problems, but some kids have a whole host of issues greater than usual -- drug abuse in the home, incarcerated parents, or even homelessness.

Reporter Katrina Schwartz visited the Bay Area city of Richmond to find out how the new approach is working. LISTEN: PLAY AUDIO

I can be calm and ADHD-free.

• Pink Floyd founder Roger Waters asks musicians to BOYCOTT ISRAEL! It's all part of the Electronic Intifada. Sorry CIA, Mossad, and criminal state.
  
• U.S. schools vote to BOYCOTT Israeli schools
• Why I voted for an academic boycott of Israel
• NY Senate passes bill penalizing group for Israel boycott: American Studies Association argues decision was in solidarity with Palestinian students deprived of academic freedom

Drought: Ranchers already making tough decisions
Immigration reform groups to start playing hardball with GOP
Those in the Obamacare "affordability gap" risk futures in debt
With extension, California ponders prison population reduction
Environmentalists wary of Obama's drought-viewing trip to Fresno
What Metropolitan Water District learned from previous droughts
Reviewsday: Neneh Cherry, Romeo Santos, Ana Tijoux, and more
Dog discrimination uncovered at the Westminster dog show
Olympic luger Kate Hansen of La Cañada on the Sochi experience
Folk art icon and Salvation Mountain creator Leonard Knight dies
In "Hidden Girl," writer Shyima Hall recounts her life in slavery
Students from Japan wow LA churches with gospel music

Peruvian Buddhism, oldest in South America

Ashley Wells, Xochitl, Wisdom Quarterly; Annie Murphy, The World (PRI.org/BBC)

Peru is a land of ancient mysteries and Japanese Zen immigrants (apoturperu.org)

 

Buddhist meditation in Peru (pri.org)

A small group of people from the Japanese community recently gathered at the temple in Lima to chant and make offerings to their deceased relatives.

On the altar were plates of sandwiches and cakes, even a bag of Lay’s potato chips.
 
One of the unintended consequences of Peru’s booming economy is that life in the capital is becoming more stressful. Lima is covered in construction sites, competition for the best jobs, and housing is brutal, and traffic is horrendous. Still, people there are finding creative ways to relax in the midst of all that. Some of them are turning to Buddhist meditation.

• AUDIO: popout LISTEN NOW
• Download  segment

In 1903, Zen Buddhism arrived (SZ)

The oldest Buddhist temple in South America is just outside Lima, in a town called Cañete. It’s one large room with tile floors that feel cool under bare feet. The enormous altar is filled with incense, flowers, and small wooden statues that represent members of Japanese families that started migrating here in the early 1900s. Some families have also chosen to leave actual remains, in urns wrapped in knotted bundles of white cotton.

“Those urns contain remains of the first immigrants who came to Peru,” says Carmen Toledo, the temple caretaker, pointing to a few urns on the highest shelf.

She tells me that after Brazil, Peru has the second largest Japanese population outside of Japan. They hung onto a lot of traditions, Toledo says, building this temple and also incorporating Japanese food into Peruvian cuisine. More

Two suicide bombings kill at least 31 people in Volgograd

• Buddhism came to America 1,000 years ago, research reveals: How the Swans Came to the Lake
• Buddhist temple in Peru custodian of waning custom
• 110th anniversary of Soto Zen in South America 
• The first Buddhist missionaries in Peru
• Why Peruvians lock public streets, pay to use public parks 
• Dodging Molotov cocktails to protect Peru's ancient sites
• Peru: Book writing as spectator sport, writer combat
• Ballerina turns at-risk kids in Peru into pro dancers
• New interest in Mormonmission around the world 
• Theosophy: Peru "A Land of Mystery" Mdme. Blavatsky
  There, all along the coast of Peru, all over the Isthmus and North America, in the... as to the splendour of the temples, palaces, and cities of Mexico and Peru,.... modern ruins, and the images of Buddha and of some deities [devas], not to mention our.... existence of the largest and most ancient forests growing on the buried cities.

Buddhism arrived very early

UCLA study: more yoga-meditation, less stress

SCPR.org (KPCC); University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); Wisdom Quarterly
Yoga in Times Square, New York (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Caring for a loved one with dementia can be incredibly stressful, so coping with that stress is critical to caregivers and those receiving care.

A recent UCLA study suggests that 12 minutes of yoga, meditation, and chanting a day may offer relief to caregivers, especially those with the taxing job of looking after Alzheimer's patients.... LISTEN

The report appears in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. Half of the subjects in the study joined a meditation group and engaged in a daily 12 minute chanting and meditation, while the other half simply relaxed and listened to music. The group that meditated had significantly:

• lower stress and depression levels
• improved memory and learning abilities
• reduction in stress-related cellular aging.

Newt Gingrich won't leave [gay] West Hollywood

Prison officials: Potential gang policy changes...
"Obama is Muslim" trends on Twitter thanks to poll
New study says all red meat is bad for you

Wisdom for the Constantly Connected (book)

OpenLibrary.org; Wisdom Quarterly

From going online to learning what it means to OM on Reuters, it was recently reported that we Americans are willing to go longer without friends and sex than we are to be deprived of our addiction to the Internet.

We spend more time on our computers, BlackBerrys, cell phones [mobiles], and iPods than we do with each other or even with ourselves. Using these technologies becomes a compulsive rather than intentional or creative process. Instead of increasing our productivity, multitasking is stressing us out!

Wisdom 2.0 Conference (Huff Po)

In Wisdom 2.0, Soren Gordhamer offers sound guidance to millions of people trying to find balance between using technology and staying human.

Humorous and fun, both editions provide effective, time-tested tools for reducing stress and nurturing creativity in a technology-saturated world.

Thai Buddhist meditation in California (FREE)

Wisdom Quarterly (with PHOTO GALLERY), Dhammakaya Buddhist Center (DIMC.net)

The largest public Vesak celebration in the USA is LA's annual Dhammakaya event (WQ).

AZUSA, California - The Dhammakaya ("Dharma-body") International Meditation Center (DIMC) offers classes and retreats on a special Thai Buddhist meditation technique [a combination of relaxation and guided visualization].

It has proved to be both easy to learn and effective. It benefits everyone regardless of age, race, or belief. Those benefits include stress reduction, enhanced memory and mental clarity, body-mind harmony, and the cultivation of a calm and peaceful environment all around a practitioner. It is taught freely to all.

Yoga and Meditation
Gentle yoga stretches are instructed by a certified yoga expert. Following these gentle exercises, participants meditate together under the close guidance of an experienced Dhammakaya meditation instructor, often a Buddhist monk. Activities culminate with a short talk and uplifting sharing by participants. All drop-in participants are welcome to experience the peace and joy of Dhammakaya meditation, which is followed by lunch. Cost? Most classes are FREE. Donations are welcome. [Wear white.]

VISIT: 865 E. Monrovia Place, Azusa, CA 91702. (626) 334-2160, dimc_azusa@dimc.net

Sunday Schedule

• 9:00 am - Relaxation exercises
• 9:30 - Introduction to Dhammakaya technique, meditation practice [guided visualization], loving-kindness practice
  
• 10:30 - Group sharing, Q&A, meditation journaling
• 11:00 - Food offering to Buddhist monks
• 11:10 - Lunch
• 12:30-1:30 pm Buddhist studies (for interested persons)

Photo Gallery
Wisdom Quarterly editors, 2011 Vesak celebration

Dhammakaya is an amazing place, an oasis in the center of a former plant nursery, now a temple complex surrounded by a town within a town.

(During the housing boom, the Monrovia Nursery sold its land to a developer who built an entire village surrounding the temple, between Citrus College and Azusa Pacific University. It is nestled at the main entrance into the East Fork of the San Gabriel River (and Morris Dam, which gives the Los Angeles basin most of its natural water, the rest of it being piped in from the distant Colorado river).

Buddhist monastics from Thailand, Sri Lanka, Burma, Tibet, Japan, Korea, India, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Europe, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, and Bangladesh attend. It is conducted in English under banners with a meditation for world peace and circumambulation with candles in an awesome spectacle.

DIMC-Azusa is hard to find. But it is an epiphany with sprawling wooded grounds nestled among foothills and ridges in a residential area. Every year, Dhammakaya is the only Buddhist temple in Los Angeles to purposely invite every Buddhist community to its Vesak event commemorating the historical Buddha's birth, enlightenment, and parinirvana.

In Thailand, next to the Bangkok Int'l Airport, the original Dhammakaya center hosts tens of thousands of monks, nuns (mae chi), and white-clad lay followers. It is the heart of Thailand's mass meditation movement that has taken sitting from the temple into the world.