On Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, and inspired by our practice of beginning again moment-by-moment, we explore and reflect on what is most important, where we are out of alignment or integrity, forgiveness, and re-dedication to our deeper aspirations.
What is mindfulness? Why is it important? How does its practice bring us toward freedom? We look generally at mindfulness and then at how we practice mindfulness of 1. the body 2. feeling tone 3. thoughts and emotions (citta) and 4. larger patterns of experience (dhammas).
Using the Satipatthana Sutta as a guide, we explore the first three practices of mindfulness of the body. We point to the great traditional and contemporary importance of mindfulness of the body, and suggest a number of ways to practice in daily life.
