This heart meditation guides us in how to cultivate a deep quality of friendliness in relating to our inner life and each other. The gift of this practice is a direct sense of belonging – knowing that we can never be alone (given at the Fall 2019 IMCW 7-Day Silent Retreat).
The ground of loving kindness is seeing the basic goodness in ourselves, each other and our world. This is what gives rise to pure appreciation, friendliness, love and the felt-sense of belonging. In this talk we explore what obscures and contracts our perceptual field, and the pathway of purposefully awakening this transformational capacity of cherishing all life.
Reflecting on the day's themes and practices of mindfulness of the body and dharma confidence, exploring these through the practice of standing meditation
Exploring how body sensations can be an early warning system that reactivity is taking over; and the benefits of bringing mind and body into harmony with each other
After receiving many dharma talks and and expanding mindfulness into the 3rd and 4th Foundations of mindfulness, it is important to intentionally return every now and then to 1st and 2nd foundations of mindfulness. This keeps us grounded in the body as a continual pillar of our practice.
The Buddhist teachings on the 7 factors of awakening guide us on the our path. The awakening factors of mindfulness, curiosity, energy, joy, tranquility, gathered mind, and equanimity are supports for the gradual training of the heartmind. Developing the sense of trust in the path and the support of discernment in meeting each moment with kindness and wisdom.
