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Awakening and Yoga Formal Meditation |
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In "Thoughts without a Thinker", Buddhist practitioner and psychotherapist Mark Epstein outlines three general approaches to formal meditation practice using the terms: Concentration, Mindfulness, and Insight. They are usually sequential in development, require the capacity to remain in the present moment and reflect an increasing reigning in of distracting mental activity and a decreasing unconscious false-self. Concentration (dharana-dhyana in Sanskrit) requires the continual returning of the mind's attention to a specific, central object such as the breath, a mantra, or a particular sensation, such as sound. This cultivates a one-point focus to the mind, quieting the mental noise that often dominates the mind field, and prepares the student for deeper enquiry into the nature of the self. Mindfulness is the reverse of concentration. It is an expansion of attention, in the present, to all that is arising, the thoughts, feelings, sensations and insights. Buddha talks about "The Four Foundations of Mindfulness", body, sensations, thoughts, and impermanence. Insight (vipassana) is the critical enquiry into the question 'Who am I"? What is the true nature of the "I am" ness we all experience. It leads to the realization of the non-dual (Advaita) awareness that is the source of mind activity as well as the entire cosmos. From this enquiry into the origins of the"I" thoughts and "I" feelings that arise, awakens the realization that our true nature is not the body-mind but limitless awareness and joy. "To understand that we are not a psycho-physical entity in the process of becoming is a necessary first step, but this understanding is not sufficient. The fact that we are not the body must become our actual experience that penetrates and liberates our muscles, our internal organs and even our cells. An intellectual understanding that corresponds to a sudden, fleeting recognition of our true nature brings us a flash of pure joy, but when we have full knowledge that we are not the body, we are that joy." (Francis Lucille) Dzogchen, the Tibetan version of advaita-vipassana practice usually translated as "the Great Perfection", functions , as Dzogchen teacher Lama Surya Das describes, "to awaken naked awareness---a state that exists beyond the realm of conceptual forms, culture, or belief system. This practice may be called Advaita (non-dualism), mindfulness, remaining present, staying in the Now, Being, attending to what is, resting in Non-Dual Presence. It is a recognition that the Self is the Totality of Being and is always Now, can never be localized or found in form, nor will it ever arrive or appear in the future. These words, and all subsequent words are only pointers, often possibly misleading, to that which is beyond words, beyond conceptualization. To use the Buddhist metaphor, they are a finger pointing at the moon. If you keep staring at the finger, you will never see the moon. Lao-tzu described the same dilemma at the beginning of the Tao Te Ching: The tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao The name that can be named is not the eternal Name. The unnamable is the eternally real Naming is the origin of all particular things. Free from desire, you realize the mystery. Caught in desire, you see only manifestations. Yet mystery and manifestations arise from the same source. This source is called darkness. Darkness within darkness. The gateway to all understanding.
Tao te Ching (Stephen Mitchell translator)
There is only one obstacle; mind activity based on a small, limited sense of self. It may manifest as mind activity based on seeking the fullness of life in the future, mind activity that carries the burdens of the past and projects them into the future, mind activity that is waiting for some "other now" to come to find freedom, happiness, fulfillment. This compulsive mental noise dominates the mind field of most humans and totally obscures the infinite depth of being that is always present. The constant unease, anxiety and tension that accompanies this mind activity is the gateway into a deepening experience of presence."Do not reject the body sensations and emotions that present themselves to you. Let them blossom fully in your awareness without any goal or any interference from the will. Progressively, the potential energy imprisoned in muscular tensions liberates itself, the dynamism of the psychosomatic structure exhausts itself, and the return toward fundamental stability takes place. This purification of body sensation is a great art. It requires patience, determination and courage. It finds its expression at the level of sensation through a gradual expansion of the body into the surrounding space and a simultaneous penetration of the somatic structure by that space. That space is not experienced as a simple absence of objects. When the attention frees itself from perceptions that hold it in thrall, it discovers itself as that self-luminous space which is the true substance of the body. At this moment, the duality between body and space is abolished. The body is expanded to the size of the universe and contains all things tangible and intangible in its heart. Nothing is external to it. We all have this body of joy, this awakened body, this body of universal welcoming. We are all complete, with no missing parts. Only explore your kingdom and take possession of it knowingly. Do not live any longer in that wretched shack of a limited body." (Francis Lucille) Our primary vehicle in this course to " purify bodily sensation", to use Francis Lucille's terminology, will be based upon classical hatha yoga postures or asanas, although any embodied practice will suffice. The sensations of the body are an entryway into presence and away from compulsive thought activity. The process is not about expecting, acquiring or achieving anything, but rather awakening and remaining present to the flow of sensation arising in the body as the energetic field of the body interacts with the energetic field (primarily gravity) of the Earth. This offers us an anchor in Presence and allows us to gradually begin to identify the compulsive thought activity as it arises (story), explore the energetic roots of these mental patterns (sensation), and learn skills to alchemically transform and dissolve the energetic patterns of suffering into free flowing life energy.
The first section will introduce the practice trinity, develop some basic skills in these three areas and will be accessible for all levels of students. The second will explore these more deeply and will be appropriate for more seasoned students and teachers. The third section will integrate our actions into the Big Picture using Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme's Cosmic Creation Story, Ken Wilbur' s Integral Vision, Don Becks' Spiral Dynamics Integral among others as guidelines.
Mindfulness/Meditation
Posture/Alignment Breathing/Movement/Sound 1. Understanding Mindfulness/Meditation: The foundation of the practice is the capacity to remain present to what is arising moment by moment. Using the teachings of Buddhism, Vedanta, Eckhart Tolle, and other Advaita (non-dual) teachers, we will explore what it means to remain in the present moment and what obstacles/confusion arise to challenge this presence. This practice is fundamental to working with posture/alignment and movement/breathing. 2. Understanding Posture/Alignment: What does an embodied being need to know about living on the Earth? For one thing, how to use leverage and gravity to unblock stress stored in the tissues. Using awareness the precise approach to yoga postures developed and refined by B.K.S. Iyengar, we will explore how aligned action awakens a sense of flow and presence in the classical yoga poses and also how to carry this flow into our daily life activities. 3. Understanding Breathing/Movement/Sound: Life is movement. From the sub-atomic realm, through the cellular activitites, into circulation, respiration and digestion, and the movements of our bodies through space, our Aliveness is sensed and expressed through breathing and movement. We will explore mindful ways to awaken and deepen the breathing process, explore sound through chanting, experience the spontaneous movements of aliveness in daily activities as well as movement in flowing sequences of poses known as vinyasa. Stabilizing Your Practice/Teaching As a yoga student matures, the recognition arises that you are a teacher, to yourself at the very least, if not to others. This in and of itself brings about a profound shift. A curiosity awakens about the nature of learning, of awakening, and your vision expands. You recognize that yoga is not just about posture, or limited to one persons view of yoga, however profound their understanding may be. New teachers and new teachings appear. You begin to see connections and relationships at all levels of your life and society. You are ready to integrate all aspects of your life into your practice. You begin to further mature emotionally and psychologically through the opening of the Heart/Mind; deepen your discriminative faculties and your grounding in the Non-Dual - Absolute Timeless Presence, and explore the emerging relative world of time and space, name and form, in the pursuit of Self Knowledge. Our deeper explorations will primarily include: 1.Mindfulness: the "Power of Now" and the teachings of Eckhart Tolle, the Non-Dual teachings of Advaita Vedanta as unfolded by Swami Dayananda Saraswati, their parallels with modern Non-Dual teachings and teachers, The Big-Mind/BigHeart teaching of Gempo Roshi, Krishnamurti, Ramana Maharshi, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, and the modern Buddhist teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, the Dalai Lama, Suzuki Roshi and others; 2.Posture/Alignment: we will explore the energy/fluid body/subtle body with a deepening somatic and energetic exploration of the classical yoga asanas (poses). The practice of yoga postures is a profound way to maximize the health of all of our organ systems, an excellent means to stabilize the nervous system to deepen the practice of meditation, and a means of increasing the vibrancy of our energetic body to anchor our awareness in the present. We will also look at energetic patterns and shapes and some general principles of working from the energetic dimensions. 3.Breath/Movement/Sound: We will cultivate a deeper perception of breath and the energy body. More detailed explorations in movement will emphasize how subtle flow patterns can be felt and awakened. Some fascinating approaches to movement such as: the evolutionary movent sequence as developed by Caryn McHose, developmental movement patterns as taught in the Body-Mind-Centering work of Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, and the fluidity of Continuum as developed by Emilie Conrad and Susan Harper will inform our investigations.
EmbodyingEvolutionaryEnlightenment For students who are bringing the teachings into the world, consciously participating in the "Great Awakening," an evolutionary shift that is emerging into the human psyche as a response to the global crises of poverty, environmental degradation, war and terrorism. We will study: The Integral Vision of Ken Wilbur: An excellent blueprint for understanding the Big Picture. The Four Quadrants, States and Stages, Levels and Lines and other features will be examined and applied to practice and teaching."Evolutionary Enlightenment" teachings of Andrew Cohen, the Cosmic Creation Story, an introduction to our 14 billion year evolutionary journey, based on the teachings of Father Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme, the pioneering "Evolutionary Somatics" explorations of Emilie Conrad and Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, and Spiral Dynamics Integral of Clare Graves, Don Beck and Christopher Cowan.
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