::How To Meditate I - What is Meditation ::

How to Meditate

Four Parts:Sample TechniquesPreparing to MeditateMeditation PracticesMeditating in Everyday Life

The goal of meditation is to focus and quiet your mind, eventually reaching a higher level of awareness and inner calm. It may come as a surprise to learn that you can meditate anywhere and at any time, allowing yourself to access a sense of tranquility and peace no matter what's going on around you. This article will introduce you to the basics of meditation, enabling you to begin your journey on the path of enlightenment and bliss.
How to Meditate (with Sample Meditation Techniques) - wikiHow
***Plus some meditation quiz guys....enjoy

 

San Diego,California.USA


Thanissaro Bhikkhu (Geoffrey DeGraff) (1949 - ) is an American Buddhist monk of the Thai forest kammatthana tradition. After graduating from Oberlin College in 1971 with a degree in European Intellectual History, he traveled to Thailand, where he studied meditation under Ajaan Fuang Jotiko, himself a student of the late Ajaan Lee. He was ordained in 1976 and lived at Wat Dhammasathit, where he remained following his teacher’s death in 1986. In 1991 he traveled to the hills of San Diego County, U.S., where he helped Ajaan Suwat Suwaco establish Wat Mettavanaram (Metta Forest Monastery). He was made abbot of the monastery in 1993. His long list of publications includes translations from the Thai, Ajaan Lee’s meditation manuals; Handful of Leaves, a four-volume anthology of sutta translations; The Buddhist Monastic Code, a two-volume reference handbook for monks; Wings to Awakening; and (as co-author) the college-level textbook, Buddhist Religions: A Historical Introduction.

 

Every In-and-out Breath January 29, 1964

Try keeping your awareness with the breath to see what the still mind is like. It's very simple, all the rules have been laid out, but when you actually try to do it, something resists. It's hard. But when you let your mind think 108 or 1009 things, no matter what, it's all easy. It's not hard at all. Try and see if you can engage your mind with the breath in the same way it's been engaged with the defilements. Try engaging it with the breath and see what happens. See if you can disperse the defilements with every in-and-out breath. Why is it that the mind can stay engaged with the defilements all day long and yet go for entire days without knowing how heavy or subtle the breath is at all?

So try and be observant. The bright, clear awareness that stems from staying focused on the mind at all times: Sometimes a strong sensory contact comes and can make it blur and fade away with no trouble at all. But if you can keep hold of the breath as a reference point, that state of mind can be more stable and sure, more insured. It has two fences around it. If there's only one fence, it can easily break.

 

Mixed with Thai(ajhan Cha )and English interviewer and interpreter.

The Mindful Way - The Buddhist Forest Tradition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GOQp0fTIo4

 

Live a life true to yourself with Ven. Robina Courtin

Kurukulla Center
Jan 7, 2014
Ven. Robina Courtin: Let's Get Real, Part 1 of 2

Ocean of Compassion (Gyalwa Gyatso) Buddhist Center
May 16, 2018

 

Ven. Robina Courtin:
Biography

Born in Australia in 1944, Ven. Robina Courtin spent the early part of her life studying classical singing, being involved with the radical left/feminist activism and then, in her quest for a spiritual path, studying martial arts. She became a student of Lama Yeshe and was ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun at Kopan Monastery in 1978. Since then, she has worked full-time for the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) in several roles; editorial director of Wisdom Publications, editor of the Mandala Magazine, and director of the Liberation Prison Project. Since 1987 she has taught Buddhist courses and retreats at FPMT centers worldwide. Well-known for her intense energy and no-nonsense manner of expressing her profound understanding of Buddhist philosophy, Ven. Robina is the subject of an award-winning documentary, "Chasing Buddha" and a film by Christine Lundberg called "On the Road Home".
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We often hear about karma and that the fruits of our past and present actions will inevitably ripen in this life and in future lives. Creating a non-virtuous action, for example, such as stealing, will bring a negative result in the future. Our circumstances of this life, including our human form, appearance, and status, are the result of our actions, thoughts, and speech in the past.

Dependent origination is sometimes called "interdependent causation." Not only do we live a life of interconnectedness but the very nature of everything that exists is dependent on multiple causes and conditions -- even a simple wooden bowl requires a seed, soil, water, sunlight and time to grow the tree, a woodcutter, tools to carve the bowl, and a woodcarver. As His Holiness the Dalai Lama says, "In Sanskrit the word for dependent-arising is pratityasamutpada. The word pratitya has three different meanings -- meeting, relying, and depending -- but all three, in terms of their basic import, mean dependence. Samutpada means arising." Nothing in this world is independently existent.

What is the nature of the relationship between karma and dependent origination, and how do we use this understanding of interdependence and interconnectedness with everything around us as a positive support to guide our actions toward good karmic effect? Please join us for what are sure to be illuminating teachings.
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Karma and Dependent Arising Part 1 12 22 Ven. Robina Courtin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F2DSn-5yts

 

some part from
Message of Truth from Suan Mok

Let us bind ourselves to Lord Buddha

by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu
What is the highest Sammadhitthi? It is the knowing that everything is materialized, originated by one materialized cause and will generated by one materialized cause and will generated by one materialized cause and will generate another infinitely. It is the stream of changing or the impermanence which is called Aniccang. Because it is based on impermanent thing and will be forever altering. This causes the suffering state which is named Dukkhang. Because there is nothing resistible to the impermanence and the suffering so that it is called the non-existence or the non-Self which is Anatta. The development of Anicccang, Dukkhang and Anatta is entitled as Dhammatthitatta, which is the normal process that we must undergo as there is the Law of Nature enforced which is named Dhammaniyamata. The condition that follows logically is dubbed Idappaccayata; the Law of Nature that equals to the "Lord." The state of having nothing resistible to the rule of Idappaccayata is called Sunyata or being non-existent to the Self or the meaning of the Self. That is the highest truth or Tathata which is the state as it is. This state yields to nobody's voice and anyone who tries to change it will only be snapped back by it, that is, facing up with misery. Finally, the last condition then takes place which is called Atammayata or the state that the person cannot stand it anymore or it can be colloquially said as "I don't give it a damn." Throwing it off and achieving the Noble Truth. Dhammathitiyan; comprehending the truth of physique with Atammayata as the final state. After that it is the group of Nibbanaya; getting onto the Noble World's path and starting the tranquility or the implication of Nirvana.

From Message of Truth from Suan Mok

 

How to Meditate Lying Down

http://www.the-guided-meditation-site.com/meditate-lying-down.html

Most of the time people will fall asleep.!

 

Ajahn Chah -
About Meditation
By the calm and soothing voice of Ajahn Jayasaro.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FFac13Pk6c&list=PLd91rcaNKk59sMFYkZko5MzUWQAY7m5iq&index=16

If you have time to breathe, you have time to meditate !.

 

Found it from Youtube comment!

A joke for Ajahn Brahm --
A Buddhist monk goes and gets a vegetarian burger at the local sandwich shop. He asks for everything on it, gets his burger, and hands the man behind the counter a 20 dollar bill. The monk waits for a bit then asks the man for his change... The man behind the counter says "change comes from within".

 

Florida meditation retreat center

Trisikkha Insight Meditation Center, Inc
4207 US HWY 92 w.Plant City, FL 33563

President: Hora Praphat, MD.

(คุณหมอประพัฒน์)

813-933-4257

Vice President: Thawil Pudsone

(คุณถวิล พุฒซ้อน)

(Willie,วิลลี่) 727-434-2231

E-mail:Trisikkha3@gmail.com

Trisikkha Insight Meditation Center

 

Wat Tummaprateip Washington D.C.
36 Farmington Rd. West Accokeek, Marryland 20607
United States

 

Meditation with Dr. Amber Wolf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJCM6UzX7aA


Published on Nov 28, 2014

 

Wisconsin meditation center

Dhamma Visuddhi

Vipasana Meditation center

Contact Information

Address:
500 Meadow Hill Drive
Menomonie, WI 54751

Phone: (715) 235-2069
Email: info@visuddhi.dhamma.org

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Dallas Meditation Course Orientation

2526 Manana Drive #105
Dallas, Texas,USA
75220

Email: dallas@willpowerinstitute.com
Phone: 214-358-2398

 

7 Health Benefits of Meditation
August 2009 | by Anastasia Stephens, SMH

It’s a piece of advice yogis have given for thousands of years: take a deep breath and relax. Watch the tension melt from your muscles and all your niggling worries vanish. Somehow we all know that relaxation is good for us.

Now the hard science has caught up: a comprehensive scientific study showing that deep relaxation changes our bodies on a genetic level has just been published. What researchers at Harvard Medical School discovered is that, in long-term practitioners of relaxation methods such as yoga and meditation, far more ”disease-fighting genes” were active, compared to those who practiced no form of relaxation.

In particular, they found genes that protect from disorders such as pain, infertility, high blood pressure and even rheumatoid arthritis were switched on. The changes, say the researchers, were induced by what they call ”the relaxation effect”, a phenomenon that could be just as powerful as any medical drug but without the side effects. ”We found a range of disease-fighting genes were active in the relaxation practitioners that were not active in the control group,” Dr Herbert Benson, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, who led the research, says. The good news for the control group with the less-healthy genes is that the research didn’t stop there.

The experiment, which showed just how responsive genes are to behavior, mood and environment, revealed that genes can switch on, just as easily as they switch off. ”Harvard researchers asked the control group to start practicing relaxation methods every day,” says Jake Toby, hypnotherapist at London’s Body Mind Medicine Centre, who teaches clients how to induce the relaxation effect. ”After two months, their bodies began to change: the genes that help fight inflammation, kill diseased cells and protect the body from cancer all began to switch on.”

More encouraging still, the benefits of the relaxation effect were found to increase with regular practice: the more people practiced relaxation methods such as meditation or deep breathing, the greater their chances of remaining free of arthritis and joint pain with stronger immunity, healthier hormone levels and lower blood pressure. Benson believes the research is pivotal because it shows how a person’s state of mind affects the body on a physical and genetic level. It might also explain why relaxation induced by meditation or repetitive mantras is considered to be a powerful remedy in traditions such as Ayurveda in India or Tibetan medicine.

But just how can relaxation have such wide-ranging and powerful effects? Research has described the negative effects of stress on the body. Linked to the release of the stress-hormones adrenalin and cortisol, stress raises the heart rate and blood pressure, weakens immunity and lowers fertility. By contrast, the state of relaxation is linked to higher levels of feel-good chemicals such as serotonin and to the growth hormone which repairs cells and tissue. Indeed, studies show that relaxation has virtually the opposite effect, lowering heart rate, boosting immunity and enabling the body to thrive.

”On a biological level, stress is linked to fight-flight and danger,” Dr Jane Flemming, a London GP, says. ”In survival mode, heart rate rises and blood pressure shoots up. Meanwhile muscles, preparing for danger, contract and tighten. And non-essential functions such as immunity and digestion go by the wayside.” Relaxation, on the other hand, is a state of rest, enjoyment and physical renewal. Free of danger, muscles can relax and food can be digested. The heart can slow and blood circulation flows freely to the body’s tissues, feeding it with nutrients and oxygen. This restful state is good for fertility, as the body is able to conserve the resources it needs to generate new life.

While relaxation techniques can be very different, their biological effects are essentially similar. ”When you relax, the parasympathetic nervous system switches on. That is linked to better digestion, memory and immunity, among other things,” Toby says. ”As long as you relax deeply, you’ll reap the rewards.” But, he warns, deep relaxation isn’t the sort of switching off you do relaxing with a cup of tea or lounging on the sofa.

”What you’re looking for is a state of deep relaxation where tension is released from the body on a physical level and your mind completely switches off,” he says. ”The effect won’t be achieved by lounging round in an everyday way, nor can you force yourself to relax. You can only really achieve it by learning a specific technique such as self-hypnosis, guided imagery or meditation.”

The relaxation effect, however, may not be as pronounced on everyone. ”Some people are more susceptible to relaxation methods than others,” says Joan Borysenko, director of a relaxation program for outpatients at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre in Boston. ”Through relaxation, we find some people experience a little improvement, others a lot. And there are a few whose lives turn around totally.”
7 Health Benefits of Deep Relaxation

The next time you tune out and switch off and let yourself melt, remind yourself of all the good work the relaxation effect is doing on your body. These are just some of the scientifically proven benefits …

1. INCREASED IMMUNITY

Relaxation appears to boost immunity in recovering cancer patients. A study at the Ohio State University found that progressive muscular relaxation, when practiced daily, reduced the risk of breast cancer recurrence. In another study at Ohio State, a month of relaxation exercises boosted natural killer cells in the elderly, giving them a greater resistance to tumors and to viruses.

2. EMOTIONAL BALANCE

Emotional balance, means to be free of all the neurotic behavior that results from the existence of a tortured and traumatized ego. This is very hard to achieve fully, but meditation certainly is the way to cure such neurosis and unhealthy emotional states. As one’s consciousness is cleansed of emotionally soaked memories, not only does great freedom abound, but also great balance. As one’s responses then are not colored by the burdens one carries, but are instead true, direct and appropriate.

3. INCREASED FERTILITY

A study at the University of Western Australia found that women are more likely to conceive during periods when they are relaxed rather than stressed. A study at Trakya University, in Turkey, also found that stress reduces sperm count and motility, suggesting relaxation may also boost male fertility.

4. RELIEVES IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME

When patients suffering from irritable bowel syndrome began practicing a relaxation meditation twice daily, their symptoms of bloating, diarrhea and constipation improved significantly. The meditation was so effective the researchers at the State University of New York recommended it as an effective treatment.

5. LOWERS BLOOD PRESSURE

A study at Harvard Medical School found that meditation lowered blood pressure by making the body less responsive to stress hormones, in a similar way to blood pressure-lowering medication. Meanwhile a British Medical Journal report found that patients trained how to relax had significantly lower blood pressure.

6. ANTI-INFLAMATORY

Stress leads to inflammation, a state linked to heart disease, arthritis, asthma and skin conditions such as psoriasis, say researchers at Emory University in the US. Relaxation can help prevent and treat such symptoms by switching off the stress response. In this way, one study at McGill University in Canada found that meditation clinically improved the symptoms of psoriasis.

7. CALMNESS

The simple difference between those who meditate and those who do not, is that for a meditative mind the thought occurs but is witnessed, while for an ordinary mind, the thought occurs and is the boss. So in both minds, an upsetting thought can occur, but for those who meditate it is just another thought, which is seen as such and is allowed to blossom and die, while in the ordinary mind the thought instigates a storm which rages on and on.
7 Health Benefits of Meditation - Willpower Institute

 

Fun with Meditation

Everybody loves fun. Everybody wants to enjoy. Fun is all about your mental state.

If you are unhappy, you feel that even the moon is irritating you. Sweet things are nauseating, music is disturbing. When you are calm and centered inside, noise is musical, clouds are magical and the rain is liquid sunshine. Book yourself on a trip to this most beautiful place in the universe. Then you will find that every day is a vacation and a celebration.

Take the example of Buddha. Buddha is not on the peak; rather the peak is beneath Buddha. One who goes to the peak comes down, but the peak seeks the one who is stationed in the inner space. Often people are running after parties and celebrations, but for the one who is not running after them, parties and celebrations follow him/her.

Know that if you are running after parties, loneliness comes to you, but if you are in the solitude of the self, parties surround you! People who are free, regret that they don't have discipline. They keep promising that they will get disciplined.

People who are disciplined look for the end. Discipline is not an end in itself, it is a means.

Look at all those people who have no discipline; they are miserable. Freedom without discipline is absolute misery. Discipline without freedom is suffocating. Orderliness is monotonous and chaos is stressful. We have to make the disciplined free and the free disciplined!

People depend on outside for the fun and enjoyment. People who are in a cold place want to be in a warm place. People who are in a warm place love to visit cold places. This is the dilemma of life. Everyone is looking for a perfect balance. Perfect balance is like a razor's edge. It can only be found in the self. Meditation can bring that fun to you. Meditation connects you with the self.

With the knowledge of the self, everything is truly joyful. Wisdom that doesn't give rise to feeling is incomplete. Feeling that doesn't translate into action is incomplete. Action that doesn't give rise to fulfillment is also incomplete. Fulfillment is all about returning to the self.

Often people think of the Self as the mind-body complex. This is an erroneous notion. Neither the body nor the mind is the Self. All the yoga you do is for the body. All the meditation you do is for the mind.

Whether calm or disturbed, your mind remains the mind. Whether sick or well, your body remains the body. Self is all-encompassing. Service without attitude, Love without reason, Knowledge without intellect and Life beyond time and events, is what you are.

The only purpose for this body to exist is to make you aware of how beautiful you are and to make you aware that it is possible to live all the values you cherish and create a world of divinity around you.

Fun with Meditation | Art of Living India

 

Warning!
in meditation a million things can come up, but if you raise your head above all these conflicts, and feel unmindful of it, not questioning why they have come, it makes you go deep in your meditation. By thinking why these bad thoughts are coming, you are being partly to the conflict, and this makes you weak. Let them come and go. You think that you have nothing to do with it. This is the strategy to win over inner conflict.
http://www.artofliving.org/in-en/what-sri-sri-said-today

 

Remember Your Past Lives

If you encounter an unpleasant remembered past-life image, realize that you can instantly remove yourself from it and awaken from your self-hypnosis. Although you have protected yourself with white protective light, you might still come across a scene too painful to endure. Simply open your eyes. If you do choose to continue with seeing the unpleasant aspects of your past life, reassure yourself that you will only see it, not relive it, and that you are safe from grief or terror in your warm cocoon of protective light—you will see that life as if it’s a movie reenacted by professional actors on a stage. Tell yourself it cannot harm you, and it won’t upset you.



3 Ways to Remember Your Past Lives - wikiHow

 

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Seven Steps Buddhist Breath Meditation

1. Start out with three or seven long in-and-out breaths, thinking bud- with the in-breath and dho with the out. Keep the meditation syllable as long as the breath.

2. Be clearly aware of each in-and-out breath during this meditation.

3. Observe the breath as it goes in and out, noticing whether it's comfortable or uncomfortable, broad or narrow, obstructed or free-flowing, fast or slow, short or long, warm or cool. If the breath doesn't feel comfortable, change it until it does. For instance, if
breathing in long and out long is uncomfortable, try breathing in short and out short. As soon as you find that your breathing feels comfortable, let this comfortable breath sensation spread to the different parts of the body.

To begin with, inhale the breath sensation at the base of the skull and let it flow all the way down the spine. Then, if you are male, let it spread down your right leg to the sole of your foot, to the ends of your toes, and out into the air. Inhale the breath sensation at the base of the skull again and let it spread down your spine, down your left leg to the ends of your toes and out into the air. (If you are female, begin with the left side first, because the male and female nervous systems are different.)

Then let the breath from the base of the skull spread down over both shoulders, past your elbows and wrists, to the tips of your fingers and out into the air.

Let the breath at the base of the throat spread down the central nerve at the front of the body, past the lungs and liver, all the way down to the bladder and colon.

Inhale the breath right at the middle of the chest and let it go all the way down to your intestines.

Let all these breath sensations spread so that they connect and flow together, and you'll feel a greatly improved sense of well-being.

4. Learn four ways of adjusting the breath:
a. in long and out long
b. in short and out short,
c. in short and out long,
d. in long and out short.
Breathe whichever way is most comfortable for you. Or, better yet, learn to breathe comfortably all four ways, because your physical condition and your breath are always changing.

5. Become acquainted with the bases or focal points of the mind--the resting spots of the breath--and center your awareness on whichever one seems most comfortable. A few of these bases are:
a. the tip of the nose,
b. the middle of the head,
c. the palate,
d. the base of the throat,
e. the breastbone (the tip of the sternum),
f. the navel (or a point just above it).

If you suffer from frequent headaches or nervous problems, don't focus on any spot above the base of the throat. And don't try to force the breath or put yourself into a trance. Breathe freely and naturally. Let the mind be at ease with the breath--but not to the point where it slips away.

6. Spread your awareness--your sense of conscious feeling--throughout the entire body.

7. Coordinate the breath sensations throughout the body, letting them flow together comfortably, keeping your awareness as broad as possible.
May your Meditation bring you inner peace and harmony.

http://freemeditations.com/buddhist_breath_meditation.html]Buddhist Breath Meditation