Mindfulness of Breath Practice (Breath Awareness)

See below for a streaming audio version of a guided mindfulness of breath awareness practice. This is also available here for download.
This is the initial practice to given to beginning students of mindfulness meditation to begin to build concentration, presence and stabilize the mind. For many this is a lifelong practice.
Enjoy!

Shinzen Young in Broomfield Colorado, February 14-16

Shinzen Young, a wonderful teacher in the Vipassana lineage will be offering a non-residential meditation retreat in Broomfield, CO from February 14-16.
See this website for details on the event and how to register www.sierraretreats.org.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is at the heart of compassion for both ourselves and others.  We forgive ourselves a little bit each time we are able to bring our unconditional presence to whatever we have been avoiding in our lives, whether it is physical pain, a toxic relationship, an old emotional wound, anger or grief we never felt, [...]

Fresh Start

Often, there are interruptions to our practice, or at least our formal practice.
Interruption, does not mean we have to throw away the whole practice, or castigate ourselves. It is an unhelpful habit to think that ‘I am a failure’, and to somehow feel negatively towards ourselves because our formal practice has fallen away. Of course [...]

Regard All Dharmas as Dreams

In the Tibetan Lojong practice there is a slogan that I am particularly fond of it is just this:
Regard All Dharmas as Dreams
Dharma loosely translated can mean life lessons, or life path, or even ‘the truth.’ In this case it is often translated as meaning simply, life and the life events that occur [...]

Mindfulness Meditation Class in Boulder, CO

For those of you who are local I will be offering an introductory class on Mindfulness Meditation. This class will meet on Mondays for 6 weeks starting 4/28/08 from 5:30pm-6:45pm in Boulder, CO. This class will focus on developing core mindfulness skills, cultivating relaxation and stress relief, and be a great jumping off place [...]

Flow

My teacher Shinzen Young offers a descriptive term for the qualities of undulatory energy that I talked about in my post entitled ‘Lifeforce Energy.’ He labels that kind of energy ‘Flow.’ Flow is a product of impermanence, in other words it is the process of phenonema moving and breaking up in the body-mind, and our [...]

Home Retreat Program

Shinzen Young is offering introductory home-based Vipassana retreats through his website BasicMindfulness.com. These are retreats which you can do anywhere in the world as long as you have access to a phone with either a handsfree or speakerphone option. Previously, only those who had done a residential or non-residential in-person program with Shinzen could [...]

Lifeforce Energy

Some time ago I was working with anxiety in my meditation practice. I was at a time of transition, entering into a long term relationship in it’s beginning phases (exciting, but still somewhat stressful), juggling courses with working in my professional life and doing deep healing work on myself. These things added up to a [...]

An Open Letter from Jack Kornfield, Ram Dass, and Sharon Salzberg

I’ve posted a letter from Jack Kornfield, Ram Dass, and Sharon Salzberg asking for financial assistance for Stephen and Ondrea Levine. Both have serious medical concerns and find themselves in need of help. They have dedicated their lives as both Meditation teachers and educators around mindful relationship, and have done seminal work around [...]