Homework

Meditate daily, or at least 4-5 times a week: 10 minutes better than none. 20-30″ better still.

Several times during the day: stop! close your eyes, take 3 deep, mindful breaths. Be aware of the pure awareness that threads through each breath and all experience.

Aging with Wisdom: Reflections, Stories, & Teachings. Read to page 31.

 

Meditate daily or at least 4-5 times a week for 20 -30 minutes

Even meditating for 5 minutes is better than none.

Practice: Stop, take three long, deep breaths, and open to pure awareness

 

Reflect on your refuge(s) and open to it (them) especially when you need centering, steadying.

Read:  Part II Wisdom Treasures, particularly 1^st two: “The Sacred Circle” and “Know Your Refuges”

Poem: 13^th century Chinese poet Wu Men.

Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn,
a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter.
If your mind isn’t clouded by unnecessary things,
This is the best season of your life.

• Gratitude Practice. Text or e-mail your buddies from class 3 things you are grateful for each day. It can be anything.
• Sitting practice: Try sitting for a minimum of 5-10 minutes per day (more if you are able). It is helpful to find a quiet space or room, a consistent time, and a chair or cushion that best supports your sitting practice. It is helpful to use a timer (if using your phone, place it a distance away from where you are sitting). Please practice your meditation in silence.
• Experiment with different sitting postures and meditation supports — a cushion, a chair, or a bench. Find what works best for your body to help develop an alert and easeful posture. One that supports your attention to the present moment experience of the body/breath.
• Bring an attitude of kindness, curiosity, and interest into your sitting practice. As you meditate, begin by settling into the body; aware of sitting and the sensations of sitting such as the body making contact with the mat or the floor, or your sitting bones on the cushion or chair. Then gently bring the attention to rest on the breathing either at the nostrils, the chest area or the abdomen, using the breath as an anchor.
• This practice is a practice of remembering, so when your mind wanders and you notice it wandering or you wake up from the story/trance you are in. Delight that you are awake, ground in the body and gently, simply escort the attention back to the breath, the anchor. Every time you bring your attention back to the present moment, you are developing mindfulness.
• HAVE FUN!

Continue to cultivate the foundation:

 

1) Gratitude Practice. Text or e-mail your buddies in the class 3 things you are grateful for each day. Can be anything.

 

2) Practice sitting meditation for a minimum of 10-15 minutes per day (more if you are able). When you are sitting, rest your attention on the felt sensations of breathing. When you notice the mind has wandered gently bring the attention back to the experience of breathing. If a strong physical sensation makes it difficult for you to stay with the breath, bring your awareness to this new predominant experience and sense or feel the physical experience. Simply allow it to be there. Drop whatever comments or evaluations you may have about the experience and get to know the experience directly. Once a sensation is no longer calling your attention or has disappeared, return to or open to the breathing.

 

3) Practice standing meditation at least once in your day

 

4) Practice walking meditation at least once during the day as you move through the world.

 

5) In the midst of your regular daily activities, dedicate two 5-minute periods during the week to being mindful of your body. Notice your shoulders, stomach, face or hands. If you find tension in any of these places open, soften and bring in some ease if possible.

 

**6) Ask yourself: What keeps you, from paying attention in your life? What keeps you from living more fully? What keeps you from living here in the present moment?

Reflect: “This moment that is just for the time being, because it passes even as it arrives. Meditation is feeling the feeling of being alive for the time being. Life is more poignant than we know.”

 

7) Next class, please bring a snack. Perhaps an orange, an apple or grapes.

 

HAVE FUN!

1.  Try to sit every day for at least 20-30 minutes, doing the following:

– Taking a comfortable seated posture with your back straight, but not rigid and the eyes slightly open with the gaze falling a couple of feet on the floor in front of you, bring your attention to wherever you notice the sensations created by the movement of the breath. There is nothing special in this, just feeling what’s happening with whatever sensations of breathing you can notice.

– At some point you’ll notice that some thinking has caught your attention. No need to make a problem of this. Just notice the thought and label it silently. If you have a thought that “this is boring;” then just say to yourself, “having a thought that this is boring.” If the mind is spinning with thoughts, label it as “having a thought the mind is spinning, or just spinning.”

–  Some thoughts have no significant emotional content,  but others like, “he treated me unfairly,” or “she is never on time to our meetings,” or “that is so unfair,” or “this is a total waste of time,” “I’m not doing this right ,or I’ll never get this,”  are often accompanied by emotions such as sadness, anxiety, anger, impatience, shame, etc. Sometimes you will have to ask yourself is there an emotion here, while at other times it will be immediately apparent.

–  These emotion-thoughts resonate as sensations in the body, which often encourage a sense that the thoughts/stories/ beliefs are true. (if I think it and feel it this strongly, it must be true!). Our practice is to label these thoughts, “Having a believed thought that I don’t get this… I’m wasting my time… I never… he always…, etc.” and gently turn our attention from them to to the breath and whatever sensations have been stirred up by those thoughts.  Just stay right there, because you are now out of the realm of fantasy, believed thoughts and stories and back into your real life in the moment. Really feel what’s happening right now along with the breath without thinking.  After a few moments let yourself notice that hearing and seeing are still happening. This widens your life. Rest here until thinking drags you away and repeat the above.

This is not an easy practice and it takes time and effort, but it is essential to begin to get some deeper understanding of what is driving those behaviors in our life that  feel so unfulfilling and painful. And, remember, we are not trying to get rid of or change anything at all. We are learning to keep close company with our life so we can see it as it truly is, not as we imagine it to be.

 

2.  Take this practice off the cushion and throughout your day. It’s exactly the same practice. Notice how your mind is thinking judgmental, angry, scared, demanding thoughts and practice with them by labeling and returning to your alive body as it is. Notice what happens. This is the first step in gaining some understanding of what drives our behaviors and some space for it all to slow down a bit a give clear seeing a chance to work its’ magic.

The short version of the above is:  Label the thought.  Go to the body.

Have fun and see you next week!

P.S. Suggested reading: “Being Zen,” by Ezra Bayda, pp. 3-22

Continue to sit every day and notice what kind of mind states may get in the way of that.  Label those thoughts and come back to what you notice in the body.  Then include sound along with breath and sensation.  Practice this on and off the cushion.  Notice, label, return.  Repeat.

Be reasonably precise with the labeling if you can, especially with anything with an emotional charge.  When pulled away the next time, notice if the labeling changes a bit or not.  Try not to tie yourself in knots with this.  And if you do, see if that can be labeled as well.

Take the last few minutes of your sitting to just drop all the above and rest in the unfolding of your life with or without story.  Don’t do something.  Just sit there!

Finally, choose one or two situations that get your reactivity going and intentionally do this practice with that; watching the news, reading the paper, some usual encounter with someone in your life that you find difficult.  Notice what happens when you attempt this practice at these times.

And, believe it or not, it’s ok to have some fun with this stuff!  Be creative!

1. Formal Practice: Sit every day. Try sitting for a minimum of 10-30 minutes per day (more if you are able). Please practice your meditation in silence. If you use an app, please only use it a couple of times a week. Instructions for newer meditators, see point 8
2. Formal Practice: Standing & Walking: Practice standing meditation at least once in your day. Practice walking meditation at least once during the day as you move through the world.
3. The Seven Factors of Awakening Handout: Please read it everyday until we meet on February 14th at 6pm. In addition, take some time to explore the book that you received.
4. Gratitude Practices
   • Write down, text or e-mail “your buddy” from the workshop
     3 things you are grateful for each day. Can be anything. You can simply list tem or write a sentence for each one.
   • Thank someone every day
5. Ask yourself: What keeps you, from paying attention in your life? What keeps you from living more fully? What keeps you from living here in the present moment
6. Remember your intention, vow, dedication. If you haven’t completed writing it please do so and store it in a “special place”
7. Have fun!
8. Instructions for newer meditator
   •  It is helpful to find a quiet space or room, a consistent time, and a chair or cushion that best supports your sitting practice. Please use a timer (if using your phone, keep it at a distance away from where you are sitting).
   • Bring an attitude of kindness, curiosity and interest into your sitting practice. As you meditate, begin by settling into the body. Aware of sitting and of the sensations of sitting such as the body making contact with the mat or the floor, or your sitting bones on your cushion or chair. Then gently bring the attention to rest on the breathing either at the nostrils, the chest area or the abdomen. Use the breath as an anchor.
   • This practice is a practice of remembering, so when your mind wanders and you notice it wandering or you wake up from the story/trance you are in: Delight that you are awake, ground in the body and simply escort the attention back to the breath, the anchor. Every time you bring your attention back to the present moment, you are developing mindfulness.

1. Sit every day. Try sitting for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day.
   More if you are able. Please practice your meditation in silence.
   • Listen to, be aware of and receive whatever presents itself.
   • Be aware of the body & its sensations (sitting or breathing).
2. Standing & Walking: Practice standing meditation at least once in your day. Practice walking meditation at least once during the day as you move through the world.
3. Gratitude Practices
   • Write down, say to a partner or friend or text a classmate 3 things you are grateful for each day. It can be anything.
   • Thank someone every day.
4. Ask yourself & Listen: What keeps you, from paying attention in your life? What keeps you from living more fully? What keeps you from living here in the present moment?
5. Please continue to read everyday & Enjoy your Cards– The Seven Factors of Awakening Handout- Begin to notice or sense in yourself moments when these beautiful qualities, start to make their way into your practice and/or daily life experiences. If you open, look, inwardly- in very simple ways- (perhaps, a moment or two of calm instead of chaos, or a moment or two of joy instead of despair, or a moment or two of ease instead of struggle)- the practice can deepen. In these moments or any moment of knowing of the Seven Factors of Awakening: We are asked to celebrate life, to embody our understanding- and this is a celebration of life itself!
6. First Factor of Awakening-Mindfulness is being aware of what is happening in the present moment.
7. Practice your daily mindful activity. Each day e-mail, or text your buddy what you experienced or learned while practicing the daily mindful activity you agreed to practice with in class.
8. Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s book, Factors For Awakening, will be our shared text. Please read the chapter, Factors For Awakening pages
   1-8 and Mindfulness 9-12.                                             HAVE FUN!

• Sit every day. Try sitting for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day. More if you are able. Please practice your meditation in silence.
  • Listen to, be aware of and receive whatever presents itself.
  • Be aware of the body and its sensations (sitting or breathing).
• Formal Practice: Standing and Walking: Practice standing meditation at least once in your day. Practice walking meditation at least once during the day as you move through the world.
• Gratitude Practices
• Write down, say to partner or friend or text a classmate 3 things you are grateful for each day. Can be anything.
• Thank someone every day

4) Ahhh…our practice is for the heart to awaken. Your life provides the perfect conditions to wake up. Awakening of the heart is only found exactly where you are.

Right now is a perfect time to practice calm and presence in the midst of all the changing conditions, in the midst of uncertainty. Continually greeting whatever is arising with compassion and balance, This is our practice!

Remembering, when we live in the present, the Seven Factors of Awakening naturally arise. What are the factors? Mindfulness, Investigation, Energy, Joy, Tranquility, Concentration, Equanimity.

So, practice mindfulness, presence, interest, curiosity, alertness, rapt attention, calm, steadiness and balance. Do your best to let go of unwholesome actions!

And remember: It’s our chance, statewide, countrywide, worldwide, to learn what it means to take something seriously while, at the same time, refusing to panic or be pulled into excessive fear. It’s not a choice between one response or the other, we must do both, simultaneously.

• Please continue to read everyday and enjoy your cards – The Seven Factors of Awakening Handout – Begin to notice or sense in yourself moments when these beautiful qualities, start to make their way into your practice and/or daily life experiences. If you open, look, inwardly- in very simple ways- (perhaps, a moment or two of calm instead of chaos, or a moment or two of joy instead of despair, or a moment or two of ease instead of struggle) – the practice can deepen. In any moment of knowing of the Seven Factors of Awakening: We are asked to celebrate life, to embody our understanding- and this is a celebration of life itself!
• First Factor of Awakening – Mindfulness. Mindfulness is being aware of what is happening in the present moment.
• Practice your daily mindful activity. Each day e-mail, or text your buddy what you experienced or learned while practicing the daily mindful activity you agreed to practice with in class.
• Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s book, Factors For Awakening, will be our shared text. Please read the chapter, Factors For Awakening on page 1-8 and Mindfulness 9-12.

Sending a virtual hug and love to all of you. Keep practicing!

 

• Sit every day. Try sitting for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day. More if you are able. Please practice your meditation in silence.
• Formal Practice: Standing and Walking: Practice standing meditation at least once in your day. Practice walking meditation at least once during the day as you move through the world.
• Gratitude Practices
  • Write down, say to a partner or friend, or text a classmate three things you are grateful for each day. Can be anything.
• Please re-read and practice the homework from March 20th and continue to enjoy your cards: The Seven Factors of Awakening. Notice or sense in yourself moments when these beautiful qualities start to make their way into your practice and/or daily life experiences. If you open, look inwardly – in very simple ways (perhaps, a moment or two of calm instead of chaos, or a moment or two of joy instead of despair, or a moment or two of ease instead of struggle) – the practice can deepen. In any moment of knowing of the Seven Factors of Awakening: We are asked to celebrate life, to embody our understanding – and this is a celebration of life itself!
• ** Everyday Daily Practice: Each day or many times a day. Stop, tune into your heart. That is where love, wisdom, grace and compassion reside. With a loving attention feel what matters most to you. Yes there may be anxious thoughts, worried or fearful thoughts, grief or trauma. But don’t let your heart be colonized by fear! Take time to quiet the mind and tend to the heart. go outside or look out a window at the sky. Breathe in, open yourself to the vastness. Sense the seasons changing. Breathe out and rest in loving awareness. Practice steadiness and equanimity. Look at the trees, learn from them. They remain still in the midst of it all. They are nature, you are nature. You too, can be the still-point in the center of it all!
• ** First Factor of Awakening: Mindfulness. Mindfulness is being aware of what is happening in the present moment.
• ** Do your best to ride out an emotion. Sometime, when you are aware of feeling fear, worry, anxiety, don’t act on the emotion. Rather, bring your mindfulness to the emotion and observe the changes it undergoes while you are watching it. You might choose to sit, stand or walk around quietly while you practice in this way. Things to notice are the various body sensations or tensions, the changes in its intensity, the various attitudes or beliefs that you have concerning the presence of the emotion. If after a time the difficult emotion goes away, spend some time noticing what its absence feels like (repeat during the month).
• ** Spend part of a day making a steady effort to be aware of any feelings of happiness, contentment, well-being, joy, pleasure, or ease. Even if your day is primarily characterized by the opposite of these, see if you can identify even subtle and seemingly insignificant moments of these positive states. It can be as simple as appreciating the texture of a chair or sofa you are sitting on or a flash of ease in your eyes as you notice the vastness of the sky. This is an exercise in discovering that these may be more a part of your life than your preoccupations allow you to notice (repeat during the month).
• ** Spend part of a day being aware of what feelings tend to pull you into a state of preoccupation. Sometimes there are patterns in the kinds of feelings that lead to becoming lost in thoughts. Common sources for distraction are desire, aversion, restlessness, fear and doubt. Are any of these more common for you than the others? What is your relationship to them when they appear? As you notice the patterns, does that change how easily you get pulled into their orbit? By clearly being mindful of their presence, can you let go of any of the ways in which these interfere with, or inhibit, whatever activities you need to do? (Repeat during the month.)

Sending a virtual hug and love to all of you! Keep practicing!

• Sit every day: Sit for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day. More if you are able. Please practice your meditation in silence.
  Just silence. To simply sit in the present moment of being alive here and now. Feeling the care and support that comes from the life force in us, that we are alive, that we are breathing.
• Formal Practice: Standing & Walking: Practice standing meditation at least once in your day. Practice walking meditation at least once during the day as you move through the world.
• Gratitude Practices: Write down, say to partner or friend, or text a classmate 3 things you are grateful for or delight in each day.
• Re-read the List of the 7 Factors and Continue to Enjoy your Cards: Notice or sense in yourself moments when these beautiful qualities start to make their way into your practice and/or daily life experiences. In any moment of knowing, the Seven Factors of Awakening: We are asked to celebrate life, to embody our understanding – and this is a celebration of life itself!
• Continue This Practice: Each day or many times a day
  Stop, tune into your heart. That is where love, wisdom, grace and compassion reside. With a loving attention feel what matters most to you. Yes, there may be anxious thoughts, worried or fearful thoughts, grief or trauma. But don’t let your heart be colonized by fear! Take time to quiet the mind and tend to the heart. Go outside or look out a window at the sky. Breathe in, open yourself to the vastness. Breathe out and rest in loving awareness. Practice steadiness and equanimity. Look at the trees, learn from them. They remain still in the midst of it all. They are nature, you are nature. You too, can be the still-point in the center of it all!
• ** Life is so precious. Our life is so precious. Our practice is to live a life connected to awakening – this means to put our bodies, our minds, our hearts into living every moment of our lives.
• **First Factor of Awakening – Mindfulness. Mindfulness is being aware of what is happening in the present moment. Is mindfulness present right now or not? (Get to know the 4 Qualities of Mindfulness: Not forgetting, standing near or face to face with whatever is arising, remembering what is skillful or wholesome and what is not, and clear comprehension.)
• ** Second Factor of Awakening – Investigation discerns and illuminates the truth through discriminating wisdom – knowing what’s what. Is there interest and curiosity about your experience right now or not? Begin to understand what are wholesome/skillful states of mind and what are not.
• **Truth is always here, now. When we connect to this present moment – we delight, we rejoice. And when we are caught up in anxiety or fear or worry or whatever and then suddenly we remember, ahhh we are caught up – Knowing, wow I was really caught up, preoccupied by that thought, emotion. In that moment if we can be gentle and settle back into the present. We are beginning to remember, to wake up.
• **Spend part of a day making a steady effort to be aware of any feelings of happiness, contentment, well-being, joy, pleasure, or ease. Even if your day is primarily characterized by the opposite of these, see if you can identify even subtle moments of these positive states. This exercise is discovering that these moments may be more a part of your life than your preoccupations allow you to notice. (repeat during the month)
  
• **Spend part of a day being aware of what feelings tend to pull you into a state of preoccupation. Sometimes there are patterns in the kinds of feelings that lead to becoming lost in thoughts. Common sources for distraction are desire, aversion, restlessness, fear and doubt. Continue to notice: Are any of these more common for you than the others? What is your relationship to them when they appear? (repeat during the month)
• Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s book, Factors For Awakening, will be our shared text. Please read the chapter Analysis of Qualities on pages 13-17.

HAVE FUN!

Sending a virtual hug and love to all of you!  Keep practicing!

1. Sit every day: Sit for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day. More if you are able. Please practice your meditation in silence.
   1. **Question Do you find that you are applying effort by striving or by relaxing? How do you know if you are applying the right amount of effort?
   2. **Experiment with applying more effort in meditation. By sitting up straighter or by walking meditation before sitting. By mentally being alert & mindful of what is happening during the meditation. If applying more effort is agitating, try to match the increased effort with increased calm.
2. Formal Practice: Standing & Walking: Practice standing meditation at least once in your day. Practice walking meditation at least once during the day as you move through the world.
3. Gratitude Practices: Each day text/ e-mail your buddy 1-3 things you are grateful for. Can be anything.
4. Re-read the List of the 7 Factors and enjoy your cards
5. In formal sitting practice and throughout your day reflect & ask yourself:
   1. First Factor of Awakening – Mindfulness. Mindfulness is being aware of what is happening in the present moment. Is mindfulness present right now or not?
   2. Second Factor of Awakening – Investigation discerns and illuminates the truth through wisdom. Is there interest and curiosity happening right now or not? Is there suffering or not? Is this wholesome or skillful or not?
   3. ** Third Factor of Awakening – Energy (viriya)-Diligence, effort, enthusiasm, strength, courage, perseverance and persistence. Increased engagement with practice, wakefulness, alertness, clarity. Cultivating wholesome, skillful states and actions. Openness, interest willingness to let go of unwholesome, unskillful states & actions. How is the energy right now? Too much? Agitated? Not enough – sinking into Sloth & Torpor? How to balance it?
6.  **Daily Life Practices: Each week e-mail or text your buddy what you experienced or learned from exercise(s) below. Please do your best to do reflect and practice with one of the following Reflections and Practices (a-c) each week for the next month.
   • (a) Reflections: How easy is it for you to stay with a task until it is completed? How do you relate to obstacles or difficulties that arise? Do you have the persistence to be with them? Do you work on tasks past a point of diminishing returns?
     Practices: This week decide to complete a task that you have been intending to do, but haven’t. Notice your energy level when you think about doing this task, when you’re about to begin the task, while you’re doing the task and after you’ve completed the task. When did you feel the most energetic? Which part required the most energy? Did any give you energy? How might this affect your practice?
   • (b) Reflections: Which requires more energy for you – releasing or acquiring? Which gives you more energy – releasing or acquiring? How does this affect your meditation practice? How does this affect the quality of your life?
     Practices: This week decide to let go of a habit that you believe hinders your meditation practice. It doesn’t have to be a big item or habit. Notice your energy level as you contemplate letting go of this item, as you let go and after letting go. What took the most energy? Which step gave you the most energy?
   • (c) Reflections: In the list of the Seven Factors or Awakening, energy is listed after investigation and before joy. Why do you think this is? Do you experience a relationship between investigation & energy? Do you experience a relationship between energy and joy?
     Practices: Explore or study something that is interesting to you. It could be as simply as looking something up in Google or Wikipedia, or talking to an “expert” about something you’ve been curious about. While investigating, notice your energy level and your sense of well-being. Have they increased or decreased since you’ve started investigating? During the week, pay attention if a sense of well-being arises. How is your energy level when you have a sense of well-being?

7) **Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s book, Factors For Awakening: Please read the chapter Analysis of Qualities on pages 18-22

Have fun!  Sending a virtual hug and love to all of you! Keep practicing!

• Sitting Meditation:
• Sit every day: Sit for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day. More if you are able. Please practice your meditation in silence.
• **Listen to and be aware of whatever presents itself.
• **Be aware of the body & its sensations (sitting or breathing), or the feeling tones (pleasant-unpleasant-neutral) or the condition of the mind (i.e. clarity, alertness of mind, the busyness or quietness of mind, or a specific activity of mind, like thinking)
• **In meditation: Do you find that contentment or joy arises?
• **After sitting: Contemplate, whether you are creating conditions for joy or repressing joy due to a belief that joy should not be experienced?

 

• Standing & Walking Meditation:
• **Be aware when you are standing or walking.
• **Be aware of the feet making contact with the ground.
• **Take a moment to notice your surroundings
• Gratitude Practices: Each day text or e-mail your buddy 3 things you are grateful for. Can be anything.
• Re-read the list of the 7 Factors & Enjoy your Cards
• In sitting practice & throughout your day reflect & ask yourself:

1. First Factor of Awakening-Mindfulness. Mindfulness is being aware of what is happening in the present moment. Is mindfulness present, right now or not?
2. Second Factor of Awakening. Investigation discerns & illuminates the truth through wisdom. Is there interest & curiosity happening right now or not? Is there suffering or not? Is this wholesome or skillful or not?
3. Third Factor of Awakening – Energy. Diligence, effort, perseverance & persistence. Cultivating wholesome, skillful states & actions. Openness, interest willingness to let go of unwholesome, unskillful states & actions. How is the energy right now? How to balance it?
4. **Fourth Factor of Awakening – Joy-Pity. Feelings of delight, rapture, happiness, pleasurable or rapt interest, dharma joy. Touching that which is refreshing & beautiful within & out.

• **Daily Life Practices: Daily Life Practices (adapted from Gil Fronsdal):
  Each week e-mail or text your buddy, one thing you experienced or learned from Practices(s) below. Please do your best to do reflect & practice with one of the following each week till 9/11/20

Reflection: What helps you feel ease, contentment, or joy? What are the activities that most easily bring you joy? Is it some kind of physical activity? Are you more likely to feel joy when you are with others or when you are alone? Do you experience joy that is not dependent on any particular activity? If so, what conditions bring about that joy? How easy is it for you to be in touch with the sources for your joy?

Practice: At the end of the day reflect on when you felt the greatest sense of well-being, joy, or contentment. Is there consistency to your sense of well-being on most days; e.g. do you feel the most ease in the morning or evening? Or does your sense of well-being depend mostly on the activities you’re doing? If possible, try meditating at different times in the day; e.g. early morning, lunchtime, early evening, or late evening. Is there a time of day when you feel more of a sense of well-being & ease in your meditation?

 

Reflection: How do you know when you have a sense of well-being, contentment, or joy? Is it more of a physical sensation or a mental sensation for you? How is feeling joyful different than feeling ill-at-ease or uncomfortable? What effect does joy have on you? What happens to your thinking & level of preoccupation when you are joyful?

Practice: Spend more time than you usually do with activities that support a feeling of well-being or joy. Notice how your body feels when you feel content or satisfied. Also, notice your mind state & emotional state when you have this feeling. Is the feeling of joy consistent or does it fluctuate?

 

Reflection: Please come up with a list of easy ways that you can increase the amount of joy during your daily life. What are some of the easy ways you can cultivate more delight? What are some of the obvious things that happen in your daily life that you overlook that might bring some degree of joy if you really noticed? Do some of them!

Practice: Spend more time than you normally would engaging in a hobby or activity that requires you to be focused. Notice the sense of well-being you have before, during & after being absorbed or engaged in an activity. When did you feel the most ease? Notice whether you have any beliefs, judgments or resistance to the activity & notice how that affects your feeling of contentment or well-being.

 

Reflection: During meditation do you find that contentment or joy arises? How can you tell whether you are creating conditions for joyfulness or repressing joy due to an underlying belief that joy should not be experienced during practice?

Practice: Before meditating, reflect on those things that inspire your mindfulness or practice. In meditation, notice any feelings of joy, well-being or pleasure that occur. Be sensitive to the physical sensations that come with the joy. Allow yourself to enjoy those feelings. Gently & patiently, let those feelings grow as you continue your meditation. If possible, have the sensations of joy be a source for your steadiness, concentration. After the mediation, briefly reflect if there is a relationship between your daily behavior & the experience of joy during your meditation.

 

Reflection: How is your sense of well-being when you are in the present?

Practice: Experiment with applying more mindfulness to your life. This can be done either by increasing the time in daily life activities; e.g. while brushing your teeth or doing the dishes. Notice whether your sense of contentment or well-being increases or decreases when you’re mindful.

•  **Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s book, Factors For Awakening, Please read the chapter, Rapture on pages 23-26

HAVE FUN!  Sending a Virtual Hug & Love to all of you!
Keep Practicing!  See you at the end of the month!

Seven Factors of Awakening July 31^st –Sept 11 Homework (New HW see **) ** NEXT CLASS 9/11/20 HAVE FUN!  Sending a Virtual Hug & Love to all of you!  Keep Practicing!  See you in September!

Sitting Meditation:

• Sit every day: Sit for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day. More if you are able. Please practice your meditation in silence.
• Listen to and be aware of whatever presents itself.
• Be aware of the body & its sensations (sitting or breathing), or the feeling tones (pleasant-unpleasant-neutral) or the condition of the mind (i.e. clarity, alertness of mind, the busyness or quietness of mind, or a specific activity of mind, like thinking)
• **In meditation: Notice if you feel ease, calm, tranquil. Notice whether there is attachment to the feeling. Also, notice if you feel agitated or restless. Is it possible to calmly know agitation or restlessness?

 

Standing & Walking Meditation:

• Be aware when you are standing or walking.
• Be aware of the feet making contact with the ground.
• Take a moment to notice your surroundings

 

Gratitude Practices: Daily text-email your buddy 3 things you are grateful for. Can be anything.

 

In sitting practice & throughout your day reflect & ask yourself:

1. First Factor of Awakening-Mindfulness. Mindfulness is being aware of what is happening in the present moment.
   Is mindfulness present, right now or not?
2. Second Factor of Awakening- Investigation. Investigation discerns & illuminates the truth through wisdom. Is there interest & curiosity happening right now or not? Is there suffering or not? Is this wholesome or skillful or not?
3. Third Factor of Awakening- Energy. Diligence, effort, perseverance & persistence. Cultivating wholesome, skillful states & actions. Let go of unwhole-some, unskillful states & actions. How is the energy right now? How to balance it?
4. **Fourth Factor of Awakening –Joy-Pity. Feelings of delight, rapture, happiness, pleasurable or rapt interest, dharma joy. Touching that which is refreshing & beautiful within & out. Is there a spark of Joy arising right now or not?
5. Fifth Factor of Awakening-Passaddhi-calm, tranquility, serenity, composure, ease. Calming & stilling of body/ mind, quietness of mind, relaxation. It is the soothing factor of the heart/mind that quiets disturbances. Is tranquility or calm arising right now or not?

**Daily Life Practices: Daily Life Practices (adapted from Gil Fronsdal):
Each week e-mail or text your buddy, one thing you experienced or learned from Practices(s) below. Please do your best to do reflect & practice with the following each week till 9/11/20 (and practice last months Joy HW- get to know the difference between Joy & Tranquility.)

• Reflection: What helps you feel tranquil, calm or peaceful? What are the activities that most easily bring you a sense of tranquility? Do you generally feel more peaceful indoors or outdoors? When you’re alone or with others? Do you feel more tranquil while talking or listening?
  Practice: At the end of each day reflect on when you felt the most calm or peaceful. Reflect on the conditions that supported that feeling & then reflect on the conditions that disrupted that feeling. Also, reflect on whether your level of calmness affected the calmness of others around you.
• Reflection: How does it feel to be tranquil? What is the feeling in your body? How is your mind state when you’re tranquil? How is feeling tranquil different than feeling “spacey” or complacent?
  Practice: Spend more time than you normally would with activities that support a feeling of calmness or easefulness. Notice how your body feels when you feel at ease. Notice your mind state & emotional state when you have this feeling. Is the feeling of tranquility consistent or does it fluctuate?
• Reflection: Come up with a list of easy ways that you can increase the frequency & amount of calmness during your daily life. What are some of the easy ways you can avail yourself of more serenity? What are some of the obvious things in your daily life that you often overlook which would support a feeling of calmness if you really noticed? Are there activities in your life that detract from your sense of calmness that can be easily minimized?
  Practice: Spend more time than you normally would -doing activities that support a sense of calmness. Notice how you feel before, during & after the activities. Notice how your meditation practice is affected by your degree of calmness. Also notice how your meditation practice affects your peacefulness in daily life.

Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s Book, Factors For Awakening,  Please read the chapter on pages 27-34 

(For the new homework, see **)
NEXT CLASS 10/9/20
Sending a Virtual Hug & Love to all of you! Keep Practicing! HAVE FUN! 

**The Sixth Factor of Awakening-Concentration (samadhi) The mind is focused, settled, composed. The mind becomes unified around what we’re concentrating on, one-pointedness of mind.

1. Sitting Meditation:

• Sit every day: Sit for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day. More if you are able. Please practice your meditation in silence.
• Listen to and be aware of whatever present itself.
• Be aware of the body & its sensations (sitting or breathing), or the feeling tones (pleasant-unpleasant-neutral) or the condition of the mind (i.e. clarity, alertness of mind, the busyness or quietness of mind)
• **In meditation: Notice if you feel present, calm, composed. Notice when you feel more or less calm in a sitting. Also be aware of arising of hindrances. What is the difference in your experience when any hindrance is present and not present.
• A couple of times during each week, intentionally practice focusing exclusively on your breath in formal meditation or repeating Brahma-Vihara phrases. Be aware of the steadiness of the heart-mind.

2. Standing & Walking Meditation:

• Be aware when you are standing or walking.
• Be aware of the feet making contact with the ground.

3. Gratitude Practices: Daily text-email your buddy 3 things you are grateful for. Can be anything.

4. In sitting practice & throughout your day reflect & ask yourself:

• First Factor of Awakening: Mindfulness. Mindfulness is being aware of what is happening in the present moment.
  Is mindfulness present, right now or not?
• Second Factor of Awakening: Investigation discerns & illuminates the truth through wisdom. Is there interest & curiosity happening right now or not? Is there suffering or not? Is this wholesome or skillful or not?
• Third Factor of Awakening: Energy. Diligence, effort, perseverance & persistence. Cultivating wholesome, skillful states & actions. Let go of unwhole-some, unskillful states & actions. How is the energy right now? How to balance it?
• Fourth Factor of Awakening: Joy-Pity. Feelings of delight, rapture, happiness, pleasurable or rapt interest, dharma joy. Touching that which is refreshing & beautiful within & out. Is there a spark of Joy arising right now or not?
• Fifth Factor of Awakening: Passaddhi. Calm, tranquility, serenity, composure, ease. Calming & stilling of body/ mind, quietness of mind, relaxation. It is the soothing factor of the heart/mind that quiets disturbances. Is tranquility or calm arising right now or not?
  ** Sixth Factor of Awakening: Samadhi-Concentration. The collecting the energy of the mind & directing toward an object. The mind is one-pointed, still, focused, steady without wavering. This factor is known as the stability of mind or non-distractability. Right now, is the mind stable, steady, undistracted or not?

5. **Daily Life Practices: Daily Life Practices (adapted from Gil Fronsdal): Each week e-mail or text your buddy, one thing you experienced or learned from Practices(s) below.

• Week 1: Experiencing absorption
  Reflection: Can you remember a time in your life when you felt really present, composed, calm & absorbed? This may not have occurred during a meditation session, but perhaps when you were in nature or perhaps waking up after a very satisfying nap. How did it feel to be calm & absorbed? How did it feel in your body? How was your mind state?
  Practice: During your daily meditation practice, see if you can evoke the feeling you had earlier in your life of being really present, composed, calm and absorbed. You can use that feeling to guide your meditation by noticing when you feel more composed & less composed and the conditions that preceding it.
• Week 2: Hindrances to concentration
  Reflection: It is difficult to become concentrated or absorbed when our minds are filled with the hindrances of (1) sensual desire, (2) ill will, (3) sloth & torpor, (4) restlessness & worry, or (5) doubt. The hindrances operate in everyone & are not a personal failing when they arise. What is your relationship to the hindrances? Are you aware when they are present? What is your attitude towards them? Is one hindrance more persistent or prevalent than the others? Practice: This week notice when the hindrances are present & take the opportunity to investigate them. What are their emotional, physical, energetic & cognitive aspects? What is the difference in your experience when any particular hindrance is present & not present?
• Week 3: Memorization
  Reflection: Memorization & concentration are related skills. How do you feel about focusing & memorizing something, whether it’s a sutta, a pasaage, or a favorite poem?
  Practice: Memorize something that is meaningful to you & supports your practice this week. It could be a favorite poem, a passage from a sutta, or a chant, for example. How does it feel to make the effort to memorize something meaningful? Does what you memorize affect you in any way?
• Week 4: Concentration practice
  Reflection: Do you intentionally cultivate one form of meditation or do you allow your meditation practice to unfold organically? Do you have a preference for open awareness insight practice or focused concentration practice? Do you have any hesitation around becoming concentrated?
  Practice: For this week, intentionally do concentration practices during meditation. This can be done by choosing to ignore other stimuli & focusing on your breath. It can be helpful to pay attention to your breath or even count breaths from one to five repeatedly. Or you can repeat the Brahma vihara phrases repeatedly while meditating.

6. **Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s Book, Factors For Awakening
Please read the chapter on pages 35-38.

INFO AND RESOURCES FOR SEPTEMBER 13th MEETING

This month, we’ll examine white supremacy culture, and what goes into building anti-white supremacy culture.
To make the best use of our time together, we’ve asked you to please download and read Tema Okun’s article on the characteristics of white supremacy culture. IN ADDITION, please listen to this podcast in which Dan Harris interviews Resmaa Menakem (1 hour 18 minutes), and read Lyla June’s essay “The Vast and Beautiful World of Indigenous Europe”.

Just like last month, we’ll meet for two hours, with breaks. We’ll sit together; check-in about how race, racism, and whiteness have been in our awareness recently; connect about the personal challenges we face in confronting white supremacy; and set intentions for our individual work of uprooting racism and systemic oppression. As always, all are invited, regardless of their level of experience investigating race and whiteness. We look forward to seeing you there!

Read Chapter # 8  “The “feel good” gene, from Narayan’s book The Magnanimous Heart, Compassion and Love, Loss and Grief, Joy and Liberation.

This week the homework is in two parts.

1. We are encouraging what is called the “feel good” gene by sitting more than usual. (formal meditation practice)  That means extending the amount of time you sit every day.  You might consider adding another sitting session.

2. Look to see where you find joy in utterly conventional ways.  The question for you is “Where can joy be found?”

(If you’d like to practice walking meditation instead of/along with sitting meditation, please do.)