09/18-10/23 The Way of Awareness: An Introduction to Insight Meditation

Way Of Awareness – Class 1 (9/18/25) – Home Practice

I will arrive at 6:50 pm on the day of our practice group in case you have any questions and, of course, there will also be Q & A during the class as well. 

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

2. 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 (if you use an app-try using it only a couple times a week).

3. Experiment with different 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 or body/touch points or body/sounds.

4.  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 such as the body making contact with the sofa, bed, mat, 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 (pick just one place- the easiest for you to feel the sensations of the breath). Using the breath as an anchor. Feel the sensations of breathing. You can also use touch points- hands, feet, sitting bones, lips as your anchor. Simply receive the sensations. Or you can use sounds as your anchor. Sounds near or far, all around you, spaces between sounds, tone, pitch, length, loudness. Simply listen- Please choose just one anchor, breath, touch points, or sounds. Stick with the one that is the easiest for you, as your anchor.

5. 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. Simply… 
   Delight that you are awake, ground in the body and gently, escort the attention back to the breath, the touch points or the sounds – whichever is your anchor. The anchor is a place you return to when the story pops. Please let go of any judgments about returning to opening to the anchor. Every time you bring your attention back to the present moment, you are developing mindfulness. 

6. Ask yourself everyday-What keeps you from paying attention in your life? From living more fully? What keeps you from living here in the present? 

7. HAVE FUN!   

Way Of Awareness – Class 2 (9/25/25) – Home Practice

There will be no class on 10/2/25. Class will resume on 10/9/25. Use these practices till then. I will arrive at 6:50 pm on the day of our practice group- in case you have any questions.

1. Gratitude Practice. Text or e-mail your buddies from class 3 things you are grateful for each day.

2. Sitting practice: Try sitting for a minimum of 5-10 minutes per day. (more if you are able) Please practice your meditation in silence.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 your anchor-EITHER touch points, sounds, breath.
   If a strong physical sensation makes it difficult for you to stay with the touch points, sounds, 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. Is the experience pleasant, or unpleasant? What are the actual sensations of these physical sensations? (heat, cold, tingling, tightness, pulling, hardness etc.). Are there any edges?  Is it changing? Once a sensation is no longer calling your attention or has disappeared, return to or open your anchor Touch points, sounds, breathing. The “goal” is not to sit without pain. Some sittings you may have joy, calm, others discomfort, pain-In meditation & life get about equal measure- We are not trying to minimize, get rid of, ignore, run away from pain- because if you do you may spend ½ of your life running away! Better to learn how to RELATE to pleasure and/or pain with compassion, tenderness, understanding.

3. Walking meditation: Practice walking meditation at least once during the day as you move through the world. Simply, find a pace that gives you a sense of ease as you walk. Let your attention settle on the base of your feet.  Feel the contact with the ground.

4.  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.

5. 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 whatever you are doing. Every time you bring your attention back to the present moment, you are developing mindfulness.

6. Please practice–beginners mind – to find your way to a quieter mind is to start a new, a fresh, to begin again to open your heart & to be here, in this present moment, over & over. To let go of the stories, agendas, opinions, views, bias, projections, conclusions-to begin again!
7. ***For 10/2-through 10/9/25 Please Engage in a daily activity with Mindfulness-a simple, routine activity commit to integrating mindfulness into that activity every day. Such as: brushing one’s teeth, taking a shower, riding your bicycle. This practice in addition to your daily formal sitting-standing-walking-gratitude practices is designed to bring mindfulness into your daily life.***
8. HAVE FUN!

Way Of Awareness – Class 3 (10/09/25) – Home Practice

(I will arrive at 6:50 for Q & A)

1. Gratitude Practice. Text or e-mail your buddies from class 3 things you are grateful for each day.

2. Practice sitting meditation for a minimum of 10-15 minutes per day.
   When you are sitting, rest your attention on the felt sensations of the body- the touch points or sounds or the breath. When the mind wanders & you notice it. Delight that you are present. Gently, drop the story & open to the touch points, sounds or breath. You can always begin again. When physical sensations or emotions, arise in the background. Let them be in the background. When an emotion, mood, mind state, hindrance becomes compelling enough to make it difficult to be mindful of the touch points, sounds, breath or you are experiencing a struggle- then bring the emotion, mood, mind state, hindrance into the focus of your mindful awareness. Observe it’s changing nature. When it no longer calls your attention, return to your anchor. (You can also practice RAIN- below-)
   • Practice RAIN (any or all of these letters)
     • R=Recognizing what emotion is arising.
     • A=Accepting, Allowing, opening to, making room for the emotion just as it is. Not adding, not subtracting.
     • I=Investigating. Dropping any fixed ideas you have about the emotion. Seeing it in a fresh way. Seeing what makes up the emotion- where is it in the body? What are the sensations, Is it pleasant, unpleasant, neutral, got any attitudes? –Not analyzing, not fixing, more a sensory understanding. Let the body be the container for the emotion.
     • N=Non identification. Not claiming the emotion to be who you are or how things are. Instead, nurturing & resting in awareness.

3. Practice standing & walking meditation at least once in your day.

4. Continue Engaging in a daily activity with Mindfulness a simple, routine activity commit to integrating mindfulness into that activity every day. Such as: brushing one’s teeth or taking a shower, or riding your bicycle. This practice in addition to your daily formal sitting-standing-walking-gratitude and eating practices are designed to bring mindfulness into your daily life.

5. Dedicate one snack (or meal a day) to eating slowly & mindfully. Pay attention to the tastes, textures, temperature of your food & to the experience of your body eating. You might want to put down the spoon or fork between bites. Whenever your mind wanders, or you get caught up in reactions, pause & come back to simply eating.

6. HAVE FUN!

Way Of Awareness – Class 4 (10/16/25) – Home Practice

***Keep Practicing & Have FUN!***

Will arrive at 6:45 for Q&A – class starts at 7:00

1. Gratitude Practice. Text or e-mail your buddies from class 3 things you are grateful for each day.

2. Sitting for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day: Do your best!  For at least the first 10 minutes, keep your meditation simple — focus on the body & then your anchor-the touch points or sounds or breath. To the best of your ability, when some other experience gets in the way of being with the anchor, simply let it go & come back to the touch points or sounds or breath After 5-10-minutes, continue with the anchor until something else becomes more compelling. If physical sensations, emotions, moods, hindrances or thinking predominate, let go of the anchor Open to what is happening in the present moment. Recognize, Allow, Observe. When it is no longer compelling or if nothing else is compelling, open to & return to the experience in the body- the anchor. (see thought info below)

3. Practice standing & walking meditation as you move through the world.

4. Continue to Engage in a daily activity with Mindfulness-a simple, routine activity commit to integrating mindfulness into that activity every day. Such as brushing one’s teeth, taking a shower, riding your bicycle, or eating. This practice in addition to your daily formal sitting-standing-walking-gratitude practices is designed to bring mindfulness into your daily life.

5. Continue to dedicate one snack or meal a day to eating slowly & mindfully. Pay attention to the tastes, textures, and temperature of your food & to the experience of your body eating. Whenever your mind wanders, or you get caught up in reactions, pause & come back to simply eating.

6.  Pause Meditation:
   • Simply Pause
   • Feel your feet on the floor
   • Shift into relaxation-Soften muscles where you feel tension- ex: shoulders, jaw, around the eyes, belly
   • Notice how the body feels, Pay attention as if listening to body-
   • Ask, “what is happening right now?” Listen for the answer and let it go.
   • Feel your feet on the floor.-Widen attention over the entire body — Inhabit the body
7. Thoughts:
   • Remember that the point of meditation is not to stop thinking! With mindfulness, we are not stopping thoughts or pushing away the thoughts that do arise as much as not dwelling in them or being preoccupied with them.
   • Do your best to pay attention to thoughts without getting lost in their content. Instead, simply notice that thinking is happening. Often, we get lost in thoughts about the past or future. Notice other aspects of the process of thinking, do you think in words or images? In color or black & white? Is your inner voice soft, gentle or harsh, critical, or accepting, easy?
   • Bring an affectionate curiosity, interest and investigation into thinking-thoughts. Notice if thoughts are connected with body sensations (pressure, tension in the body?), feelings-pleasant, unpleasant, neutral or emotions. Investigate-do you control thoughts? Or do they appear & disappear whether we like it or not?
   • Once during the week, for 10 minutes, find some way to remind yourself every few minutes to notice what you are thinking. Are the thoughts mainly self-referential or about others? Do they tend to be critical or judgmental? What is the frequency of thoughts of “I should”? Are the thoughts mostly directed to the future or the past? Do you tend more toward optimistic or pessimistic thoughts? Contented or dissatisfied thoughts? This is not an exercise in judging what you notice, but in simply noticing. This is an exercise in stepping outside of the thought-stream into an awareness that is bigger than the thinking mind.
8. ***8) Enjoy moments of your life!  Have Fun, Laugh. Put the burden down, Lighten up.