hitpauseandgetyourchillonteachingnotes04.pdf
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All that we are, is the result of all that we have thought.
Buddha.
Hit pause and get your chill on.A course in meditation and mindfulness practice for young transgender people.
OVERVIEW
Client
Face Value / Blueprint 22.
Contacts
Amanda Baker / Veronica Carver.
Duration
1 hour per week x 8 weeks.
Start date
Monday 14 January 2013.
Goal
To teach awareness of the benefits of meditation and mindfulness, and how to
develop a daily practice of meditation and mindfulness, to the young people of Face
Value / Blueprint 22.
In particular, how it can contribute to your wellbeing, at work, and in daily life, and
how you can incorporate it into our daily lives.
To teach a basic set of practical tools that young people can use to cope with the
stresses and strains of every day life. To create a new baseline for happier living.
Silences :http://silenc.es / [email protected]
Meditation & mindfulnessFOR HEALTH & WELLBEING
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://silenc.es/http://silenc.es/ -
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Hit pause and get your chill on participants will learn 4 meditation techniques, and
4 mindfulness techniques, including pause button techniques, all versatile enough
that they will be able to use them whenever and wherever they should need.
Session 04
If you have a problem, and it can be solved, then why worry? If
you have a problem and it cant be solved, then why worry?
Shantideva, 8th Century Buddhist Scholar
Introduction. So far, we have learned and practiced 4 meditation tools, the bodyscan
meditation, counting the breath meditation, tea meditation, and the pause button
meditation, all of which we can use in our everyday lives. Tonight we will continue our
practice of tea meditation, pause button meditation, and again, going deeper with our
counting the breath meditation.
Tea. Introduction. Serve tea, and introduce students to the mindfulness of tea, with a
simple tea meditation. 5 mins.
Meditation 01. Mindfulness of tea meditation. 10 mins.
Questions. Any questions from last week? 10 mins.
Meditation 02. The pause button. A micro meditation to use any time. 5 mins.
Inspirational talk. What were doing this week. Emotional stress, anxiety and
depression. Following on from our exploration of breathing meditation, we are going
to continue our practice this week, going a little deeper with this powerful and
effective tool from our meditation toolkit.
This evening, we will be looking at emotional stress, anxiety and depression, and how
we can use meditation and mindfulness to prevent, and relieve it. 10 mins.
Meditation 03. Seated breathing meditation, counting the breath. An ancient Zen
Buddhist meditation technique. 20 mins.
How to practice. How to practice this week. This weeks assignment and how to
time your meditations. Any questions? 5 mins.
Assignment for this week. 30 minutes a day practice counting the breath
meditation and record your experience in your meditation diary.
Continue your sitting meditation with counting your breath. Take some time for
walking meditation (see the course notes on the Silences website for guidance on
how to do this), even a few minutes. See how it feels and record your experience.
In addition each day note down in your meditation diary at least one or a few
pleasurable experiences you have each day.
Resources. Where to find further resources. http://silenc.es/fv/
Silences :http://silenc.es / [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://silenc.es/http://silenc.es/http://silenc.es/fvhttp://silenc.es/fv -
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Tea meditation.
The future is not even here yet. Plan for it, but do not waste your
time worrying about it.
Thich Nhat Hanh
Meditationcan be the act offocusingon something as seemingly simple as a cup oftea.Thich Nhat Hanhhas a practice oftea meditation, where you pick up your tea,breathe it in, and bring your mind back to your body.
By doing this he says youbecome fully present in the here and now. He says:I don't think of the past anymore, I don't think of the future anymore, I'm free
from the past, from the future, and there is a real encounter between me and the
tea.
Here is a simple method you can practice around your cup of tea, at any time of day.
Drink it, mindfully, using the following mindful tea drinking exercise fromThich NhatHanh, Vietnamese Zen Master and mindfulness expert.Drink your teaslowlyandreverently,as if it is the axison which the world earthrevolves.
Slowly, evenly,withoutrushing toward the future.Live theactual moment.Onlythis moment is life.You must be completely awake in the present to enjoy the tea.
Only in the awareness of the present, can your hands feel the pleasant warmth of the
cup.
Only in the present, can you savor the aroma, taste the sweetness, appreciate the
delicacy.
If you are ruminating about the past, or worrying about the future, you will completely
miss the experience of enjoying the cup of tea.
You will look down at the cup, and the tea will be gone.
Life is like that.
If you are not fully present, you will look around and it will be gone.
Silences :http://silenc.es / [email protected]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thich_Nhat_Hanhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thich_Nhat_Hanhmailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://silenc.es/http://silenc.es/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thich_Nhat_Hanhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thich_Nhat_Hanhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thich_Nhat_Hanhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thich_Nhat_Hanhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thich_Nhat_Hanhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thich_Nhat_Hanhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thich_Nhat_Hanhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thich_Nhat_Hanh -
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You will have missed the feel, the aroma, the delicacy and beauty of life.
It will seem to be speeding past you. The past is finished.
Learn from it and let it go.
The future is not even here yet. Plan for it, but do not waste your time worrying about
it.
Worrying is worthless.
When you stop ruminating about what has already happened, when you stop worryingabout what might never happen, then you will be in the present moment.
Then you will begin to experience joy in life.
Click here to watch a video, where Thich Nhat Hanh does tea meditation with Oprah
Winfrey.
Silences :http://silenc.es / [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://silenc.es/http://silenc.es/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNiwOI0u9AIhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNiwOI0u9AI -
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Pause button meditation.
Let your meditation practice be a sanctuary.
Harshada Wagner
Perhaps you find yourself seeking a moment of peace in the midst of the motorway of
life? Or you want to improve the quality of your daily meditations?
Maybe youre stressed out, under pressure, or in a difficult situation, and you need to
take stock. Maybe you usually reach for a cigarette, a drink, rescue remedy, a
tranquilliser, or perhaps something else. Whatever it is, you wont always have it with
you. This simple practice is one you will always have with you, you wont be
searching your pockets, cursing the lack of your usual prop. Its a very good trick to
have up your sleeve.
Let me share a basic meditators tool with you, one you can use any place, any time.
As leading spiritual teacher and author Sharon Salzberg says
Meditation is the ultimate mobile device; you can use it
anywhere, anytime, unobtrusively.
Micro meditation is a form of mindfulness practice. Its a way to hit pause, refresh,
clear cache, revitalising your mind and freshening up your day. Its like going to the
wash room and picking yourself up with a splash of cold water.
Set aside a minute for yourself, mentally dropping whatever youre doing. Dont wait
for the perfect moment, there wont be a better one.
1. Stop whatever youre doing.
2. Shut your eyes.
3. Focus on your breath.
4. Mindfully take three rounds of in and out breaths.
5. Gently open your eyes and resume what you were doing.
Youve just created your sanctuary, one you can return to any time you wish.
When you return to activity, youll find yourself more able to focus, with a better
perspective on things.
Use this micro meditation any time you need to hit the pause button. Perhaps when
you are at work, with family, friends, or just in the streets or at the shops.
If you dont have time, then you can even make this meditation shorter, a single in
and out breath. Even if youre feeling stressed out of your mind, and youre running
late for work, you can only improve things by hitting the pause button for a single in
and out breath.
Silences :http://silenc.es / [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://silenc.es/http://silenc.es/ -
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Seated meditation practice, counting the breath.
This week were going to continue our meditation practice, but instead of moving our
mindfulness our awareness through the body, were going to practice keeping our
attention on one object of meditation, the breath. Also this time were going to begin
exploring sitting meditation.
First, we settle the body in uprightness. A quality of uprightness and balance in your
body will create a corresponding mental state. Let's start first with your legs. We want
to create a triangular base to give you a sense of stability. If you are sitting on a chair,
and I recommend starting with a chair, have your knees separated and your feet flat
on the floor. If your back is weak in any way, you can use the chair back for support,
or you may find you can maintain uprightness without it. Either way, adjust yourposition so that your body is as upright as you can manage.
If you wish, you can also kneel with your knees wide and a little separated with some
kind of a support under your tail. Or, you can sit cross-legged, with a cushion to lift
your sitting bones. In this case, you create the stable quality, the triangular quality by
having both knees resting down. Whichever posture you choose, take a few
moments to become really aware of the grounded feeling.
Now have your hands in your lap, swaying your body side-to-side, forwards and
backwards, to help you settle into your true, balanced uprightness.
Let your shoulders relax, have your neck long, your head balanced weightlessly. Let
your eyes rest down on the floor in front of you, or you can allow your eyes to close.
Have your mouth closed, and your tongue resting on your roof of your mouth, with
your tongue broad.
Allow your whole body to relax.
Breathing gently through your nose, become aware of the rising and sinking of the
natural breath in your belly.
As you become aware of your breath, you can start mentally counting your breath. In-
breath, one. Out-breath, two. Feeling in your belly. In-breath, three. Out-
breath, four. And so on, up to ten - when you can start again at one. Very simple. Just
counting. Just breathing.
Any thoughts, feelings, memories, anything at all can arise and pass - but you just
stay with the breathing in your belly.
Anytime you get distracted and lose counting, lose your breath, just starting again,
counting in-breath one, out-breath two.
As your mind becomes more focussed and concentrated, naturally you'll find your
breath becomes more light and gentle.
As your breath becomes more light and gentle, your body becomes more and more
relaxed, and comfortable.
Very simple. Just breathing, counting, relaxing.
You may find this meditation becomes more and more pleasant, more and more
pleasurable as you find yourself coming into a state of restful clarity. That's good. Ifyou have many thoughts or feelings arising, or if things are very quiet, your meditation
is equally valuable.
Silences :http://silenc.es / [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://silenc.es/http://silenc.es/ -
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All you do is stay with the breathing in your belly.
You may find as your mind naturally becomes more and more settled that it's fine for
you to just count your out-breaths. Out-breath, one.. Out-breath, two. And so on.
All the way up to ten, and then beginning again at one. Just if that's good for you.
Or if at any point you feel more distracted, more like you need a stronger anchor for
your awareness, then at any time you can go back to counting your in- and out-
breaths. Whatever is good for you. Counting your in- and out-breaths up to ten, or
counting just your out-breaths, following the breathing in your belly. That's right.
And sometimes by this point in your meditation things can go really quite deep. So
when it's time for you to finish your meditation, it's important to give yourself a littletime. Gently, becoming aware of the edges of your body. Gently, swaying your body
side to side. Coming back, that's right.
Very good, and now you're ready to come up into standing, moving on. Very good,
that's right.
When you do this meditation practice, whether with the audio recording, or alone, in
silence, from memory, take your time, allowing 25 minutes for your session.
Feedback. Brief group discussion on the practice. Good points? Any difficulties?
Walking meditation.
Weve explored meditation in stillness and also began exploring walking meditation.
Its important to be aware of the possibility of meditation in action and walking
meditation is a nice way into this.
The Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh writes
I like to walk alone on country paths, rice plants and wild grasses on both sides,
putting each foot down on the earth in mindfulness, knowing that I walk on the
wondrous earth.
In such moments, existence is a miraculous and mysterious reality. People usually
consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle.
But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on
earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we dont even recognize: a blue
sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black curious eyes of a child-our own two eyes.
All is a miracle.
The practice is very simple, just clasp your hands in front of your body. Have your
body upright and yet relaxed. Walk slowly, maintaining your awareness of your
breath, continuing to count your breath.
Its very simple.
Silences :http://silenc.es / [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://silenc.es/http://silenc.es/ -
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Talk
Welcome back!
Emotional stress, anxiety and depression.
We looked last time at mindfulness and meditation with respect to physical
pain. Now were going to look at the emotional level. There are many more
types of pain with a whole range of labels here guilt, lack of confidence,
remorse, worry, grief, humiliation, despair. All of these varieties of emotional
pain may colour our experience, sometimes for long stretches of our lives. And
as with the physical pain, there is no way were going to get through even the
happiest life without at least some emotional pain. So its important to learnhow to deal with it.
The key to working with emotional pain is found in the acronym AA awareness
and acceptance. When were willing to be aware and accept emotional pain,
things can begin to heal and change. Often we may have habits of avoidance or
suppression so it takes courage and commitment to try something radically
new.
Its important to realise that we cant deal with any pain in the abstract, only by being
as present as we can in the moment when it arises and in the aftermath. And in doing
this gentle, compassionate work, its important to be patient with ourselves. Its
natural to have a strong tendency to avoid coming face to face with our emotional
pain. Sometimes we might even have a fear that our pain is really endless and
bottomless. So gentleness and compassion all round is whats called for.
In this gentle investigation, we can think of our pain as a messenger trying to
tell us something. When we really get the message, the hurting stops.
One insight that can help in the developing of a new relationship with our suffering is
offered by the great Zen Master Obaku. He says, that which sees suffering is not
itself suffering. This clear and fearless eye is actually something we all possess and
over time we can become more aware of it as a factor in our lives. Nobody wants
pain, and for many people, the emotional wounds they carry are far more damaging
than anything physical. But if we skilfully approach our suffering with compassionate
awareness, not only does the pain begin to transform, but we can develop a fuller
insight into who we really are.
In some ways, our emotional pain responses are part of the animal level of ourbeing. This animal level doesnt want to hurt, doesnt want to feel threatened.
Suppose you are in a room with a scared and injured animal. How would you
treat it? I suspect, rather than chasing it around the room, trying to catch it and
fix it, and rather than just walking out of the room, leaving the animal to its own
devices, we might just sit down patiently and be quiet and present. In time the
animal will gain confidence, calm down and come and make friends with us
thats the sort of attitude that will help with emotional pain.
The principal barrier to mindfulness of emotional pain is the unwillingness to
see things as they really are. We want so much for things to be different. But no
amount of wishing is going to make things change, and this unwillingness is a
source of suffering in itself. That being the case, all we have to do is be AA,
aware and accepting of the feelings of unwillingness.
Now its important to realise that the Buddha taught four foundations of mindfulness
mindfulness of the body, mindfulness of sensations, mindfulness of the mind and
Silences :http://silenc.es / [email protected]
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mindfulness of mind objects. Now the important thing about these four foundations
of mindfulness is that any one of them will do the job for us. What this means in
practice is you can simply be aware of whats happening in your body and not get
involved in the mental storyline and you will be able to resolve the suffering. Its often
much easier to practice mindfulness of the body than it is to practice mindfulness of
the mind. And mindfulness of the body is just as effective.
Whenever possible take a little time when youre suffering from emotional stress. Do
your very best to be present, to be mindful of the actual feelings, whether on an
embodied, a sensation or even possibly a mental level. In this place do you very best
to be aware of the actual situation or problem youre dealing with. The more you can
be aware that the situation and your reaction to it are actually two different things, the
more you can see your way to taking practical steps to dealing with the situation.The more you can build the strength and clarity to be able to be present and aware of
your emotions in this way, the more you can do exactly the same with others. You
can become genuinely helpful when those around you are having difficulties.
One particularly difficult spectrum of emotional problems occurs amongst those
in the fear spectrum. This can range from mild anxiety to full-blown panic
attacks. Almost universally, people are in denial about the amount of fear they
carry around. We become afraid about fear itself. But when we deny it or
suppress it, the fear tends to come out in other ways, both in symptoms of ill-
health and in less than optimal behaviours.
We deal with fear, just as we deal with all other emotional stress. We do our very
best to be present with it, neither suppressing it nor acting upon it. To re-
formulate what we said before that which is truly aware of fear is not itself
afraid. When we do this were not afraid of fear, we can recognise fear for what
it is. We can recognise that fear might even be an appropriate reaction to the
situation we find ourself in. But just because fear is arising doesnt mean we cant
look at the situation and respond to it appropriately. Some fears, particularly in the
anxiety area, dont necessarily have an obvious cause. In this case we just face the
anxiety with a friendly curious gentle attitude and see what happens. Again as we
mentioned before this awareness itself has a transformative quality over time.
For some people, exposure to stress over long periods can lead to depression.
There can even be a loss of the ability to function normally. Joy and enthusiasm
disappear from life. Feelings of pointlessness and worthlessness can
predominate. The path of mindfulness and meditation has been very effective in
helping with depression. We practice with it as mentioned before, by simply comingface to face with the moment-to-moment reality of our symptoms. We dont try to
change or avoid anything. In doing this, things start to change. We start to see that
our depression is not us. Our gentle awareness gradually peels off the layers of
feeling and things begin to change.
Lets look at a couple of pieces of research.
ScienceDaily (Aug. 5, 2009) reported Twenty minutes per day of guided workplace
meditation and yoga combined with six weekly group sessions can lower feelings of
stress by more than 10 percent and improve sleep quality in sedentary office
employees, a pilot study suggests.
The results of the pilot study are published in a recent issue of the journal Health
Education & Behavior.
Silences :http://silenc.es / [email protected]
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Participants attended one-hour weekly group meetings during lunch and practiced 20
minutes of meditation and yoga per day at their desks. After six weeks, program
participants reported that they were more aware of external stressors, they felt less
stressed by life events, and they fell asleep more easily than did a control group that
did not experience the intervention.
Because chronic stress is associated with chronic disease, I am focusing on how to
reduce stress before it has a chance to contribute to disease, said Maryanna Klatt,
lead author of the study and an assistant professor of clinical allied medicine at Ohio
State University.
Now for depression. The UK expert in this area is Dr. Mark Williams of the Oxford
Mindfulness Centre. His group is engaged in actively promoting meditation andmindfulness combined with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for depression sufferers.
Lets look at some of the research into meditation and depression.
A study, published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, showed that
mindfulness and meditation proved as effective as maintenance anti-depressants in
preventing a relapse and more effective in enhancing peoples' quality of life. The
study also showed mindfulness and meditation to be as cost-effective as prescription
drugs in helping people with a history of depression stay well in the longer-term.
Funded by the British Medical Research Council (MRC), the study was led by
Professor Willem Kuyken at the Mood Disorders Centre, University of Exeter, in
collaboration with colleagues at the Centre for Economics of Mental Health (CEMH)
at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, Peninsula Medical School,
Devon Primary Care Trust and the Medical Research Council Cognition and BrainSciences Unit.
The randomized control trial involved 123 people from urban and rural locations who
had suffered repeat depressions and were referred to the trial by their doctors. The
participants were split randomly into two groups. Half continued their on-going anti-
depressant drug treatment and the rest participated in a meditation course and were
given the option of coming off anti-depressants.
Over the 15 months after the trial, 47% of the group following the meditation and
mindfulness course experienced a relapse compared with 60% of those continuing
their normal treatment, including anti-depressant drugs. In addition, the group on the
meditation and mindfulness program reported a higher quality of life, in terms of their
overall enjoyment of daily living and physical well-being.
Members of the study team from the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London
also compared the cost of providing meditation programs with the cost of
maintenance anti-depressant treatment. The findings suggest that meditation and
mindfulness provides a cost-effective alternative to anti-depressant drugs. Unlike
most other psychological therapies, it can be taught in groups by a single therapist,
and patients then continue to practice the skills they have learned at home by
themselves.
During the eight-week trial, groups of between eight and fifteen people met with one
therapist. They learned a range of meditation exercises that they could continue to
practice on their own once the course ended. Many of the exercises were based on
Buddhist meditation techniques and helped the individual take time to focus on the
present, rather than dwelling on past events, or planning for future tasks. The
exercises worked in a different way for each person, but many reported greater
acceptance of, and more control over, negative thoughts and feelings.
Silences :http://silenc.es / [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://silenc.es/http://silenc.es/ -
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One final point with this work. Its important to emphasize that dealing with
emotional stress, fear and depression through mindfulness and meditation is a
skill. It takes time and practice to develop. The more practice you build up in
relatively good times, the better shape you will be when hard times come.
So you can see, with a regular meditation and mindfulness practice we are in a
much better position to deal with the inevitable pain that arises in life.
Any questions?
Assignment for this week. 30 minutes a day practice counting the breathmeditation and record your experience in your meditation diary.
Continue your sitting meditation with counting your breath. Take some time for
walking meditation (see the course notes on the Silences website for guidance on
how to do this), even a few minutes. See how it feels and record your experience.
In addition each day note down in your meditation diary at least one or a few
pleasurable experiences you have each day.
Who meditates?
Some famous meditators for you :
British Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg. Also, Foreign Secretary / Secretary of
State, William Hague.
Others include Clint Eastwood (for over 40 years!), the US Marines, members of the
US congress.
Steve Jobs, former CEO of Apple, was a Zen Buddhist, and meditated from an early
age in hist college days, until the day he died. The day he died, his final three words
were Wow, wow, wow In Zen, we regard our meditation as a great preparation
not only for life, but for death too, as we can be certain it will come one day. I guess
from those three words, that Steve Jobs was prepared
Russell Brand, Richard Gere, along with many famous musicians, actors, and public
figuressearch and you will find them.
Then there are Al Gore, Madonna, Tina Turner, Will Smith, Paul McCartney, Tiger
Woods, Oprah Winfrey, Sheryl Crow, Moby, I could go on and on and onthere are
many more than you can imagine, these are just some examples.
Learn to meditate, and you'll be in good company, some of the best!
Silences :http://silenc.es / [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://silenc.es/http://silenc.es/