Monday, November 23, 2009

Exercise, Week beginning Mon, Nov 23, 2009

Free Yourself from Your Mind
Adapted from Practicing the Power of Now: Essential Teachings, Meditations, and Exercises from The Power of Now (p. 21–22)

Be present in everyday activities.
The best way of assimilating the teachings of A New Earth is through reading, contemplating and slowly digesting the concepts in the book. You can also take any routine activity that normally is only a means to an end and give it your fullest attention.

Choose one or two activities you do routinely and bring your attention to them. Here are three examples.
  • Every time you walk up and down the stairs in your house or place of work, pay close attention to every step, every movement…even your breathing. Be totally present.
  • When you wash your hands, pay attention to all the sensory perceptions associated with the activity: the sound and feel of the water, the movement of your hands, the scent of the soap and so on.
  • When you get into your car, after you close the door, pause for a few seconds and observe the flow of your breath. Become aware of a silent but powerful sense of presence.

[The group read up to the top of page 46.]

~CLICK~ to listen to the web discussion on Chapter 2 with Oprah & Eckhart.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

If... ??

If the world was perfect, it wouldn't be.

- Yogi Berra

Drumming circle this Friday eve, 7-9, Stoughton, MA

"Sharing the Bounty"

Presented by: Jean Fox and Jane Mooney
Co-founders of the drumming circle
"Sisters of the Spiral"


Friday, November 20th
7:00 –9:00 pm


$5.00 Suggested Donation

Dating back to the beginning of the human race, drumming continues to be an integral part of many cultures. Research has shown drumming to be an "efficient technique which may lead to emotional and physical healing experiences". Many people have described a sense of peace and increased awareness after participating in a drumming circle.
A sampling of drums and varied percussion will be provided. Participants are welcome to bring their own drums.

To Register:

Please contact us at (781) 341-0939 or via e-mail at Nancy.Conroy@onekicenter.org

2 Canton Street (Rt. 27)
Stoughton, MA 02072
781.341.0939

"Drum sound rises on the air, its throb, my heart. A voice inside the beat says; I know you’re tired, but come. This is the way." ~ Rumi

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Exercise, Week beginning Mon, Nov 16, 2009

Awakening Exercise for Chapter 2:
Listen for the Voice in Your Head
Adapted from Practicing the Power of Now: Essential Teachings, Meditations, and Exercises from The Power of Now (p. 18–20)

Notice the voice in your head.
A few times a day, listen quietly for the voice in your head, the stream of continuous self-talk. Then ponder the following questions. Just be with the questions. Don't necessarily try to answer them.

  • Am I the thoughts that are going through my head?
  • Or, am I the one who is aware that these thoughts are going through my head?

Pay attention to the gap between your thoughts—when one thought subsides and before another arises. In this way, you draw consciousness away from mind activity and create a gap of no-mind in which you are highly alert and aware but not thinking. When these gaps occur, you disidentify from your mind and feel a certain stillness and peace inside you. This is the essence of meditation and the single most vital step on your journey toward enlightenment.

[The group read up to the middle of page 42.]

>CLICK<< to listen to the web discussion on Chapter 2 with Oprah & Eckhart.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Exercise, Week beginning Mon, Nov 9, 2009

The group read up to the middle of page 34, to just before "CONTENT AND STRUCTURE OF THE EGO"



Exercise [from page 64]:

See if you can catch, that is to say, notice, the voice in the head, perhaps in the very moment it complains about something, and recognize it for what it is: the voice of the ego, no more than a conditioned mind-pattern, a thought.


Whenever you notice that voice, you will also realize that you are not the voice, but the one who is aware of it. In fact, you are the awareness that is aware of the voice.
In the background, there is the awareness. In the foreground, there is the voice, the thinker. In this way you are becoming free of the ego, free of the unobserved mind. The moment you become aware of the ego in you, it is strictly speaking no longer the ego, but just an old, conditioned mind-pattern. Ego implies unawareness. Awareness and ego cannot coexist. The old mind-pattern or mental habit may still survive and reoccur for a while because it has the momentum of thousands of years of collective human unconsciousness behind it, but every time it is recognized, it is weakened.

Friday, November 6, 2009

The "Inner Teacher"

Our buddha nature has an active aspect, which is our “inner teacher.” From the very moment we became obscured, this “inner teacher” has worked tirelessly for us, tirelessly trying to bring us back to the radiance and spaciousness of our true being.
Not for one second, my master Jamyang Khyentse said, has the inner teacher given up on us. In its infinite compassion, one with the infinite compassion of all the buddhas and all the enlightened beings, it has been ceaselessly working for our evolution—not only in this life but in all our past lives—using all kinds of skillful means and all types of situations to teach and awaken us and to guide us back to the truth.

- Sogyal Rinpoche