Does anyone have a daily meditation practice? Would anyone like one but needs motivation?

[mangolassi]

Ooh, I feel all shy

I am agnostic and generally confused about spiritual things, but after recovering from a bout of pnd found a great book - The Mindful Way Through Depression. It has a programme of daily meditation, and I've tried in the past, but it's soooo hard to stick to with no support.

The meditation style in the book is 'western insight' - basically vipassana with the Buddhism taken out - but it would be great to have a thread for anyone trying to get started with daily practice, whatever kind of meditation appeals. Even better if there's anyone who actually has a daily practice already

ps - am so so pleased HG counselling session of some use (was getting a little nervous about it ) and thanks for the book recommendation.

i finished TNH's 'peace in every step' on the way down to pembrokeshire - part of it really spoke to me and made me cry, in fact - luckily i was wearing huge sunglasses so DH (happily oblivious in the driver's seat next to me) didn't notice! it was the chapter entitled 'real love' - about what it is to really love someone, how it's essential to understand them, to put yourself in their skin. and the overlap with compassion. all of which chimed in with what pema chodron has to say about finding the 'soft spot' within. i've been thinking so much about love and its nature and how to love properly and in a non-attached, non-grasping way, recently - i know it's the biggest lesson i have to learn - why else would i have been sent the recurring life patterns i've had to grapple with, i muse!

so yes peanut - i have not done with the blues at this end yet either - but as long as we learn from them then they have their own meaning and their own worth

or so i try to tell myself

well, am not planning to sue you Katie, yet anyway

yes, there is definately a "soft spot" - I get close but shy away, I guess practice is about gaining the strength/concentration/calmness/whatever to actually reach out to it and embrace it - at the moment mine is still far too squidgey and a little bit terrfiying - like a slug's slimey underside. Mm, nice image. Hope you like that one.

so, I went to the cult of startrek order of interbeing sangha meeting last night and it was lovely. Some sitting meditation, some walking meditation, more sitting meditation, a circular sharing session where people talked about what brought them there, or some element of their pratice over the last weeks, then a discussion on a chosen theme which last night, appropriately enough, was "sangha". Unfortunately no tea. The FWBO have obviously been spoiling me with their lovely tea and chat breaks.

They meet evey two weeks about 15 mins from where I live (the advantages of living in London eh?) and I will definately go back.

I've realised that one of the things I so relish about these sangha meetings, apart from the group meditation and opportunity to find out more about buddhism, people's way of practicing etc is the opportunity to meet people from different age groups and backgrounds. In my normal everyday life I meet folk like me mostly 30s/40s. Young kids etc. I rarely if ever spend time talking to older people for example (except my lovely next door neighbour) and I really like being in a situation where that just happens.

There was a wonderful woman there last night, must be in her seventies, did the walking meditation with a cane The session had been held in her house and I stayed afterwards as she had offered to loan me some tapes. We had a lovely chat. Turns out she has been practising for absolute aeons, studied for 10 years in holland with an american zen master (a woman). She was inspiring. She allowed me to look at her extensive library of books and recomended a number to me. They were

the heart of the buddhas teaching by TNH

the lotus awakens ( i think is what it is called) by TNH

zen mind beginners mind by suzuki

a new earth - awakening to your life's pupose by ekhart tolle (which she reckons is better than the other one)

and

after the ecstasy, the laundry by jack kornfield

she also told me about wisdom books which is a great source of primarily buddhist I think literature and stuff - I might start using them for my buddhist books rather than amazon, support the little guys and all that

anyway, thought you might be interested in some of those titles so worth sharing

metta to you all X

peanut! good morning to you xxx and to everyone xxx

...v happy to have such a long list of new books. thank you so much. i had heard that the suzuki and the kornfeld books are excellent. nuggets from both often appear in tricycle's daily dharma, have you noticed? also i have heard from others that the tolle book you mention is better than his first one ('the power of now'). i am so pleased for you re all of these groups - and not a little envious i confess! but i am grateful for what you are sharing with us

i also love the fact that some of my good friends in this area are in their 70s and 80s , via my quaker group - for instance, everyone in my meditation group is late 70s/early 80s apart from me - and it makes not a whit of difference. so that to me has been a huge plus of this 'journey' too, peanut, i know exactly what you mean.

must start work but will order some of these titles later with GLEE!

XXX

great...have ordered the suzuki, kornfield and a 'mind of love' one by TNH - hurrah!

what was all that about us not ordering more books but "being" with our practice? nah, I don't remember that strand of this thread either

am thinking of a singing bowl next, and I do want a little buddha for my shelf or garden, just to remind me to focus

but am trying to rein my natural consumerist tendencies in and be patient, at the right time the right one will volunteer itself...

oooh, more to say about yesterday actually - hada very inetesting experience at lunchtime involving neuroskeletal realignment and governing body dowsing. Totally unexpected. Am at work now so can't write but will try to remember to come back later...

'neuroskeletal realignment and governing body dowsing'?! come back right now and explain yourself

i used the wisdom books site peanut - are you proud of me? and as i ordered i had a small glimmer of memory about THAT strand of the thread, yes...but i instantly ablated it

no time to write, but have just lurked a bit and you both made me smile... look forward to hearing about the neuroskeletal realignment later

take care all

oooh mango - i've been wondering how you were - so nice to 'see' you! must get back to work too xxx

ps in fact, peanut, i recently began to worry slightly that ALL my friends are 4 decades older than me - what with choir (fogey central), quakers (ditto, as discussed), yoga (ditto - it's in the middle of the day, hence OAP magnet effect),there are very few things i do these days amongst people my own age!!

MANGO!!! HELLOOOOOOOOOO....hope you are well and pregnancy goes ok. Think of you often.

Katie - that made me laugh - you and your bunch of aged pals. I tell you though, their is a lot of value in their wisdom and experience. I also love being exposed to some slightly less conservative types - my father is the only aged being in my immediate family, and he and his wife are quite conservative, never question their western values and fully expect us all to conform in every way.

Ok, yesterday lunchtime...ooops, got to run again....

no really, I have suffered with my dodgey hip for years (as I have moaned on here on a couple of occasions at least) and I also have a sort of associated pain in my upper opposite back now, which is probably linked. ANyway, I met a woman at the FWBO meeting who has been working as a massage therapist for years but is now training in neuroskeletal realignment therapy and she needs some casestudy guinea pigs. I was happy to use my tortured body for someones good so volunteered. She came round yesterday with her portable massage table etc and we went through my medical history etc. She was very professional and it felt like a million other such consultations I have had. Then , just before the treatment started she took out a wee pouch and a little pink thing and said "I just need to dowse your governing body first, is that ok" I must have looked gobsmacked as I said "errr, yes, no problem...what's a governing body by the way?" anyway, emerges it is linked to some main meridian in yor body and dowsing it can find any gaps. Which reassuringly can then be "filled" using Myrrh (I didn't ask how). Anyway, up I hopped on the couch and was dowsed, which basically meant she dangled a crystal over me and slowly brought it up from my lower spine to my head. I think if it joggled that would signify a gap. Mine had no gaps you'll be pleased to hear (I was kind of amazed - I thought it would have millions for some reason)....anyway, then seh went on and did the NSAT. I went on about my daily life not really thinking about it anymore. Woke up this morning having had, quite literally, the most vivid dreams of my entire life (apart from just after my mum died). Unbelieveable. I pretty much NEVER recall dreams or know that I have had any. Must have been connected.

By gum girls, the cynic in me is being slowly bit surely eroded .I actually started looking at crystal healing website today - which totally shocked me - no offence to anyone but I always just assumed it was a load of old hocus pocus...

On another subject. I have a little blog, nothing fancy, mostly my pursuits in crafting, but I have decided to put a little midweek musing on it each week with a nice picture. This week is TNH on the smiling meditation. If anyone wants the address please email me at mspbrittle at gmail dot com . I don't just want the whole of mn linking me here (PB) to that there, iyswim...

...aaah, that was just as entertaining as i anticipated it would be - if not more so. i look fwd greatly to relaying some of that (naming no names ) to ultra-cynical DH - most especially the dowsing of your 'gaps' with the proviso that, should any be found, no problem, myrrh would sort them out in a jiffy. marvellous!

the vivid dream was certainly no coincidence, on a more serious note. in homeopathy, dreams go haywire with remedies at times. last year on my course we were invited to participate in a 'dream proving' of a small dose of a mystery remedy - we had to keep a dream diary for three nights - the simlarities between the themes people reported back on were really striking. two of the most vivid dreams i can recall (and i usually recall my many and - my weary DH will attest - tediously varied dreams) in the last year were the night after taking remedies - one was well-known for causing snake-themed dreams (i only found out after having the most grotesque and terrifying boa constrictor horror-film-esque nightmare). so i am sure that was related.

having said that, i am a bit miffed with homeopathy at the moment, i just can't get it work reliably - and esp not in ten-minute NHS consultations. i have seen it work, but it's SO bloody difficult - plus i have no longer any spare reading time to devote to it since mango and the rest of you drew me into your web and caused me to start spending untold thousands in weirdo internet bookshops

as for crystals - must admit have never 'gone there' either. yikes! you can be our offical chief crystalology investigator PB. i can't handle any more than the tomes my floors/chests of drawers/kitchen counters are already groaning under!

anyway, i am v interested in your forays into the world of alternative therapy. that's certainly a new one for me to recommend at work (er, out of the partners' earshot perhaps)

ps
the downside of having ageing pals is that they are always going into hospital and needing to be worried about!!! my friend who recommended eckhart tolle to me, and is writing a book about such matters which i am helping review for him, is recovering from surgery for a tumour at the moment and is the dearest man - i do hope he's okay. he stood up at quakers a couple of weeks ago and spoke very movingly about facing his own personal 'pen-y-fan' (brecon beacons equivalent of everest i guess - we like to keep it local round here ) and how in his view, 'what some of us call God' was 'enabling love' and that whatever it is that enables love between us, he was sure would give him the strength to get through his ordeal. it was very touching.
eek---school run beckons! X

final ps - neuromuscular realignment sounds v much like the bowen technique to me - i had that once for back pain - is it the same thing under a new scientific name?

LOL at 'scientific name' - just had the spirit of DH rise up in front of me and shake his head in sorrow at us all

"bowen technique" - what's that? sounds a bit weird to me

Hi there. I just found this thread and it's been very interesting to read about others' experiences. I am trying to build up my regular yoga and meditation practice again after a very stressed pause during the first few months of dd's life!

I came across this book today:

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0786883146/ref=sib_rdr_dp

'Everyday Blessings' by Jon Kabat-Zinn about mindful parenting. I wondered if anyone's read it, and if so what did you think?

Ta,

Philippa

HI PhilB
Welcome !
Thanks for recommending this book - I've looked at it on Amazon and it sounds interesting. Is it appropriate for parents of older kids (5 year old).? As you may have gathered a number of us on this thread have Amazon addictions- and have towers of waiting-to-be-read books on Buddhism!.
Hope DD is doing well and you can take time to just "be".

Hello to everyone else.... much to say/ chat about but little time. PB thanks for your thoughts on my attachment issues- I found them v helpful.

Has anyone else received the email about the FWBO Urban Retreat - starting on the 20th June? (Google it). I'm hoping to participate in a minor /lurking kind of way via Facebook.

If anyone is interested - I've found a website which sends out weekly " teachings" from their Lama based in Wales. They are v thought provoking/ challenging. Worth looking at:www.buddhism-connect.org/what-we-offer/

Toodlepip

PFS

PS I'm thinking of compiling a list of all the books we've read - and referred to on this thread. Would anyone find that helpful? Needless to say BFM will be the No.1 book.

PhilB - welcome!!! we are very happy to have some new blood on here - i'm really glad you've joined us!
PFS - genius suggestion re compiling the list of books. i agree BFM is number one on the list (i am trying not to think of my beloved copy, far away as i speak in SE london at my brother and sis-in-law's!). i just started 'zen mind beginner's mind' by suzuki - very good. thanks for the link to the welsh outfit too.

i went to a pretty dire meditation/buddhism group meeting last night in hay - under the umbrella of the kampana tradition(?). nothing against the latter, but the teacher was far from articulate, though clearly a very nice chap and all the rest of it. there were only three of us there! pretty uninspiring, all in all. back to friggin' worcester and the FWBO i go next week - well, i guess i am lucky to have found such a vibrant and warm and welcoming group at all, even if it is headache to get to!

must go xxx

Hi, I feel a bit like I am intruding into a rather personal little club, but have been watching the thread with interest for a while. Probably I have the same reasons for looking for a real motivation and ongoing energy for my meditation mixed in with some personal issues. Katie, you mention the worcester groups so I am wondering if you know something about the area that I don't. I know of the new kadampa - and where is the FWBO group, I only know of the Birmingham centre. Anything else useful around? I have been a bit put off the NKT by some insight into some decisions that seemed more 'political'than anything else and have never really regained my 'confidence with them so would love another option. Don't we all know how hard it is to to just do it yourself...? I guess you have had all the discusssions re different traditions over the past 600 or so posts - havn't read all as was out of the country quite a bit but any other experiences welcome!
And ,PFS, a list of book would be interesting, I would add Kathleen MacDonald's 'How to meditate' - and i am looking forward to her teaching in London at the Jamyang centre in September...

kidsRTW - please, please don't feel like this is some personal little club - i know that's how it might seem, as 3 or 4 of do bang on rather a lot, being the enthusiastic and breathless and TALKATIVE types, but it's lovely to have new people come in and join us and we need new insights and - as i said above - fresh blood

i was really frankly put off the NKT by the solitary meeting i attended last week. that is not fair of me, i admit, but the teaching was so drab and ill put together, and there was some stuff in the literature which was rather defensive about its head honcho not having been recognised by the dalai lama, and all in all i thought...nope. but i am very happy to be corrected by anyone reading this who knows a lot more about this tradition than myself - i am rather jumping to conclusions of one lacklustre and badly attended meeting, i realise.

the FWBO centre in worcester is easy to find - they are on melbourne street, and if you go onto the FWBO website there are easy-to-navigate links to it, and their site has a print-out-able map. i found it effortlessly despite being poorly acquainted with worcs city centre. it was in a lovely house which two of the members have made their home. was warm, inviting, and thoroughly appealing, the guided meditation was taken by vajragupta, well known within the FWBO i believe as has written a good book called 'buddhism - tools for daily living' and bcs until recently he headed up the birmingham buddhist centre, for several years.

are you local to that area? i hope to go on tuesday and would be really pleased if you could make it then or any other tuesday, it would be great to meet you.

otherwise no other leads in that area i am afraid. others may have useful input though!

thanks for the book you suggested. off to get my teeth into eckhart tolle's 'a new earth' which i could not resist when i saw it on the shelves of waterstones today - yes, i am managing to read three books simultaneously ('zen mind, and 'after the laundry...'). i am the DEFINITION of mindfulness

growing up, that's great re your phD, you sound so very positive - i cannot for the life of me see how you can possibly be managing to be creative and industrious with it while also feeling utterly sh*tty AND being on constant childcare duty - you're some woman. but then, we knew that already
night night all!
x

Thanks for your comments, Katie, I guess you refer to the Mon teaching by the NKT in Worcester in the friends' house? I share your sentiments even though I havn't been now for a while. Again, I have reservations about the way that the dispute with the Dalai Lama was fought - not so much THAT it was fought, but I thought the events flew in the face of Buddhism. I agree with the argument about the difficulty of mixing religion and politics and have to admit that overall I havn't really found a tradition I am quite happy with - there is an equal amount of criticism about the FWBO but I would quite like to attend one of their local techings at some point. Is there more meditation or discussion? The only other local place I know about is the FPMT group near Hereford but that is too far for me. The problems wiht evenings is childcare and and me not wishing to compromise my training which in may respects keeps me sane.
I would be most interested to hear anyone else's experience and view on the different traditions - or am I just looking for the elusive ideal that really there isn't and I should just grasp any support there is to get back to meditation basics?