Meditation anyone? 30 minutes a day for 8 weeks... you in?

If you do create a post, maybe you could add that while I've included metta instruction, anyone's welcome to meditate with any technique that they prefer.

That is what I have been suggesting to newbies who are considering joining us. What is key I think is to come together at the same time. 2pm PST, 5PM EST or whatever that translates in the time zone they live in. If they want to use the metta instructions great, but any way they feel comfortable is great too.

LOL... it is like I am rehearsing the post I am going to go now to say in the invitation.

I will keep you updated. I am also going to suggest they come here before the start time to check in or to ask a quick question and to come back to comment on their meditation if they want to share. I will check in before and after. Time is ticking. I better get that thread started. See you later.

Sun... My good thoughts and prayers are with you. Metta.

Here is the link to the invitation thread...

http://forums.psychcentral.com/showt...10#post1758910

I still have a question for you Lavie. Do we repeat the phrases starting again with I statements etc. Just dawned on me that one go through won't take very long.

15 minutes to start time.... no replies to invitation... signing off to get ready. Check in afterwards.

SS, it would go like this: May I be happy and peaceful. May I be healthy. May I be free suffering, etc.

May you, Liv (my mentor/benefactor) be happy and peaceful. May you be healthy, etc.

May you, Leslie (my friend) be happy...May you be healthy, etc.

May you, Postmistress (that's who I use as a neutral person, neither liked nor disliked) be happy and peaceful...May you be healthy...

May you, Stan (my difficult person, my brother) be....

After all the people, you say, "May all beings be happy and peaceful. May they be healthy in body, mind and spirit, May they be free from harm (or whatever wording you choose; it's not written in stone; you can make it your own), ....etc.

This is a simplified version. Traditionally, after all the individuals in our lives, but before "all beings", we widen the circle gradually until it includes "all beings". After the last person we do, we might say, May all Northampton residents ...May all Massachusetts residents...May all those in the U.S., May all beings in the Western Hemisphere...May all beings on Earth...May all beings in the four directions...and finally, May all beings be happy...etc.

I wasn't going to include all that. I didn't want to be confusing. Any version of it is perfectly fine. It's the spirit of wishing well to others that counts.

I am here. ready and starting <3 Thnk you SS and everyone !!!

I am so glad you were there with me. I knew I was not alone. Thanks SunSet for your messages but you are right... I had signed off to prepare. Thanks too Lavie for the more detailed instructions. I realized I have forgot to write down the instructions I had shared before I signed off so I spoke to what had been put on my heart.

I actually sat for 30 minutes when I looked again at the clock. It was a precious time and I am still filled up by the experience.

May all who joined us in practise and spirit and to whom we named and all who share the blessings of Mother Earth be filled up and walk in peace.

Back to work now feeling lighter and more able to focus. Thanks again my friends.

Thanks to you both and anyone else who participated. I actually felt still inside during those 14 minutes of my metta practice, the calmest I've felt in weeks. I could feel the added boost of your spirits together with me. I could have continued to sit, but surrendered to private messages waiting. I'm inspired to go sit a bit right now! Talk with you all later.

okay, I will admit that I ran in the house at the last minute and was not able to focus as i should have But I was there. I just had a hard time finishing the errends and getting home much before 5pm ET. So the focus was not there. Having said that, Thank you again SS and laviee and Sundog and anyone else who participated <3<3<3 Last night i got to listen to a very powerful telephone guided meditation done by this guy who always charges a lot. But last night it was free. It was in the dicipline that I practice. And so profoundly powerful. I plan to set intentions for more of that to come to me. Telephone guided meditation in the tradition I feel the closest to. Of course it would have to be free of charge. Thank you again all who planned this 10 minute meditation. <3

i remembered this site that helped me so much when i was beginning,, hope it's of use to you,,, best wishes,, Gus
http://lojongmindtraining.com/

I am glad Lavie that your practice was so calming. I hope your follow up sit was equally filled with blessings. Thanks again for taking the time to offer the metta instructions. I will give it a go another time.

For me I am most comfortable when I began my meditation with a smudge (washing in the smoke of burning sage) that continued to burn while offering prayers (wishes) and thanksgiving to Creator and the grandmothers and grandfathers in the four directions. I then sit in silence breathing in wellness and exhaling toxins build up in my body and mind. I knew when it was time to stop when my peace was restored and the sage burned out.

I appreciate you were there with us SunSun but I am sorry it was difficult for you to focus. Life gets so busy sometimes so I really appreciate the extra effort you made to join us. I am happy you were able to listen to a 'free' meditation with someone practicing the tradition you feel closest to.

What a treat that we were each giving the gift of calm. May that be true for Sun and others who joined us.

So when will we do it again. I am thinking every 2 weeks. I forget what we suggested when we came up with the idea but 2 weeks feels good for me. How does everyone else feel?

Thinking of you Sun and hoping you are feeling better today. You are missed and always in our thoughts and best wishes.

Sending you healing energy....

Thank you Guz for sharing the link.

Every two weeks sounds good to me, SS. Do you want to plan a date and time, and let us know? We could stick with a Wednesday, same time of day, or any other day and time is fine, too. Do you want to lead us this time? It could be in the style of your prayers.

Thanks Gus for the link. SunSun, I'm glad that you had a powerful phone guided meditation, and that you joined us to whatever degree was possible. to all.

Hello dear (((((((ss,lavie and SunSun)))))) Thanks for your kind thoughts I sat with you on Wednesday and I felt a lot of love. I repeated my metta phrases and I thought of you doing the same. It was special!! I've been having a challenging time emotionally (how's that for non-judgmental re-phrasing?! ) and definitely, the Wednesday session helped ground me. I need more of that!! Thanks for your lovingkindness. And thanks for being there in cyberspace! I will look forward to doing another group cyber sit with you!

Sun So glad to have you back. Its so wonderful how we each felt the presence and love while meditating together. It really was special.

I am sorry you are having a challenging time and good on your for the non-judgemental approach. I was listening to a traditional aboriginal (Native American in the US) and he was saying we need to 'make peace with our feelings'. It has stuck with me and it reminded me of some of the teaching of Pema (sp?) you have shared with us. The concept of facing your emotions with out fear or speculation. It also suggested to me that as we become more understanding of these kinds of truths we also become more empowered to re-center in ways we may not have even imaged before. It is a gradual process that reveals itself in quietest ways.... like your rephrasing statements that would have automatically be judgemental only a short time ago.

It is always those baby steps that start the momentum towards the light. Sometimes unnoticable but combined amazingly impactful.

Beautiful picture once again Sun. What a blessing you are.

I think we should stick to the same day and time. That way it will become more routine and easier to work into people's schedules. As for the method I am inclined to think it is best if we each do what we are most comfortable with at the time.

I like the idea of people sharing traditions so that we can learn from one another and try different approaches on for size. I am concerned if we go into a cyber sit attempting to follow a new approach it will be too distracting to the process. What do your think.

My practice incorporates mostly traditional native spirituality with the addition of mediative breathing. I will share more about my approach and leave it to you and others to see what aspects you are comfortable to incorporate into your own practice.

I should say too that I am not very good at following set instructions. While I start out with particular ceremonial expressions of respect the rest of the time is pretty much determined by what is put on my heart to pray. Like your mettas it will start with me, extend to people in my life, people in my neighbourhood, in my town, in my country in the world. Always with special prayers and offerings for people and places in special need.

I mentioned that I burn sage to prepare and I know when my time is over when the sage burns out. The spent ashes are then taken outside to bury under a big cedar tree in my yard. I will also make tobacco offers to the four direction and thank the grandmothers and grandfathers for their love, protection and guidence. I will then spend some time resting with my back against the cedar tree and enjoy a few moments of mindlessness as it renews me. There is about a 6 feet tall by 2 feet wide crevous that I fit into just perfectly.

LOL.... I started out saying I will be happy to share... meaning another time... then I got started and there ya go. A little taste of my practice.

I can not believe how much better I am sleeping since I have been meditating consistantly and embracing mindlessness. My meditations seem to have settled into mid day when I go out for a walk and visit my special places.

While laying in bed at night and again in the morning I spend some time just slowing down my breath and entering into mindlessness. I fall asleep in no time and I start my day in a calm state.

I admit that in the back of my mind is some suspicions. I am waiting for the penny to drop again and the struggles to press me down again.

I remain a work in progress. Progress being the key word to remember.

Wishing you all a beautiful day filled with peace and acceptance of what is that you might stay present in each moment of your day.

Thank you again for your lovingkindness ((((((ss))))))) And thanks for the reminder about the cumulative power of baby steps.

I love hearing more about your practice and the image of you resting in the crevice of the cedar tree. How perfect

I'm really glad that the regular meditation is helping you sleep so much better.

I have been doing quite a bit of of metta mediation. I've been naming you guys because you're really important to me. And I've also been including the people and animals in Japan. I'm trying to get better at including people I find difficult. It is really powerful to do that and it does disarm some of the anger and/or frustration I feel towards certain people sometimes. It's just hard to do it genuinely. I mean, to genuinely wish these difficult people well, as opposed to just paying lipservice to wishing them well. I've also been focusing on wishing myself well.

Have a wonderful day!

I agree. It can be challenging to not pay lipservice to wishing difficult people well. I make it a practice of praying for difficult people the minute I feel myself reacting to them. It does disempower their influence on my own wellbeing in the moment I feel stirred up. I can still disagree with them and take issue with their behaviours but I don't give them my power so easily.

It is another of those practices grounded in my beliefs that has a cumulative effect. It my take many times turning to prayer to dis-empower people I have difficulties with but again... baby steps and a commitment to practicing that which is best for my own wellness.

I can't tell you how many times I have walked out of my son's school praying for the principal because again and again she refuses to listen and gets in the way of my son's education.

I pray pretty much ceaselessly. If I hear a siren I pray for those that might be hurt, and those that will come to their aide. If I see someone speeding excessively I pray they will arrive at their destination safely. I pray every morning for the students and faculty at my son's school. When I am here I am praying for all the members and remain in a spirit of prayer while composing a post.

The more I meditate and the more I take myself into a state of mindlessness the more naturally is prayer always present in my thoughts. Even knowing how valuable prayer is in my life and to my overall wellness, when symptoms are acting up my prayers become increasingly about me with little consideration for others. Even knowing if I prayed for others it can in turn help me when symptoms are acting up it is hard to believe and hard to recognize it is the symptom and not me that changes me.

The metta phrases have a wonderful way of recognizing we are not alone in the world and we need all different kinds of people to teach us what we are here to learn. Particularly the hard lessons. Thus the reason we have difficulty with people, they are the once who have the most important lessons for us to learn. They may be our mirror or they may be our sandpaper, either way they have a purpose in our own life journey.

May all that we do, all that we say, all that we think be a blessing to us and all those who walk in and out of our lives. Whether for a reason, a season or a life time.

Blessings to all.

Thank you for this beautiful post (((((((((((ss)))))))))))))))

Thank you sun. I love the picture and the truth of its message.

I went out with a friend for a few hours last night. She took me to bingo. I was particulary sociable so it was actually a lot of fun.

I was in high spirits when I got home and spent some time writting before heading to bed. I had a very restful meditation earlier in the day and the calm carried me though being in a busy environment and carried over into the rest of the night.

I actually fell asleep in my chair while sitting there to capture mindlessness to balance the remaining business in my head. I slept there for hours before I woke up with a stiff neck and crawled into bed.

Thinking about it this morning while laying in bed looking out my window I had the sense that for the first time in a very long time I had been truly authentic last night. It was a wonderful contrast to my more familar angst of judgement and embarrassment I would feel as I obsessively drowned myself in replaying my performance under a dark cloud of self loathing.

None of those negative thoughts were present when I returned home or this morning while I thought about the night out.

So much is changing for me since I began this meditation journey. It scares me a little because like all of us, when things go well there is always that nagging worry just waiting for the penny to drop and for things to crumble. Interestingly that while that worry still has a whispering voice reminding me that I have been here before and no way can it last. The escelation into mania or the crash into depression is always just a trigger away.

For now I am staying present in the balanced place where I am today. I can't predict, even with all the historical evidence, I can not know what tomorrow will bring. My hope is, like it always is that this time, somehow this time will be different and things will stay in balance and I can become an active citizen in my world again.

Its a good day! I hope everyone else is getting at least some form of a respite from the familiar angst that dog at us to greater and lesser degrees day by day.

Blessing to all. Hope skies are clear tonight where ever you are so you can witness the big moon tonight. I will be doing the same believing that somehow the clouds will open to review it in all of its glory.

Yay to feeling sociable and having fun with your friend last night, ss! And I'm so happy that you're having a lot of good feelings. I do know what you mean about it being scary when things are going well.....As you say, I think that's something which can really be helped by using mindfulness techniques to stay in the present moment. It's great you're doing that. And I'm so glad your present moment is such a good one! I'm wishing you many, many more of those

I seem to be back on a more even keel again emotionally. I'm trying not to think about it all too much. I'm still doing my morning and evening sits, but I've had to abandon my afternoon sessions for the time being because it's really wet (I was doing a sit on my afternoon dog hike). I really like incorporating the metta phrases into my sits. I'm also loving the Pema Chodron CD and I'm listening to certain parts of it repeatedly in the hope that I can really let what she says sink in.

Sending love to all