Meditation

Many of the answers to the questions raised above are available in meditation. Meditation practice gives us insight into both the fundamental nature of our being and the nature of our dissatisfaction. It allows us to experience emotions and thoughts with greater clarity and balance. Mind is freed from conditioned patterns of self-centeredness, negativity and confusion, and the heart opened to deeper wisdom and compassion. We begin to know each moment as practice for our growth toward wholeness and harmony. We also begin to discover that place in ourselves which is already whole, always in harmony, and increasingly, we learn to live from that clear center.

The fundamental meditation practice that we teach is called insight meditation, or, traditionally, Vipassana meditation, from the Theravadin Buddhist Tradition. Insight meditation is a simple and direct practice: the moment to moment investigation of the mind/body process through calm, focused awareness. Through this practice we increase our ability to be fully present in this moment. We become more aware of, and more comfortable with, our thoughts, emotions and physical sensations, and lessen our identification with these aspects of our being as “self.” Thus, we decrease our need to hide from the experiences that are uncomfortable or to react to them. Insight meditation cultivates a spaciousness and “choiceless awareness,” an ability to be present with things as they are.

We balance insight meditation with “pure awareness” meditation practice, derived from the Tibetan Dzogchen tradition. Through this practice we develop a deep awareness of our true nature, not as something which we strive to manifest but as that which is eternal and present NOW. We learn to rest with stability in the experience of the deepest truth of ourselves. This experience might best be described as “coming home,” resting in a stillness and peace which become unshakable, regardless of outer turmoil.

We cannot hide in this inner stillness though. Rather, we find a stable center from which we can extend ourselves out to the world with increasing kindness and skill. The fruits of our work are growing freedom, clarity, joy and the ability to bring these gifts into our sometimes chaotic lives.