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secular mindfulness

Is There a Place for God in Secular Mindfulness Meditation?

General, Meditation, Meditation Reflections, Mindfulness /

When teaching mindfulness meditation in a secular context, I often encounter situations where people struggle with the nuanced understanding of secularism.  Frequently, I am asked whether individuals who are Christian, Muslim, Jewish or hold other beliefs can attend the sessions, as there is sometimes a misconception that these practices are exclusively Buddhist.  Additionally, some participants […]

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Making Peace With The Past: A Reflection on “Karma”

General, Meditation Reflections /

Reconciling with the past might be one of the most challenging things to do.  Because of this, we might bring unresolved and unprocessed emotions and situations from the past into the present, whether it be from a traumatic upbringing, an unresolved relationship, an argument or the persistent recollection of previous mishaps. We might develop a

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Does Love Require Agency?

General, Loving-Kindness, Meditation Reflections, Quotes /

Peter Doobinin argues that love needs agency, commenting, “Our ability to love is determined by the decisions we make to act in a certain way. When we surrender our decision-making, we deny our greatest strength: our capacity for love.” Peter Doobinin argues that yes, indeed, love requires agency and conscious decision-making. Might this be a

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Uniting Body and Mind: The True Declaration of Love

General, Loving-Kindness, Meditation Reflections, Quotes /

Thich Nhat Hanh comments: “The true declaration of love is, ‘Dear one, I am here for you,’ because the most precious gift you can give to your loved one is your true presence, with body and mind united in solidity and freedom.” Thich Nhat Hanh’s statement draws attention to the significance of being truly present

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Krishnamurti’s Secret: Not Minding

Equanimity, General, Meditation Reflections /

Once, when asked about his secret to peace and contentment, meditation teacher Jiddu Krishnamurti famously replied: ‘I don’t mind what happens.’ Upon initial reflection, Krishnamurti’s answer about his secret to peace and contentment seems almost flippant – “I don’t mind what happens.” How could not minding what occurs in life possibly lead to inner tranquillity?

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Transformative Potential of Loving Speech and Deep Listening

Compassion, General, Loving-Kindness, Quotes /

Sister Dang Nghiem comments that, “It is entirely possible to create new, mindful, positive habits. This is certainly possible with the practice of loving speech and deep listening toward ourselves. Positivity and gratitude slowly become a new, mindful habit.” Sister Dang Nghiem’s comments point to the potential transformative power mindfulness and compassionate communication can have

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“And Now Close Your Eyes or Lower Your Gaze”

General, Meditation, Mindfulness, Research on Meditation /

During meditation, practitioners are usually instructed to either sit with a lowered soft gaze or close their eyes.  We discussed this in a previous article on “Meditation: Eyes Open or Eyes Closed” and how practising with eyes open might be difficult initially because of the tendency to get lost in visual distractors.  Sprawson et al.

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Working With The Mind

General, Meditation Reflections, Quotes /

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche comments, “To cultivate a steady mind independent of circumstances, we must work with the mind itself. Working directly with the mind uncovers the inherent quality of meditative awareness.” Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, a prominent Tibetan Buddhist monk and teacher, here emphasizes the importance of cultivating a steady mind regardless of external circumstances. He

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Cultivating Mindfulness analogy

Cultivating Mindfulness: The Analogy of Two Farmers

Leave a Comment / General, Mindfulness /

The analogy of two farmers is a story explaining how cultivating mindfulness as an open quality of awareness in our everyday life can be of help.  This post is a revisiting of a previous post with the difference that it includes a video and a further reflection on the previous one.   Mindfulness technique and

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NYANAPONIKA THERA on The Four Sublime States

NYANAPONIKA THERA on The Four Sublime States

Leave a Comment / Compassion, Equanimity, General, Loving-Kindness, Quotes, Sympathetic Joy /

The basis of meditation practice is familiarising ourselves with the mind, how easy it is to get lost in compulsive thinking, noticing such and gently bringing the mind back to our present experience. This is said to cultivate mindfulness, but doing this mechanistically would reduce meditation to an attentional practice. The Buddhist monk NYANAPONIKA THERA

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Meditation Conversations - Is meditation suitable for everyone

Meditation Conversations: Is Meditation Suitable for Everyone

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Following is the podcast of the conversation between Spiritual Blogger and Author Vasundhra Gupta and Clayton Micallef discussing the questions; What is and is not meditation? Is meditation suitable for everyone, and if in certain situations or for certain people meditation might not work and practising it might result in adverse experiences? Is Meditation Suitable

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Anatta Understanding the Fluid Nature of Self - The self as anatta

Anatta Understanding the Fluid Nature of Self

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Our sense of self refers to a set of characteristic and personal attributes that we feel define us.  It is made up of what we see as those set of characteristics that distinguishes us from others. Our personality traits, physical qualities and abilities, personal likes and dislikes (preferences), beliefs, and moral codes and motivations all

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Noticing the Pause Between In-breath and Out-breath Guided Meditation

Noticing the Pause Between In-breath and Out-breath Guided Meditation

2 Comments / General, Guided Meditation /

We breathe in and breath out, but there lay a subtle pause between the in-breath and out-breath.  Our breath is made of three parts our in-breath, the pause between the in-breath and out-breath and the out-breath itself.  These together form the breath in a cyclical manner that is ever-changing as no in-breath and out-breath is

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What is the difference between samatha and vipassana meditation

What Is The Difference Between Samatha And Vipassana Meditation

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To fully understand what is the difference between Samatha and Vipassana meditation.  It is crucial to distinguish that meditation practices lay on a continuum. From those that use concentrating on a single object to steady the mind to reach a state of absorption called calm-abiding.  To those who employ concentration and calm-abiding to look into

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Memories Of Kindness Meditation Practice - Guided Meditation

Memories of Kindness Meditation Practice

2 Comments / Compassion, General, Guided Meditation, Meditation /

When it comes to teaching mindfulness the memories of kindness meditation practice is one of the introductory techniques we use to explore and cultivate kindness in our lives.  This post will give a general overview of why we do the memories of kindness meditation, the stages we go through in the memories of kindness practice

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Does Meditation Change How We Perceive Pain - Can Meditation Help With Symptoms Of Pain

Does Meditation Change How We Perceive Pain

1 Comment / General, Meditation, Research on Meditation /

We can all agree that pain is an unpleasant feeling. Because of this, researchers are on a constant search for pharmaceuticals or psychological behavioural intervention to help with the symptoms of pain.  Meditation is one such psychological intervention, and meditation teachers have long time argued that meditation might help with the symptoms of pain by

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Can Mindfulness Help Increase Coping With Infertility Problems

Can Mindfulness Help Increase Coping With Infertility Problems

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Mindfulness has been extensively used as a psychotherapeutic intervention for persons facing emotional distress because of a medical condition, and a recent literature review on mindfulness and infertility problems published in the journal of Human Reproductive Sciences by Patel et al. (2020) asked can mindfulness help increase coping with infertility problems. Coping with infertility problems

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Understanding gratitude as a virtue - is gratitude a virtue

Understanding Gratitude As A Virtue

Leave a Comment / General, Gratitude /

The word gratitude comes from the Latin term “gratus”, which means “thankful, pleasing.” Therefore, in its simplest form, to be grateful is to have an appreciation and express thankfulness and moral philosophers have throughout the ages asked the question is gratitude a virtue?  However, when we approach gratitude as a virtue, there is more to gratitude

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Fight Climate Change Like Coronavirus

UN Urges Us To Fight Climate Change Like Coronavirus

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The United Nation urges us that we need to – fight climate change like coronavirus – with the same resolve and determination we are showing in the fight against this imminent threat the new coronavirus.  Unfortunately, although both COVID-19 and climate change are an existential threat to humanity, it seems that we are reacting slowly

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The Golden Rule and the Coronavirus COVID-19 - Compassion is the Key (compassion and cooperation are key)

The Golden Rule and the Coronavirus COVID-19: Compassion is the Key

Leave a Comment / Compassion, General /

With the WHO finally calling the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19 a global pandemic, we find ourselves in an unprecedented situation and tiring times.  As suddenly with such statement, the coronavirus COVID-19 became an issue affecting the whole world and every one of us as individuals in one way or another.  So what can we

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Ending The Cycle of Violence: Can Meditation Help World Peace (meditation world peace)

Ending The Cycle of Violence: Can Meditation Help World Peace?

2 Comments / Compassion, General, Meditation /

While researching online, I came across research articles arguing how meditation can help in ending “the cycle of violence” and help achieve world peace through the cultivation of mindful awareness (Brantmeier, 2007; Tanabe, 2016).  Although going through some social media posts on meditation, you might also get the perception of meditation being like “some kind

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