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"When you walk, just walk."
Spirit Rock offers
a year-round schedule of residential and non-residential retreats and classes that range from one day to several months in duration. These events include a range of programs for beginning and experienced students. All programs at Spirit Rock are offered to all who are interested, although we also offer retreats for specific groups such as men, women, families, gays and lesbians, people of color, and singles. Some programs are also offered in areas of special interest such as health care, art, service, and work.
Insight Meditation (known as vipassana in the Buddhist tradition) is a simple technique which has been practiced in Asia for over 2,500 years. Beginning with the focusing of attention on the breath, the practice concentrates and calms the mind. It allows us to see through the mind's conditioning and thereby live more fully present in the moment. Its presentation through Spirit Rock Meditation Center is non-sectarian, although the ethics and traditions of Buddhist psychology are included for guidance.
The mediations offered here and at the Center allow us to awaken and develop our natural compassion and awareness. Drawn form the teachings of the Buddha, these practices connect us with the essence of all spiritual life. Mindfulness meditation involves a deep listening, with sensitivity and kindness, to our body, heart and mind, and then asks us to extend this careful attention to the world around us. Regular practice of meditation can bring understanding and nurture inner peace. It can teach us to relax and remain alert in the midst of the problems and joys of our life. It gives us the ability to rest in the present moment with ease and respond to life with a wise and open heart. In the following paragraphs, we offer meditation of mindful sitting and walking, and the heart-centered practice of loving kindness as a way for you to understand meditation and discover its benefits for yourself.
The following three meditations are traditional and simple practices for awakening a clear mind and a wise and open heart. The art of mediation teaches us to relax and remain alert in the midst of the problems and the joys of life. It allows us to rest in the moment with ease and respond to life with compassion.
To begin meditation, select a quiet time and place. Be seated on a cushion or chair, taking an erect yet relaxed posture. Let yourself sit upright with the quiet dignity of royalty. Close your eyes gently and begin by bringing a full, present attention to whatever you feel within you and around you. Let your mind be spacious and your heart be kind and soft.
As you sit, feel the sensations of your body. Then notice what sounds and feelings, thoughts and expectations are present. Allow them all to come and go, to rise and fall like ocean waves. Be aware of these waves and rest seated in the midst of them. Allow yourself to become more and more still.
In the center of all these waves, feel your breathing, your life-breath. Let your attention feel the in-and-out breathing wherever your notice it, as coolness or tingling in the nose or throat, as a rising and falling of your chest or abdomen. Relax and softly rest your attention on each breath, feeling the movement in a steady easy way. Let the breath breathe itself in any rhythm, long or short, soft or deep. As you feel each breath, concentrate and settle into its movement. Let all other sounds and sensations, thoughts and feelings, continue to come and go like waves in the background.
After a few breaths, your attention may be carried away by one of the waves of thoughts or memories, by body sensations or sounds. Whenever you notice you have been carried away for a time, acknowledge the wave that has done so by softly giving it a name such as "thinking," "planning," "remembering," "itching," or "restless." Then let it pass and gently return to the breath. Some waves will take a long time to pass, others will be short. Certain thoughts or feelings will be painful, others will be pleasurable. Whatever they are, simplylet them be.
At some sitting you will be able to return to your breath easily. At other times in your meditation you will mostly be aware of body sensations or of plans or thoughts. Either way is fine. No matter what you experience, be aware of it, let it come and go, and rest at ease in the midst of it all. After you have sat for twenty or thirty minutes in this way, open your eyes and look around you before you get up. Then as you move try to allow the same spirit of awareness to go with you into the activities of your day.
The art of meditation is simple but not always easy. It thrives on practice and a kind and spacious heart. If you do this simple practice of sitting with awareness every day, you will gradually grow in centeredness and understanding.
The natural ease of walking can be used as a direct and simple way to bring centeredness and peace into our lives. Walking becomes a meditation when we bring a careful and present attention to each step we take. Walking becomes a meditation when we feel ourselves fully here on the earth.
To learn walking meditation, select a place to walk back and forth at a leisurely rate, fifteen to thirty paces in length. Stand at the end of this "walking path." Feel your feet on the floor, on the earth. Sense the environment around you. Be aware of yourself and your surroundings until you feel quite and composed. Then begin to walk. Focus your attention on your body, feeling each step as you lift your foot and place it back on the earth. As you sense each step, return your foot to the earth with care. Walk upright in a relaxed and dignified fashion. When you get to the end of your path, pause briefly and then turn around. Stand and center yourself then and be aware of the first step as you begin again. You can walk at whatever speed keeps you most present.
Walk with careful attention to each step for fifteen or twenty minutes. Usually when we walk we are distracted by a hundred other things. As you walk in meditation, try to let the thoughts and images that arise remain in the background. Even so, you will regularly get carried away by thoughts. When this happens, simply stop walking and be aware of the thoughts. Then quietly re-center yourself and take the next step. Keep coming back to your footsteps in this simple way. At times you may wish to do a period of walking mediation alone. On other days you might walk for ten or fifteen minutes before beginning a sitting meditation.
With practice you can learn to use walking as a means to calm and collect yourself, to become truly present in your body. You can extend this walking practice in informal ways, when you go shopping, when you walk down the street or to and from your car. You can learn to enjoy walking for its own sake instead of combining it with the usual planning and thinking. In this simply way you can move through life wakefully, with your whole body, heart, and mind together in harmony.
With a loving heart as the background, all that we attempt, all that we encounter will open and flow more easily. Loving kindness meditation uses phrases, images, and feelings to evoke a loving kindness and friendliness toward oneself and others. It is best to begin this practice by meditation for fifteen or twenty minutes daily in a quiet place.
Sit in a comfortable fashion. Let your body rest and be relaxed. Let your heart be soft, letting go of plans and preoccupations. Then begin to recite inwardly the following phrases directed to yourself. You begin with yourself because without loving yourself it is almost impossible to love others.
May I be filled with
As you repeat these phrases, you can picture yourself as a young and beloved child or sense yourself as you are now, held in a heart of loving kindness. Adjust the words and images in any way you need to find the exact phrases that best open your heart of kindness. Repeat the phrases over and over again, letting the feelings permeate your body and mind. Practice this meditation for a number of weeks, until the sense of loving kindness for yourself grows.
Be aware that this meditation may at times feel mechanical or awkward or even bring up feelings contrary to loving kindness, feelings of irritation and anger. If this happens, it is especially important to be patient and kind towardyourself, allowing whatever arises to be received in a spirit of friendliness and kind affection.
When you feel you have established some sense of loving kindness, you can then expand your meditation to include others in the same meditation period. After focusing on yourself, choose someone in your life who has truly cared for you. Picture this person and carefully recite the same phrases: May he/she be filled with loving kindness, and so forth. When loving kindness for this person has developed, begin to include other people you love in the meditation, picturing each one and reciting the same phrases, evoking a sense of loving kindness for them.
After this you can include others: friends, community members, neighbors, people everywhere, animals, all beings, the whole earth. Then youcan even include the difficult people in your life, wishing that they too be filled with loving kindness and peace. In the course of twenty minutes your meditation can open from yourself, to loved ones, to all beings everywhere.
Loving kindness can be practiced anywhere. You can use this meditation in traffic jams, in buses and airplanes. As you silently practice this meditation among people, you will immediately feel a wonderful connection with them -- the power of loving kindness. it will calm your life and keep you connected to your heart.
"Look within. Be still, free from fear and attachment."
"Let your mind settle like a clear forest pool."
"Peace is the highest happiness."
