Anger and the Limits of Acceptance

One of the doctrines of meditation, especially Buddhist inspired meditation, is radical acceptance.  Often misunderstood, at its root lies the need to experience things as they are, not bound by judgment, opinion, or our desire to change things to better suit our expectations.  Also informing many people’s meditation practice is the Buddhist idea that an attachment to anger is one of the causes of suffering, again colored by judgment, opinion, and a desire to change.  Desire itself, or an attachment to desire, is cited as another cause of suffering.   Not accepting things as they are, wanting them to be different, can cause us great emotional distress.

But what if our experience itself is unacceptable?

Resting in Stillness

I just had another article published on PsychCentral.  It addresses how long periods of meditation are just too much for some people, and how, or if, one can benefit from shorter, less frequent practice periods.

Please read it here.

For a short meditation that can still yield positive results, read my post A Simple Practice.

Taking the Opportunity to Come Apart

I’ve cited James Austin in a post about counting breaths, and often come back to the things he taught in a retreat I attended with him.  It was at Zen Mountain Monastery in the Catskills.  Austin spent most of the day Saturday presenting information from his book Meditating Selflessly, and from other research he and others have conducted on Zen and the Brain.  His exhortation to get out of the meditation hall and spend some time in nature looking at birds, or, if early morning, the planets and stars, led me to leave the retreat on Sunday and disappear for a few hours into the woods (Austin’s presentation was over).

During the retreat I asked Dr. Austin what he thought about people with a serious mental illness practicing meditation.  I have bipolar disorder 1 and had scheduled a very intensive, silent retreat.  Austin said that people with a “mental defect” should not undertake intensive meditation.  I was surprised at both the language and the sentiment, especially as I have gained so much from my meditation practice.  But I have respect for Dr. Austin’s work, and was so influenced by his retreat, that I decided to take his caution under consideration. 

I went on the silent retreat anyway.

Community Wellness Project Meditation Workshops

I'll be conducting free, drop-in meditation workshops for the Community Wellness Project.  The project is a venture of The City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program and the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services.

We'll be meditating on Thursday afternoons at 1:30 at Broad Street Ministries in Philadelphia.  Details are on The Community Wellness project site, under upcoming events, here.

I hope you can drop-in one Thursday, and please pass this along to anyone you know who may benefit from learning about meditation and practicing with a group.

A Simple Practice

Repost from December 2012

I wanted to return to an earlier post and present again a simple meditation technique that anyone can practice.  It’s called the Twenty Breaths Practice.  It only takes a few minutes, can be performed almost anywhere, and can yield great stress relief.

Bored to Tears

On September 25, 2013 at 7:10am, I realized I was bored with the internet and my mobile devices.  Together they have contributed to my font of trivial knowledge.  But it has been a very long time since I delved deeply enough into a topic to fully understand it, or to contribute to it with original ideas.  And perhaps most important, I have been losing my sense of nuance.  All discourse seems to fall on one side or the other.  Intellectually I have been anything but mindful.  In fact, the constant barrage of information, updates, and check-ins, and the 24-hour availability of me and everyone I know, has turned me into a cognitive fight or flight machine.

Drop-in Meditation Meet-Up

We've started a new, open, drop-in meditation on Wednesday nights at 7:00p in Philadelphia.  It's held at Old First Reformed Church at 4th and Race.  All are welcome, donations are accepted.  Hope to see you there.

Details are on our MeetUp page here.