YOU'RE INVITED TO JOIN US AT COMMUNITY YOGA CENTER FOR MEDITATION!
Meditation can be beneficial at any time of day, but there’s something beautiful about beginning and ending the day mindfully with meditation.
We do not advocate any particular method of meditation and our regular meditators practice a variety of meditation methods, including: dharana (single-pointed concentration), dhyana-maha (meditating on every-thingness with loving-kindness practice), dhyana-abava (meditating on no-thingness with open awareness practice), and mantra (invoking sacred energies). Please see the notes below for more details about these practices.
If you're new to meditation, focusing on your breath can be a beautiful starting point for your practice. In breath-focused meditation, you're invited to breathe naturally, bringing awareness to your breath as it flows in and out of your body - noticing the flow of the breath through your nose, heart and belly. Thoughts and emotions will arise, and when they do, you're invited to acknowledge them with honesty and love, and then gently bring your awareness back to your breath, noticing again the flow of breath through your body.
Loose comfortable clothing is recommended so your body is not overly constricted and can more easily relax. You are welcome to sit on the floor, against a wall or in a chair. You may also stand or lay down - any position that is comfortable for you where you feel aware and at ease.
If you are interested in a space to just be - a space to relax your body, calm your mind and open your heart - some breathing space - consider meeting us for meditation.
A NOTE ABOUT VARIOUS CONCENTRATION & MEDITATION PRACTICES
DHARANA - SINGLE-POINTED CONCENTRATION
Dharana is the practice of concentrating on fundamental realities. The practice asks us to direct our attention toward subtle states of awareness by focusing our awareness on a current sensory experience with careful and deliberate observation. We can practice dharana through focused attention meditation. In focused attention meditation, we allow our awareness to rest on a particular sensory experience that becomes our anchor of awareness. Our attention is directed toward that sensory anchor, repeatedly returning to it when our attention naturally drifts to other objects of awareness. This practice is rooted in repetition. Every return to our chosen object of awareness creates favorable conditions for the grace of concentration to arise.
DHYANA-MAHA - MEDITATING ON EVERY-THINGNESS
One form of meditation practice is dhyana-maha – meditating on every-thingness. Dhyana-maha practice creates favorable conditions for love to arise. Dhyana-maha invites us to understand the interconnectedness of all and to surrender to love itself. Dhyana-maha can yield the insight of interconnectedness and the experience of unity consciousness – oneness – every-thingness. We practice feeling into the sacredness of every experience and opening toward all of experience with love. We begin to notice our limits – the edges of our openness and offer care to those limits. We notice the permeability of our heart - how open we are to embracing others – and whose hearts remain outside the boundary of our heart. Instead of pursuing the concept of love, we notice how love feels absent or difficult to access due to our self-imposed barriers.
DHYANA-ABHAVA - MEDITATING ON NO-THINGNESS
Another practice of dhyana is meditating on no-thingness – dhyana-abhava. This practice cultivates favorable conditions for equanimity to arise. We allow awareness to rest on open, expansive experience, and practice abiding in all – without preference. Dhyana-abhava develops the insight of impermanence and an experience of no-self – emptiness – no-thingness. Dhyana-abhava invites us to understand the changing nature of energetic sensations and develop equanimity toward them – so we can respond with honesty and love instead of intense reactivity. We begin to gain clarity about the nature of our body, mind, and heart as a microcosm of the nature of life itself. We begin to notice the ways we get caught in strong desire and fear. Instead of pursuing the idea of balance, we give careful attention to how balance is lost and reactivity to desire and fear is triggered.
MANTRA - INVOKING SACRED ENERGY
Dhyana is also the practice of mantra - invoking sacred energy. Mantra practice fosters favorable conditions for joy to arise. In this practice, awareness rests on the perpetual forces of nature – the creating, sustaining, and dissolving energies of life itself. We silently repeat, contemplate, and feel the energy of sacred syllables, words, names, and prayers to unite with the energy of the mantra. Mantra practice invites transcendence from the limited sense of self into a state of perpetual infinity.