March 28-April 1, 2012
Four Points Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center
Norwood MA USA

Click here for full details.

Here’s a message from Saki Santorelli, Executive Director of the Center for Mindfulness, and Conference Chair.

This gentle introductory residential retreat is open to all, especially those with no prior experience with meditation or Buddhism. We will explore the Buddha’s teachings on mindfulness in a down-to-earth, practical way through meditation, discussion, and hands-on exercises. We’ll also investigate how to live with greater awareness and contentment with ourselves, and in turn, how to live in harmony with the world around us.

There will be detailed instruction for those who are new to meditation, and periods of silent practice for those with experience.

The retreat fee is on a sliding scale of $145-$225 for the weekend, inclusive of room and board.

The retreat is held at Aryaloka Buddhist Center, which is situated on 13 secluded acres in southern New Hampshire. For more information visit their website at www.aryaloka org.

About the leaders:

Sunada is a member of the Triratna Buddhist Order, a mindfulness teacher and life coach. Her 16 years of Buddhist practice inform all of her work. She teaches at meditation at Wildmind as well as though classes in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in the Boston area. She also works with individual clients through her own coaching practice at Mindful Purpose Life Coaching. She considers it her life’s work to help people find the inner grounding and confidence to make a difference in the world.

Viriyalila, whose name means “playful, spontaneous energy in pursuit of the good”, has been been meditating and practicing Buddhism since 1994. She was ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order in 2005 in San Francisco. She currently works in a team with the folks at Free Buddhist Audio, a dynamic internet resource providing free access to Dharma talks around the world.

Yes it’s true that in meditation, we’re told to drop everything and let go. But that doesn’t mean becoming passive and ineffectual. There’s more to this instruction than meets the eye.

There’s an image that comes to mind for me to illustrate what letting go is like. Imagine we’re kayaking down a river. One way we could do it is to paddle like hell, trying to force our way around, fighting the currents, insisting that the kayak go exactly where I want it to go. And doing it how I want to do it.

Or, we could survey the terrain and current before jumping in. Then we ride the current and let it take us most of the way to where we want to go. We steer to make sure we don’t get dashed against rocks or end up heading down the wrong side of the river. We could also use a calmer bend in the river to stop and look ahead to plan our next stretch. We can steer our course without using nearly as much effort this way, adjusting our path as we go along.

Life can be the same way. We don’t have make all the effort ourselves to make things happen from beginning to end. If we expand our view beyond our self-absorbed need to reach our goal, there’s a whole universe of structures and currents out there that can help us.

At work for example, if we find people who have common goals and interests as we do, our combined energies can often accomplish more than the sum of us individually could. Involving our boss in our plans sometimes results in him clearing a path in front of us, getting us resourses, additional help, budgets, etc. Tagging onto existing workflows and procedures means we don’t have to create everything ourselves.

Letting go can help us in our inner world, too. Have you noticed how creative ideas often pop up when you’re taking a shower or walking the dog? In other words, when you’re not really trying? Recent neuroscientific research¹ suggests that making less effort is what helps. When we become effortful in problem solving, it generally means we’re pushing our way through our old, familiar ways of doing things. And often, those are exactly the ways that haven’t worked, but we keep pounding at them anyway. When we keep repeating the same thing over and over, we become blind to other possibilities. So to be “not effortful” means to inhibit the thoughts that don’t work in order to leave room for something else to emerge.

Not being effortful also means your mind is quieter and more conducive to new ideas. A creative thought is one that brings up a long-forgotten memory or combines some of them in a new way. Neurologically speaking, they involve connections between far fewer neurons than your front-of-mind thoughts. So the signals they emit are much weaker, and generally get drowned out by your much louder, effortful thoughts. To give those quieter thoughts a fighting chance to be noticed, it helps to have a quiet mind. One that has “let go” of jangly discursive thinking.

So letting go doesn’t mean letting go of everything — just the stuff that gets in our way. In this context, it means letting go of our obsessive focus on results, and our inflexible views of how to get there. It doesn’t mean dropping all thoughts about the future, but finding a more open and flexible relationship with them.

The larger perspective of the teaching on “letting go” is an acknowledgment that I am a part of a highly interconnected world. Every time I get hyper-focused on my own little view of the world, I am being blind to the way things really are. To think that I can do things exclusively my way is to be foolish and ignorant. And it’s bound to get me into trouble, or at least cause me a lot of stress.

But at the same time, I’m not a helpless victim either. I am the agent of my own free will, and can use it to steer my path through life. With mindfulness, we can skillfully navigate our way through all these forces to get to a better outcome. And it’s not just me that benefits — because everything I do ultimately benefits everyone.

Here’s the original article:

Oscar and Tony-nominated actor John C. Reilly — you know him from an impressively long list of films including Magnolia, Boogie Nights, Gangs of New York, Cedar Rapids, and on and on — has been selected to direct Buddha: Triumph in the Life of the Great Sage, written and performed by Evan Brenner at LA’s Bootleg Theater. The drama is set for this February 3 to 25, 2012 — a reenactment of the life of the Buddha. The play is based on Buddhist texts.

While discussing his play, Brenner said, “I became deeply engaged in the sutras which are really quite dramatic and work really well just as a story. And so I had a eureka moment: what if I did the Buddha as a one-man play — in his own words, taken directly from the sutras?” [More, with a video, after the jump.]

The show will run Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 PM Pacific at The Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles this February 5 to 25. Tickets are $30 USD. The Bootleg Theater is located at 2220 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90057.

To make reservations, call 800-838-3006. or visit their website at: http://www.thebuddhaplay.com/

Link to original article »

We’re very excited to announce “The Mindful Life” – a new introductory meditation online course starting January 2. It’s a comprehensive four-week course on mindfulness – not only the how-to of meditation, but also ways to bring more awareness and aliveness to your life overall. It combines the wisdom of the Buddha’s teachings with the latest research in neuroscience and psychology – so you get the best of both worlds. Weekly “daily life exercises” help you take what you learn into action in life.

The things that students have always appreciated about our courses remain unchanged. There are weekly MP3 guided audios for learning and practicing the meditations. And Sunada is present in the discussion forum every weekday to personally respond to all questions and discussions. It’s the kind of guidance that goes way beyond what you could get by studying from a book or a CD.

The course topics are:

• Week 1: Opening to Awareness – Enriching your everyday experiences through body awareness
• Week 2: Taming the Body/Mind – Calming the body and mind with the Mindfulness of Breathing practice
• Week 3: Focusing the Body/Mind – Finding stability and contentment through the good and the bad times
• Week 4: Engaging with Daily Life – Staying grounded and making wiser choices in life, walking meditation, and making the practice your own

If you’ve taken the previous Level 1 course with us before, consider taking this as a refresher. Returning students get a $25 discount off the fee (in the form of a rebate).

Classes begin on the first Monday of the new year — on January 2 — so sign up soon! I hope to see you there.

Click here for more about the course and to register.

And it’s especially hard when we’re face to face with lifelong tendencies that resist change in a big way.

But don’t lose heart. It doesn’t mean you’re no good at this. After all, you NOTICED that you weren’t being mindful. That noticing is a positive event. Even though it happened after the fact, you observed something you probably weren’t aware of before. This is a good thing! This is progress. And it’s this emerging awareness that’s going to pull you through.

There’s an aspect of mindfulness from the traditional scriptures that applies here. It’s sampajañña, which is Pali for something like mindfulness of purpose. Sampajañña means always keeping our sights on where we want to go, our intentions. It introduces the dimension of time to mindfulness.

Mindfulness isn’t only about seeing what’s happening now. It’s also about seeing cause and effect. Like seeing how something we did in the past created the situation we’re in now. We see the results of our mistakes, and make a resolve to start doing things differently. We also see our successes, and think of how we might build on them. It’s about seeing in a clear-headed way the results of our choices. And also seeing that we HAVE choices, and starting to take responsibility for ourselves.

We look at these things not as a way to beat ourselves up, but to keep our sights on where we want to go. We all have some image of how we’d like to be – whether it’s more confident, peaceful, kind, whatever. Maybe today, right now, we didn’t do things the way we would have liked. When we see how we don’t measure up, applying sampajañña means not giving up on ourselves. We may have fallen short today, but we still have our intentions. We still keep our eyes on the prize. We keep moving ahead.

And what if we feel stuck and clueless about what to do? For starters, we could stop taking our self-doubting thoughts so seriously. They are just thoughts, after all. They’re not doing anything to help us move forward, are they?

We could also try doing SOMETHING, and see what happens — as an experiment. It’s more fodder for cause-and-effect learning. Sometimes when we’re lost, it helps just to walk around the bend to get a different view – maybe it leads to a clearing that helps us to see further ahead.

Or we might simply stay still for while, not thrash about so much – mentally, emotionally, or actively. It’s analogous to when you’re in water over your head. Thrashing about can make you sink, but if you lie still you’ll float easily on the surface. It’s a similar idea here. Sometimes it’s our own overreacting that creates problems for ourselves. Can we let go of our anxiety and fears, and just be? And allow some clarity to settle in on its own?

So mindfulness isn’t something to achieve. It’s not about “getting it right” and reaching for some ideal state of mental clarity. I think for most of us, that’s a near impossible standard. I think mindfulness, especially in the context of sampajañña, simply means being there for ourselves over the long haul, and never giving up on ourselves. It’s an attitude or an approach to life, not an endpoint.

What ultimately help us unravel our lifelong habits is doing the best we can, wherever we are now. And accepting that the pace of change is often beyond our control. The time and circumstances might not be ripe yet. But we can trust that everything we’re doing now is laying the groundwork for the future. We can still be an active participant in our lives. We can still show up for ourselves. And isn’t that really what’s going to get us through?

So you start sitting for 10, 20, or maybe even 30 minutes a day. But after some weeks of this, you still feel like things are crazy busy and all over the place. So your meditation isn’t working, you say to me.

Here’s my first thought. I’m wondering if you’re thinking of meditation as something you can drop into your life for say, 30 minutes a day, and have it counterbalance the other 15 or so hours that your mind is on full tilt. (I’m assuming you spend 8 or so hours sleeping or resting). Certainly, meditating 30 minutes a day is better than not doing it at all. But looking at it from a common sense perspective, is it reasonable to expect a 30 minute sit to cancel out the effect of 15 hours of frenetic activity?

Hmmmm…. so how do we slow down? Obviously we can’t quit and go live in monasteries.

I think a shift of perspective is in order here. There’s a much bigger context that we need to take into account.

Meditation isn’t like an anti-anxiety pill that will slow things down just by dropping it in. It’s really more a way to begin training ourselves to BE a different way. The point isn’t just to relax and recharge – and then go right back to what we were doing before. We practice BEING more calm and measured in the laboratory environment of a sitting practice so we can learn to BE that same way in the rest our lives when we’re NOT meditating. Even in the midst of a frenetic day. We’re training ourselves to stop feeding that busy energy into our body and mind, so that over time, a measured steadiness flows out of us naturally. All the time. Not just when we’re on the cushion.

And it’s not the 30 minutes of sitting alone that does the trick. It’s the thread of mindfulness that we carry throughout our day that brings the sanity back into our lives.

But that’s HARD, you say. Yes, it is. But it’s doable.

Here’s one tool to help you get started. This simple acronym — STOP — reminds us to be mindful during the day. It stands for

• Stop: Mentally step back from whatever you’re doing, even for a second or two.
• Take a breath: Literally, bring your attention back to your breath.
• Observe: Take stock of what’s happening right now, especially in your body and mind.
• Proceed: Resume ONLY after you’ve really paused to assess where you are.

This doesn’t take any extra time out of your day. It’s not something additional you have to do. It’s a simple but powerful way to insert a sliver of mindfulness in your day. It’s also a way of taking what you’re practicing on your cushion out into your life.

We need both a formal sitting practice AND an informal mindfulness practice. The analogy is like learning to play an instrument. The formal practice helps us to gain our “chops” in a quiet, comfortable place at home. But then we also need to practice how to perform on stage, in riskier situations and with other people in the mix. To be a true musician, and a true mindfulness practitioner, both are absolutely essential.

At first, you might feel lucky to remember to STOP only once a day, and maybe only just before you go to bed. That’s OK. That’s a good start. Do it whenever you remember. Over time, it’ll come more often and more easily. Give it time.

Yes, it’s a slow process to train ourselves this way. It’s not a quick fix. But it’s a way to create change at the core of our being. And isn’t that really what we’re after?

You can learn how with Wildmind’s meditation courses. They’re all personally guided by Sunada, an experienced meditation teacher who provides ongoing feedback and support.

Beginning October 3, 2011:

• The Path of Mindfulness and Love (4 weeks)
• Change Your Mind (4 weeks)

Read more about our courses here.

It was a tall order, and the whole idea left me feeling inadequate. I often sat there wondering what the heck metta was supposed to feel like, because I just didn’t get it. I figured there must be something wrong with me. I’m wondering if you’ve ever found yourself in a similar place.

Well, there’s nothing wrong with me or you. One of the problems stems from the typical translation of “metta” as “lovingkindness.” While that’s not incorrect, it’s a little misleading, especially in the case of the difficult person. I think many of us have such strong images of what “love” means that it limits our perspective.

I recently came across a story that beautifully illustrates what metta for a difficult person REALLY is. A Thai monk by the name of Ajaan Fuang tells of his encounter with a snake while on retreat. It had come into his room and taken up residence behind one of the cabinets. So the two of them lived together uneasily for a few days, avoiding each other as best they could. The snake didn’t seem to want to leave, even though Fuang left the front door wide open.

Finally on the third day, Fuang quietly addressed the snake in meditation. He said, “Look, it’s not that I don’t like you. I don’t have any bad feelings for you. But our minds work in different ways. It’d be very easy for there to be a misunderstanding between us. Now, there are lots of places out in the woods where you can live without the uneasiness of living with me.”

And as he said those words, the snake quietly slipped out the door and left.

So this is metta for a difficult person. For some people (like that snake), it wouldn’t be appropriate to approach them with love and affection. They don’t want it from us. They don’t trust us, and we don’t really trust them either. We see the world in very different ways. In fact, if we try to hug a snake, it would probably bite us back! Obviously, that would not be wise.

But we can still wholeheartedly wish for their happiness and well-being — on their terms, not ours. Sometimes the best way for two people to be happy is to part ways. So in this case metta is more like respect and goodwill, as opposed to love and affection.

One thing I’ve learned over the years is that the Buddha was a very pragmatic man, and that his teachings reflect that. If I find myself struggling over my practice, then it probably means I’m barking up the wrong tree. There is no need for struggle.

Sometimes, the best thing I can do is to accept my own limits. I don’t have the heart of a Buddha, and I’m not able to love all beings genuinely. Not yet at least. And that’s OK. I still have my aspirations and intentions. And they will bear fruit in time. But for now, to struggle and beat myself up over my inadequacies does no good whatsoever. Best to let it go and move on.

And that moving on in itself is a practice of metta. Metta for myself, that is. I’m learning how to face everything in life with gentleness and acceptance. Including my own failings and foibles.

For those of you in the Boston area, Sunada Takagi is offering a course on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) to help you start down the road to health and wellbeing. The program centers on the ancient practice of meditation, presented in a pragmatic, common sense way. You’ll learn how to build up your inner resources for healing and growing — so you can start taking charge of your life.

MBSR is based on Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn’s pioneering work in mind-body medicine at the UMass Medical Center. Time-tested for over 30 years, MBSR has brought lasting benefits to tens of thousands of people worldwide.

8 weeks
October 1 – November 19
10:00am – 12:30pm

Plus one additional all-day class
November 6
9:00am – 4:30pm

Third Life Studio
33 Union Square
Somerville MA 02143

Cost: $395

More details and registration at www.mindfulpurpose.com/stress-reduction

Led by Sunada Takagi, who has been practicing meditation since 1995, and teaching since 2000. It all started when her stressful business career and study of classical piano collided in a health crisis. Since then, mindfulness has been central in helping her find her way back to sanity, health, and well-being. In short, it has changed her life. And she feels deeply committed to sharing what she’s learned with others. Ms. Takagi is also a certified Life Coach. She helps individual clients navigate life transitions – using mindfulness — and find their way to more satisfying and meaningful lives.