The practice of meditation can be difficult to sustain. Often, we veer towards such practices for becoming a certain way. No matter how subtle or refined such ends might be, they are something we seek or want to acquire. Having goals is good and even the goal of complete freedom is an end that requires …
Contemplative inquiry allows us to discover a spaciousness within that can be a rich source of joy and resilience. The process of examining one’s mental events or physical circumstances isn’t just about looking into causes and possible solutions, it is a way to end our reliance on deeply ingrained patterns and predispositions. Contemplative questions frame …
Contemplative Inquiry: Questioning as a Way to Realizing Stillness Read More »
Contemplation has been simply defined as regarding steadily. The act of sustaining attention on any mental ‘figure’ which could include a construct, a perspective or even an image or feeling involves filtering out distractions. This steady regard or holding in mind is an awareness of the content as well as the space wherein the content …
A state of flow is thought of as hard to come by. Perhaps that is because we picture ourselves as autonomous and independent, and as entities. We assume our survival and our happiness depends on that. We cannot function without the distinction between inner and outer, between self and other. A little bit of reflection …
Flowing- Becoming One with the Movement of Existence Read More »
Why start a contemplative practice? If you are reading this, you have asked yourself this very question or something similar. Perhaps you have thought about starting meditation or finding out about mindfulness. At contemplative, we prefer the term contemplative practice. Meditation means different things to different people and is often offered as a magic trick …
Watching your suffering can truly transform your anguish and distress. While it is not necessary to adhere to any specific school of thought to do this, one remembers that the Buddha explicitly stated that his interest lay in teaching how to understand and stop suffering. Amongst the noble truths that the Buddha came upon, the …
Sit for some time if possible free of distractions and comfortably. See if you can allow your mind and body to be still. As you become still, ask yourself this simple question: What do I want? As you sit quietly, witness the flurry of responses and answers your mind comes up with. As this happens, …
This is an exercise to engage in when you are feeling distress or discomfort. It doesn’t matter what that is. It could be a feeling of frank pain, anxiety or boredom or that vague sense of being incomplete or needing something more. Begin this exercise by acknowledging that you are not alone in experiencing this …
Take a moment to reflect upon what is going on in your life. Perhaps you are unwell and experiencing distress, maybe even pain. Or things are more upbeat, your business is making money, or your children are doing well in college. Perhaps you are in a bad relationship, with frequent conflicts and argument. Whatever experience …
Focus on any object in your visual field, say a chair. Tuning in into just your sense of vision, what appears? If you were to have no notion of language, or the memory of past objects, no contrast were being offered by other similar things in your visual field and you just went by your …
