FHNN Intro to Mindfulness Week 3

My notes from this past Wednesday, our 3rd week together.  Please look over.  There are a couple of topics near the end that we didn't cover.

The Tapestry of American Theravada Buddhism

https://www.lionsroar.com/theravada-buddhism-america/ from 2019 by Derek Pyle in Lion's Roar.

A Unique American Teacher

The picture comes from this recent article about Gil Fronsdal and the Insight Meditation Center (IMC) located in Redwood City, California, on the peninsula halfway between San Francisco and San Jose.

For me, Gil has been and continues to be not just an expert teacher of mindfulness meditation but an inspiration to practice and a role model.  Not only does IMC have no paid staff, as far as I know Gil has supported himself for decades entirely by donations from people who wish to support what he teaches.

Mindfulness & Business Insider

What's not to love about discovering a short, meaningful article on mindfulness in a magazine like Business Insider?  In this book excerpt author Cory Muscara concludes:

"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space lies our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth, freedom, and happiness." [likely a paraphrase of Rollo May from 1963] 

The ability to respond in that space between something happening and our response to it is where we find freedom. It's where we can show ourselves a little more compassion when we're beating ourselves up. It's where we can decide to be a little less impulsive when we're about to say (or text) something we shouldn't. And when it comes right down to it, it's where we start to make meaningful changes in our life. 

Read the whole article here.

FHNN Introduction to Mindfulness, Week 2 of 4

If you missed the second session of our group, here are the handouts so far:

Session 2 Notes & Homework 

Session 1 Notes & Homework  

Introductory notes, disclaimers, FAQs

 Please review and practice at least a little bit each day.

FHNN Intro to Mindfulness source material

Sharon Salzberg, Jack Kornfield, and Joseph Goldstein founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, in 1975.  Kornfield later moved to the west coast and a decade later helped found Spirit Rock Meditation Center just north of San Francisco.

In searching for a reasonably accurate and informative article about these people, their backgrounds, and how they came together, I found this one from 10 years ago about Jack Kornfield with only mentions of Salzberg & Goldstein.  I'll try to bring some balance to that as we go along.  Meanwhile they are all still active teaching and writing; literally a Google search away.

Here are a few minutes from Goldstein:

6 minute Intro to Mindfulness Meditation

Dan Harris is an ABC news person who wrote a wonderful book about learning mindfulness and how it changed his life called 10% Happier.  Sharon Salzberg is one of the great American mindfulness & lovingkindness teachers who has done much to make mindfulness practice so popular.  More about her later.

This video is a really nice review/summary of our FHNN sponsored time time together last week.  Note their advice at the end.

Jack Kornfield on Lovingkindness

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kornfield

FHNN Introduction to Mindfulness, Week 1 of 4

Today 17 of us gathered for the first session of the Friendship Heights Neighbors Network (FHNN)  sponsored Introduction to Mindfulness Practice, a four week program.  Frankly I'm astounded at how attentive everyone was.  You made presenting the material easy and I appreciate that very much.

Here are the 2 handouts:

Session 1 Notes & Homework  (updated after our time together today) 

introductory notes, disclaimers, FAQs

I've made a good start on a collection of resources which I've found useful:  books, online talks, retreat centers, teachers, and local mindfulness practice groups.  Hope to have it ready for you next week.