Being Present for Your Life: Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation

How much are you present for your own life? Most of us spend more time in our own inner world — worrying about the future, replaying the past, or lost in fantasy — than experiencing what life is offering to us right now. The present moment is where we can most directly be intimate with our life and touched by beauty and intimacy while learning through the difficult lessons how to open our hearts.
Mindfulness — or vipassana — meditation is the practice described by the Buddha for developing wisdom, compassion, and peace by learning to be mindful of what is actually happening in the present moment. Using the breath, body sensations, thoughts, and emotions as objects of attention, we can learn to be more fully awake. When we see directly that the nature of reality is change, we begin to let go of clinging to the pleasant or avoiding the unpleasant. We become more capable of meeting each situation with spontaneity, fearlessness, and love.
Participants will be introduced to this meditation practice and the principles on which it is based. There will be periods of silent sitting and walking meditation as well as discussion, providing a foundation for applying mindfulness practice to everyday life.
Recommended Reading: Baraz and Alexander, Awakening Joy: 10 Steps that will Put You on the Road to Real Happiness; Goldstein, The Experience of Insight; Kornfield, A Path with Heart.