Meditation Seminar: Recap
Great having everyone out for this afternoon’s seminar, Meditation: History, Culture & Practice. We had a very healthy and active community of 18 for the program.
As stated at the beginning, the aim was to cover several thousand years of human thought and realization in a 2 1/2 hr time slot!
The first half-hour was introductions followed by a discussion of big questions: Do you have a mind? Can you show me your mind? What is meditation? What is spirituality? What is the relationship between yoga and meditation? What is the relationship between mind and body?
From these grand queries we delved into the practice of breathing (svarshastra) and its many components and benefits. This was our base that we returned to again and again.
Basically, with everyone’s interest and participation the seminar became an interplay of theory and practice wherein we discussed philosophical and technical teachings and then put those into real application.
Further topics addressed & practiced: Visualization, chakras, mantra, mental health, pranayama and spiritual approach. Plus the all important point: How to set-up a home practice.
That meant discussing the theory and aims of the practices and then putting those yogic principles to work for us, in concrete ways. How do we apply these tools to our meditation and daily living patterns. How does it all fit together and what are the benefits.
Naturally more practice led to more inquiry which led to deeper reflection and inspiration. Really, it is just not possible to capture in this blog the overall flow and feeling of the session. All who came brought such an earnest and honest approach; and that made for a great communal gathering – both internally and externally.
More than tell about the seminar per se, I hope this blog will serve as a springboard for others to share their experiences. You never know how your sharing might inspire others – your words may be just what the next person needed to hear. So I hope you will consider recounting at least a little of what you experienced.
Thanks again for all who came out and made this such a worthwhile gathering.
The workshop today was great…it was the perfect segue from my first official day of fasting…I especially liked the way you switched back and forth from practice to discussion, and the way you built on the steps of meditation and then encouraged us to go through each step repeatedly as we progressed through the afternoon…it helps me so much to hear things over and over…
Annie
In reflection of the meditation seminar on Sunday, it was so helpful to learn the original questions of the ancient yogis, and the about the 8 Limbs of Classical Yoga. The format of the seminar was particularly helpful to me to actually do some of the teachings to better understand the practice. I loved the way you pointed out meditation is a gateway to the conception of something bigger, a connection to the infinite, and can change the conception of ourselves. It was wonderfully informative and deeply resonating.
Hi Mary Beth,
Great having you and Derek at the seminar…
Your thoughtful comments are well-appreciated; I always feel that whatever gets shared and presented in a seminar is in large part a result of the interests and enthusiasm of the attendees. That is how it seems to come together. And I think that is how we came to discuss some of the more spiritual components of meditation.
Very glad to hear that you had a positive experience and that the seminar worked well for you.
Look forward to seeing again soon,
Satyam