January 16 – Take a pause and breathe

Dear Friends,

We’re midway through the month, and we have covered a lot of ground.

We have reviewed:

• intention
• mindfulness (sati) and concentration (samadhi)
• meditation anchors (body, breath, sound)
• the balance wisdom and compassion
• the feeling tone (vedana) of experience – pleasant, unpleasant, neutral
• the hindrances – experiences that can be obstacles in meditation – and BELLA to work with them
• working with thinking and thoughts
• working with emotions
• understanding suffering (dukkha)
• the heart practices, so far delving into lovingkindness/goodwill (metta) and compassion (karuna)
• practices:
  • mindfulness of body
  • mindfulness of breathing
  • mindfulness of thoughts
  • lovingkindness/metta
  • compassion

Rather than cover something new, consider today a day of integration. You might pick one of the practices we have covered and do that, or re-read a poem or reflection, or whatever would be most nourishing for you today, and I’ll do the same.

With appreciation,
Andrea