Calming the busy mind and the troubled heart
Resources
Guided LovingKindness Practice & Talk by Patrick Thornton
LovingKindness Introduction
LovingKindness Practice
LovingKindness Closing Comments
Recorded Live, Santa Rosa, California
LovingKindness Practice…
Metta is the Pali word which has been translated in English as “lovingkindness.” Metta has two root meanings, “gentle” and “friend.” Out of metta, or lovingkindness, grows compassion (a trembling or quivering of the heart in response to another being’s pain), sympathetic joy (a spontaneous joy which arises from the cessation of another being’s pain), and equanimity (that place of balance between grasping and pushing away). Love and compassion are essential elements of all wisdom and spiritual teachings. Perhaps this is not only a recognition of the divine nature and profound importance of love and compassion, but also an acknowledgment of the importance of being reminded. Even though “I love you” may be among the first words we hear in childhood, and words we repeat and hear repeated throughout a lifetime, the concept of love is experienced differently by every person because that experience is so individual.
Relationship
What does it mean to be in “relationship.” Is it about romance, friendship, being heard by another, having someone who will meet our needs. Could it be mean mattering to someone who who matters to you?
In this talk to the DharmaGate Sangha, Patrick Thornton speaks of “relationship” as a spiritual path that is planted solidly on the earth and aspires to embrace the “beloved” in all of the ways in which the “beloved” is manifest.
<< To hear the talk, click on the floral image on the right.
“Companions in the Dark” Photo by Patrick Thornton
Mindsight
Mindsight: The New Science of Transformation
(Random House 2010)
A groundbreaking book on the healing power of "mindsight," the potent skill that is the basis for both emotional and social intelligence. Mindsight allows you to make positive changes in your brain–and in your life.
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•Is there a memory that torments you, or an irrational fear you can't shake?
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•Do you sometimes become unreasonably angry or upset and find it hard to calm down?
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•Do you ever wonder why you can't stop behaving the way you do, no matter how hard you try?
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•Are you and your child (or parent, partner, or boss) locked in a seemingly inevitable pattern of conflict?
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What if you could escape traps like these and live a fuller, richer, happier life? This isn't mere speculation but the result of twenty-five years of careful hands-on clinical work by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. A Harvard-trained physician, Dr. Siegel is one of the revolutionary global innovators in the integration of brain science into the practice of psychotherapy. Using case histories from his practice, he shows how, by following the proper steps, nearly everyone can learn how to focus their attention on the internal world of the mind in a way that will literally change the wiring and architecture of their brain.
Mindful Brain
The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being
(W.W. Norton. 2007.)
Leading neurobiologist Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., presents a new framework for maintaining mental health and well-being. Three human experiences have been documented as promoting well-being: secure attachment, mindfulness meditation, and effective psychotherapy. Siegel's unifying theory shows that the effects of these three experiences have a similar neural mechanism. Siegel uses theory, science, and anecdote to reveal how to transform the brain as well as promote well-being.
"A brilliant and visionary wedding of mindfulness and neurobiology. Siegel's book stands out for its skillful weaving together of the interpersonal, the inner world, the latest science, and practical applications, all envisioned as a whole."
- Jack Kornfield, Ph.D., founding teacher of the Insight Meditation Society and Spirit Rock Center, and author of A Path With Heart
Issues At Hand: Essays on Buddhist Mindfulness Practice (2008)
In his book: The Issue at Hand, Gil Fronsdal not only explains Buddhist Mindfulness Practice for the well educated but spoiled western mind, he doe this in a wonderful light and `straight to the point' way. Where others need hundreds of pages, he does the job in 32 chapters, in about 120 pages. He carefully choose his words, and polishes every site of the diamond Dharma. But Dharma are not words only, there is action and delibrate suffering.
Without hurting anybody's feelings, idea's, or believes, he demonstrates that most of us are lost in the idea of the Go(o)d outside ourselves. The `pain and pleasure game' almost everybody is surrounded by and entangled in. His experience and advice to us is, to become stiller and stiller, so we end up in the place in ourselves, where nothing is missed not even "me, myself and mine". The point is not to reach this state and stay there in some sort of nivanna, but to take responsability for oneself and the world we live in.go - it's right here, right now, and that's where he keeps us for the majority of the book. It's as powerful, practical, and fun as the practice of mindfulness itself.
Gil Fronsdal (1954) is a Buddhist teacher who has practiced Soto Zen and Vipassana since 1975, and is currently a Buddhist teacher who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Gil was trained as a Vipassana teacher by Jack Kornfield. He was ordained as a Soto Zen priest at the San Francisco Zen Center in 1982, and in 1995 he received Dharma Transmission from Mel Weitsman, abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center
He is the guiding teacher of the Insight Meditation Center (IMC) of Redwood City, California. He has a PhD in Buddhist Studies from Stanford University. His many dharma talks are available online contain basic information on meditation and Buddhism, as well as subtle concepts of Buddhism explained at the level of the lay person.
Gil’s book may be purchased from Amazon.Com as a paperback or digital Kindle form.
I may also be obtained directly from Insight Meditation Center (see links below)
http://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/books-articles/the-issue-at-hand/
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction video links on classes, programs and presentation of scientific and experiential perspectives.
For information about planned Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction programs scheduled for 2009 in Sonoma County, California, please return to the home page. For resources on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction programs offered else where, go to the site for The Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at UMass Medical School.
For video links to lectures and practices series, you may follow the links below:
Jon Kabat-Zinn, stress reduction, mindfulness, meditation. An introduction to Mindfulness-Based Stress reduction, including excerpts of actual practice in the 8-week mindfulness programs.
(1 of 6) (9 min) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGaRyLN9gb8
(2 of 6) (9 min) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ntFv_fbI88&feature=related
(3 of 6) (9 min) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqJYXrit2Iw&feature=related
(4 of 6) (9 min) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF3qxTD7tdU&feature=related
(5 of 6) (9 min) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsf6UIhReCs&feature=related
(6 of 6) (7 min) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmKy87QpVUo&feature=related
Mindfulness Stress Reduction And Healing presentation to the Google staff at the Google campus.
A lucid lecture presentation introducing the technology and techniques, including the benefits and scientific findings on Mindfulness Practice. March 7, 2007. (1 hr 14 min).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSU8ftmmhmw&feature=related
Mindfulness With Jon Kabat-Zinn at Google. An introduction and actual guided mindfulness-based practice with the Google staff. Oct. 11, 2007. (1 hr 12 min).
Listen to Jon Kabat-Zinn’s opening keynote address to the 5th. Annual Conference on Mindfulness & Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center beginning here: YouTube: “Coming to our Senses,” Jon Kabat Zinn
For information about Mindfulness-Based research, educational opportunities, or programs in your area, please click on the Center for Mindfulness banner above.
Saki Santorelli, EdD, MA director of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center
You may listen to Saki Santorelli’s keynote address, “The Myth of Chiron,” to the 5th. Annual Conference on Mindfulness in Medicine on YouTube beginning by clicking here.
Rarely does a book speak so eloquently to those of us who struggle with illness in our lives, as well as to those who join with us in the project of healing. In sharing his involvement in the lives of patients and his own personal journey of mind-fulness, Saki Santorelli gives us startling insights into what it means to heal and be healed. This book is a gift that will change your life.
S. Kay Toombs, PhD, author of
The Meaning of Illness, Associate
Professor of Philosophy, Baylor University.
In prose and poignant case examples, Saki evokes for us the mutuality of the healing relationship and reclaims for medicine and all who work within it the wisdom and power of its lineage. “Heal Thy Self” is a clear mirror in which we can find that freedom which is at the heart of all authentic healing and through it re-consecrate ourself to our work and of our lives.
Rachel Naomi Remin, MD,
author of Kitchen Table Wisdom.
Saki Santorelli’s words have the gentle strength of a bird’s wings, beating softly as they gradually bear us a loft. Brave, beautiful, and disturbing, his book reminds us of the healing that conventional Western medicine has all but forgotten. I wish it had been available when I was in medical school.
Mark Epstein, MD, Psychiatrist and Prof.
of Psychology at New York University,
and author of Open to Desire, Going on Being,
Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart,
and Thoughts Without a Thinker.
Nyo. "As it is," the way things are, without delusion, without illusion.
Copyright 2010 © Patrick Thornton, all rights reserved.