In June, I attended a 10 day silent meditation retreat at a center just north of Toronto.

During my time, I had no access to my phone, was prohibited from speaking to others, had nothing to read, no where to write, no music to listen to, discouraged from any physical exercise while being asked to meditate for upwards of 10 hours a day.

It was a profoundly intense experience.

I sit down with my friend Aous to talk about this Vipassana experience (loosely translated as Mind Purifying or Purification of the Mind)

There's a lot of great stuff discussed throughout this episode and Aous offers a great perspective about what meditation and mindfulness can mean for the average person. 

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SHOW NOTES

https://torana.dhamma.org/ -- Vipassana center, just north of Toronto

TIME-STAMPS

00:00-20:33 - Introducing Meditation and Vipassana, what a practice can look like, my mind-set leading up to the retreat

20:33 - 38:48 - Daily Course Schedule - discussing wake-up, meditation schedule, food

47:55 - The Possibility of Quitting

58:58 - The Five Precepts

66:00 - Introducing MBSR - Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and Choice-Points**

76:26 - Opening The Heart

84:30 - Day 11 - Closing Ceremonies

Sharing my thoughts before heading out for my 10-day Vipassana/Silent Meditation Retreat.

Over the course of the next 10 days, I will be disconnected from the outside world, with no access to phone. I will be observing noble silence - no talking, reading, writing, exercising, listening to music. Meditating 10 hours a day for 10 days.

Now, let us begin,

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"The whole cosmos has come together to create you. You carry the whole universe inside you. That is why, to accept yourself and to love yourself is an expression of gratitude" - Thich Nhat Hanh

Our daily lives come with stress and anxiety that unnaturally separate our connection to our bodies and one another. The quality of our life depends on how deeply we can connect with the elements of the natural world.

In this meditation, we will connect with the elements of Earth, Wind, Fire, Water and Space to better understand the lessons that nature is meant to teach us.

Although this meditation can be practiced sitting down, it is a great practice to explore while you are outside. To help you better notice how these natural elements exist both within us and outside of us.

Come back to this session whenever you need to reconnect with the flow of the natural world

Now, let us begin,

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In Japanese Zen Buddhism, there is a term known as Shoshin, which translates to Beginner's Mind and refers to a paradox - The more we know about a subject, whether through knowledge or experience, the more likely we are to close our minds to further learning about it.

In a society where most individuals attempt to cultivate an "expert's mind", we fall into the trap of closing ourselves off to growth and improvement by getting "stuck" in habitual and limiting patterns of thinking and doing.

In this podcast I break down the qualities that make up that mind of a beginner, certain actions we can take in our daily lives to cultivate those qualities and then a guided meditation at the end in which you can hopefully apply the mind of a beginner to a practice of sitting and breathing, as if it were being done for your very first time.

Now, let us begin,

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In a world where we are constantly overwhelmed with anticipation of the future or exhausted by being made to dwell on our past, the present becomes a gift in which we can connect to our deeper selves as an integrated and unified organism. 

This 15 minute guided mindfulness meditation will help you cultivate stillness, silence, peace and ease by connecting you to your senses and grounding you into the present moment to experience a deeper level of awareness

Come back to this meditation whenever you need to reset and reconnect with yourself in your busy life

Now, let us begin,

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A Meditation of love and gratitude towards the body with an aim to express care and affection for our body.

Our organs, such as the lungs, the heart, and the liver work diligently over many decades, but how often do we take the time to show them any attention or compassion?

By simply breathing consciously and putting ourselves in touch with all the different parts of the body, we come to feel and understand how we can bring ourselves peace and joy.

By bringing in love and gratitude, we can go out into the world mindful of our place within it, aware of our connectedness to all beings, of our interdependence, and of our oneness.

You can practice this exercise seated or lying down to relax, waking up in the morning or before going to sleep. Whenever you need a few moments to connect with yourself, this meditation is available to you.

Now, let us begin,

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Today's session is a two-part meditation that I had the opportunity to practice and learn about at a Buddhist Meditation Centre while traveling through India.

The first, Shamata, otherwise known as stabilization or single-pointed-mind-concentration meditation, is practiced by training our mind to come back to observing a single object, the breath, in order to cultivate a mind that can become sharp, stable and calm.

The second, Contemplation, is practiced by observing our minds without judgement and an open heart so that we can bring in more love, compassion and inner peace to our life, and then be able to offer those qualities to whomever we meet on our way.

I hope these two techniques offer you a glimpse into the value that meditation can provide to our daily lives in order to manage stress and our well-being

Now, let us begin,

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If you’re like most people - you probably spend a lot of time living OUTSIDE your body, thinking of future and past - imagining, contemplating, comparing, abstracting, or otherwise, being preoccupied with your thoughts.

Today’s meditation is a mental exercise designed to release tension and cultivate awareness of the moment-to-moment experiences of the body using a technique called a body scan.

I will guide you through a methodical approach to bring awareness to all parts of the body with the intention of helping you have a fully realized “in-the-body” experience.

Now, let us begin,

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If Meditation is like a flower, then our mind is the garden, our thoughts and emotions become the seeds and it is up to us whether we harvest flowers or weeds.

In this short, 10 minute guided meditation, my hope is to demonstrate meditation as an effective tool that can be integrated into our daily lives to help us discover meaning, fulfillment, and purpose - helping us to take charge and regain control over our sense of self.

My goal is to help you cultivate a small part within you that can notice what's happening, so that even with 99% of you is overwhelmed, 1% of you remains grounded in compassion and awareness.

Now let us begin,

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When you look into a mirror, who do you see? who do you ALLOW to be seen? If you create the space, the mirror can see through you, it can see you at your most naked, your most raw, your most vulnerable. However, we often limit and hold back our selves as a result of shame, by casting judgment on who we see, on what we see, we rather have feelings about our feelings than to actually feel what we are feeling.

It is easier for us to treat others the way we would like to be treated than it is for us to treat our selves how we would like to be treated.

Today, I'll answer a question on Meditation, recommend a few books and then let's take a look at the relationship between Vulnerability, Selfishness and ultimately Happiness to better understand how we sometimes get in our own way as a result of our egos and how to better relate to our souls. 

So take a deep breath.

Create a sense of calm comfort in that space between your ears.

And let's begin.

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Explore Further on my blog https://theextrovertedintrovert.ca/

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