Tag: Addiction

Eight Step Recovery - Using the Buddha's Teachings To Overcome Addiction
Eight Step Recovery - Using the Buddha's Teachings To Overcome Addiction

Ocean breath

By Vimalasara on Mon, 2 Dec, 2013 - 04:26
Day 16 is a meditation on breathing, in which we can think of the breath as a Higher Power. When we connect to the breath our lives can change without us trying to change it. Although the Buddhist tradition has no place for God as a creator divinity as understood by the theistic traditions, there is nevertheless a clear and definite understanding of a supra-personal dimension, an “Other Power” in Buddhism. The breath can act as the groundwork for connecting...
Eight Step Recovery - Using the Buddha's Teachings To Overcome Addiction
Eight Step Recovery - Using the Buddha's Teachings To Overcome Addiction

A message from my co-author Paramabandu (week one meditations)

By Vimalasara on Mon, 2 Dec, 2013 - 04:18
Hello we’ve been excited by our 21 day meditation for recovery and busy lives. Apologies to those of you who joined our community this week and have not been able to find the first week of meditations. We have just posted them for you now. These meditations are our trailer for our book, Eight Step Recovery - Using The Buddha’s Teachings to Overcome Addiction. We wanted to produce a selection of meditations and reflections that are bite size in length,...
Eight Step Recovery - Using the Buddha's Teachings To Overcome Addiction
Eight Step Recovery - Using the Buddha's Teachings To Overcome Addiction

Padmasambhava mantra

By Vimalasara on Sun, 1 Dec, 2013 - 07:25
Welcome to those of you who have joined our community recently. And welcome back to some of you who have been busy doing other things. Day 15 is the Padmasambhava mantra. Padmasambhava is associated with taking Buddhism to Tibet and transforming demons. When we chant the Padmasambhava mantra we can think of our own demons – the difficult and often painful forces within us – being transformed. We can imagine asking Padmasambhava to help us with our struggles, freeing up...
Eight Step Recovery - Using the Buddha's Teachings To Overcome Addiction
Eight Step Recovery - Using the Buddha's Teachings To Overcome Addiction

Reflecting on our common humanity

By Vimalasara on Sat, 30 Nov, 2013 - 02:53
Day 14 is a loving kindness meditation, reflecting on our common humanity. We can reflect that at heart, each and every one of us wants to be happy and does not want to suffer. Even though sometimes the way we go about this causes us suffering, our basic intention is to be happy. During the meditation we can cultivate loving kindness by reflecting on how we share with the rest of humanity this essential desire to be happy and to...
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Eight Step Recovery - Using the Buddha's Teachings To Overcome Addiction
Eight Step Recovery - Using the Buddha's Teachings To Overcome Addiction

The two darts teaching - working with difficult emotions

By Vimalasara on Fri, 29 Nov, 2013 - 07:01
Day 13 is a meditation to work with pain and difficult emotions. In particular we try to distinguish between the raw experience of pain and our mental reactions to the pain that makes it worse. The good news is: that it is possible to have a reprieve from mental and emotional pain. In the meditation we follow the breath as an anchor for the meditation. Then whenever we notice that we are experiencing bodily pain or difficult emotions, as best...
Eight Step Recovery - Using the Buddha's Teachings To Overcome Addiction
Eight Step Recovery - Using the Buddha's Teachings To Overcome Addiction

vajrasattva

By Vimalasara on Thu, 28 Nov, 2013 - 05:56
Day 12 is the Vajrasattva mantra. Vajrasattva is an archetypal bodhisattva, the colour of sunlight on snow. He is particularly associated with absolute purity, our innate purity. There is a spontaneous laughter: “ha ha ha”, this laughter is the realization that we have always been pure, the purity has just been covered up with life. When you chant the mantra you can feel your shortcomings and unskilful actions falling away from you, being purified by Vajrasattva, eventually leaving you with...
Eight Step Recovery - Using the Buddha's Teachings To Overcome Addiction
Eight Step Recovery - Using the Buddha's Teachings To Overcome Addiction

Principles to train the Mind

By Vimalasara on Wed, 27 Nov, 2013 - 04:50
Day 11 is a reflection on ethics. It has been said, that if your life is full of resentments, unsatisfactoriness, and the common toxic emotions, take a look at your ethical life. If we are to maintain sobriety of mind and abstinence, we must have a strong ethical foundation. We reflect on five fundamental guidelines that can help us to transform our body, speech and mind. The music has been composed and arranged by Yeshe Chodron, also known as Laurie Lesk
Eight Step Recovery - Using the Buddha's Teachings To Overcome Addiction
Eight Step Recovery - Using the Buddha's Teachings To Overcome Addiction

A Gong Bath

By Vimalasara on Tue, 26 Nov, 2013 - 04:52
Day 10 is a just sitting meditation with a gong bath. In this meditation we sit or lie with a broad awareness, making as little effort as possible, and allowing thoughts, feelings and body sensations to arise and pass by like clouds passing through the sky.We are training ourselves to be in direct experience with whatever arises from moment to moment. As we do this we can allow the sounds of the gong bath to wash over us. The gong...
Eight Step Recovery - Using the Buddha's Teachings To Overcome Addiction
Eight Step Recovery - Using the Buddha's Teachings To Overcome Addiction

Open my Heart

By Vimalasara on Mon, 25 Nov, 2013 - 05:13
Day 9 explores loving-kindness by reflecting on the heart, using the breath to breathe deeply into the heart. Loving kindness is the salve that can help to heal the heart from all the toxins we can accumalate in life. If you are a visual person, you could have an image of your heart as a flower that opens up towards the sunlight of loving kindness. Loving kindness can sometimes feel painful, that is okay, just trust it will pass. Loving...
Eight Step Recovery - Using the Buddha's Teachings To Overcome Addiction
Eight Step Recovery - Using the Buddha's Teachings To Overcome Addiction

The air I breathe

By Vimalasara on Sun, 24 Nov, 2013 - 06:46
Day 8 is a meditation on breathing by appreciating the air you breathe. The meditation begins with a three minute breathing space. Awareness of thoughts and feelings. Gathering the breath and Expanding the breath into your whole body, (AGE). AGE is something you can do in your daily life, at work, in front of the computer, in a shopping mall, on public transport. In fact we can stop and pause anywhere and take a three minute breathing space...

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