Meditation

Weekly Class
Date and Time:  every Monday (8:15pm - 9:15pm)
Cost: $10 (pre-purchase online or drop into the studio 10 minutes prior to class)
Led by Dr. Hugh Byrne, this class is open to all levels, beginners are always welcome!  Vipassana (Insight) meditation is the simple and direct practice of moment-to-moment mindfulness. Through careful and sustained observation, we experience the ever-changing flow of the mind/body process. With cultivated awareness we are able to accept more fully the pleasure and pain, fear and joy, sadness and happiness that inevitably occur in life. As insight deepens, we develop greater equanimity and peace in the face of change, and wisdom and compassion increasingly become the guiding principles of our lives.  Blankets are provided and students may also bring their own cushions.  Additional information about this meditation can be found at IMCW (Insight Meditation Community of Washington).  You can purchase a 1 class pass for $10 or a 5 class pass for $50 to attend these classes.
 

Monthly Mindfulness Mediation Retreats at Flow
Dates and Times: held monthly - visit workshop listings for specific dates - (1:45pm - 5:45pm)
Cost: $40
Insight or Mindfulness Meditation is the simple practice of paying attention on a moment-to-moment basis to our own direct experience. This practice of mindfulness allows us to see more clearly our patterns and habits of holding and resistance, and to accept more fully the pleasure and pain, fear and joy, sadness and happiness that occur in life. As our insights deepen, we develop greater peace and equanimity in the face of change, and wisdom and compassion increasingly become the guiding force in our lives. These monthly 1/2 day workshops are led by Dr. Hugh Byrne, and are open to new and experienced practitioners. This workshop will provide systematic instructions on working with all elements of our experience to develop concentration and cultivate insight. During the workshop, we will alternate periods of instruction, sitting and walking meditations and dialogue.

Mindfulness–Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
Dates and Times: please visit MBSR for upcoming dates
Cost:  The course is $525 and includes 8 classes, the full day retreat with lunch, a text, CDs and a workbook. 
Mindfulness- Based Stress Reduction is an intensive eight week course designed to transform your relationship to stress, improve your health, and increase enjoyment of life.  MBSR has been extensively studied since the late 1970s.   The MBSR course consists of eight weeks of 2 ½ hour classes – the first and last classes are 3 hours – with one full day retreat.  Classes are highly participatory and practical.  The course includes:
-Guided instruction in mindfulness meditation practices (sitting and walking)
- Gentle stretching and mindful movement (Qigong) appropriate for all ability levels
-Exercises to bring mindfulness to challenging situations in everyday life
-Practice with small and large group discussions
-Daily at-home practice with specially designed materials
-Cushions, chairs, & mats will be provided; wear comfortable clothing.

What is Meditation

For thousands of years, individuals have engaged in practices of meditation - bringing moment-by-moment awareness to their own experiences in the body, heart and mind.  Available in almost all major spiritual traditions, these practices have helped individuals cultivate greater wisdom, kindness and compassion, and develop the capacity to accept more fully the joys and sorrows that life brings.

Many different methods are employed to help focus attention and concentrate the mind, including visualizations; the use of a mantra, a word or phrase to anchor one in the present moment's experience; paradoxical statements ("what is the sound of one hand clapping?") known as koans in the Zen tradition or inquiry into 'Who am I?' or paying attention to the breath, the body, or sensory experience.

In Buddhist meditation what these different techniques and methods have in common is that they help the yogi concentrate the mind in order to see clearly into patterns and habits of clinging and holding that cause suffering, in order to let go and live a life free of suffering.

It is often thought that we meditate in order to create some elevated state of mind or heart - peace, bliss, or altered states of well-being.  But while a natural product of deepening meditation practice, these states are impermanent, and true freedom of the heart comes from a willingness to be fully present with our own experience - pleasant or unpleasant, joyful or sorrowful- rather than in creating particular states of mind.  When we learn to accept fully what life brings us in this moment, we develop greater equanimity and peace in the face of life's "ten thousand joys and ten thousand sorrows," and can cultivate a freedom that is not dependent on particular conditions.

Zen teacher Alan Watts spoke of the purpose of meditation: "We could say that meditation doesn't have a reason or doesn't have a purpose.  In this respect it's unlike almost all other things we do except perhaps making music and dancing.  When we make music we don't do it in order to reach a certain point, such as the end of the composition.  If that were the purpose of music then obviously the fastest players would be the best.  Also, when we are dancing we are not aiming to arrive at a particular place on the floor as in taking a journey.  When we dance, the journey itself is the point, as when we play music the playing itself is the point.  And exactly the same thing is true in meditation.  Meditation is the discovery that the point of life is always arrived at in the immediate moment."  -- written by Dr. Hugh Byrne (Dr. Byrne leads Flow's Meditation Classes and Workshops!)

Hugh Byrne, Ph.D.,has studied and practiced Buddhism (in the Theravadan and Zen traditions) in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Hugh is a contributing Buddhist minister at Georgetown University and a co-founder of the Washington Buddhist Peace Fellowship. He is a member of the teachers council of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington (IMCW)--a large and growing Sangha (community) whose senior teacher is Tara Brach--and teaches classes on Buddhism and meditation in the Washington area.  Hugh is committed to sharing the wisdom and compassion of Buddhist meditation and mindfulness practices to help individuals find peace and awaken to their true potential and to help transform the suffering in our world. 
 

Press and Feedback on Flow's Meditation Program

Take a few deep breaths, relax your body. Feel your energy settle into your body and into the moment. 

See if certain phrases emerge from your heart that express what you wish most deeply for yourself, not just for today, but in an enduring way. Phrases that are big enough and general enough that you can ultimately wish them for all of life, for all beings everywhere.

Classical phrases are things like, "May I live in safety. May I be happy. May I be healthy. May I live with ease."

You can gently repeat these phrases over and over again, have your mind rest in the phrases and whenever you find your attention has wandered, don't worry about it. When you recognize you've lost touch with the moment, see if you can gently let go and begin again.

May I live in safety, be happy, be healthy, live with ease.

Call to mind somebody that you care about--a good friend, or someone who's helped you in your life, someone who inspires you. You can visualize them, say their name to yourself. Get a feeling for their presence, and then direct the phrases of lovingkindness to them. May you live in safety, be happy, be healthy, live with ease.

Call to mind someone you know who's having a difficult time right now. They've experienced a loss, painful feeling, a difficult situation. If somebody like that comes to mind, bring them here.

Imagine them sitting in front of you. Say their name. Get a feeling for their presence and offer the phrases of lovingkindness to them.

"May you live in safety. Be happy. Be healthy, live with ease." 

Think of someone who plays some role in your life, some function that you don't know very well, that you don't have a particular feeling for, or against. Maybe the checkout person at the supermarket where you shop, the gas-station attendant, somebody that you see periodically. If someone like that comes to mind, imagine them sitting in front of you, and offer these same phrases of lovingkindness to them.
May you live in safety. Be happy. Be healthy, live with ease.

We connect into these phrases, aiming the heart in this way, we're opening ourselves to the possibility of including, rather than excluding, of connecting, rather than overlooking, of caring, rather than being indifferent. And ultimately, we open in this way to all beings everywhere, without distinction, without separation.

May all beings live in safety, be happy, be healthy, live with ease.

All people, all animals, all creatures, all those in existence, near and far, known to us and unknown to us. All beings on the earth, in the air, in the water. Those being born, those dying.

May all beings everywhere live in safety, be happy, be healthy, live with ease.

You feel the energy of this aspiration extending infinitely in front of you, to either side, behind you, above and below. As the heart extends in a boundless way, leaving no one out, may all beings live in safety, be happy, be healthy, live with ease.

And when you feel ready, you can open your eyes and see if you can bring this energy with you throughout the day.