Dear Meditator,

A student recently asked me why I meditate. What's odd about this is that in all my time teaching I've only been asked this once. Since then, I've spent some time reflecting upon this question, and it's a good one to ask. If you're a beginner you'll need to know why you want to meditate in order to choose an appropriate way to meditate. If you've been meditating a while you'll need to check periodically to see whether you're still getting what you want out of a practice.

As for me, I meditate primarily because I enjoy it. No other activity brings me the same sense of peace, ease and simple contentment. I find it also helps me to understand myself. I'm not sure that many people get up in the morning with this [self-understanding] as a goal, but I'm beginning to suspect that it's one of the more useful goals one could set.

I won't go into why that is now, but I will say that in order to continue deriving some benefit from meditation you need to keep at it - and that means maintaining your interest in the subject. To this end, I dedicate some time each week to reading about meditation or a related field, and I often do this by the simple expedient of googling.

Unfortunately the result is one that heavily favours quantity over quality and in ten years of searching I've stumbled upon less than five meditation sites that I'd consider vaguely interesting or useful. So, it's with some delight that I'd like to introduce you to the Skillful Meditation Project website. I've included below part of one of numerous intelligent and thought-provoking articles from the site. I hope you enjoy them.

A new term of 4 and 6 Week Basic Meditation courses starts in July and there are still a few places left for this years final Meditation Teacher Training Course.

I hope you enjoy the newsletter. Feel free to email comments, questions or suggestions to: matt@melbournemeditationcentre.com.au

In This Issue...

• Spot Meditation
• Meditation Help: Being Gentle With Yourself
• New Guided Meditation CD
• Course schedule
• Forthcoming Events
• Deeper Than Sleep - The Theory Behind Spot Meditations

Spot Meditation

Keep it Simple

You really don't need to do much or try hard to relax and all you need is a little bit of oxygen. Here's how. Sit comfortably, close your eyes and find an aspect of breath that you enjoy. Pay attention to it in an easy manner. No need to concentrate — just enjoy yourself. When your mind drifts, gently bring it back to the breath.

How and where do you meditate when you've only got a minute? Send your own spot meditations to matt@melbournemeditationcentre.com.au

The best suggestion each month will be published here.

Three Conditions for an Independent Meditation Practice

As mentioned above, the Skillful Meditation Project is one of few meditation websites worth checking out. Here's some good advice from Jason Siff, the head teacher at SMP.

"Be gentle to yourself," I often say at the beginning of a workshop or retreat. Then I usually say something like, "In America, most of us are self-critical. We want to do things well. But we don't treat ourselves all that well in the process."

Gentleness in meditation is about how you treat yourself. Many meditators start their meditation sittings by diving right into doing the instructions they have been taught. They don't just bring their attention to the breath, a mantra, or visualization, but rather force it. Behind that force is aggression, pressure, driven-ness, or just plain tension. And when things don't go well, they tend to chastise themselves with thoughts of failure and self-doubt.

So, to start off a meditation sitting with gentleness is to not dive right into doing some kind of instruction or practice. Simply allow a transition to occur. What you were thinking about before the meditation sitting will naturally carry on into the beginning of the sitting. Many meditators start off a sitting by trying to stop all thoughts. Thoughts, when they arise, are then perceived as distractions. Here is where gentleness truly starts in meditation. These thoughts coming into your sitting are not distractions, for they are your thoughts, and most of the time outside of meditation, you are the one who owns them, acts on them, and produces more of them. They are to be welcomed into the meditation sitting just as you would welcome a friend, a relative, or even someone you may not particularly like into your home.

Read more from Jason Siff at the Skillful Meditation Project.

Meditate08 CD Sampler

If you didn't make it to the Meditate08 Meditation Conference & Expo last sunday you can still get a little taste of the day. The Meditate08 Sampler CD includes guided meditations and meditative music by Paul Majewski, Garth Stone, Michael Johnson and myself.

Supplies are limited and the price is a bargain, so get in quick.

You can order a copy online for just $10.

Course Schedule

Term 4 Courses commence the week beginning July 6. You can register online for any of the following.

Term 4 July/August

Meditation Events

Simply Silence

Get your regular dose of relaxation and calm at one of our Simply Silence sessions in North Melbourne or Elwood. It's a great way to discover and explore meditation in a friendly group environment.

Elwood Schedule:

• July 14 - Yvonne Anderson
• July 28 - Kate James

North Melbourne Schedule:

• July 3 - Paul Majewski
• July 17 - Stephen Penman

Deeper Than Sleep

Continuing a theme from earlier in the year, here's an excerpt from a Chapter of one of my favourite meditation books: Breathtaking by Lorin Roche.

Did you know that when you breathe with pleasure your body chemistry responds within seconds? Your blood pressure becomes lower, your heart rhythm stabilises, and the volume of stress hormones in your blood decreases. In a single breath, you can begin to shift your mood from stressed to relaxed. After 30 years of clinical research, doctors now recognise that breathing in an even, full rhythm is one of the most effective antistress techniques.

A series of studies at Harvard Medical School found that by closing your eyes and enjoying your breath, which is a simple form of meditation, you tend to enter a state of rest that is deeper than sleep. Other studies have found that the levels of stress hormones in your blood will drop and your immune system will be measurably strengthened.

Research indicates that during sleep, oxygen consumption decreases by about 8 percent over a period of several hours as the muscles relax and the body rests deeply. By contrast, when you do a simple meditation practice, the body enters a kind of conscious restfulness so deep that oxygen consumption drops by 12 to 17 percent in 3 to 5 minutes. This is a spontaneous side effect of the remarkable relaxation and rest meditation produces; it is not something you intentionally attempt.

Know someone who could chill out?

Do you have friends who are perpetually stressed or anxious, have trouble sleeping or could just do with learning how to relax? Do them a favour and forward this email to them. (Or if this is you, subscribe here.)