Dear Meditator,

In this issue you'll find half a dozen free guided meditations to download, news of this year's Australian Meditation Conference Meditate09, Thoughts on Thinking and the usual Spot Meditation and Course Schedule, including our first How To Meditate workshop for this year.

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

In This Issue...

• Spot Meditation
• Free Guided mp3's
• Course Schedule
• Events
• Meditation Tip - Thoughts on Thinking

Spot Meditation - Sit Comfortably

Odds are that you are sitting as you are reading this. And how you are sitting has a subtle but profound effect on the state of your mind. How might you change your posture now?

Spend the next 60 seconds noticing all the points of contact your body makes — with the floor, the chair, your clothing, the air.

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.

Course Schedule

Our next term of meditation courses commence late March. You can register online for any of the following.

Term 2, March/April 2009

Mindful Meditations

Get your mp3 player ready. Here are half a dozen free guided meditations for you to download and listen to.

There are meditations on the breath, body, sounds, dealing with difficulties and developing compassion. They range in length from 3 to 19 minutes and are all available from the Mindful Awareness Research Center website.

Meditation Events

MEDITATE09 Australian Meditation Conference

MEDITATE 09, the annual Australian Meditation Conference, brings together many of Australia's leading meditation teachers, including Paul Wilson, bestselling author of The Quiet and The Little Book of Calm, Susan Murphy Roshi, author of Upside-Down Zen and Andrew Wells, Director of Dru Yoga in Australia.

The theme of this year's conference is Meditation and the Mind. Our presenters will explore how meditation promotes physical wellbeing and emotional literacy and can be used in the prevention and treatment of stress, anxiety and depression.

With a full conference program on Saturday and post-conference workshops on Sunday, this event promises to be a wonderful opportunity for anyone with a professional or personal interest in meditation to explore a diversity of approaches to this transformative practice.

The conference program will also interest medical and health professionals, researchers and students, as leading experts present research in body/mind medicine from the disciplines of neuroscience, physiology and psychology.

More information and tickets available soon from www.meditate09.com.au

Simply Silence

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

Elwood Schedule:

• March 9 - Adam Nicholl
• March 23 - Yvonne Anderson
• April 13 - No Session - Easter Monday Holiday

Northcote Schedule

• March 19 - Monika Merkes
• April 2 - Paul Majewski & Garth Stone
• April 16 - Jenny Petridis

Thoughts on Thinking

In this article Edward Espe Brown examines the do's and don'ts of thinking during meditation.

At my first formal interview with Suzuki Roshi, I didn't know what to say. Perhaps I really could not think of what to say, or nothing I was thinking was worth saying. I was young and sincere, and I wanted to make a good impression. After a couple of minutes of sitting quietly facing each other, I began to relax and Suzuki took the initiative.

"How's your meditation?"

"Not so good," I replied.

"What's not so good?"

"I'm thinking a lot."

"And what's the problem with thinking?" he asked.

That stumped me. When I looked directly for the problem with thinking, I couldn't find it. My fallback position was to tell him the do's and don'ts of meditation. Read more...

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.)