Dear Meditator,

In this issue we've got a special offer for past students: 30% off the current course in Elwood. Tickets and full program details are now available for this year's Australian Meditation Conference, Meditate09 and also for a Meditation Master Class with Jason Siff from the Skillful Meditation Project.

You'll also find an excerpt from A Path With Heart by Jack Kornfield and our usual spot meditation and meditation tip.

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

In This Issue...

• 30% Discount on Elwood Course
• Spot Meditation
• Meditation Tip
• Course Schedule
• Events
• Famous Words from Jack Kornfield

Special Offer - This Week Only*

The 6 Week Meditation Course starting in Elwood this week has space for 10 extra participants. If you've completed a meditation course at the Melbourne Meditation Centre before and wish to repeat the course you may do so for $150 (instead of the regular price of $220).

START DATE: Wednesday April 2, 8.00 - 9.30pm

MORE INFO | REGISTER NOW

* Note: This offer applies only to people who have previously completed a course or workshop at the Melbourne Meditation Centre, and applies only to the Basic Meditation Course in Elwood.

Spot Meditation - Blowing Bubbles

Do you remember blowing bubbles in the bottom of a glass as a child? Fun huh? It can also be a great spot meditation — and you don't even need the glass (or the straw).

If you want to restore some calm and balance to your day simply take a nice, deep breath in; then exhale very slowly, as though you were blowing through a straw. For best results see how long you can keep those bubbles going for.

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.

Meditation Tip

Nearly everyone I meet seems to think meditation has something to do with trying not to think — and nearly every single meditation teacher or technique will instruct you to let thoughts go, shift your attention to something else or just plain block them out. These strategies can work, temporarily, but you may actually find you get more tense and frustrated trying.

So, when you notice that your head is jam packed full of thoughts, feel free to try any of the typical meditation techniques suggested above. But, also notice whether they are working to bring you to a state of balance — or contributing to the very stress you might be trying to alleviate.

If the technique is causing you to become increasingly stressed then there's one thing you must not do. Don't blame yourself for being incapable of meditating. Blame the technique for being inappropriate.

Then, if you wish to continue meditating, give yourself permission to think freely. Just sit and think. Now and then, if you wish, notice what your breath is up to, or check in with the body (for example, with the contact points your body makes with the floor or chair). If you like, comment on the thoughts (yes, then you'll be thinking about thinking!), ask them questions (such as, where did you come from and where are you going?), or just be curious about the entire thinking process.

Now and then, you may find that your mind wanders away from thoughts — that's ok too.

Comments? Email matt@melbournemeditationcentre.com.au

Course Schedule

Our next term of meditation courses commences this week. You can register online for any of the following.

Term 2, March/April 2009

Meditation Events

Meditation Master Class — Jason Siff

Friday May 29 — Evening Talk from 7.30-9pm ($20/$10)
Sunday May 31 — Full-day workshop from 10am-5pm ($150/$100)

Northcote Town Hall
189 High Street
Northcote

Those who attended the Meditation Events' Master Classes with Eric Harrison and Graham Williams last year enjoyed the opportunity to meet, listen to and learn from two of Australia's most interesting and experienced meditation teachers.

This May, the Meditation Master Class series continues with a visit from Jason Siff from the admittedly unmeditative home of Los Angeles. Like Eric and Graham, Jason's initial meditation studies were done under the tutelage of Buddhist teachers. Like them, he has also gone on to develop his own approach to meditation.

Jason's approach is particularly interesting as he is one of few teachers who looks really closely and critically at meditation instruction and what is actually going on when we meditate (which is often very different from the expectations inculcated during instruction).

Jason's Friday evening talk and Sunday workshop promise to be fascinating and insightful, as he discusses:

• Basic Meditation Instructions
• Three Conditions for an Independent Meditation Practice
• About This Approach and How It Is Taught
• Unmasking Meditation Instructions
• About Learning and Unlearning Meditation
• Why I Teach the Way I Do
• My Own Unlearning

Note: Those attending the workshop may attend the talk at no additional charge.

Tickets available from www.meditationevents.com.au

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, Petrea King, Founding Director and CEO of the Quest for Life Foundation 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 now 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:

• April 13 - No Session - Easter Monday Holiday
• April 20 - Kate James
• May 11 - TBC
• May 25 - Adam Nicoll

Northcote Schedule

• April 2 - Paul Majewski & Garth Stone
• April 16 - Jenny Petridis
• May 7 - TBC

A Path With Heart

Here's a short excerpt from Jack Kornfield's A Path With Heart. Kornfield travelled to Thailand in the late 60s and studied Buddhism in a forest monastery. His writings on meditation are filled with amusing and insightful anecdotes.

Meditation practice often begins with techniques for bringing us to an awareness of our bodies. This is especially important in a culture such as ours, which has neglected physical and instinctual life. James Joyce wrote of one character, "Mr. Duffy lived a short distance from his body." So many of us do. In meditation, we can slow down and sit quietly, truly staying with whatever arises. With awareness, we can cultivate a willingness to open to physical experiences without struggling against them, to actually live in our bodies. As we do so, we feel more clearly its pleasures and its pains. Because our acculturation teaches us to avoid or run from pain, we do not know much about it. To heal the body we must study pain. When we bring close attention to our physical pains, we will notice several kinds. We see that sometimes pain arises as we adjust to an unaccustomed sitting posture. Other times, pains arise as signals that we're sick or have a genuine physical problem. These pains call for a direct response and healing action form us.

However, most often the kinds of pains we encounter in meditative attention are not indications of physical problems. They are the painful, physical manifestations of our emotional, psychological , and spiritual holdings and contraction. Reich called these pains our muscular armour, the areas of our body that we have tightened over and over in painful situations as a way to protect ourselves from life's inevitable difficulties. Even a healthy person who sits somewhat comfortably to meditate will probably become aware of pains in his or her body. As we sit still, our shoulders, our backs, our jaws, or our necks may hurt. Accumulated knots in the fabric of our body, previously undetected, begin to reveal themselves as we open. As we become conscious of the pain they have held, we may also notice feelings, memories, or images connected specifically to each area of tension.

As we gradually include in our awareness all that we have previously shut out and neglected, our body heals. Learning to work with this opening is part of the art of meditation.

Know someone who could chill out?

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