Mindfulness Meditation & Addiction

Addiction & Recovery | Mind & Meditation

(Causes for addiction and how mindfulness meditation can help with them.)

One of the first steps in dealing with addiction is to discover the emotional cause of it, whether it is fear, depression, anxiety, or pessimism.  Many times these unwholesome thoughts and beliefs come from what I call the “wanting mind.”  In wanting mind, we feel that our current state of unhappiness could be cured if only we could have the money, job, relationship, recognition, or power we had and lost, or never had and strongly desire.  Often we cause ourselves suffering when we ache for something that lies out of our grasp or cling in vain to something that has already passed away. Sometimes, wanting mind involves tightly holding on to something negative: an unwholesome belief about how things ought to be or should have been, or an unwholesome emotion such as anger, sadness, or jealousy. Mindfulness practice helps us develop the capacity to see clearly exactly what we’re attached to so that we can let go of it and end our suffering. The hidden areas of resistance that emerge into our awareness can be noted and examined later so that we can make the conscious choice to reject them. Read more…

Why Meditate?

Chris Willitts | Mind & Meditation | Self-Cultivation

(On the eve of the release of his new book, the French monk Matthieu Ricard spoke with Tricycle about science, meditation, and his title as “the happiest man in the world.”)

Before you were a monk, you were a scientist in cell genetics. How does science inform your perspective on meditation? The basis of science is a rigorous, empirical, and pragmatic approach to everything. A suitable theory has to include the possibility that it can be proven or disproved by fact. A theory that has a ready-made explanation for anything that could happen (like the theory of universal selfishness or psychoanalysis, to give just two examples) is not scientific. A theory should not be just an intellectual construct, but it has to be in tune with reality.

One of the main pursuits of Buddhism is to bridge the gap between the way things appear and the way things are. That approach does not come just from a curiosity to investigate phenomena. It arises from the understanding that an incorrect perception of reality inevitably leads to suffering. Grasping to solid reality and to the notion of an independent self in particular engenders a host of afflictive mental states and afflictive emotions that are the primary cause of mind-made sufferings. Read more…

What is Zen? Is It a Religion, Meditation Practice, or Experience?

Chris Willitts | Mind & Meditation | Self-Cultivation

Recently, I wrote an academic essay that discusses what Zen is and the approaches one can take to better understand this recently adopted term that our culture seems to misuse a lot. (essay below)

Is “experience” or history a better path to understanding Zen?

I think it depends on your definition of what Zen is. Is it an experience? Or is it a doctrine/philosophy? Or… is it both? I believe it’s both to lesser and greater degrees, and because this implies that there are two fundamentally opposed approaches to understanding Zen (i.e. objective and subjective), there will naturally be conflict amongst their respective experts. In this essay I will tease out what Zen is and discuss the consequences if we use only one approach to understanding Zen. I will also make the case that if you had to choose only one approach, why experiencing/practicing Zen trumps the research method using academic discipline. I will conclude by making the case that there is a place for a “Middle Path” approach, which is the optimal approach. Read more…

How to Achieve Success With Your Personal Goals by Coach Dax Moy

Motivation | Self-Cultivation

This interview is an excerpt from Kevin Gianni’s Fountain of Youth Summit, which can be found at (fountainofyouthworldsummit.com). In this excerpt, Dax Moy shares the remaining steps for the Magic 100 program for success.

The Fountain of Youth World Summit with Dax Moy, one of the four most successful achievement coaches for personal trainers in the world.

Kevin: WOW! What’s next?

Dax: What’s next is know why you want it. To be really, really honest, most people don’t know why they want what they want. Or they will never admit it to themselves. You know what, they’ll say “oh yeah I would like a new Land Rover Discovery”, in my case you know? “Why do I want it?” You know it’s a great car. And that’s when most people start, “it’s a great car; made me feel…” Basically when I actually went through the “why do I want it” phase, what it really, really, really came down to was: it would make me feel successful, it would make me feel special, it would make me feel like I made it. Those are the obvious reasons. Because it is a great car, it’s got x horsepower, and the wheels are shinning; they are not really good reasons. They are not the things that I see that are going to hold you on course when things get tough, okay? But, when you know why you want it, when you get to the bottom of the real reason well, actually you know? Again, if I even dig a little bit deeper; for most of my life I felt poor, and I felt like I wasn’t going to amount to anything. This was going to make me feel rich, like I was turning into something that I wanted to be. Read more…

  • Page 1 of 12
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • ...
  • 12
  • >
  By using this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
The Mindful Method: Meditation, Yoga, and Mindful Strength Training

Designed by Positively Wired  |  Powered by Media Temple
© 2011 Mindful Muscle. All Rights Reserved.