SPIRITUAL EXPLORATIONS --21

WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF STILLNESS

+ A couple of quotes by Thich Nhat Hanh:

Smile,

breathe,

and go slowly.

Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts. Whenever your mind becomes scattered, use your breath as the means to take hold of your mind again.

+ In the Seven Steps of InterSpiritual Meditation, mindfulness is connected to our breathing. Dr. Edward Bastian, the founder of The Spiritual Paths Institute, is the creator of the 7 steps, wants us to realize that mindfulness is done in the context of a focused and integrated spiritual practice.  Here are the seven steps:

1 - May we be happy and healthy

2 – May we be grateful

3 – May we be transformed

4 – May we be loving and compassionate

5 – May we be mindful through our breathing

6 – May we be wise through meditation

7 – May we be in service to all

Ed has done a video where he leads us through these 7 steps with the sound of ocean waves in the background.

Hindus and Buddhists have long taught the importance of connecting mindfulness to breathing. Breath awareness is the great opening to deeper and deeper mindfulness as you can see in the 112 techniques of meditation from the ancient Indian text, Vigyan Bhairav Tantra.

+ You can always find a link to any of the Spiritual Explorations posts by going to http://abundancetrek.com/sepostsaccess.html