🧘 Reflections On Monastic Training & The Benefits of Sadhana: Is the Mind Ever Really Mindful? 🧘
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All the same LOTUS lovin', and the same welcome - but on a far more decentralised, ethical and blossoming blockchain!
Much love!
Thank you @julianhorack for sharing your journey. It is very enlightening to hear from someone who has gone through the training and has lived as a monk. It shows how very different life is in different parts of the world.
At 19 I was in college and married. I had heard of yogis and such, but I had no clue as to what they were or what they did. I had no clue as to what mindfulness was. Sure I would hear or be told to be mindful of my thoughts and my tongue which would simply mean watch what you say or think.
I didn't learn anything about mindfulness until 6 years ago. I had no idea how it came to be or really what it was/is. Sure I would hear stories of someone who went on a retreat in a monastery and has a new view of life, it doesn't mean I understood it. As with so much through the years, I was told this is how I needed to be, handed a pamphlet and sent on my merry way. I have had to teach myself. I had to learn skills that no one ever taught me. I didn't know what a coping skill was, but I was told I need to use them. I was told to breathe and I didn't know there was a kind of breathing that was needed. Then to meditate. I read book after book on that. It's hard reading a book that's guiding you through a meditation to then try to implement it. Life before the internet.
Am I mindful in a world view? Nope. Do I try to be? I am learning. Will I ever be? Is anyone truly? with a few exceptions. This is why when I write, I include actual situations that occurred and then try to break it down to see how to 'we' can learn from my mistake. I do not want people to suffer more than they have or have to. If I can spare 1 person from the pit or give them hope of seeing the light of day then I am doing what I have set out to do. I wasn't given the skills or even had knowledge of existence of something different.
Hey Meditators and meditation enthusiasts - today’s SGM (Steemit Group Meditation) at 8:30pm London Time on Discord Meditation Hall https://discord.gg/g74bdV - will be starting in less than 5 hours. @amico @chesatochi @chireerocks @ConsciousAngel7 @cori(crescendoofpeace) @digitaldan @fracasgrimm
@inuke @jacobfox @Immarojas @macchiata @porters @raj808 @rebeccabe @riverflows @yangyanje @steelborne @steemflow @tryskele @vibesforlife @dazedconfused11 @senattor @yangyanje @mayb @bifilarcoil @nateonsteemit @in2itiveart @jomed @judith @n202 @rem-steem @julianhorak @anttn @vincentnijman and other meditation enthusiasts? 🙏🏼🧘🏼♂️🧘🏼♀️❤️🕉
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Feeling unfortunate to miss this. Stay blessed.
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The writing by @julianhorack is so beautiful and inspirational 🙏🏽
Hello!
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Amazing, beautiful and energetic - so profound yet you put it in a very simple way. Your advanced knowledge and established practice and experience is obvious. So glad to have you on @naturalmedicine and #mindfullife. Would love you to host some meditation sessions for our mindful folks if you can. 🙏🏼🧘🏼♂️🧘🏼♀️
!tip
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Even more reason we're grateful for your knowledge and your participation in #mindfullife, dear @julianhorack. It's great to get confirmation of aspects of the practice and further insights. I love reading about your sound meditations. I used to love japa but I have fallen out of the practice. It was incredibly powerful. In my yoga practice at certain studios I can drop into meditative flow a lot better if we do chanting beforehand.
Thanks so much for sharing about your experience at the ashram. How blessed you are that you were drawn so powerfully to this sadhana. The brahma muhurta is a beautiful time to sit and meditate - I loved that when I have gone on retreats (specifically vipassana) but when you get back into the demands of the 9-5 (not that I'm completely 9 - 5) it's quite hard to get myself up at this hour. Now I feel guilty for mumbling how I can't manage 5.30 am for the Wednesday meditations with @bewithbreath haha!!
Loved this post, would love you to write for us again.
No need to create guilt feeling dear @riverflows 😃, as much as we love to have you in the meditation hall, absolutely understand the timing issue. We are grateful for creating this platform 🧘🏼♂️🧘🏼♀️😊🙏🏼
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TrufflePigThank you for this inspirational post @julianhorack! I was drawn to meditation earlier on in my life too and lived at the center for a couple of years but never so much that I renounced everything and took robes. What a difference that must have made to spend 10 years in an ashram, you would have a completely different mindset than those living a layman's life. Did you find it hard to adjust once you left the ashram? I know I enjoy having my meditation studio and home in the forest so I can retreat from the craziness of the world and I find it is the meditation practice that is one of the most important things in my life and as I get older I want to let those other things which are more of a distraction - fall away. So happy that you found your way into the Mindful Life Community and I look forward to reading more of your wonderful posts!
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