Week 1
- Guided Daily Meditation: Breath Focus
Ideally you do one meditation a day, either one of the three versions of the CCT meditations, or the audio of Britta’s recorded class meditation.
- Daily Informal Practice:
The key idea behind “daily life practices” is that these exercises are intended to be done in the midst of our daily lives. These exercises take what is learned and cultivated in our formal sitting meditation practice and brought into or applied in our daily activities and interactions with others and the world around us.
These daily life practices in turn, inform and enrich the quality of the formal sitting meditation practice, thus complementing and reinforcing each other in a constructive and efficient manner.
For the first week of the course, our practice is to develop awareness of our experience (mindfulness) and also settling the mind. The daily life practices that can help develop these skills are listed below. Please incorporate these at least once a day (or as often as you wish) in your daily activities.
- Journal about your Intention
Set aside at least 5 minutes to journal about your intention for the course. Before you journal, take a moment to breathe into and out of your heartspace a few times. You might even like to journal after doing the week’s meditation. Then journal and answer the following questions: “Why are you in this course? What is your heart most desiring from doing this work? What is it you are hoping to receive? What is your intention?”
- Make Meaningful Pauses
Make meaningful pauses throughout the day while checking in with your body, mind, and heart – for example, while stopped at a stoplight notice any tension or tightness in the body, notice any thoughts or emotions, and tune into your breathing. We suggest you breathe into the chest, the space of the heart.
You can use the STOP protocol:
- S – Stop or pause
- T – Take a breath or two into your chest and heart space (these can be deep, diaphragmatic breaths, with a slower exhalation letting the body release and relax)
- O – Observe what is happening (take in the whole picture: are there thoughts, emotions, sensations) and whatever you observe, see if you can open your heart to this moment right now and your experience in the moment
- P – Proceed with what you were doing
- Do a Mundane Daily Task Mindfully
Pick one mundane daily task, such as brushing your teeth, doing the dishes, or folding laundry, and do it mindfully. Taking care to notice the physical sensations of the task, such as the feeling of water, the texture of clothing, etc. You can apply deliberate awareness to any activity, even using the toilet!
- [Optional] Track Your Observations
Take notes about your meditation and practices throughout the week! This can be a helpful way to track your observations, insights, and questions, as well as help keep you accountable. You can journal or use this form each week.
- Science:
- Yackle, K. et al. (2017) “Breathing control center neurons that promote arousal in mice.” Science, 355(6332), 1411-1415.
- Supplemental Resources:
Quotes and Poems:
Open to what Scares Us
We can let the circumstances of our lives harden us so that we become increasingly resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us and make us kinder and more open to what scares us. We always have this choice.
~ Pema Chödron
Allow
There is no controlling life.
Try corralling a lightning bolt, containing a tornado.
Dam a stream and it will create a new channel.
Resist, and the tide will sweep you off your feet.
Allow, and grace will carry you to higher ground.
The only safety lies in letting it all be – the wild and the weak; fear, fantasies, failures and success.
When loss rips off the doors of the heart, or sadness veils your vision with despair, practice becomes simply bearing the truth.
In the choice to let go of your known way of being, the whole world is revealed to your new eyes.
~ Danna Faulds