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 John
Freese has been practicing meditation for 15 years. He became a
Buddhist monk with Thich Nhat Hanh in 1998 and trained at Thich
Nhat Hanh’s monastery for 6 years. For the past 3 years he has
been practicing meditation in India. He is now based in South
India where he is under the guidance of a Guru in the Advaita
Vedanta tradition.
John continues to draw inspiration from Buddhist teachings as
well as Advaita Vedanta. The meditation practice that he does
and teaches includes awareness of breathing, resting in natural
awareness, and investigating the source of awareness. He gives
classes in meditation, multi-day retreats, talks on Buddhism,
and individual consultations. He also teaches hatha yoga and chi
gung. |
Through the
practice of meditation we are able to cultivate peace and
stability within ourself. This allows us to respond to
situations in our daily life with wisdom and compassion instead
of fear, craving, and aversion. As a result, a true happiness is
born that is not dependent on external conditions.
Posture
By sitting in
an upright and stable posture the body and mind become more
unified, relaxed, and alert. Instruction will be given on
traditional postures for sitting on the floor as well as the use
of mediation benches and chairs. (please bring your own folding
chair if you don’t think you can sit comfortably on the floor)
Awareness of Breathing
By gently and
persistently bringing our awareness to the breath the body and
mind become even more unified. After regular practice the mind
stops being carried away by thoughts and emotions and is able to
dwell in the present moment. We are able to experience what is
happening inside of us and around us more directly and clearly.
We build our capacity to be with strong emotions such as fear,
anger, craving, jealousy, etc... without reacting to them. We
are able to let them come and go. As a result a sense of peace
and space manifests.
Resting in Open Awareness
As the mind
becomes more stable we can let go of focusing on the breath and
just rest in open awareness. Our mind becomes open like the sky
allowing the clouds of thoughts, emotions, and sensations to
come and go freely without having to control or react to them.
We naturally keep coming back to the present. The sun of
awareness becomes more and more vivid and clear. We experience a
silence, a stillness, a sense of presence from the ground of our
being.
Pointing the Mind Towards its Source
As this
experience of presence and stillness becomes more vivid we can
gently point our mind towards it as a way of deepening the
experience even more. It is as if our mind is a wave on the
ocean and we are looking back into the ocean, to our Source, to
what we already are.
Meditation Lessons at Indigo with John Freese will be held:
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 12noon-1pm September 1
through October 31
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