WEEK 5
Meditation Practice
This week is exactly the same as last week only we’re practising for a little longer — eight minutes a day Monday-Saturday and a lovey 13 minute combination of Breath Awareness and Loving-Kindness meditations on Sunday.
By now, you’ll probably be discovering when and where you find it easiest to meditate. Personally, I find that if I don’t meditate as soon as a I wake up, it won’t happen so I practise first thing in the morning when I’m the only one at home who is awake. If you still haven’t found a time that feels good for you then you might want to try getting up 10 minutes earlier and meditating first thing to see if this works for you too.
Monday — 8 minutes Breath Awareness
Tuesday — 8 minutes Breath Awareness
Wednesday — 8 minutes Breath Awareness
Thursday — 8 minutes Breath Awareness
Friday — 8 minutes Breath Awareness
Saturday — 8 minutes Breath Awareness
Sunday — 8 minutes Breath Awareness + 5 minutes Loving-Kindness
By now, you’ll probably be discovering when and where you find it easiest to meditate. Personally, I find that if I don’t meditate as soon as a I wake up, it won’t happen so I practise first thing in the morning when I’m the only one at home who is awake. If you still haven’t found a time that feels good for you then you might want to try getting up 10 minutes earlier and meditating first thing to see if this works for you too.
Monday — 8 minutes Breath Awareness
Tuesday — 8 minutes Breath Awareness
Wednesday — 8 minutes Breath Awareness
Thursday — 8 minutes Breath Awareness
Friday — 8 minutes Breath Awareness
Saturday — 8 minutes Breath Awareness
Sunday — 8 minutes Breath Awareness + 5 minutes Loving-Kindness
Mindful Living Practice — Take a Break From Intoxicants
Without wanting to be a party pooper, this week is about abstaining from all intoxicants and addictive substances — alcohol, caffeine, nicotine…
If the thought of going a week without your daily latte fills you with dread or the idea of not being able to have a couple of glasses of wine on Friday evening makes you a little frustrated, then that’s a pretty sure sign you are trapped in some kind of attachment with said intoxicant and it is, in some way, causing you to suffer — whether through cravings or lack of control or hangovers or anxiety when you can't have it.
Abstaining from intoxicants is another moral precept advocated in many spiritual traditions. This is not only because many intoxicants can prevent the mind from calming down, but so we can become aware of what we are attached to and why.
This week, see if you can abstain from all intoxicants. When the urge to have a drink or a smoke or grab a coffee arises, observe the impulses and become aware of what you are thinking and feeling — is there an emotion you don’t want to feel hiding under your craving for booze? Are you craving caffeine because you are over-working and neglecting sleep and need to take more time for self-care? Do you get the urge to smoke when you’re stressed or anxious and need to develop healthier ways to release stress (or remove the source of the stress altogether if possible)?
Our urges and impulses are doorways to get to know ourselves better and train our mind to be free from suffering. Am I addicted? Am I attached? Is my relationship with alcohol causing me to suffer? Can I sit with the discomfort of wanting a glass of wine without having one? This isn’t about restriction and restraint, this is about learning to be with our cravings and impulses without acting on them — and by not acting on them, we are weakening the thought patterns that cause the cravings to arise in the first place. We are using discomfort as a gateway to inner freedom.
And remember this doesn't have to be forever — it’s just for one week!
If the thought of going a week without your daily latte fills you with dread or the idea of not being able to have a couple of glasses of wine on Friday evening makes you a little frustrated, then that’s a pretty sure sign you are trapped in some kind of attachment with said intoxicant and it is, in some way, causing you to suffer — whether through cravings or lack of control or hangovers or anxiety when you can't have it.
Abstaining from intoxicants is another moral precept advocated in many spiritual traditions. This is not only because many intoxicants can prevent the mind from calming down, but so we can become aware of what we are attached to and why.
This week, see if you can abstain from all intoxicants. When the urge to have a drink or a smoke or grab a coffee arises, observe the impulses and become aware of what you are thinking and feeling — is there an emotion you don’t want to feel hiding under your craving for booze? Are you craving caffeine because you are over-working and neglecting sleep and need to take more time for self-care? Do you get the urge to smoke when you’re stressed or anxious and need to develop healthier ways to release stress (or remove the source of the stress altogether if possible)?
Our urges and impulses are doorways to get to know ourselves better and train our mind to be free from suffering. Am I addicted? Am I attached? Is my relationship with alcohol causing me to suffer? Can I sit with the discomfort of wanting a glass of wine without having one? This isn’t about restriction and restraint, this is about learning to be with our cravings and impulses without acting on them — and by not acting on them, we are weakening the thought patterns that cause the cravings to arise in the first place. We are using discomfort as a gateway to inner freedom.
And remember this doesn't have to be forever — it’s just for one week!
If you can, see if you can keep up the mindful living practices from the last few weeks too. If you need a reminder, I’ve popped them below.
Week 1 -- Don’t Scratch the Itch
Week 2 — Non-Harm
Week 3 — Non-Stealing
Week 4 — Speak Only Kindness
Week 1 -- Don’t Scratch the Itch
Week 2 — Non-Harm
Week 3 — Non-Stealing
Week 4 — Speak Only Kindness