Meditation

Please revised/reword into approximately 250-300 words, the attachment entitled “DB Wk 7”, as it relates to Mindfulness, Meditation, and religion in particular Buddhism.  When revising the doc please reference the following and be sure to cite examples where applicable from the following below and attached:  Please also see the following link: http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=7,5553,0,0,1,0#.XJ4YJy3MwWp  Rohingya Refugee Crisis  Book:  Jeff Wilson. Mindful America: The Mutual Transformation of Buddhist Meditation and American Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014).

I have been very interested in our discussions about meditation because it is something that I have always kind of wanted to explore more. I first encountered the idea of mindfulness through football, because my football coach wanted us to try to use the app Headspace for a few minutes every day. While I admit I didn’t do a very good job at keeping up with meditating, I think I was a lot less open to the idea back then and now that it has been reintroduced to my life I want to take this opportunity to practice mindfulness. I think that this idea of mindfulness ties into being present, which is something I know I need to work on. I find myself allowing my mind to wander even when I am in a class or doing something important, and I need to work on being present in the moment and putting all of my focus towards the task on hand. I think that this is related in some way to my participation in class, because I find it a lot more difficult to stay present when we are talking in a larger group as opposed to in smaller groups. I think maybe this is because I treat smaller groups more like a conversation as opposed to a class discussion and it is easier for me to both feel comfortable contributing and to stay engaged with the discussion. I am hoping that by exploring mindfulness through apps like Headspace I can improve my ability to be present and hopefully by doing that I will feel more comfortable and engaged during larger discussions.

     As far as the whole controversy surrounding using meditation in the west, I personally think that there is no harm in learning from Buddhist practices to better our lives. My interpretation is that the Buddha was enlightened to some very deep and meaningful ideas, and instead of taking himself out of the world and reveling in his new knowledge, he decided it was more important to teach his fellow men and women what he discovered. I think that he would have been glad to learn that we are embracing practices such as meditation, because despite the fact that we might not be following his teachings exactly or have the right goal, we are still able to benefit from being more mindful and that is what the Buddha wanted from his teachings. Personally, I am not a Buddhist, but I still hope that I can grow as a person by utilizing practices such as meditation and mindfulness and many of the tenets of Buddhism such as the 8-fold path.

I have been very interested in our discussions about meditation, because it is something that I have always kind of wanted to explore more. I first encountered the idea of mindfulness through football, because my football coach wanted us to try to use the app Headspace for a few minutes every day. While I admit I didn’t do a very good job at keeping up with meditating, I think I was a lot less open to the idea back then and now that it has been reintroduced to my life I want to take this opportunity to practice mindfulness. I think that this idea of mindfulness ties into being present, which is something I know I need to work on. I find myself allowing my mind to wander even when I am in a class or doing something important, and I need to work on being present in the moment and putting all of my focus towards the task on hand. I think that this is related in some way to my participation in class, because I find it a lot more difficult to stay present when we are talking in a larger group as opposed to in smaller groups. I think maybe this is because I treat smaller groups more like a conversation as opposed to a class discussion and it is easier for me to both feel comfortable contributing and to stay engaged with the discussion. I am hoping that by exploring mindfulness through apps like Headspace I can improve my ability to be present and hopefully by doing that I will feel more comfortable and engaged during larger discussions.

As far as the whole controversy surrounding using meditation in the west, I personally think that there is no harm in learning from Buddhist practices to better our lives. My interpretation is that the Buddha was enlightened to some very deep and meaningful ideas, and instead of taking himself out of the world and reveling in his new knowledge, he decided it was more important to teach his fellow men and women what he discovered. I think that he would have been glad to learn that we are embracing practices such as meditation, because despite the fact that we might not be following his teachings exactly or have the right goal, we are still able to benefit from being more mindful and that is what the Buddha wanted from his teachings. Personally, I am not a Buddhist, but I still hope that I can grow as a person by utilizing practices such as meditation and mindfulness and many of the tenets of Buddhism such as the 8-fold path.

This week we began studying Buddhism and mindfulness. Questions were raised like “when is it mindful and when is it a religion?” This is an interesting topic at a very interesting time. We are the generation of “mindful apps” and “yoga for kids.” Meditation is becoming the norm for western culture. Some airports in the U.S. have rooms dedicated to yoga and meditation. But, if religion shouldn’t be practiced in schools, is yoga religious? Especially for children that are probably just getting introduced into the practice? Or…has is diverted from its roots so much that it has lost any connection to its origin? This is a topic that really interests me because a fine line that seems so clear in class is actually becoming invisible in real life. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that a large number of Americans don’t even know about the religious origins of meditation and yoga; religious practices that date back to thousands of years ago.

I really enjoyed the pillow-throwing activity for the week. It made me think about the focus one needs to have when listening and speaking. You couldn’t be on your phone and succeed in the throwing game. Doesn’t that apply to real life too? You can’t expect to only pay half-attention to someone and expect to get the same out of the conversation as you would if you were fully paying attention. I wish more people of my generation knew this. I feel like I am constantly trying to have serious and deep conversations with my friends  (an effort to get to know them better and know their story) and most of the time I just take their phone out of their hand and say “Let talk! Lets have a REAL conversation!” I don’t always get the response that I want, but usually, they thank me for trying to engage in a conversation. I like that this was practiced in a classroom setting! It was helpful!