Meditation

Elephant Study Group

A Lay Buddhist Orientation

Meditation

Meditation is one of the most characteristic elements of Buddhist practice. Outwardly it all looks the same, inwardly there are many varieties, including compassion, concentration, insight, visualization, mindfulness and many others.

How to Attend a Meditation

- Please RSVP at least by noon of the day of the event! Without RSVP's the host can't tell if the event will have too few or too many attendees.

- Aim to arrive on time as a courtesy to beginning meditater's who can get distracted by late arrivals

- Pay attention to parking rules

- Try not to leave early

- Arrive early if you've never meditated before and want to get pointers on how to start

- Expect events to be bring-your-own-cushion if you plan to do sitting meditation

If at a private home:

-Remove your shoes

How to Host a Meditation

Pick a location

- The location needs to be quiet, have enough space for 2-10 people

- Cushions and chairs are a plus, but not required. Do let people know if

Announce

- Post to mailing list the when's and where's. Please use the event announcement form. A link to your address on MapQuest, Yahoo or the like will help a lot. People navigate differently, try to give people two different kinds of instructions and ask people if the instructions worked.

- Let people know where they can park

- Let people know if there are cats or dogs there

Conduct

- First time attendees will arrive 10-15 minutes early, to get some pointers on what to do from the facilitator

- Announce the format of meditation. If the host doesn't have a particular idea, we will do 20 minutes sitting, 10 minutes walking, 20 minutes sitting. Count breaths while sitting, count steps while walking, or do what works for you.

- The host can conduct other varieties of mediation (chanting mantras, sutras, etc.)

- Default format: Sit 20 minutes, Walk 10 minutes, Sit 20 minutes.

- The host will set alarm or watch the clock.

- If you are interested in hosting a meditation event, but not conducting it, ask on the mailing list for a volunteer.

Retreat

A popular format for meditation is the retreat, which is longer and usually in a far away place. If you know of a good retreat, mention it on the discussion list.