Bjarne Timonen » Uncategorized

True presence

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:23:45 +0000

The formal mindfulness practice serves as a way to be more present in our lives. It is a common trap in meditation that we practice to be mindful on our cushion, but are not present in our own lives. In fact, meditation can even become a defense mechanism to not fully experience our life. The purpose is that eventually the whole difference between meditation and life itself slowly disappears, we’re present on the cushion, we’re present in our lives. The more we are present in our lives, the more present we will be on the cushion and vice versa. That’s why both the formal and the non-formal practice are important, just as training and a game are both important in sports.

Art

admin — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 09:33:56 +0000

Everything becomes art if you give it time

Meditation on the spot

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:21:22 +0000

Often we think of meditation as something quite formal, with lighted candles, a quiet room and burning incense. This is actually a very important part of the practice but out there in the crazy world is where the real practice begins. It is possible to incorporate mini-meditations in our daily lives. We all know the feeling of having tons of mails to reply to, just being overloaded with work and being dragged away from this moment (often noticeable by the fact that our shoulders have reached the height of our ears). When this happens, we can just let go of the keyboard for a second, close our eyes and try become aware of what is happening right now; in our thoughts, mind and body. All of this preferably in the chair we were getting all worked up in just a second ago. Just looking at it and becoming aware of it, without judgement, but rather an attitude of curiosity. Then open your eyes again and continue with what you were doing and see if it made a change. You can repeat this as many times as you like during the day. By doing this we create little pauses, little holes in our automatic pilot behavior of continuously being in a threadmill. We might become aware that there is actually a lot more space inbetween the e-mails and tasks, things are not as claustrophobic as they seem and that in this crazy hectic life we can experience the same clarity and space we experience on our cushion.

Seeing suffering

admin — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 19:26:12 +0000

It’s not until you start meditating that you really see how much suffering is going on in this world.

2012

admin — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 14:28:35 +0000

The world is in a tumultuous state. Economical crises, ecological crises, psychological crises. Crisis is good news, say the buddhist teachings, that is of course if we work with it. We will let this ‘tough’ period motivate us to go about differently with ourselves and each other? Can we give more mindfulness to our minds, bodies, environment? Even till the way we dress and conduct our lives, with style, humor and lots of joy? I wish you all great inspiration and courage for this coming year. Love, bjarne

Gentle Wakefulness

admin — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 13:10:51 +0000

The Value of Wakefulness

admin — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 12:43:59 +0000

We have lost our appreciation of our natural wakefulness. It is not uncommon for us to live on our habitual patterns throughout the day. With the introduction of digital media this has become even worse. We check our smartphone 50 times a day, put on our computer as soon as we come home and are basically being distracted from our own bodies and minds all day long. We have lost the appreciation of just coming home and doing nothing, be it only for 15 minutes. Our minds hardly ever really rest, even when we are on a holiday. If we really loose touch with this state of just being, without being clouded by our thoughts, we might even almost forget that we have it. We never really forget though, there is always that slight remembrance of it which is for instance activated when something really unexpected happens, something that wakes us up for a moment, which can be a disaster or a pleasant surprise. In these moments we might also experience how many great qualities the state of wakefulness harbors; compassion, insight, equanimity and humor. People sometimes show this on a massive scale for example when there is an electricity failure and we are being pulled out of our habitual patterns. Most people don’t experience this as negative at all (accept for the ones who are extremely attached to their digital lives) but can actually enjoy the fact that they are forced to take out their candles, talk to their neighbors about it and become conscious of how dependent we have become of digital media and electricity. The good news is that we don’t need a surprise, disaster or unexpected event to experience this, this state of wakefulness is always available to us. We can start by coming home and try to just be for a short while, create little pauses in our day, live more wakeful.

Healthy neurotics

admin — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 21:49:00 +0000

Mindfulness meditation is worldwide known as one of the most effective ways of stress reduction. Trungpa once said that meditation is for the normal neurotics. In my opinion this means people who are just barely coping with their stress might benefit enormously from meditation because they might actually gain a good surfboard to cope with it. They always had some sort of control over themselves but it was very neurotic and they could not relax into life, in such a case meditation is the ultimate tool to train this. But then there are some people are literally flooded by their stress. they have totally lost themselves and often describe their state of mind as numb and derealized. I think in this case it might be smart to not meditate at first. In this case the stress has to come down naturally first, these people have to learn how to just BE first, how to truly relax. Trungpa Rinpoche and Suzuki Roshi, two of the greatest meditation teachers that ever lived actually had plans to create a place to live for people who have mental problems. Meditation would not have been the focus of this place, rather would it be a place where people feel they can just be themselves for a moment, they don’t have to reach or have control over anything. Than, just like mud sinks down in troubled water if you no longer stir it, the stress naturally comes down and there will be a first glimpse of our innate intelligence. If people get more familiar with this, then they can slowly change from unhealthy neurotics to healthy neurotics. This is the moment where meditation can form the perfect continuation of this process of becoming ourselves more and more.

Why nature is important

admin — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 21:18:28 +0000

There is a lot of talking going on right now about nature preservation, green living and fighting global warming. All things I myself am a great partisan of. But why exactly is it that nature is so very important for us? Is it just because it’s pretty to look at, or makes us feel good? I think it goes even further than that. I think nature is the most intense connection we haven in this world with our own true nature. You don’t have to be a meditator or a spiritual practitioner to experience this, anyone can quite easily experience this in nature. Often when people describe their experiences with nature they usually describe the same qualities that arise in meditation: calmness, sharpness, love and a sense of being here and now. It is definitely possible to experience this state of mind in the middle of the city, but often we need a quite stable practice to keep this connection with nature when we are not directly surrounded with it. It is therefore very dangerous if we loose this connection with the strongest reminder of true nature that we have; nature itself. Nature reminds us perfectly of what we can let go of, all that keeps us from just being human. There is no discursiveness in nature, nothing unnecessary, all is quite raw and unpretentious. It reminds us of the fact that we can let go of unnecessary thoughts, that we can just be who we are and that that is OK. When we let go of this discursiveness we see that we have been limiting ourselves for a long time. If we destroy all of our nature, we also loose our biggest source of reminding us to this fact.

Resistance is interesting

admin — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 18:24:59 +0000

Most of us have situations, people or places in our lives which bring about a lot of resistance in our selves. We often notice this firstly on a physical level, it might be a heavy feeling in the chest, pain in the neck or back. It might be a certain type of behavior which we can’t stand, a person whom we feel very strongly resistant towards or a place that just automatically causes us to shut down, creating a wall between us and what is occurring in front of us. The interesting thing is that often it is not so much what is objectively happening, but it is the stories, the layers we have created around them which make them feel so heavy. It is therefore very interesting to start investigating this resistance, in a non-judgmental way. Why do I feel so allergic? How does it actually feel in my body? Where do I feel it? (Because often we don’t want to actually experience the resistance, thereby making it even stronger). We can suffer a lot from these heavy ‘allergies’; these automatic reactions can even cause chronic physical complaints in the long run. Is it therefore not interesting to look at it? With a curious and friendly attitude, perhaps even with a bit of humor. If we do so, we might notice that the resistance itself isn’t all that concrete, that the stories we always believed in aren’t all that true and that this web of physical sensations, emotions and story lines is actually quite porous and transparent. It was our resistance against our resistance which never made it possible to actually see this. In this way our resistance becomes a very interesting thing, forming a direct path to seeing things more clearly as they really are.