Bjarne Timonen

Deep listening

admin — Sun, 20 May 2012 13:23:51 +0000

Our Western culture is facing a spiritual crisis in which we are more and more removed from our bodies and our inherent intelligence. Although the mistrust in our own intelligence and ratio is ages old, it now seems to be worsened by the sensory overload in our society, causing us to loose touch with our bodies and our feelings. Why is it that we mistrust ourselves so much? Why is it that we force ourselves to deny scientific evidence that is happening right in front of our eyes because our religious or our personal believes tell us otherwise? Since when did our own heart become insufficient? From an early age on we are being taught that we have to suppress our anger, sexuality (especially homosexuality) and in some traditions even joy. When are we going to start listening to ourselves, to our own hearts? When are we going to regain that trust, no matter what tradition we come from? Our traditions need to become enlightened again, including the Buddhist tradition. This trust in our inherent wisdom is so very important if we want to stop the war between religious groups, because it might give us the insight that the debate over which religion or tradition is better is ridiculous, childish and aggressive. We need to go back to the core of our religions, in which it is not about which prophet was better or holier, that is not the point. The point is the message they carried out. Even if the Buddha or Jesus never really existed, it wouldn’t really matter. What matters is the message that resonates with our own inner Buddha or Jesus. Some people would find this blasphemy, but we have to be able to debate about this if we want to learn how to trust our own intelligence again. It requires a deep listening, to our bodies, our minds and our hearts.

Synchronising body and mind

admin — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 22:19:53 +0000

We are all born synchronised. During our lives, however, we become conditioned to loose this synchronisation between body and mind. We start overanalysing everything, we learn to distrust our bodies, distrust this balance. Funny enough it actually requires effort to keep this unbalance going and it is exactly that ‘wrong’ effort which causes us to suffer. This effort can sometimes suddenly fall away when something totally unexpected happens to us and we become completely present; synchronised. It is only in this synchronised state in which we can really experience the present moment, which is not analytical, but still has some sort of intelligence to it, we do not become psychotic, on the contrary; we become very sharp and spacious at the same time. In this space, this fine dance between body and mind, heaven and earth, there is no room for discursive thoughts, self-doubt, or judgement. By relating to our bodies, we are relating to reality, to the way things are. It is also then reality starts speaking to us and we can start becoming fully alive, being human in it’s full potential.

admin — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 08:39:20 +0000

Just Being dissolves all neuroses

Freedom of stress

admin — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 14:09:58 +0000

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction is sometimes debated having a too limited name for a treatment that effectively treats such a wide array of disorders and diseases. I think the term hits right home. Stress is often defined as trying to have control over something you basically can’t control. Meditation is often described as a way of letting go of our over-conditioned control need. I dare to say that every disorder described in the DSM-IV is either directly or indirectly stress related. I dare even to say that basically suffering itself is purely stress; we can’t except loss, disease and death, all things we can’t control. Stress can bring out the worst in humankind, it activates the reptile brain, numbs out the social brain. All qualities that we so much try to pursue through spiritual practice seem to be miles away when we are suffering from distress. But so-called distressing craves a lot more than just relaxing, just relaxing won’t cut it. You can practice two hours of intense yoga and then come home and have that same old argument with your spouse, with all the stress hormones instantly being activated again. True stress relief is a process of growth, maturity and letting go, it is a spiritual path. It’s letting go of this always clinging on to things, always wanting to be something, this insatiable craving for more, which has no end to it. In a way it is giving up, giving up the fight, with acceptance and humor. Oddly enough when we give up the fight, we start seeing that there is basically nothing to fight against, nothing to cling on to. Stress relieve, in the broader sense, is what we’re basically doing when we’re meditating. To develop what Tsoknyi Rinpoche so beautifully calls Carefree Dignity.

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