Deepen Your Meditation with Michelle - Ananda Washington

Deepen Your Meditation with Michelle

Event details

  • October 23, 2018
  • 10:30 am - 12:00 pm
  • Ananda Meditation Temple, 23305 Bothell Everett Hwy, Bothell, WA 98021
  • 425-806-3700

Deepening Your Meditation Experience – Choose the One (or more) that Suits You Best.

These classes have been specially designed for those who have taken one or more of the Fullness series of meditation classes. However, they are open to anyone with meditation experience and training. Our experienced Ananda meditation teachers will work with you and tailor the class to meet your needs and interests in deepening your experience of meditation.

Cost: $15 for a single class or $50 prepaid for all four. For each Fullness Meditation class that you have attended in the past, you can take $5 off one of these Deepening classes.

 

Week 1 – Deepening Your Meditation Through Breath.

Observing or controlling the breath with focused awareness is the most popular and effective form of meditation throughout the world and down through the ages. In this class, we will take the techniques learned in one or more of the Fullness Meditation classes and refine our experience and understanding of several of the basic breath techniques. The basic breath techniques which we will be reviewed and refined may include:

  • The tense and relax double breath used either in a standing exercise and/or a sitting breath technique.
  • Simple diaphragmatic breathing in a variety of formats from even-count to extended breath held in (or out).
  • Alternate nostril breathing using the Vishnu (hand) mudra.
  • Observing the flow of breath using an affirmation or the Hong Sau bij mantra.
  • We will have at least two periods of meditation practice in this class.
  • Instructor may include other practices such as affirmation, imagery or chanting.
  • There will be time for discussion.

 

Week 2 – Deepening Your Meditation Through Concentration.

One of the most common challenges in meditation is staying focused! Our meditation instructor will guide you through preliminary techniques to help gain awareness and control over your thoughts. Some of these may include:

  • Practice moving from controlled breathing to non-controlled breathing
  • Use counting with breath control to focus the mind
  • Counting between thoughts to extend the length of mental stillness
  • Observing the flow of breath with eyes open
  • Dividing the Hong Sau technique into specific stages of deepening awareness
  • Observing the breath from the medulla or forehead
  • Using imagery and feeling to sooth and quiet the mind
  • Training the mind to be your meditation guide
  • Instructor may include other practices such as affirmation, imagery or chanting.
  • There will be time for discussion.

 

Week 3 – Deepening Your Meditation Through Calm Feeling.

The secret to deep meditation lies not in the mind but in the heart. There, resting at the calm center of deep and refined feeling, is the key to inner peace and joy. In this class we will share with you a variety of heart-opening techniques such as:

  • Simple chants, either or both in English and Sanskrit
  • Calming and expansive imagery taken from archetypal symbols in nature or devotional imagery or symbols.
  • How to pray in the language of your own heart. Prayer and poetry from the writings of Paramhansa Yogananda might be shared as examples or resources.
  • How to bring feeling into the basic breath control and observation techniques.
  • How to use simple movements expressed with feeling as inspirational warm-ups for sitting in meditation.
  • How to awaken enthusiasm with affirmations used in movement and in sitting.

 

Week 4 – Deepening Your Meditation Through Superconsciousness.

Meditation has been described as an “upward relaxation into Superconsciousness!” We can think of Superconsciousness as the realm of intuition from which come answers, guidance, inspiration and the elemental soul qualities of joy, love, vitality, peace, calmness and the inner experiences of astral light and sound. We can approach this state of consciousness metaphysically, energetically, or devotionally according to our own temperament. True meditation begins when the practice of meditation techniques end! In this class we will focus on how to enter into inner stillness which allows the invisible, weightless waterfall of intuition and Superconsciousness to flow into our life.

  • How to infuse your meditation techniques with stillness
  • The importance of going beyond techniques
  • What is intuition?
  • What does it mean to “Be still and know that I AM!”
  • What are the eight basic aspects of Superconsciousness
  • How to attune our mind and conscious vibration to Superconscious states
  • For future training: advanced techniques of meditation such as chakra meditations and kriya yoga. 8-Fold Path to higher awareness.

 

Instructor