Thirty-day Challenge
This series of teachings introduces core techniques and principles for the practice of shamatha and the sequence of vipashyana practices known as the Four Applications of Mindfulness. Taught originally on consecutive days of January and February, 2014 in South Lake Tahoe as part of Mountain Yoga’s Thirty-Day Challenge, this series is an accessible introduction to meditation for beginners or experienced practitioners looking for fresh inspiration.
Class 1 Why meditate as part of yoga asana practice? What is mindfulness? Settling the body in its natural state.
Class 2 How to keep the mind from wandering. Settling the breath in its Natural State.
Class 3 Adding watchfulness to mindfulness. Stages one and two of the nine stages of shamatha.
Class 4 Focusing on tactile sensations of the breath. Developing a new reflex when you discover your mindfulness has been distracted.
Class 5 For developing stability with mindfulness of breathing, the exhalation is key.
Class 6 Counting the breath, the 3Rs for recovering mindfulness when distracted.
audio is missing
Class 7 Training the mind for what?
Class 8 Antidotes to dullness and excitation. Stage 3 of the 9 stages of shamatha.
Class 9 The oscillation of invigoration and release. The fine balance of meditation on the highwire.
Class 10 Stage 4 of shamatha. How the sentry of watchfulness becomes a motion detector.
Class 11 How to make daily meditation practice a habit. Short frequent sessions.
Class 12 The vividness of stage 5 of shamatha.
Class 13 The full body scan.
Class 14 Walking meditation.
Class 15 Settling the Mind in its Natural State.
Class 16 More on Settling the Mind in its Natural State.
Class 17 Subjective mental appearances.
Class 18 The fusion of stillness and motion.
Class 19 The space of the mind.
Class 20 Dredging the unconscious mind.
Class 21 Introduction to Vipashyana practice. The Four Applications of Mindfulness.
Class 22 The three marks of existence--impermanence.
Class 23 The first application of mindfulness to the body and the second application to feelings.
Class 24 More on liking or disliking almost everything we perceive.
Class 25 “All phenomena are preceded by the mind, issue forth from the mind, and consist of the mind.” The third application of mindfulness—the mind.
Class 26 The fourth application of mindfulness—all phenomena.
Class 27 The Four Noble Truths.
Class 28 The cause of suffering. Grasping to “I” and “mine.”
Class 29 Genuine happiness is a process of subtraction.
Class 29 audio