Meditation Fad update

thumbnail
CJMacie, modified 8 Years ago at 3/6/16 5:08 AM
Created 8 Years ago at 3/6/16 3:19 AM

Meditation Fad update

Posts: 856 Join Date: 8/17/14 Recent Posts
Two note-worthy items noticed this last    week:

1) In latest issue of Mindfulness Magazine
http://www.mindful.org/mindfulness-on-the-pole/
-- How to integrate mindfulness into pole-dancing. " “mindful sensuality” practice."

2) An email ad from Shambala publishing:
http://www.shambhala.com/sweeps/?utm_source=bronto&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Image+-+Book+cover&utm_content=Enter+to+Win+Susan+Piver%27s+Online+Course+%26+Meditation+Kit&utm_campaign=SHN+sweeps
-- Enter a contest: "We’re Giving Away Susan Piver’s 4-Week Online Course and a Deluxe Meditation Kit". (Note: the linked material, for some reason, doesn't use the exhalted title "Deluxe" Meditation Kit, as it's phrased in the email ad.)
Good luck to anyone who enters the contest!
Eva Nie, modified 8 Years ago at 3/7/16 6:03 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 3/7/16 6:03 PM

RE: Meditation Fad update

Posts: 831 Join Date: 3/23/14 Recent Posts
LMAO on the pole dancing!  You can't make this stuff up!  ;-P
-Eva
Small Steps, modified 8 Years ago at 3/7/16 7:01 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 3/7/16 7:01 PM

RE: Meditation Fad update

Posts: 246 Join Date: 2/12/14 Recent Posts
I like this line which I recently read in After Buddhism, "Mindfulness is becoming the Om Mani Padme Hum of secular Buddhism."

Funny guy that Stephn Batchelor emoticon
thumbnail
Dream Walker, modified 8 Years ago at 3/7/16 7:10 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 3/7/16 7:10 PM

RE: Meditation Fad update

Posts: 1657 Join Date: 1/18/12 Recent Posts
Chris J Macie:

2) An email ad from Shambala publishing:
LINK

Start Here Now: An Online Course on the Path and Practice of Meditation

Meditation gives you the courage to be who you are.

Meditation makes you like your fellow humans more.

Meditation helps you see the magic of this world.


(Must not say anything derogatory, so hard not to, hold tongue.....)

Ummm, I'm obviously doing meditation wrong.
Back to the sankara mines with me.
~D
thumbnail
Psi, modified 8 Years ago at 3/7/16 9:06 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 3/7/16 9:06 PM

RE: Meditation Fad update

Posts: 1099 Join Date: 11/22/13 Recent Posts
Chris J Macie:
Hey Chris, Thanks for starting this thread, interesting, all the confusion being tossed around.  The confusion between Mindfulness and Right Mindfulness, that is.

“With business meditation, we have a practice that is extrapolated from Buddhism and secularized so that all of the theological underpinnings are swept away,” Catherine Albanese, the author of “A Republic of Mind and Spirit: A Cultural History of American Metaphysical Religion,” says. “So we have Buddhism stood on its head. Mindfulness meditation has been brought into the service of a totally different perspective and world view.” By now, that’s part of a venerable American tradition.

http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/the-long-marriage-of-mindfulness-and-money
thumbnail
CJMacie, modified 8 Years ago at 3/9/16 5:58 AM
Created 8 Years ago at 3/9/16 5:58 AM

RE: Meditation Fad update

Posts: 856 Join Date: 8/17/14 Recent Posts
re: Psi (3/7/16 9:06 PM as a reply to Chris J Macie)

Yes, "…The confusion between Mindfulness and Right Mindfulness…" If mindfulness (sans "Right") is simply full mental powers of attention and intention towards some goal, then it's almost a tautology that skillful people use such a tool all the time. Whereas the "Right" variety goes with a very specific program – dukkha and release from it.

I sense a level where it cuts both ways. Like scratching beneath the surface of Than-Geoff's Buddhist Romantisicm. It's not just about how people manipulate Buddhist teachings into the Procustan bed* of their own cultural conditioning. Upon reflection, it's also about our cultural conditioning, which as a starting point is all we have to go on, and how Dhamma (e.g. "True Dhamma" as per Than-Geoff's masterful 14-page summary in his Chapter 2), can challenge us to penetrate (pativedha) whatever worldview, to vaporize it, maybe even "burn it" off.  Short of psychosis, this is inconceivable in lieu of a clear goal and a solid faith in it.

Makes more concrete that mundane /supramundane dictotomy.
Ostaron, modified 8 Years ago at 3/9/16 10:02 AM
Created 8 Years ago at 3/9/16 10:02 AM

RE: Meditation Fad update

Posts: 33 Join Date: 8/11/15 Recent Posts
Chris J Macie:
Two note-worthy items noticed this last    week:

1) In latest issue of Mindfulness Magazine
http://www.mindful.org/mindfulness-on-the-pole/
-- How to integrate mindfulness into pole-dancing. " “mindful sensuality” practice."

It might sound silly, but I really get this. 

I do pole dancing classes casually, for fun. They're great! It's also very hard. I often feel very silly and ridiculous, spreading my legs and shaking my ass, or swinging around the pole. But that's fabulous! What a great opportunity! I can use the skils in awareness I've developed through meditating and apply them to what I'm feeling: Why do I feel silly? Why do I feel aversion to this right now? What's coming up for me? 

There are also a lot of folks, mostly women (actually, so far I've always been the only guy), in the classes, who go because they haven't felt sexy or sensual in their lives. They have all kinds of deeply engrained shame and fear of their sexuality. They have no intention of performing, but going to the classes and playing at sexy dancing is an opportunity for them to work through the mental blockages they have towards their own sensuality. That takes mindfulness - they have to see their aversion to what they're doing and face the fear head on in order to move past it. 

Sure, it's not Right Mindfulness - sati applied to the goal of tearing out the roots of dukkha. And, sure, there's a lot of confusion about what Right Mindfulness is... and a lot of noise, and the word gets thrown around a lot in unhelpful or unuseful ways... but, in this case, I get it. 
Derek, modified 8 Years ago at 3/9/16 6:53 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 3/9/16 6:53 PM

RE: Meditation Fad update

Posts: 326 Join Date: 7/21/10 Recent Posts
Courtesy of a retweet from Kenneth Folk:

http://vooza.com/videos/mindfulness-in-business/
thumbnail
CJMacie, modified 8 Years ago at 3/9/16 11:07 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 3/9/16 11:07 PM

RE: Meditation Fad update

Posts: 856 Join Date: 8/17/14 Recent Posts
Derek:
Courtesy of a retweet from Kenneth Folk:

http://vooza.com/videos/mindfulness-in-business/
In what spirit does Kenneth mention this, can you tell? As humor, or perhaps in defense, as it shows, briefly, a media story about Kenneth?
thumbnail
Noah, modified 8 Years ago at 3/9/16 11:38 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 3/9/16 11:38 PM

RE: Meditation Fad update

Posts: 1467 Join Date: 7/6/13 Recent Posts
Chris:

In what spirit does Kenneth mention this, can you tell? As humor, or perhaps in defense, as it shows, briefly, a media story about Kenneth?


He might be highlighting a certain irony.  In that media story, Kenneth makes an argument against mindfulness being a productivity tool.
Derek, modified 8 Years ago at 3/10/16 6:06 AM
Created 8 Years ago at 3/10/16 6:06 AM

RE: Meditation Fad update

Posts: 326 Join Date: 7/21/10 Recent Posts
I'm new to Twitter. Just trying it out.

AFAIK, you can't tell what emotional tone a retweet has to it. It's just a retweet, regardless of why you're retweeting.
thumbnail
Psi, modified 8 Years ago at 3/10/16 8:19 AM
Created 8 Years ago at 3/10/16 8:11 AM

RE: Meditation Fad update

Posts: 1099 Join Date: 11/22/13 Recent Posts
Chris J Macie:
re: Psi (3/7/16 9:06 PM as a reply to Chris J Macie)

Yes, "…The confusion between Mindfulness and Right Mindfulness…" If mindfulness (sans "Right") is simply full mental powers of attention and intention towards some goal, then it's almost a tautology that skillful people use such a tool all the time. Whereas the "Right" variety goes with a very specific program – dukkha and release from it.

I sense a level where it cuts both ways. Like scratching beneath the surface of Than-Geoff's Buddhist Romantisicm. It's not just about how people manipulate Buddhist teachings into the Procustan bed* of their own cultural conditioning. Upon reflection, it's also about our cultural conditioning, which as a starting point is all we have to go on, and how Dhamma (e.g. "True Dhamma" as per Than-Geoff's masterful 14-page summary in his Chapter 2), can challenge us to penetrate (pativedha) whatever worldview, to vaporize it, maybe even "burn it" off.  Short of psychosis, this is inconceivable in lieu of a clear goal and a solid faith in it.

Makes more concrete that mundane /supramundane dictotomy.


Hi Chris, Yes, exactly.  And to add from Than-Geoff, Buddhist Romanticism, page 77

http://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writings/BuddhistRomanticism151003.pdf
The Buddha knew that the ability to pass on his skills would be subject to the vagaries of time and civilization, so he established standards for judging whether teachers were reliable mentors, and whether the texts handed down were really genuine (§67). He also established standards showing students how to measure themselves as to whether they were worthy to pass judgment on these matters (MN 110; MN 113).

Even then, he knew that there would eventually be those who would want to change his teachings. He did not regard this as a positive development, because the skills he taught were ones that transcended the conditions of time. Although he encouraged his listeners not to simply believe what he said, but to put his teachings to the test (§61), he also knew that any fair judgment of them would require that they be maintained intact.

So, to discourage and delay changes in the Dhamma, he criticized in no uncertain terms people who misquoted him, calling them slanderers (§68). And in particular, he warned the monks—the primary custodians of his teachings—that any changes in the Dhamma would make people doubt the legitimacy of the true Dhamma, just as the existence of counterfeit money makes people dubious even of genuine money. Because false Dhamma could not give the same results as true Dhamma, it would eventually cause people to lose interest in Dhamma altogether. Thus the true Dhamma 77 would disappear (§69).

This is why the Buddha stated, toward the end of his life, that the practice of the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma is what would keep the true Dhamma alive (§60; §70; §73). As long as people continue to gain the genuine freedom that results from Dhamma practice, they will do their best—out of gratitude, loyalty, and respect—to keep the Buddha’s teachings intact to help leave open the possibility that future generations will find genuine freedom, too.
So, while it is possible to use Mindfulness as a word and a practice in any situation in life from the most horrid of crimes to creating the most beautiful works of art, there is indeed a difference between Mindfulness and Right Mindfulness.  I think the Fad, to strip down Mindfulness from the Buddha's context, yet still imply that it is the same as what the Buddha was pointing to is, well, foolish and ignorant.  Yet not foolish in the sense of making material profit.

Anyway, here come the Pet Mindfulness Rocks...  Which is probably the best Mindfulness deal out there!!  $1.99

https://www.etsy.com/listing/222585479/mindfulness-reminder-stone-mindful?ref=related-2

Psi
Eva Nie, modified 8 Years ago at 3/12/16 3:54 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 3/12/16 3:54 PM

RE: Meditation Fad update

Posts: 831 Join Date: 3/23/14 Recent Posts
Benjie O K:
Chris J Macie:
Two note-worthy items noticed this last    week:

1) In latest issue of Mindfulness Magazine
http://www.mindful.org/mindfulness-on-the-pole/
-- How to integrate mindfulness into pole-dancing. " “mindful sensuality” practice."

It might sound silly, but I really get this. 

I do pole dancing classes casually, for fun. They're great! It's also very hard. I often feel very silly and ridiculous, spreading my legs and shaking my ass, or swinging around the pole. But that's fabulous! What a great opportunity! I can use the skils in awareness I've developed through meditating and apply them to what I'm feeling: Why do I feel silly? Why do I feel aversion to this right now? What's coming up for me? 
Seems to me that concentration and mindfulness skills would be very very useful with any type of sport, and yes, I do understand that pole dancing is not easy.  I just think it's pretty funny to see a some Buddhist type concept (with Buddhism known for a eschewing the carnal pleasures) paired in the same class with an activity that is heavily aligned (or at least came out of) the world of carnal pleasures.  You just have to appreciate the irony of this being an example of mindfulness having infiltrated just about every corner of the western world it seems!  ;-P
-Eva
thumbnail
CJMacie, modified 8 Years ago at 3/13/16 9:10 AM
Created 8 Years ago at 3/13/16 9:09 AM

RE: Meditation Fad update

Posts: 856 Join Date: 8/17/14 Recent Posts
re:Psi (3/10/16 8:19 AM as a reply to Chris J Macie)

That Chapter 2 is high on my list of potential only-thing-to-have-to-read when stranded on a desert island. The whole book, though realy complicated in places, seems to me also a candidate for Than-Geoff's magnum opus.

"the Pet Mindfulness Rocks...  Which is probably the best Mindfulness deal out there!!  $1.99"

But only one rock available? Mindfully, one could buy it and then put it on EBay and hope for a robust "bidding frenzy"! Foolish, but it could pay off. Then be able to buy a "Deluxe Meditation Kit", which is sure to guarantee some higher path attainment.

btw: Once in a daylong talk, Than-Geoff made an aside comment: "That reminds me of a Buddha joke… But monks aren't supposed to tell Buddha jokes."And he left it at that. Funny guy at times.
Chuck Kasmire, modified 8 Years ago at 3/14/16 5:36 PM
Created 8 Years ago at 3/14/16 5:36 PM

RE: Meditation Fad update

Posts: 560 Join Date: 8/22/09 Recent Posts
Chris J Macie:
... Then be able to buy a "Deluxe Meditation Kit", which is sure to guarantee some higher path attainment.


Chris,
You’re not keeping up to date. Cushions are now totally passe. Email and skype calls (paid of course - but cushions aren’t exactly free right?) are the current go to methods for stream entry and soon beyond. Why waste money on a cushion when you can invest in a skype call instead? It makes no sense in our modern era. The technology is moving almost as fast as the bar is dropping.
thumbnail
supaluqi, modified 7 Years ago at 2/13/17 11:14 AM
Created 7 Years ago at 2/13/17 11:13 AM

RE: Meditation Fad update

Posts: 45 Join Date: 4/12/16 Recent Posts
Derek:
Courtesy of a retweet from Kenneth Folk:

http://vooza.com/videos/mindfulness-in-business/


Damn I almost wet my pants!!
J C, modified 7 Years ago at 2/13/17 1:18 PM
Created 7 Years ago at 2/13/17 1:18 PM

RE: Meditation Fad update

Posts: 644 Join Date: 4/24/13 Recent Posts
Chuck Kasmire:
Chris J Macie:
... Then be able to buy a "Deluxe Meditation Kit", which is sure to guarantee some higher path attainment.


Chris,
You’re not keeping up to date. Cushions are now totally passe. Email and skype calls (paid of course - but cushions aren’t exactly free right?) are the current go to methods for stream entry and soon beyond. Why waste money on a cushion when you can invest in a skype call instead? It makes no sense in our modern era. The technology is moving almost as fast as the bar is dropping.

Oh, that made me sad to read. There's just no comparison between marketing fluff for mindfulness accessories and paying an expert for their time in a skype meditation session.

Breadcrumb