Mindfulness & Meditation
General Info on Meditation
There are 3 main modalities of Buddhist oriented meditation
Vipassana (also called “loving-kindness” meditation)
“Mindfulness” meditation
Often presented as the Buddhist meditation practice, though it isn't
Most meditation you'll find (outside of TM=Transcendental Meditation) is some variation on vipassana (mindfulness) meditation, e.g., you focus on your breath and then notice when your attention drifts and come back to the breath.
Open awareness / Universal consciousness
Also called ”big mind" meditation. Opposite of “little mind” of the individual.
Metta
Authors & Texts
AUTHORS & TEXTS
Jack Kornfield
The Wise Heart. Comprehensive and good-humored.
Covers vipassana, “big mind,” and “metta/loving-kindness” meditation practices.
How To Meditate. A helpful primer. Covers vipassana & big mind.
The Places That Scare You. Also very good.
Associated with Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia.
Tara Brach
Another well-known teacher who is well liked.
Well-known Vietnamese Buddhist and author.
Shunryu Suzuki
Many people’s favorite book about Buddhism.
Not of immediate practical use, but singular, beautiful and mysterious.
Boston & Web-based Resources
Dharmaseed (http://dharmaseed.org/talks/)
includes a great list of dharma talks and guided meditations.
it’s recommend that users search within it for guided meditations in the three styles outlined above and seeing which feels right
this is a wholly secular resource
Dharmaseed is connected to the Insight Meditation Society, located in Barre, MA, which organizes retreats and training of many kinds
At MGH Boston.
Health insurance companies often will cover sessions here
You can be taught via guided meditation here.
JKZ defines mindfulness as “the awareness that arises from paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally”
JKZ on McMindfulness