喜玛拉雅瑜伽与禅修基础课的内容是为初学者教授非宗教性的禅修和瑜伽基础课。主要学习四念住的禅修,九节佛风瑜伽和慈悲观的修法。
禅修所教授的是传统的四念住方式。四念住最核心的是如何把心安住在一个目标上,或者安住在每个人清净的当下。四念住是:身念住,受念住,心念住和法念住。第一,身念住,是学习如何去接近自己的身体,如何去感受身体。佛教说身体的存在,就是你生命的存在,就是你生老病死的存在。你感悟了身体,也就感悟了生死。第二,受念住是学习如何去感受自己的情绪,如何去觉察自己的感受。不只感受心灵的喜怒哀乐,而且要安住于此。第三,心念住是觉察你的妄念。第四,法念住,安住于一切存在物,安住于一切存在的环境,所见所闻所听到的一切都是安住的对象。对于初学者来讲,四念住就是安住于特定的禅的目标物,这个目标物不是外在的事物,而是离自己生命很近的自己的身体,自己的呼吸,自己的感受。
禅修最古老最重要的是安住的修法。因为我们每个人都待在一个懒散的世界里,散乱成为了一切烦恼的根源,我们需要一种练习方式来对质。四念住是无论哪宗哪派都使用的最基础,最古老的一个修炼方式。它既简单又直接,不需要太多的理论,心只需安住。不管是身念住,受念住,心念住还是法念住,最终安住当下是它的核心。我们人最幸运的是我们有一个叫做当下的存在。当下是我们没有任何修饰,没有任何造作,纯自然的一个状态。但可惜的是我们没有一个人去体会过当下。禅修就是学习我们如何待在纯然的自然中。
这个时代的人,最缺失的是保持自然的状态。我们的所见所闻,所想所做,一切念头都带着很深的造作,缺少自然。学习四念住,目的是让一个人保持在相对自然,不纠结的状态。
我们在某种情绪和压力之下的时候,人往往觉得气不够用,很多人处于亚健康状态,身体里集结了很多浊气。基础课的瑜伽要学习九节佛风瑜伽,或者叫住九节排浊气法。它是一个非常古老,而且传播广泛的修法,包括动作,呼吸和冥想,帮助我们的身体和气息恢复健康,所有的内力得到一点放松。
有千年历史的佛教,最核心的就是阐述爱,在佛教中叫住慈悲观的修法。爱既是一个方法,同时也是结果。对我们的生命而言,爱是一个我们非常熟悉也非常陌生的东西,也是生命当中大家最缺失的东西。在基础课程中重要的一节是爱的学习,如何去接近爱,如何去理解爱,如何与自己内在的生命的爱成为一体。找到爱的一刻,就找到了自由。通过禅修、瑜伽和爱的学习,使每个参与者都得到爱的拥抱和爱的触摸,使我们的世界变得清净、温暖和自在。
The Introduction Course of Himalaya Yoga and Meditation is designed to teach beginner level yoga and how to meditate without any religious framework. The main components of the course include meditation using the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, Nine-stage Breathing Exercises and the practice of Compassion.
The meditation method introduced in this class is the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, whose quintessence is how to abide the mind on an object or on the purity of the present moment. The Four Foundations of Mindfulness are: Mindfulness of Body, Mindfulness of Feelings, Mindfulness of Mind and Mindfulness of Dharma. First of all, Mindfulness of Body means to reside in one's own body and perceive the body. Buddha once said the existence of your body is the existence of your being as well as your birth, aging, sickness and death. Once you understand the body, you will understand birth and death. Secondly, Mindfulness of Feelings means to learn to perceive one's own emotions and be aware of one's own feelings. It is not only to just feel the joy, anger, sadness and happiness, but also to abide in them. Thirdly, Mindfulness of Mind means to be aware of your delusions. Fourthly, Mindfulness of Dharma means to abide in everything and every environment you are in. All that we see or hear are objects to abide in.
For beginners, the Four Foundations of Mindfulness means to abide with a certain meditation object. Such an object is not something external, but one very close to our being: our own body, our own breathing and our own feelings.
The oldest and most important training method in meditation is mindfulness. Because we are all in the world of distractions. Distraction has become the root of all inner pain, for which we need a practice method as an antidote. The Four Foundations of Mindfulness is the oldest and most fundamental method used across all sects and lineages. It is simple yet direct. One only needs to allow the mind to abide without having to learn too many theories. No matter if it is Mindfulness of Body, Feelings, Mind or Dharma, ultimately the essence is to reside in the present moment. As human beings, we are lucky to have something called "the present moment". The present is a pure natural state without any decorations or fabrications. Yet unfortunately few of us have experienced the present moment. Meditation is to learn how to reside in the pure nature.
Nowadays what we lack most is to maintain our natural state. Our words thoughts and actions are all very much fabricated and unnatural. The purpose of learning the Four Foundations of Mindfulness is to stay in a relatively natural and disentangled state.
Some of us tend to have short breaths when under pressure or when emotions come up. Many of us are in sub-health conditions, with impure air accumulated in the body. The Nine-stage Breathing Yoga, or Nine-stage Cleansing of Impure Air will be introduced in the beginner level yoga class. This ancient and widely adopted method incorporates movements, breathing and meditation exercises. It recovers and revitalizes the body, restores the prana (or vital air), and allows the mind to relax.
In the thousands of years of Buddhism history, the essence of teaching is about love, which is called the practice of Compassion. Love is not only a method, but also the result. With regards to our being, love is something very familiar yet equally strange. It is what our being lacks most. An important module of the Introduction Course is to learn about love: how to feel love, how to understand love, and how to become one with the love intrinsic to our being. The moment when we find love, we find freedom.Through the practice of meditation, yoga and love, participants could feel immersed in love and touched by love. Accordingly the world can turn into a place of clarity, warmth and ease.
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