This week I decided to focus on meditation in my article, and tie it into a recent radio interview I did focused on debunking the myths surrounding meditation. I truly believe anyone can meditate and anyone can benefit from it. Here is the article:

Starting a Meditation Practice

And here is the radio interview:

Awakened Living Radio Interview - Debunking the Myths of Meditation

Please share any thoughts you have. What are your obstacles to meditating? Do you have fears regarding it? Do you think you just "can't meditate"? If you are a meditator, what has worked for you and why? What do you recommend?

Dear Lisa, I have started Metta Meditation,but my favorite is active meditation.Anyone can do active meditation it is so simple. With Metta _/\_ loongdragon

Hi loongdragon, good to see you back! Thank you for the Diamond Sutra link in the the other thread. And I also saw in the other thread your note about reading Thich Nhat Hanh. Is this what you mean by 'active meditation' - his walking and moving meditations?

Dear Lisa, Active meditation,to me, is when I walk,I walk.when I eat ,I eat Mindfullness is involved in these acts ,to me making the acts meditation,the emptying of all other thoughts ,then the thought of the act I am living at that exact moment,remains pure unblemished by cravings or sufferings. I am so glad to be able to speek to you again. With the outmost respect _/\_ loongdragon normand

Very well put! Yes, I like this kind of mindfulness also. I think it is especially helpful when my mind gets very busy trying to work something through. Taking a break to just be 100% present with whatever I am doing, or my breathing, often allows new insights to come in, and is more effective than trying to 'think it out.'

Then I think there are levels to mindfulness too, as I mentioned in my recent http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art178052.asp . We can use mindfulness to be with our more difficult emotions when they arise, and work through them in a new way, without self-judgement or repression.

Dear Lisa, I had already read your article on Mindfullness. TNH, in the book I have been reading a bit at the time,He mentionnedexactly what you talk about living through our emotions without repression. We all know the impermanence of ideas and emotions.Now when I live a pseudo negative emotion,I learn from it. In the present ,I use this seed to prepare my future. With respect _/\_ loongdragon

That's wonderful loongdragon...sometimes easier to put into practice than at other times. I was recently triggered by a mom at my kid's school of all things - I felt she was treating some other moms badly, and it got me worked up internally. I was able to sit with the emotion before reacting in this case, and see how it had triggered me based on some emotional patterns I still have left over from childhood...so many years of this kind of mindfulness and still there can be triggers! But I think this is part of the value of living in the world.

One of my teachers once said to me that monastic living has its limits for many - it's possible to become so sheltered one is never triggered, but that doesn't mean one was worked through all habits/karmas, they are just lying dormant. So it's really a gift when we are triggered because we are shown the 'knots' still left for us to untie within ourselves...

Wondering what the story is for you changing your name from loong to loongdragon?

Dear Lisa, When I made an application to come back to the group,the system told me that loong was already taken.Loong is the chinese word for Dragon,an avatar I used for many years. With respect _/\_ loongdragon