[ONLINE] Tuesday Evening Practice Session: 5 Mindfulness Trainings

You are invited to join us for this Tuesday evening practice session online.

Session Agenda

• Sitting Meditation
• 5 Mindfulness Trainings Recitation
• Dharma Sharing

Virtual Session
6:55 PM to 8:30 PM AET (approximate)

To support the feeling of togetherness and safety, please have your video on during the session.

The Zoom Link is accessible on the right side of this page.
Zoom Password: breathe

Newcomers
If you will be joining us for the first time, we ask that you please arrive 15 minutes before the practice session (6:40 PM for virtual sessions) for a short orientation and welcome to our community. Please reach out to us at breathe@melbourneriversangha.com.au before the session to make arrangements.

Dana Paramita (Giving)
Giving (dana) is an essential practice of generating generosity, practising letting go, and developing our capacity to spread our compassion and love. Our practice sessions are offered freely, but if you would like to offer a financial contribution to support the sangha to continue beautifully into the future, then please do so using our bank details below. A suggested donation is $10 per practice session, but please give the amount that speaks to your own heart. No one is turned away for lack of funds.

Name: MELBOURNE RIVER SANGHA
BSB: 633000
Account number: 232117564

This Week’s Practice: 5 Mindfulness Trainings Recitation
“The Five Mindfulness Trainings have their root in the Five Precepts offered by the Buddha. They have been expanded and updated so that they represent a way to bring mindfulness into every area of life. Rather than hard and fast rules, they offer us a path to cultivate and develop actions of body, speech and mind that can create a more healthy and compassionate world.” - Plum Village

As a community, we recite the 5 Mindfulness Trainings regularly to deepen our practice and study of them. Learn more about, and read, the Five Mindfulness Trainings.

Core Practices
Sitting Meditation | Mindful Breathing
Mindfulness is always mindfulness of something. In sitting meditation, we practice mindful breathing, the most foundational mindfulness practice. In this simple, but deep, practice, we bring awareness to our in-breath as we are breathing in and to our out-breath as we are breathing out. We learn to feel our breath, either by becoming aware of it passing through our nostrils or by feeling the rise and fall of our belly. We do not control our breathing in any way; we practice simply being aware of it and relaxing any tension in our bodies. Following our breath, we come back to the present moment and arrive in our body here and now. Learn more about the practice of sitting meditation.

Dharma Sharing
During dharma sharing, we come together as a community to share our experiences, joys and challenges, or our questions, insights, and experience of the practice. We share what is in our hearts rather than speaking about ideas or theoretical concepts. We also have the opportunity to practice deep listening while others are speaking. Dharma sharing is confidential. By sharing our experiences, we contribute to the collective insight and understanding of the sangha and begin to see our shared difficulties or aspirations and recognise our connections to each other. Learn more about the practice of Dharma sharing.

Walking Meditation
Walking meditation allows us to practice arriving fully in the present moment. We focus completely on each step, becoming aware of our feet touching the ground and the flow of our breathing. As we walk, we harmonise our breathing with our steps in a natural way - taking 2 or 3 steps as we breathe in and 2 or 3 steps as we breathe out, depending on our natural rhythm and comfort. Through walking meditation, we release our thinking about the future, the past, our projects, and worries, and learn to become 100% present. Learn more about walking meditation.

We look forward to practising with you.

Breathe and smile,
Melbourne River Sangha