Shambhala Warriors

"The great path has no gates,
Thousands of roads enter it.
When one passes through this gateless gate
He walks freely between heaven and earth."

You and me. He and She. Him and her. They and them. We are all different including our personalities and our experiences so our paths to enlightenment will be specially unique to us. What works for us may or may not work for others but it is great to share that knowledge and expand our horizons and get a taste of what we have not experience and learn from it. This weekend, I went on a Shambhala workshop training. Workshops that dealt with mind development and awareness to bring out the hidden treasures of our true self out into the world.

Level I: The Art of Being Human
Discovering basic goodness in the world and ourselves.

There were 17 of us in a yoga studio room with little rugs and cushions lined up in rows. The practitioners did a day and 1/2 of walking meditation, sitting meditation and Dharma talks with tea breaks in between. It was the push I needed to get out into the community and be involve and to work with my spiritual practice both internally and externally. It was a great feeling to return to meditation, any kind. The training gave me an opportunity to practice a different kind of meditation. The "Now" meditation, one that works from outside to inside bringing out our hidden treasures of our true self out into our everyday life. The meditations were on working with staying in the Present Moment of Now.

The distractions, sounds, sights outside the meditators are part of the tool for meditation. We included it instead of excluding them while in meditation. Ahh...it all makes sense now. I was wondering about the sudden "jolts" I get when I meditate..my area of focus was restricted. I was too focus on mental and body sensories that any sudden sounds or distractions from outside sends a quick state of fear and nervousness in me when the distractions projects into my ears such as the phone ringing or kitty meowing, or a sudden voice. It is incredible that just a change in mental state or preparation can eliminate that problem.

The technique is to focus 75% on the entire space around and 25% on the out breaths. We are reminded that the present moment of reality is found between breath in and breath out. For instance, when we are learning to ride a bike, falling is a must in order to learn but learning comes when we get back on the bike. Meditating is the same, if we get off track and get into scenarios, thoughts, la la land, we have to get back to our present moment of the practice. Breathing out was emphasized a great deal because breath afterall is life, no breathe, no life. If we want to sustain our well being, life, our planet, the breath of love, compassion, basic goodness, joy..equanimity and peace are our tools but so are the opposites to those qualities.

Slow Down and Open Up. Be pull by the Eastern Sun, let the beauties of nature and wisdom guide our battles with the knots of Nervousness, shyness, fears, worries in our system. They block us from genuine dialogue with others through work, play, and daily life producing artificial interactions and relationships but we need them. They are clever and they will make many many excuses convincing us to follow along their course but we need them. Do we repel discomfort and suffering? YES. But are they our friends? Yes. WhAT?

Here is why: in order to know comfort, we need discomfort. Long needs short, Day needs night, Up needs down, cold - hot, thick - thin, hatred reflects compassion and love, while suffering, we see peace, they need us and we need them, I need U, You need Me, We need Everyone, and Everyone needs Someone or Something in order to be inspired, exchange understanding and grow. Like the Shambhala instructor said, " there is a seed of truth and wisdom in all negative circumstances and knots. They exist for a reason. What reason, it is up to you to find out.

Interested? Here are some info: Shambhala centre