Scientists have documented some significant and measurable changes that occur as a result of meditation. But Buddhist practice is not limited to calm, pleasant, relaxing states of meditation. The liberating path includes a broad range of practices that produce a wide variety of benefits. We learn how we encounter the world of the senses; we unravel distortions of perception. We weaken defilements. We learn to let go. In this talk, Shaila Catherine points to the liberating potential of the path.
Exploring clinging and release with a focus on vedana: knowing worldly and unworldly pleasant, unpleasant and neutral feeling-tones, and understanding why the Buddha placed so much importance on the experience of unworldly feeling-tone as a support for the deepening of dharma practice
Exploring clinging and release with a focus on the body, using three practices from the Satipatthana Sutta as support for developing a wiser relationship to the body: contemplating the body in terms of its anatomical parts; its elemental qualities; and as a corpse in decay
Orienting to six qualities that support us to enter more fully into practicing at the Forest Refuge: safety, silence, solitude, simplicity, slowing down, and stillness
