Discernment helps filter from the amalgam of experience what’s skillful now. Having picked up what is skillful one lingers in it, dwells in it, sustains it. This is calming. So skim off stressful habits of “trying to make it work”, “getting on to the next”. Use the body to learn what the mind is happy to linger in.
In meditation both the topic and the manner in which we attend can help train our mode of mental engagement. Shifting from stressful tendencies of “making it happen” and “getting it right”, come back to the natural body. This living system is the source for a steady, safe and easeful state.
What is it that we need to take Refuge from? The poisons of greed, hatred and delusion that mask themselves and corrupt our hearts and minds. This requires reorienting from worldly ways and orienting around what has value and meaning, that which you can trust: virtue, embodiment, nature and other people.
Four compass points to orient around while on retreat: how you relate to the earth, to other people, to your body and to the sacred; an explanation of pūjā – recollections and making offerings, as with the offering of food.
Exploring the development, blossoming and maturing of the Equanimity Factor of Enlightenment along with two particular insights that are the roots of Equanimity.
Exploring the three energizing and the three calming Factors of Enlightenment along with the Factor of Mindfulness which is what keeps it all in balance.
Exploring the importance, the process and the fruits with developing concentration which is an essential aspect of our mindfulness-based meditation practice.
