Buddhist Meditation: The Breath: The Mindfulness of Breathing & The Heart: The Development of Loving Kindness - Vessantara

Written by Vessantara
Read by Vessantara
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps

Buddhist Meditation: The Breath
The Mindfulness of Breathing

The Mindfulness of Breathing meditation has been practised in the Buddhist tradition for 2,500 years. It is now widely used not just among Buddhists but increasingly in the secular world as the basis of mindfulness training, and in other contexts such as yoga and, in recent times, stress and pain management. After all, as the author and teacher Vessantara observes, ‘The breath is always with us, necessary to our very existence, though it is often goes unnoticed. Yet giving it attention can transform our lives.’ In The Breath, Vessantara, who has been meditating on the breath for over 40 years, writes engagingly for both newcomers and those with some experience. On this recording, he shows how to pay attention to the breath, helping listeners first of all to achieve a level of concentration and calm; and then introduces the widely used four-stage method of the mindfulness of breathing.

A bell marks the practice periods when listeners can stop the recording and practise. But Vessantara offers much more than a simple explanation. In following chapters, he explains in a lucid yet entertaining way how to develop a regular and meaningful mindfulness of breathing meditation practice. He gives important advice on how to prepare for a session, how to sit comfortably, how to deal with mental and physical distractions. He also discusses the effects of the mindfulness of breathing practice - which can vary from a deep quietness to curious sensations to, more mundanely, times of boredom! And he explains how to work with different states of consciousness that can arise. Called Anapanasati in Pali, it is said that meditation on the breath was the Buddha’s practice when he attained enlightenment. Whatever ensues, Vessantara declares, this deceptively simple discipline can have the long term effect of really changing your life for the better.

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Buddhist Meditation: The Heart
The Development of Loving Kindness

Loving-kindness is one of the most important principles in Buddhism, and the ‘metta bhavana’, traditionally devised by the Buddha to develop it, is one of the most popular and important meditation practices. It is used throughout the world - practised in both in a secular and a Buddhist context for, as Vessantara (Tony McMahon) the English-born Buddhist meditation teacher with 40 years of experience declares, it appeals to, and is effective for, everyone regardless of views or faith.

Buddhist Meditation - The Heart (the companion recording to Buddhist Meditation - The Breath) shows how cultivating more warmth, more kindness and more happiness is possible for all of us. Vessantara sets the background to positive emotion and the lack of it, demonstrating how this is reflected in the language we use - ‘getting to the heart of the matter’, ‘good-hearted’, ‘broken-hearted’, ‘hard-hearted’.

Generally, we receive no specific education on how to deal with matters of the heart (and not just romantically); but the ‘development of loving-kindness’ meditation is a clear and lively method to systematically and dynamically come face to face with positive emotion (or the lack of it) and progress towards emotional stability and a deeper happiness.

Through exercises and guided meditations, Vessantara leads the listener through the ‘five stages’ and also gives advice on posture, distractions and challenges. This is a ‘practice’ recording, best listened to attentively in a quiet place rather than the multitasking activity which often characterises the audiobook experience! It is also one that can change lives.