Mindfulness Practitioners Unite
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Hi, everyone! Allow me to introduce you to Jack Kornfield
Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India and Burma. He has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. Returning to the United States, Jack co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, with fellow meditation teachers Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein and the Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California. Over the years, Jack has taught in centers and universities worldwide, led International Buddhist Teacher meetings and holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology.
I was introduced to the teachings of Jack Kornfield by a friend and, being a mindfulness coach who uses the teachings of Jon Kabat Zinn, I was thrilled to discover another mindfulness teacher I could learn from.
TRUDY GOODMAN KORNFIELD
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Trudy Goodman Kornfield “is a vipassana teacher in the Theravada lineage and the Founding Teacher of InsightLA.” She also has a Ph.D in psychotherapy and studied developmental psychology with Jean Piaget. Trudy is also the 4th teacher to be certified in MBSR and taught with Jon Kabat-Zinn, whom is the creator of MBSR.
(Psych nerd sidenote: I’m a HUGE Jean Piaget fan. Yuuuge. ?)
(Mindfulness nerd sidenote: Jon Kabat Zinn is the reason I fell in love with mindfulness and I’m currently taking an MBSR course myself. Yuuuuuuge fan as well.)
Morning Meditation with Jack and Trudy
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I follow Jack and Insight L.A on social media and about a month ago I saw there would be a meditation at a cathedral, I couldn’t attend as I was out of town, but vowed to attend the next one. Sure enough a few days ago, Insight L.A posted about Trudy’s, Sunday’s Morning Meditation with special guest Jack Kornfield.
I knew I couldn’t miss it.
I woke up bright and early, as the meditation was from 10am-12pm in Santa Monica. I arrived and found everyone meditating. I quietly found an empty seat and joined everyone in meditation.
11am arrived, a bell rang, and we all opened our eyes. The talk portion was about to begin.
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TOPIC OF THE DAY: TRUE GENEROSITY
In a nutshell: We’re all in this together. Open your heart, be open to giving and be open to RECEIVING. Be joyful, generous, and empathetic towards yourself so you can show the same affection towards others. It is selfish to not allow yourself to receive a gift. Learning to receive a gift is essential so that both parties can benefit from the generosity being shown. Express gratitude every moment you can towards our fellow peers.
-------------------THE 3 LEVELS OF GENEROSITY:
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Tentative giving: “Maybe I’ll give it away, maybe I’ll keep it”…but eventually you do give it away.”
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Friendly giving: “please share what I have; enjoy this as I do.”
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Royal giving: Not only do you share what you have, but you take the best of what you have and you say, “what makes me happy is to spread this around”.
(Read more here —> Jack Kornfield: The Generous Heart)
My Conversation with Jack Kornfield
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Once the meditation and Dharma talk had concluded, I made my way over to Jack and introduced myself. We spoke for about 10 minutes and felt I had received a blessing regarding my mindfulness coaching. Here’s a brief summary of a moment from that conversation, it went something like this…
Me: I wanted to tell you thank you and that I’m a fan of your teachings, I’m a mindfulness coach, mindfulness blogger and mental health advocate.
Jack: That’s wonderful! Have you been here before? What have you done in order to become a coach? Where have you learned your skills?
Me: This is my first time here, I will be attending more often though. I’m currently taking the Palouse MBSR course, I’ve studied psychology for over a decade, I follow the teachings of Jon Kabat-Zinn and have incorporated them into my coaching.
Jack: Oh he’s great! Wow, this is fantastic, fantastic. So wonderful.
Me: Oh and I’d like to further my mindfulness training abroad next year! I’m currently not able to take on clients, as I have a lot of different projects on my plate, but starting next year I will be open again. I overworked myself this summer and realized I can’t give my clients the attention they deserve if I’m being spread thin.
Jack: It’s great that you realized that and are taking your time. It’s important to reflect. Everything you’ve told me is wonderful and it brings me joy to hear all of it. I thank you for being here.
He actively listened and was present with me the entire time. To have Jack continuously say that what I’m doing is “wonderful”, whenever I spoke about my mindfulness coaching and the steps I’m taking to continue to grow in his field of expertise, meant very much to me.
This conversation made me happy and I wanted to share this moment with all of you. 🙂
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I will leave you with the following words of wisdom. These are exact quotes from the event. If you wish to experience Sunday's talk for yourself, while the link is still active, you can do so by clicking here, --> Facebook Live w/ Trudy and Jack Kornfield: Generosity——————————
QUOTES FROM SUNDAY’S MORNING SITTING DHARMA TALK:
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“Life is not suffering, life has suffering.”
“What makes us happy is TRUST, the capacity of the heart to hold it all wisely and freely, the path of generosity, the path of caring, living from a place of integrity makes the heart happy.”
“The more you trust that the universe is here for you and that you can be here for the universe, the more joyful your life becomes. You start to live from a place of abundance.”
“To graciously receive is to be generous.”
“The way to live is to share.”
“Live in joy, in love; even among those who hate. Live in joy, in health; even among the afflicted. Live in joy, in peace; even among the troubled. Look within, be still, step back from fear and attachment, know the sweet joy of holding it all in loving awareness.”
“The ultimate generosity is when we realize that we are not separate from each other.”
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I hope this blog inspired you to embrace generosity and the apply it more into your daily life. It only benefits you, your loved ones, and everyone you will meet.
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**Blog written on November, 29 2018**
Any comments or questions? I’d love to hear them!
xoxo,
Brenda Saraí