My use of meditation to get through cancer

If I sum up why I made meditation and mindfulness a core part of my life, it would be because these practices built my resiliency when I went through cancer in 2010.  Meditation gave me strength.

I was recently reminded that my story was profiled in the Vancouver Sun newspaper and on a TV showed called Empowered Health almost two years ago.

I’d like to share this with you today, from the Vancouver Sun website:

The story of meditation for resiliency

I hope somehow this helps people going through tough times.

~Wendy

Top 3 meditator stories – November 2014

I love to share people’s experience with meditation and mindfulness with you. Here are the top 3 for this month.

#1. From co-worker going through a terrible divorce:

When she is in divorce meetings with the lawyers, she picks an object to focus on whenever there’s a pause in the discussion.  The object she picked recently was a Canadian flag blowing in the wind, off in the distance as she gazed out the window.  She studies it, noticing how it dances in the wind. Mindfully focusing on an object really keeps her calm and grounded amidst stressful meetings.

#2.  From a friend while in the dentist chair:

Repeating a simple, silent mantra to concentrate on really helps ease the anxiety of dental work.  My friend simply chooses calming words to repeat silently. Her chosen words are:  “peace, calm, peace, calm …”

#3.  Using singing bowls to go deeper into relaxation:

Singing bowls are wonderful sound healing tools. They often come from Tibet or Nepal. If you don’t have a singing bowl, you can play recordings of singing bowls or attend a sound healing meditation session.  Whenever I play my singing bowls in my meditation class, people love it and find they go into relaxation quicker and deeper.

There are many types of singing bowls that produce various tones. Rubbing the mallet outside the rim of the bowl produces a lovely sound.

There are so many opportunities all throughout our day to incorporate meditation and mindfulness. Remember that your breath is always accessible to you.  It can be as easy as focusing on your breathing for a minute.

~Wendy

“False Dalai Lama” – What?

My friends asked me “How was seeing the Dalai Lama?  Amazing, I bet.”  I had just returned from seeing him for the first time in my hometown, Vancouver, British Columbia.  What I experienced during the day was surprising.

Before I explain what happened, I want to convey that this is simply a recount of facts, and not a political or religious view at all.  I’ve always been drawn to and curious about Buddhism, but only have a beginner’s understanding of it.

“False Dalai Lama”:

As I arrived at the venue at the University of BC, I heard chanting at the doorfront, and thought “Oh, isn’t that lovely, they’re probably doing some Tibetan chants to welcome us”. However, as I got closer, I realized the chanted words were “False Dalai Lama”.  I stopped in my tracks, turned around and saw a group holding placards saying “False Dalai Lama”, “Stop Lying” and “Give Religious Freedom”.

International Shugden Community chanting ‘False Dalai Lama’

I thought:  “Oh!  A Protest?  Protesting against the Dalai Lama?  How could this be, as he is all about teaching the world about compassion.  Could it be a Chinese group?”

After the event, I read about this group called the International Shugden Community and The False Dalai Lama. (This is a group borne from a former group called the New Kadampa Tradition.)  The document explains their view on how the Dalai Lama controls Tibetan refugees, does not allow refugees to have free speech, and punishes anyone who speaks up against his wishes through his formed group called The Tibetan Women’s Association. They believe that the Dalai Lama selfishly wants to control all Tibetans within Tibet and is a liar.  The list goes on about what they believe he is doing.

There was a smaller group facing the protestors standing in support of the Dalai Lama.  They are former members of the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT) who broke away from this group.  They handed out their response to the protest and I scanned it here for you:  Dalai Lama supporters view.

That is all I will say on this point. If you’d like to read more, feel free to click the two links above.

I admit I was shocked to read this, but I have not been swayed by reading this.

Now for a bit about the actual event:

The ornate stage

Do you see the red heart formation amongst the audience?

The experience of being in the Dalai Lama’s presence was special and nice. I am grateful to my dear friend who bought me the ticket for my birthday.  The event was ill-organized, to say the least.  There were about 6,500 attendees, and we were asked to eat a vegetarian lunch but they did not provide a venue for such (hotdogs & hamburgers at one concession for 6,500 people), and did not allow us to bring in our own food or beverages.  I think so many people were disappointed or late, that only half the audience returned after lunch. The beautiful thing about the lack of organization, is that I didn’t hear one person complaining or angry through the whole messy experience!  The power of a compassionate energy must have been at work  🙂

~Wendy

Meditation and brain wave states

The Calm Monkey

What actually happens to your brain when you meditate?   I teach this in my ‘Learn to Meditate’ class.  I’d like to share this with you.

If you have ever meditated, I would bet money that you have fallen asleep, and falling asleep during meditation may even be one of your biggest meditation challenges.  The ideal state for meditation is just before you feel that you’re falling asleep, but are still lucid.

Here are the different major brain wave states:

BETA– the state when we are fully awake, conscious, interacting with our environment, and going about our normal day to day activities. The outer world is more real than our inner world.  80% of what we process is visual.  When we are in ‘high beta’, we tend to over analyze, and we may have trouble thinking objectively. Good answers are not found in this state of high beta.  The…

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Top 3 meditator stories – October 2014

Here are a few stories from recent classes I’ve taught:

Tai Chi, a moving meditation

#1. From a woman who’s been taking tai chi lessons for awhile:

After Wendy explained how tai chi is a type of meditation, I started to experience my tai chi practice entirely differently.  It used to be quite mechanical – only concentrating on how to move my body, but now I feel the meditation!

#2. From a meditation student who got frightened when she couldn’t feel her hands during meditation:

Sometimes while meditating after several minutes, my hands feel ‘heavy’, or it’s like I can’t feel my hands anymore. That scared me until Wendy described that when you get into a Theta brain wave state, that you can lose track of time and the body.  Now I find it fascinating!

#3. From a beginner student:

I’ve only attended 3 classes and already the effect on me is wonderful.  Everything just seems brighter.  It feels so good to feel more focused and calmer.

The experiences of meditation are limitless and so fun to hear. Have a lovely day,

~Wendy