Tools for Relaxation and Calm Abiding – Shamatha and Analytical Contemplation

Why would you want to take this Workshop?

Maybe you want some Rock Solid tools proved over hundreds of years to be effective in combatting these overwhelming experiences:

You find yourself on autopilot and wonder where the time is going
Performance anxiety in sports, public speaking or dealing with difficult people or situations
Getting further and further behind and working harder and harder
Emotionally reactive with friends, spouse, kids coworkers or your boss
Emotional Reactivity is costing you peace of mind and deep connection with loved ones
Worrying all the time about what may happen
Feel like the walls are closing in
Work thru things in your head but when you get there can’t or don’t execute

Shamatha helps with all of these things by creating a deep open space for you to relax into.

With guidance and practice this meditation tool can create a deep sense of calm, peace and joy.

This deep calm and joy with practice can follow you throughout the day helping you cope with life’s difficulties.

What are the specifics of the Workshop?

The Cost – $115
Location – 25 Cadillac Dr #132, Sacramento CA 95825. Near Fair Oaks and Howe ave.

Workshop Dates: 11/9/2019

Workshop Time: 10:30 – 2:00 pm

Ability to sit for up to 15 minutes in silence will aid in your enjoyment of this workshop. With practice of Samatha a deep inner peace and joy can emerge over time. This peace creates more space and time to deal with all that comes up in life.

The Workshop will focus on:

Instruction and Practice with Peaceful Abiding or Samatha Practice
- Instruction on Secular Tibetan Buddhist Approach to Samatha (pronounced Shamatha)
- Focus will be on meditation tools not religious practices
- Utilizing Samatha Practice to reduce Emotional Reactivity
- Benefits of Samatha practice – Joyful experience of life and Pliability
Instruction and Practice with Analytical Contemplation
- What is Analytical Contemplation and instruction on the practice
- How this deepens awareness
- Utilizing Analytical Contemplation to reduce Emotional Reactivity
Guided meditations and Contemplations from Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh.
Practice and Discussion

How Does Meditation Help?

There are many stages of life that represent levels of consciousness within our body and mind.The first stage begins when we are born. We wake up and become part of a family and culture which includes our neighborhood, state and country. A process of learning begins and forms our foundation and inherent values. This foundation firmly grounds us in beliefs that guide our everyday lives.Through meditation we can rediscover how we have made unconscious agreements which may be helpful or limiting, joyful or shaming. Meditation allows us to look deeply at this process and catch our responses to situations and people much quicker. Thru continued effort we can cut thru the delusions that lead to grasping, rejecting and confusion. Thus opening space to liberate our minds and focus on things that are more inherently useful and beneficial to us and all sentient beings.With practice of Samatha a deep inner peace and joy can emerge over time. This peace creates more space and time to deal with all that comes up in life.Utilizing this space and time thru Analytical Contemplation we can learn to master day to day life thru skillful means and to not get attached to things that used to throw us off and overwhelm us. With the dedication to help liberate all other sentient beings our life takes on a much deeper meaning. This aspect of the path can be daunting, but has a tendency to rise up on its own.

For one thing it is joyful to help others overcome the things that have plagued us.

For another, there is little disappointment in helping another, when not attached. Unlike buying ourselves something, or achieving something, where it loses value shortly after acquisition.

These workshops can be for beginners who are just deepening their meditation or for people who already make meditation their daily practice and have studied extensively.

The Goal and plan is to offer these Workshops to a wider audience over time meeting every two months and exploring practical buddhist meditation tools in a secular way.

Who is Teaching the Shamatha and Analytical Contemplation Workshop?

James Meyer is a Tibetan Buddhist who has cultivated a daily meditation practice for the past 18 years. He has studied the works of Several prominent Zen meditation masters including Adyashanti, Joko Beck, and Thich Nhat Hanh, And has Studied Tibetan Buddhist masters including Pema Chodron and Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. James is currently auditing a four year Buddhadharma program with https://lionsroardharmacenter.org Lama Jinpa at Lions Roar in Sacramento and in a year long distance education program with https://www.mangalashribhuti.org Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche out of Colorado. James skillfully blends the art and science of meditation to help remove the obscurations to clear seeing and peace of mind. Thru these practices James has helped hundreds of people vastly improve the quality of their life and to enjoy a much more harmonious lifestyle.

James is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and the owner of the Lions Heart Counseling.

Get Started Today!
Call Lions Heart Counseling at (844) 546.6788

or Email at Jmeyer@LionsHeartCounseling.com
to learn more about the

Shamatha and Analytical Contemplation

The Cost – $115. Workshop Date: 11/9/2019

Workshop Time: 10:30 – 2:00 pm

Location – 25 Cadillac Dr #132, Sacramento CA 95825.

Near Fair Oaks and Howe ave.

sacramento counselor, msw, lcsw — Lions Heart Counseling founder, James Meyer, MSW, LCSW 62672

What is mindfulness?

Not Grasping, Not Rejecting, Not lost in Confusion!

Everywhere you look there is more information on mindfulness,

the benefits of mindfulness and ways to be more mindful.

But what does it all mean?

In it’s essence mindfulness can be described as follows:

Being Present, right here, right now
Not struggling
Not grasping or rejecting
Accepting what is as it is without judgment
Want to learn more – check out our upcoming Workshop

Being Present right here, right now means being in the flow. You are engrossed in the activity you are doing. You are not worried about the 15 other things that you should be doing. You are concentrated and focused on the environment around you including conversation, people, activities, sights, sounds, and smells. This concentration is not struggling to make things other than they are. This concentration is open and accepting of the world as it is without change. This creates a very open and spacious area from which to rest, even in the midst of activity.

Resting is possible, because in this state you are not grasping or rejecting for anything. You may notice that no matter what event or experience you participate in there is a sense of judgment or evaluation. For example, if you recently saw a movie or a play you may briefly describe the event, the costumes, the plot, the characters, but inevitably the discussion moves to whether or not you enjoyed it. This evaluation, separates us from the events and experiences we have and sets up a kind of grasping and rejecting. This becomes even more difficult to avoid when the discussion centers on people and talk about their activities, relationships, challenges and embarrassments.

When we learn to accept others and ourselves right where we are without the need to change, we open to a deep rest and sense of tranquility. From this space of openness we allow things to be exactly as they are without judgment. This doesn’t mean that we will give up all of our preferences or our personalities. This means we are more free to have desires, but not driven to fulfill them at ever moment. In short, we liberate ourselves to a deeper more flexible position.

What are the Benefits to Mindfulness?

Less Emotionally reactive
Reduced Depression and Anxiety
Peace of mind
Less judgmental
- Easier to be around people
- Easier to be in discomfort
- Easier to be in uncertainty
Increased confidence
Increased sense of well-being and satisfaction

Being less emotionally reactive can be a gift not only for ourselves, but for everyone around us. How many of us have experienced some traumatic life event, or even major social embarrassment or humiliation and vowed to never allow that to happen again. We find masterful ways of walling ourselves off from the rest of the world and protecting ourselves. Then, later in life, we find ourselves overreacting to people who criticize us, make us feel unsafe or unvalued. We find this old wound and react out of fear and self-preservation. Often times this can lead to us feeling bad and self-judging which can lead to avoidance, anxiety and depression.

Exploring these experiences with a still and tranquil mind can help us reduce anxiety and depression thru a deeper understanding of the triggers to our fear and reaction and then disarming these triggers. Ultimately, thru practice we develop a deeper peace of mind and become less judgmental of ourselves and others. As we become less judgmental we find it easier to be around people and they around us. With further practice we learn to become more present with discomfort and uncertainty and learn not to push it away. It’s not that we ever embrace these feelings, but at least we don’t hide from them or suppress them until they can no longer be held back. This leads to increased confidence and a deeper sense of well-being and satisfaction.

How Do I Practice Being More Mindful

Set a regular schedule even if it is just 5 minutes a day.

It is an ongoing practice
Body scan tension, constriction, pain, discomfort
Start with deep cleansing breaths thru nose deep into the abdomen
Pause briefly noticing the temporary nature of breath
Breath out slowly thru the mouth
Repeat 5-6 times
- Breathing in
  - I Breathe in peace and connection
- Breathing Out
  - I Breathe out pain and sorrow
- Body Scan notice How you feel now

Information provided on this site does not constitute a patient therapist relationship, and should be used under the guidance of a licensed mental health professional. Information presented on this page was written by James Meyer, LCSW Lead Counselor and founder of Lions Heart Counseling Sacramento.