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Shambhala Center 1st Day - Orientation
Compassion is born from understanding suffering—its presence in us, its origins and how it ends—and meditation is the effort that cultivates this understanding. Mindfulness of breathing is the first step: bring continuous attention to each in-breath and out-breath (“Breathing in, I know I am breathing in. Breathing out, I know I am breathing out”), like a train that never leaves its track. As mindfulness and concentration grow, you move from the realm of the body into feelings, perceptions and all 49 mental formations—fear, despair, anger, jealousy and so on, as well as compassion, insight, non-discrimination and forgiveness—recognizing each by its true name and bringing relief or nourishment as needed.
The Buddha’s four exercises of mindful breathing order this journey:
- Breathing in, I know I am breathing in. Breathing out, I know I am breathing out.
- Follow each in-breath and out-breath all the way through.
- Breathing in, I am aware of my body. Breathing out, I smile to my body.
- Breathing in, I calm my body. Breathing out, I smile to my body.
Walking meditation uses the same energy of mindfulness: slow steps tied to each breath, arriving “home” in the here and now with the gatha
“I have arrived—I am home.
In the here—in the now.
I am solid—I am free.
In the ultimate I dwell.”
In retreat, noble silence and the collective energy of the Sangha support practice, whether walking, sitting or eating. Mindful eating focuses only on food and community, seeing each morsel as an ambassador of the cosmos—chewing with full attention, generating freedom from past and future, and nourishing peace, joy and insight in every moment.
