Time for a little .. Simply Silence

Please join us for the next Simply Silence (Elwood) session:

Monday 24th August
7.45pm-8.45pm

at
Yoga Hub: Upstairs at 57 Glen Huntly Rd, Elwood
by donation (suggested $15)

I shall share two guided meditations 
with room for some silence ..

a casual meditation group

an hour

a comfortable seat

taking a breath

easy

no stress

:)

Simply Silence .. Group Meditation

Please join us for the next Simply Silence (Elwood) session:

Monday 22nd June
7.45pm-8.45pm

at
Yoga Hub: Upstairs at 57 Glen Huntly Rd, Elwood
by donation (suggested $15)

I shall share two guided meditations 
with room for some silence

a casual meditation group

an hour

a comfortable seat

taking a breath

easy

no stress

:)

Simply Silence Group Meditation

Please join us for the next Simply Silence (Elwood) session:

Monday 25th May
7.45pm-8.45pm

at
Yoga Hub: Upstairs at 57 Glen Huntly Rd, Elwood
by donation (suggested $15)

I shall share two guided meditations 
with room for some silence

a casual meditation group

an hour

a comfortable seat

taking a breath

easy

no stress

:)

Simply Silence .. Meditation Event

I am always being asked 'Where to go' for regular group meditation sessions .. and my answer for those in Melbourne is Simply Silence!

Loving Kindness .. to you!

At our next Simply Silence Meditation Session - Monday 23rd December - I am going to share a wonderful Metta 'Loving Kindness' Meditation practice.

Always .. at this time of year .. it seems the perfect meditation practice to share with a group, to bring into our practice our heartfelt concern and care for others in the world around us.

Metta is a Pali word translated as ‘love’ or more often ‘loving kindness’ .. and this meditation is one where we offer unconditional well-wishes and openhearted gentle nurturing .. first to ourselves and then to others .. just as we are!

In the traditional practice of metta meditation we systematically offer loving-kindness to ourselves, and then to a selection of others, through the silent repetition of some classic phrases. In the Buddhist tradition we practice metta meditation to methodically cultivate the quality of loving-kindness ..

.. and we began by offering metta to ourselves:

May I be happy
May I be peaceful … at ease
May I accept myself just as I am
May I be free to live and love fully

We then extend the same wish to others .. a loved one .. a dear friend .. a neutral person (such as your barista who makes your delicious latte each morning, or the lady who takes your dry cleaning) .. and finally someone we find a little difficult..

May you be happy
May you be peaceful .. at ease
May you accept yourself just as you are
May you be free to live and love fully…

One of the true blessings of metta practice is that it puts us in touch with how many people we truly love and care about (an immediate source of joy and nourishment when you are feeling crappy or stressed) .. and it also helps build the connection we have with ALL people .. those in distant lands, different tribes, far off places .. it opens us to others and brings us all together.

Please don't worry if you don't truly feel the hearts warmth extending out .. it is much more important that our intention is there to begin to open the circle ..

and in this way Meta meditation helps us shift our focus from getting love to creating it, from fixing life to embracing it ..

May you be happy .. May you be peaceful .. at ease ..

Christmas "Chill"

I shall be leading the two December guided meditation session
at Simply Silence (Elwood) on:

Monday 9th December
&
Monday 23rd December

from 7.30pm-8.30pm
by donation (suggested $15)

Join me for two guided meditations 
and room for some silence

a casual meditation group

an hour

a comfortable seat

taking a breath

easy

no stress

:)

Meditation Practice Group

Simply Silence is a welcoming and supportive meditation practice group that has been thriving in Melbourne for more than six years!

I shall be leading two guided meditations with some room for silence next:

Monday 8th April
7.30-8.30pm
at the Elwood venue

Suitable for beginners or those with a regular meditation practice.

Gentle, relaxing, restful meditation to refresh and refocus.

Join us.
 

a comfortable seat

an easy breath

a moment to stillness

no stress

:)

Join Us .. Group Meditation

I shall be leading the next guided meditation session on:

Monday 14th November

Elwood, Melbourne

from 7.30pm-8.30pm

Two guided meditations and room for some silence

at Simply Silence

a casual meditation group

an hour

a comfortable seat

taking a breath

easy

no stress

:)

Group Meditation .. Join us!

I shall be leading the next guided meditation session on:

Monday 25th July

Elwood, Melbourne

from 7.30pm-8.30pm

Two guided meditations and room for some silence

at Simply Silence

a casual meditation group

an hour

a comfortable seat

taking a breath

easy

no stress

:)

Simply Silence .. Monday night

Yesterday I joined in with the MedMob Melbourne 'sit' .. the day was quite beautiful, with blue sky above and a breeze that reminded me a little of early Spring. The gathering was at Southbank and the turnout was smaller than I expected, but I had my meditation cushion with me, and a blanket to keep nice and warm, and I sat. Just sat. Reminded me (again) that the silence is always within and practicing outside, amongst the noisy, bustling chaos of life, is very rewarding .. so I just sat and sat .. I heard kids laughing and felt the sun on my face .. and I simply observed my breath .. again and again. I actually had a very peaceful meditation and it was a really pleasant way to spend an hour on a Sunday by the Yarra.

If you would like to experience a group meditation you might like to join us Monday night at Simply Silence

Monday 27th June : Elwood, Melbourne
7.30pm-8.30pm
a casual meditation group
$10 donation

Simply Silence tonight

tonight

Monday 14th February

in Elwood, Melbourne

from 7.30pm-8.30pm

I shall be guiding two meditations

and leaving room for some silence

at Simply Silence

a casual meditation group

an hour

a comfortable seat

the breeze and street scape below us

up amongst the trees

taking a breath

easy

no stress

:)

Simply Silence : Group Meditation

tomorrow evening Monday 10th January

in Elwood, Melbourne

from 7.30pm-8.30pm

I shall be guiding two meditations

and leaving room for some silence

at Simply Silence

a casual meditation group

an hour

a comfortable seat

the breeze and street scape below us

up amongst the trees

taking a breath

easy

no stress

:)

The Breath of the Breeze

Last night (Monday) was a beautiful and balmy evening in Melbourne .. the day had been unusually warm (32 degrees), there was a big, full harvest moon in the sky and the sunset presented as a striking vivid pink .. far off into the distance you could see fingers of rain connecting the watercolour sky with the sea. Very beautiful and very still.

It was my turn to lead the Simply Silence group and, as is often the case, I allowed the mood of the evening to lead my thoughts about what our meditation practice might be. We started with a very gentle and natural reaquaintance with the breath (a Breath Awareness meditation) .. a practice that most individuals can participate in .. a universal meditation practice since we all breathe! and also a great grounding practice after a busy day at work.

As the room, the body and the mind stilled .. my awareness was drawn to the very slight and gentle touch of the breeze on the skin. The breath of the breeze touching the skin. During the guiding stage of the practice I suggested we broaden our awareness to rest with this simple touch of the air on our warm skin, noticing where it touched the body and how the body and mind responded. Focusing our awareness on one of the senses is a wonderful way to deepen our meditation .. just allowing the mind to shift from 'thinking' to 'sensing' ..

Touch is the first sense that develops in the womb, and our skin is actually the body's largest organ .. exquisitely rich with nerve endings! While we spend our day touching (computer, iPod, phone) we have filtered out most of the sensory stimuation. Massage is a beautiful way to revisit the sensual sense of touch (mentioned here) .. but last night .. the dance of the breeze on warm skin .. was a beautiful and inspiring anchor for our meditation. I hope everyone enjoyed this practice as much as I did :)

Sound Meditation at Simply Silence

It was a wonderful and inspiring Simply Silence meeting last Monday night …with Garth Stone from OneVibration (www.onevibration.com.au) taking the class.

Garth always brings great energy to the room and uses various instruments including didgeridoo and singing bowls, to introducing us to sound vibration and harmonics as a pathway to deeper states of meditation.

Being the end of a hot, long weekend I wasn’t sure how many people would venture out… and while it was smaller group than usual, it was such a lovely warm night and with the windows open to welcome the soft breeze in .. I imagined the people in the streets below hearing the moving sounds and wondering what magical gathering was happening in the room above!

Sound as a point of focus in found in many meditative techniques and traditions, and revered in many cultures and religions. The Hindus believe that the first movement in the universe created the mother tone of “AUM”. The power of music therapeutically is also found in many cultures and becoming more widely explored.

Garth’s crystal bowls are made of silicon quartz, come in a variety of sizes and different tones ~ and really produce this amazing ‘otherworldly’ sound. Relaxing in a chair or on the floor, you can really feel the vibration and energy moving deeply through your body... tingling my feet and seeming to both relax the body and leave me with a freshness of energy! The sound appears to move around and around the room; even when Garth has finished ‘playing’ the bowls the vibration lingers in the air for an amazingly long time.

Garth also worked with a couple of different didgeridoo’s. I was reading today that the didgeridoo produces an extremely broad range of harmonics (0-1000 hertz) that resonate to a similar frequency as the human brain wave, and the universal tone of OM. As everything that moves vibrates (from the smallest molecule to the universe itself).. if something is vibrating then it is making some kind of sound which we may or may not hear depending on the threshold of hearing.. but.. sound is also perceived by skin and bone conduction, ingesting and consuming. Studies have shown that sound can produce changes in the autonomic, immune, endocrine and neuropeptide systems.

The science of these special sound meditations is that during our normal waking state our brain wave frequency is normally that of Beta. But sound draws our brain into the deeper Alpha and Theta brain wave frequencies, which are the frequencies that induce deep meditative and peaceful states, clarity of mind and intuition.

Garth also facilitates BALANCE a fortnightly sound meditation event held at the Augustine Centre in Hawthorn. Each session has a special guest who adds to this unique sound meditation event. You can see the schedule of upcoming events at http://www.onevibration.com.au/.

"Let us …remember that although to all outward appearances, music seems to be over as soon as the last chord has sounded and the celebrants have dispersed, this is not the case. It has also been created on a subtle plane and remains like an exquisite flower hovering over the sanctuary. No musical vibrations are ever lost, even though they are dispersed, they will go on vibrating through the cosmos for eternity, because the subtle effects of sound linger after the audible sound has died out…." The Healing Tones of Crystal Bowls, Renee Brodie

Simply Silence

Simply Silence is a not-for-profit meditation group that is currently running in two Melbourne locations – one in Elwood and one in North Melbourne (and one international location in Washington, DC). The approach is non-religious and non-denominational, and provides a wonderfully relaxed and informal group gathering to support your meditation practice.

The Elwood group started in July 2007 and meets for an hour on the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month. The venue is a wonderful space, partly because of the energy from being a community centre offering various practices including massage and yoga.... there are loads of cushions and blankets for those who want to sit on the floor or lie down... and enough chairs for those who cannot prefer to avoid the lotus position. Our room is upstairs so this means we can open the glass doors at both ends of the room, on those warm evenings, giving us a lovely cross breeze and sense of being up in the trees.

The group has grown regularly over the months so I now see many regular faces as well as a few new attendees each meeting. One of the unique and amazing offerings of Simply Silence is that a variety of different meditation teachers are brought in to take the meetings .. this provides everyone with the opportunity to enjoy the fresh approaches and wealth of experience that a range of different teachers can bring to meditation.

Over the hour we usually have two guided meditations and a short break in between, and over the last six months we have had the opportunity to embrace a laughing meditation (and yes we were all laughing to the point of crying), a walking meditation, the inspiring sound and vibrational meditation, and a slow moving meditation (mindfulness approach).. and these have been brought to us by a range of meditation teachers, as well as a psychologist, a music therapist, an ordained Buddhist nun, and a motivational/life coach.

The best way to find out when, where and who is to check out the new website http://www.simplysilence.org ... you can also subscribe to the email reminder service that lets you know when the next session is scheduled.

Enjoy!