Category Archives: Podcast

An Integrating Presence (Three Minute) Meditation And Reality (Characteristics) Contemplation

Meditation:
Meditate continuously for three minutes on an object

Contemplation:
Able to keep attention on the object the entire time?

If not, why is that?

If yes, did the quality and degree of attention change?

Why can’t we lock a consistent, unchanging attention to something without it wavering, or changing, or without distraction?

Perhaps then consider that in life, and especially noticeable in meditation, we sometimes think we should able to keep a consistent, unchanging attention to something. Maybe we can now better see how this erroneous view of deceptively defaulting to expecting constancies in life can result in stress and unsatisfactoriness

Caregiving Roundtable: Caring For The Givers | (9/28/2021 — “Ask Us Anything – LIVE” With Denny K Miu)

For this month’s regular open-audience, open-discussion “Ask Us Anything” — continuing discussions about meditation and related topics — Denny and I talk about caring for caregivers. Topics, not necessarily in order, include: Integrating Presence’s long linked list of Healing Modalities and Resources What is true, real, authentic non-inverted care, and does this differ coming fromContinue reading “Caregiving Roundtable: Caring For The Givers | (9/28/2021 — “Ask Us Anything – LIVE” With Denny K Miu)”

Healthcare System Audit From Back Office Supervisor “Ron”

Given Integrating Presence’s long list of healing modalities and resources; occasionally providing commentary about care during Denny K Miu‘s Saturday “Mindfulness of Qi : Mindful Fitness & Yi Jin Jing” and “Mindful Practice for Everyone : Each Differently Abled”; and an upcoming “Ask Us Anything” guest who focuses on redefining care, it seems appropriate toContinue reading “Healthcare System Audit From Back Office Supervisor “Ron””

Qi And Astrology | (8/31/2021 — “Ask Us Anything – LIVE” With Denny K Miu)

For this month’s regular open-audience, open-discussion “Ask Us Anything” — continuing discussions about meditation and related topics — Denny presents the long standing Five Element system mostly in terms of astrology, Qi and the body — an expansion on his article Qi and the “Real” Organs — with me commenting along the way until theContinue reading “Qi And Astrology | (8/31/2021 — “Ask Us Anything – LIVE” With Denny K Miu)”

An Integrating Presence Meditation: Deeply Sensing Body Areas — July 28, 2021 At Fat Cat Longevity

This meditation (recorded live) aims to strengthen and deepen the 32 Parts of the Body portion of Body Contemplation in the Four Foundations of Mindfulness — not meant as regular practice or substitute. Partial inspiration comes from this Four Foundations of Mindfulness visual:

“Just as if there were a double-mouthed provision bag full of various kinds of grain such as hill paddy, paddy, green gram, cow-peas, sesamum, and husked rice, and a man with sound eyes, having opened that bag, were to take stock of the contents thus: “This is hill paddy, this is paddy, this is green gram, this is cow-pea, this is sesamum, this is husked rice.” Just so, monks, a monk reflects on this very body enveloped by the skin and full of manifold impurity, from the soles up, and from the top of the head-hairs down, thinking thus: “There are in this body hair of the head, hair of the body, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, marrow, kidney, heart, liver, midriff, spleen, lungs, intestines, mesentery, gorge, feces, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, grease, saliva, nasal mucus, synovial fluid, urine.” ~The Foundations of Mindfulness — Satipatthana Sutta

Materiality And Mentality | (7/27/2021 — “Ask Us Anything – LIVE” With Denny K Miu And Guest Beth Upton)

For this month’s regular open-audience, open-discussion “Ask Us Anything LIVE” — continuing discussions about meditation and related topics — Denny and I chat with meditation teacher Beth Upton most significantly about the Dependent Origination link Nāmarūpa, or Materiality and Mentality, which, according to Wikipedia, is “used in Buddhism to refer to the constituents of aContinue reading “Materiality And Mentality | (7/27/2021 — “Ask Us Anything – LIVE” With Denny K Miu And Guest Beth Upton)”

An Integrating Presence Meditation: Breathing Nine Beneficial Energies Into Embodiment — June 29, 2021 At Fat Cat Longevity

In this (now recorded) mediation we worked with breath to embody the beneficial energies of:
• Smiling
• Our most relaxed experience
• Gratitude [and/or appreciation and thankfulness]
• Forgiveness
• Service
• Loving-kindness
• Compassion
• (Vicarious) joy [and/or gladness]
• Equanimity
• [Additional beneficial energies not mentioned:]
◦ various ideal blessings
◦ energies from (being around) your spiritual entourage
◦ goodness
◦ generosity

Form And Formless | (6/29/2021 — “Ask Us Anything – LIVE” With Denny K Miu)

For this month’s regular open-audience, open-discussion “Ask Us Anything LIVE” — continuing discussions about meditation and related topics — Denny draws from, and summarizes the teaching of Shifu Ji Ru to link together the Four Great Elements, Four “Mighty” Postures, Four Right Knowings, Four Foundations of Mindfulness, Three (or Four) Dharma Seals, and Three Gates of Liberation.

An Integrating Presence Meditation: Classic Mindfulness Imagery — June 2, 2021 At Fat Cat Longevity

This semi-formal guided meditation practice include these classic mindfulness images and similes:
◦ a relaxed cowherd after the harvest
◦ surgeons probe gathering information before action
◦ ploughshare to prep the ground for wisdom
◦ elephant’s neck supporting the head of wisdom while turning the full body to look, not just the head, for full attention
◦ climbing a platform with detachment for an broader perspective and overview
◦ town gatekeeper knowing who to keep out and able to direct who comes in
◦ wheel spokes connecting the hub of the body to the outside of the wheel of our experiences while helping to steer
◦ hitching post to tame and keep animals from wandering off all the while the strong post remains unmoved
◦ balancing aspect like walking with bowl of oil atop the head

Towards Everyday Implementation Of The Universal Beautiful Mental Factors

Dhamma and meditation teacher Beth Upton — who’s other chats I’ve posted — recently held a three part event with Dharma Gates called “Truth, Suffering and Liberation”. I’ve edited out most everything except my responses to Beth’s questions and her responses to me so please watch the full video at the end of this post especially if requiring more context.

Beth read an excerpt of the Aggañña Sutta about the origin of human kind on planet earth then linked our suffering, caused by the defilements (dramatic depicted in the sutta) to the Buddha’s antidote: the The Universal Beautiful Mental Factors (sobhanasādhāraṇa). Beth then offered a short teaching followed by a guided meditation and discussion on her condensed and more practical version of these Mental Factors from the Abhidhamma which are:
• Faith
• Mindfulness
• Non-greed
• Non-hatred
• Morality
• Balance
• Tranquility
• Lightness
• Softness
• Flexibility
• Uprightness/Authenticity/Truthfulness
• Proficiency

This post includes my responses (in an edited video) to Beth’s group-guiding questions along with a few new written responses.