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    Kindfulness
    Kindfulness
    Kindfulness
    Ebook103 pages1 hour

    Kindfulness

    By Brahm

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    About this ebook

    Go beyond mindfulness—practice kindfulness!

    Here Ajahn Brahm introduces a new kind of meditation: kindfulness. Kindfulness is the cause of relaxation. It brings ease to the body, to the mind, and to the world. Kindfulness allows healing to happen. So don’t just be mindful, be kindful!

    With his trademark knack for telling engaging stories paired with step-by-step anyone-can-do-it instructions, Brahm brings alive and makes accessible powerful tools transformation. This slim, beautifully designed volume is a Quick Start guide for living a life of joy and compassion. 
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWisdom Publications
    Release dateJan 5, 2016
    ISBN9781614292166
    Kindfulness

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    Reviews for Kindfulness

    5/5

    8 ratings3 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Now, just to consciously utilize the practices and being able to acknowledge and forgive myself when I stray from the path.
    • 5/5
      An unqualified 5 Stars. Great short little book on how to be more mindful and how to meditate. I hope to use his insights.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      A wonderful book on how to meditate, but also a wonderful book on how to live. Same principles apply.

      1 person found this helpful

    Book preview

    Kindfulness - Brahm

    Preface

    AN ANCIENT TEACHING SAYS that by looking after oneself, one looks after others — and by looking after others, one looks after oneself. Kindfulness, the subject of this small book, is a wonderful way to bring this truth into our lives.

    Through stories and direct instruction, I’ll introduce you to kindfulness and teach you a powerful method of being kindfully present to what I call the beautiful breath. This practice unfolds gradually over time, and I’ll talk in detail about each of the five stages through which that happens — and the subtle ways we can practice awareness more and more kindfully in each stage. Meeting the beautiful breath with a spirit of loving presence is a part of practicing kindfulness that strengthens our ability to look after ourselves — and by kind-fully looking after our own minds, we become more able to become a kindful force for good in the world.

    Then, in the next part of this book, we’ll turn our attention to kindful loving, the practice of opening wide the doors to our hearts. This practice also unfolds in five stages, and I’ll offer guidance for each one, as we gradually generate kindfulness in our hearts and cultivate an ability to let it radiate, outward and unbounded, over the entire world. Kindful loving is a powerful way to care for others — and I’m certain you’ll discover for yourself that through kindfully caring for others, your own life will become more and more wonderful, more and more beautiful.

    Ajahn Brahm

    Kindfulness

    Don’t Just Be Mindful, Be Kindful

    A WEALTHY WOMAN went to her meditation class one evening. Many of her neighbors had been robbed, so she told the guard at the gate to her mansion to be alert and mindful at all times.

    When she returned, she discovered that her mansion had been robbed. She scolded her guard, I told you to be mindful of burglars. You have failed me.

    But I was mindful, ma’am, replied the guard. I saw the burglars going into your mansion, and I noted, ‘Burglar going in. Burglar going in.’ Then I saw them coming out with all your jewelry, and I mindfully noted ‘Jewelry going out. Jewelry going out.’ Then I saw them going in again and taking out your safe, and I mindfully noted again, ‘Safe being stolen. Safe being stolen.’ I was mindful, ma’am.

    Obviously,

    mindfulness is not enough!

    Had the guard been kind to his employer as well as mindful, he would have called the police. When we add kindness to mindfulness we get kindfulness.

    A few years ago I had food poisoning. Monks of my tradition depend on almsfood, offered every day by our lay supporters. We never really know what we are eating, and we often put into our mouths something the stomach later has an argument with. An occasional stomachache is an occupational hazard for monks. But this time, it was far worse than a bout of indigestion. This was the agonizing cramps of food poisoning.

    I took the opportunity to tap into the power of kindfulness.

    I resisted the natural tendency to escape from the pain and felt the sensation as fully as I could. This is mindfulness — experiencing the feeling in the moment, as clearly as possible, without reacting. Then I added kindness. I opened the door of my heart to the pain, respecting it with emotional warmth. The mindfulness provided me with feedback. I noticed that my intestines had relaxed a little because of the kindness, and the pain was slightly less. So I continued with the kindfulness. Little by little, the pain decreased as the kindness did its job of relaxing the digestive tract. After only twenty minutes, the pain had gone, totally. I was as healthy and relaxed as if the food poisoning had never occurred.

    Some may imagine there were other factors involved in my recovery but, personally, I know there weren’t. I know the key ingredient was kindfulness. I took no medication, no water, no massage — it was the therapy of kindfulness, pure and simple. Of course, I had been training in this for over forty years — which may be why it was so effective. The cramps hurt like hell and made me double up in agony — but my suffering was countered by full-on kindfulness. I have no idea what happened to the bacteria that are the cause of food poisoning, but I didn’t worry about that. The pain had gone completely. This is but one personal example of the power of kindfulness.

    Kindfulness is the cause of relaxation.

    It brings ease

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