Plum Village Meditations : With Thich Nhat Hanh & Sister Jina Van Hengel

Rating:
Summary: An Oasis Of Inner Peace
Review: I've been using this tape for close to 8 years now just about every single day. I actually use it before lunch to regroup and it's made a huge difference in my life. Using it gives me a sense of renewal, deep rest and awareness at the same time.

It's an opportunity to start fresh again in the midst of my day. Also, because it's not a meditation that requires a mantra that is said "out loud" it can be done anywhere at anytime if you have a walkman type player. I've done it in airports, on planes, anywhere that you need to reconnect and come back into the present moment. Plus, once you are familiar with the program you can do it without the tape so you can do these meditations anytime and anywhere.

In particular I use the guided meditations. There are three series of guided meditations led by Sister Jina. The first is very simple "Breathing In, I know I am breathing in, Breathing Out, I know I am breathing Out...In...Out", then it's followed by "Deepening and Slowing the breath", "Feeling Calm and Ease", "Smiling and Releasing" and ends with "Present Moment, Wonderful Moment".

The second series is a body scan of sorts with the intention to cultivate gratitude for our physical bodies, gratitude for things man of us take for granted like our eyes, ears, lungs, heart etc. For example it starts "Aware of the hair on my head, I breathe In, Smiling to the hair on my head I breath out..... Hair... Smiling..." (while Hair may seem a strange place to start, I guess the idea "for even hair to exist is miraculous" in that "any form of existence is a miracle" to have gratitude for), then the meditation moves on to the eyes, ears, lungs, heart, liver, feet and ends with "Breathing in I know I am Breathing in, Breathing Out I know I am breathing out....."

The third series is based on forgiving one's parents which is a source of much pain for many people I know. I must admit that I don't use this one because I was blessed with an unusually excellent relationship with my folks and so I don't have any issues here. Still, many people I know have some if not a lot of baggage with regard to their folks that they may be living with much pain that may be helped by this particular guided meditation.

The other side of the tape is a "Gong" meditation which is really different, you basically just breath and concentrate on the sound of the gong as it is played and gradually fades out. This can be a very powerful meditation, especially if you have good speakers or headphones (which is my favorite way to use it).

Highly recommended!

Namaste

Rating:
Summary: Watering the seeds of peace and loving-kindness
Review: A wonderful meditation tape for those practitioners familiar with Thich Nhat Hanh's teachings. The guided meditations are an ideal support for daily meditation practice that grow more fruitful each time you return to them. Highly Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: peaceful
Review: peaceful sound of the gong with 3 very short meditations at the end. Most of tape was quiet with the intermitent gong. I play the tape while in traffic, calming. I have found there are better tapes/cds for my meditation.

Rating:
Summary: peaceful
Review: peaceful sound of the gong with 3 very short meditations at the end. Most of tape was quiet with the intermitent gong. I play the tape while in traffic, calming. I have found there are better tapes/cds for my meditation.