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Daily Reflection Sit Join us daily at 12:00 PM (Eastern) The Seven Factors of Awakening: Joy The Daily Sit Categories THE SEVEN FACTORS OF AWAKENING: JOY Play Video Play Video 38:39 2024 December 25: The Joy of Receiving It is a joy to receive and it is an art. Compliments are an easy way to practice and experience this joy. We all secretly want to be seen and appreciated for who we are and what we do. Notice, feel, breathe, let the compliment land, then, and only then, say “thank you” and shhhhh (finger to mouth), no buts, no qualifiers, just “thank you”. Play Video Play Video 38:00 2024 December 23: Resistance to Joy Exploring the evolutionary, societal and personal conditioning which make it challenging to arouse and sustain joy. Play Video Play Video 38:13 2024 December 18: Two Kinds of Joy – Savor the Flavor There are the everyday kinds of joy with their big and small delights and there are the quieter kinds of joy that come from meditation, from setting aside our burdens and the busyness of the day. They are to be enjoyed! Savor the flavor! Play Video Play Video 36:55 2024 December 16: Evoking Joy Appreciating and savoring small moments of joy. Play Video Play Video 38:56 2024 December 11: Joy Is Available To Us. Trust This. Be on the lookout for joy in small ordinary moments. Nurture it. Play Video Play Video 38:38 2024 December 9: Piti: The Joy That Comes from our Meditation Practice We can experience a happiness that is not dependent on pleasant vedena - the dhamma joy that comes with fully being with what is arising and passing with acceptance, non-judgment, interest, and care. Play Video Play Video 36:14 2024 December 4: Moments of Joy: On and Off the Cushion Joy is a central factor in Buddhist teachings. Joy can be experienced during formal practice, while we sit, alone and/or with a sangha. And it can arise off the cushion too, when we practice kindness, appreciation and gratitude. What brings you joy? Play Video Play Video 38:36 2024 December 2: Introducing Pitta; The 4th Awakening Factor Pitta, joy, is not dependent on any outside circumstances but instead arises from our practice and our freedom from greed and aversion. It can arise in the midst of pleasant and unpleasant conditions. We can see joy manifested in the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu.

The practice of giving is universally recognized as one of the most basic human virtues…. In the teaching of the Buddha, too, the practice of giving claims a place of special eminence, one which singles it out as being in a sense the foundation and seed of spiritual development. ~Bhikkhu Bodhi Dana May what we offer be of benefit to as many as possible. The practice of giving is universally recognized as one of the most basic human virtues. In the teaching of the Buddha, too, the practice of giving claims a place of special eminence, one which singles it out as being in a sense the foundation and seed of spiritual development. ~Bhikkhu Bodhi There is a long tradition of offering meditation instruction in exchange for some offering of dana, which means generosity in the Pali language. Moved by this model, we have come to adopt an approach akin to this in spirit. Some of our offerings are for dana, which means that there is no fixed fee. The receiver of the guidance and instruction is free to offer an amount based on a combination of perceived value and personal means. This exchange brings the heart aspect of the mind—qualities of appreciation, kindness, and gratitude– into clearer focus. We wish to introduce this model to professional caregivers in the context of retreats and personal meditation instruction so that they may consider, feel and realize the benefit from engaging generosity. Many ask us what the usual range of offering might be. As therapists, we are accustomed to appreciating the value of wise counsel, and most offer what they themselves might expect to pay for a psychotherapy/consultation session, or what they might charge for a session themselves. That said, we gladly receive what is freely offered. YOUR DONATION IS GREATLY APPRECIATED PAYPAL: Donate button below

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Daily Reflection Sit Join us daily at 12:00 PM (Eastern) The Five Precepts The Daily Sit Categories This channel is coming soon!

Daily Reflection & Sit Join us daily at 12:00 PM (Eastern) Use drop down menu above to view archived video recordings organized by category. The Daily Sit continues! T hrough the generosity of these facilitators, all dana offered to the Daily Sit will be used to support Bill & Susan's teachings. Bill & Susan host the DAILY SIT with... David Kohn, Jaye Moyer, Lori Rugle, Lee Steppacher, Catherine Glenn 12:00 pm -12:45 pm Eastern Time Monday & Wednesday Teaching & Guided Meditation Tuesday & Thurs day Guided Meditation Alternating Thursdays Guided Meditation, Sangha Groups, Q & A Friday Silent Sit No Weekend Sittings Videos can be found on INSTAGRAM History of the Daily Sit This video project was born at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies in March 2020 when the Covid pandemic struck and we all needed a place to ground, breathe, calm, settle, and soothe. Bill and Susan's time at the Barre Center in 2020 has unfolded into the offering of Daily Sit teachings that help us find ways of being that bring ease and centering to our lives and create a sustainable practice. The following video was recorded March 2020. Enjoy this introduction to the origin of the Daily Sit! Access the videos from the main menu above. The Daily Sit videos are also on Instagram. Follow us online. Empower Growth The Living Map The Buddha’s teachings offer many paths, many maps that lead away from suffering and towards ease of wellbeing. What is unique about this body of teaching is that each path echoes, or interpenetrates into all of the others. They encircle one another as an integral whole, and therefore can be conceptualized and offered in countless ways. In September of 2020, we began offering a more systematic way of practicing mindfulness. Using this visual map of the Buddha’s teachings by Ellis Tingstad, we see these topics as they are offered in the Daily Sit, revealing the path we are traveling alone-together. To see it more clearly, you can click on the map and zoom in. Each topic shows us what is to be cultivated, and what is to be released, let go of. Bring forth the useful, the skillful, the wholesome, Let go of the unwholesome, the unhealthy, the unskillful. Each topic reveals a path that leads toward less suffering and more ease of wellbeing, toward freedom. This is a living “map". It visually illustrates where we are at any given time on the path as we work our way toward Waking Up in the middle of the day, into the present moment and discerning how to create less suffering for ourselves, others and the world. We are never lost if we know what we are practicing; this is our map! Enjoy the adventure! View the Living Map

Daily Reflection Sit Join us daily at 12:00 PM (Eastern) The Paramis: Metta (Lovingkindness) The Daily Sit Categories THE PARAMIS: METTA (LOVINGKINDNESS) Play Video Play Video 38:53 2023 September 27: Widening the Circle of Kindness Metta doesn’t always naturally arise. We have to coax it, nurture it, kindle it, bring it forward even when, especially when, it is difficult to feel. Play Video Play Video 40:00 2023 September 25: Metta as Foundational to the Inner Holding Environment Inviting the infused, felt sense of lovingkindness internally. Play Video Play Video 39:35 2023 September 20: Come Friends Contemplate the Body IN the Body Buddha put mindfulness of the body first! Play Video Play Video 39:06 2023 September 18: Working with Anger and Aversion The power of Metta as the antidote to the “ordinary” fires of greed, hatred and delusion. Play Video Play Video 40:00 2023 September 13: Attending and Befriending In the practice of befriending we can feel a sense of spaciousness and ease. This allows the heart to open . We can not have a spacious mind when the heart is contracted. Play Video Play Video 38:38 2023 September 11: Metta…Relaxation as a Doorway to Metta The intention to care for ourselves as we practice letting go and letting be. Relaxation as reflected in a short teaching ‘the heart mind, so tied up in knots, when relaxed will free itself, have no doubt.’ Play Video Play Video 39:22 2023 September 06: Metta - The Buddha’s Words on Loving-Kindness Understanding the Buddha’s teachings on Metta and what they mean to us today. Play Video Play Video 39:34 2023 September 05: Metta - Not Just Another Parami Metta serves as the backbone in the cultivation of the other Paramis.

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Daily Reflection Sit Join us daily at 10:30 AM (Eastern) Additional Resources Browse the additional resources sprinkled throughout the calendar below. Click on a calendar date to reveal the title of a poem or book, or references to other pieces to enhance your practice. Daily Sit Video Archive Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Daily Reflection Sit Join us daily at 12:00 PM (Eastern) The Paramis: Upekkha (Equanimity) The Daily Sit Categories THE PARAMIS: UPPEKHA (EQUANIMITY) Play Video Play Video 39:21 2023 October 25: Equanimity- Keeping it Simple and Letting Go Releasing our own difficult feelings to bring more peace and balance to facing the world. Play Video Play Video 37:01 2023 October 23: Equanimity: and the 5th of 5 Remembrances How the last of the 5 remembrances help me step back from trying to fix or solve situations and rest more easily in the way things are. Play Video Play Video 39:56 2023 October 18: Equanimity in the Presence of Pain Equanimity is not a goal, it's a direction, a path of seeing and accepting things as they are. From the view of equanimity we can see what needs to be loved and held. Play Video Play Video 38:28 2023 October 16: Noticing When Equanimity is NOT PRESENT When clinging, aversion, casual attention are foreground. Play Video Play Video 39:02 2023 October 11: A Lesson in Equanimity What my mother taught me in the last days of her life. Play Video Play Video 38:37 2023 October 09: Equanimity and the Power of Aligning With the Truth of What Is When the Worldy Winds blow, and especially when this is unpleasant and challenging, how can we accept and align with how things are, and in that find a route to wise engagement? Play Video Play Video 37:48 2023 October 04: Equanimity - Finding a Place of Rest in the Midst of Things The story of the cellist of Sarajavo is a metaphor for sitting in the midst of the small and large battles that we create for ourselves when we want things to be different then they are. Play Video Play Video 39:45 2023 October 02: Equanimity: Beginning to Put it All Together How the practice of equanimity integrates everything we have been practicing.