Stilla Meditation

“Look, here is a tree in the garden and every summer is produces apples, and we call it an apple tree because the tree "apples." That's what it does. Alright, now here is a solar system inside a galaxy, and one of the peculiarities of this solar system is that at least on the planet earth, the thing peoples! In just the same way that an apple tree apples!” - Alan Watts

All of your experiences show up in an open space. This is the open space of awareness. In this session we are resting as that space.

By taking control of your attention you take control of your life. Running on autopilot means following every reaction you have. But once you become aware about your reactions you can start choosing your response. You become respons-able.

Labelling our distractions can be a powerful practice. It strengthens our ability to know our own experience without being completely caught up in it. Or in other words, it grows our inner capacity for clarity and spaciousness.

We can use our hands to give love and appreciation to our body. This can be a helpful way to nourish self compassion and feeling more at home in yourself.

In this session we explore how attention can be both relaxed and focused at the same time. We play with the receptivity of attention. How we can hold our experience with a subtle and fluid embrace, able to sense both the large movements and the tiny vibrations.

Our social conditioning tells us to sit still and don't move to much. But the body is an alive organism and it is never really still. The heart beats, the breath moves, muscles have tiny micro movements. There are a lot of things happening. If we allow the body to move as it wants to and support those movements its easier for the body to relax and we come in more contact with our inherent aliv...

The practise of watching the breath is a great exercise both for beginners and more experienced meditators. The breath is always available for you and by stopping and feeling your breath for just a few moments at the time during your day you can create a big difference in your life.

When consciously turn our attention towards our thoughts with curiosity, we are no longer trapped by them. They can be there and we can just watch them, like watching a movie. The mantra, "I wonder what my next though is gonna be" , is an effective way to step out of identification with thought and just watching them as they are.

We are practicing taking the perspective of the observer. Noticing everything that shows up and seeing that we are not that which we observe. You are not your thoughts, you observe them. You are not your emotions, you observe them. You are not your body, you observe it. You are that which observes.

We don't silence the mind by forcing it or trying to stop our thoughts. The silence is already there underneath and all we do is letting go of the things we stack on top. Letting go of trying to achieve anything special, letting go of silencing the mind, letting go of any expectations around meditation. Even letting go of trying to let go. This is the way to peace.

Our mind is like a snow globe. The more we shake it, the more the snow swirl around. But if we put it down and let it just be as it is, the snow falls to the ground. It's the same way with our thoughts. When we try to silence the mind we are shaking our mental snow globe which will just make the thoughts swirl even more. Instead, simply let the thoughts come and go and just watch them. It'...

Our mind is preconditioned to focus on the negative and uncomfortable. It's a good survival mechanism that works well. But it can become a little much some times and we forget to enjoy what is there to enjoy. In this session we experiment if it is possible to enjoy comfortable sensations in our body.

If you were an alien from outer space and your consciousness was magically beamed into this human body. How would you experience your body then? In this meditation we focus on beginners mind by experiencing the body as for the first time.

Gratitude can be found in the smallest of things, but some times it can be difficult to connect with gratitude. One trick is to imagine what your life would look like without the thing you want to be grateful for. For example the breath. What would it be like if you couldn't take your next breath? If your next exhalation would be your last. Very soon you would experience panic and within just...

You don't need to do anything to experience what is already here, because it's already here. In this meditation we play with just allow what is already here simply be as it already is.

You are not your body. You are not your opinions. You are not how much money you have in the bank. You are not your achievements. You are not your name. You are not you age. You are not your place of birth. You are not... so many things that you often take yourself to be. In this meditation we explore what it is that you are.

Turn towards what is already here, in your body and in your mind. Hold it close and intimate. Make yourself soft towards it and let it in. Let it touch you. Love it if possible. This is not a metaphor or a poem. It's a manual, an accurate description of how to feel what you are feeling.

Counting the breath gives the mind something to do while meditating. This makes it easier to stay present and aware instead of drifting off into distractions.

You carry many labels and rolls that you take to be who you are, such as your job-title, your relationships (mother, brother, friend), your opinions, your beliefs and your body. But beyond all of that there is the fundamental truth that you Are. You exist. Completely independent of all of those labels. In this meditation we explore the subjective experience of "I am"-ness.

After only a short time without the breath, nothing would be as important to you as taking the next breath. In this session we practice receiving the breath as the precious gift that it is.

It touches me to think about the gentleness of awareness, how it holds everything in its silence, without discriminating or pushing anything away. This is love.

The Vietnamese Zen master, Thich Nhat Hanh, remind us to sit with a half smile. Just like our posture, our facial expression affect the mood chemistry in our body and can help us embody a soft, calm and open attitude. In this meditation we experiment with that as we scan through the body.

The body is always in the present moment. Resting in it by simply allowing it to be as it is can be a great way to restore your energy.

The more we try to be peaceful the more we stir the water of the mind and the less peaceful we will be. By just letting go we find the peace that is already there in the background already.