First of all, thanks for putting together all this wonderful material and organizing the online course, free for anyone to benefit from.
I've been practicing zazen for many years, sitting daily most of the time, alone or as part of a sangha. The reason I took your course was an MBSR course was a prerequisite for a teachers' MBSR course I'm about to take, in the hope of broadening the ways in which I incorporate contemplative techniques into my practice as a psychiatrist and a psychotherapist.
Although much of the material in your course wasn't new to me , I enjoyed reading and listening and reconnecting to mindful eating, dealing with being stuck, anger and pain. Sometimes just the listening to the speakers quietly was an experience in itself.
Your meditation instructions were a change and a new focus for me since I didn't use the body scan technique before. At the beginning it was difficult and worsened my tendency to be restless, but after a few practices, it gave an extra sense of awareness and even had a quieting effect.
Most of all I liked the guided meditations, especially the mountain and the lovingkindness meditations. I like the message connecting to the message of the mountain, keeping its stability and equanimity through highs and lows. And the lovingkindness meditation is an invitation to meet our capacity for openness and compassion, which seems to take me by surprise again and again, when I discover how vast that capacity is when we direct ourselves towards it.
Hopefully, having taken your course will add new points of focus and some more awareness to my daily life, my work and my meditation. Thank you again, for putting all this at the public's disposal, it's a blessing to be able to share this wisdom!
With deep appreciation,
- Dr. E.B.
"Letter of Learning"
from Dr. E.B. in Israel
