Breath and Bell Picture

Breath and Bell Meditation

Sunday afternoons
Portland Oregon

Times: 5 - 6:30 pm
Fee: donation
Location: Voice Dialogue Center NW teaching studio in Portland Oregon.
Register: vdcnw@comcast.net or 503-788-8060
Related article: Meditation & Voice Dialogue
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Set an intention to follow your breath in simple meditation as practice towards cultivating Awareness. Periodically, a bell will be rung to remind us, "back to our breath". Purpose: to cultivate Awareness. No awareness, no Aware Ego Process. It's simple as that.
The goal of Voice Dialogue practice is the emergence of the Aware Ego Process. What is that? It's operating with free will, the ability to make choices in the moment with compassion and an energetic connection to our body. Essentially that means separating from our identification with a, or any part of ourselves and having an ego experience ("I") that has the capacity to make choices with Awareness. By Awareness, I mean non-judgmental, unconditional, un-attached witnessing awareness. Choice-less awareness. Unvarnished beholding. How many of us experience that? It may occur for moments, randomly in a person's life, or we may never experience it consciously. But, we have a greater potential to experience this Awareness when we've engaged in an activity to practice it, to cultivate it. One of the oldest, simplest form of Awareness practice is breath meditation. This involves setting our intention that the natural rise and fall of our breath be the sole object of our attention for a set period of time. This is a humbling discipline, because as soon as one begins meditation, other experiences rush in to compete for our attention. Thoughts, sensations and emotions layer in and our attention on our breath is lost. We quickly become possessed by these competing perceptions; we become attached, identified with whatever wins our attention in the moment. We become consumed by that feeling of anger, or sadness, we become obsessed with that sudden, relentless itch behind our ear, we are mesmerized by our plans for tomorrow's meeting. Our intention to focus on our breath is forgotten and our attention has been hijacked by whatever perception has won the moment.
Practicing meditation helps us to develop the strength to separate from selves. When I sit down for a half hour of meditation, I have to separate from selves a thousand times. Or more. Over and over, I bring my attention to just watching my breath, without comment, without emotion, without distraction or avoidance, without desire or resentment, just watching. With every returning to my breath, I groom my capacity to just watch. I discover Awareness, which is omnipresent, although my ego usually isn't. My ego, my sense of "I", is most often possessed by some self, who has some agenda, which is often focused on the past or the future.
J'aime ona Pangaia is a veteran consciousness teacher of over 30 years practice. She trained and continues to work directly with Drs. Hal and Sidra Stone, creators of Voice Dialogue, being one of their most senior teachers and facilitators. She is the author of numerous articles and the book, The Benefit of People Who Bug You. She maintains a private practice in Portland Oregon and travels extensively in the US and in Thailand to teach Voice Dialogue.