Mindfulness and Loving Kindness Meditation

Mindfulness and Loving Kindness Meditation Sessions
Tuesdays, January 14th, February 11th, March 11th and April 1st
2:30—4:00 PM
Hermann Foundation Meeting Room

January Session Registration

February Session Registration

March Registration

April Registration 


In this class, participants will practice loving-kindness meditation, which involves directing positive intentions and goodwill towards oneself and others. This practice aims to cultivate compassion, empathy, and love, fostering emotional well-being and healthier relationships. This class will also include Insight meditation, also known as Vipassana or mindfulness meditation. This technique involves observing thoughts, sensations, and experiences with non-judgmental awareness. Its objective is to develop profound insight into the nature of existence, fostering mindfulness, clarity, and a deeper understanding of oneself and reality.  Dress comfortably, bring a notebook and a meditation mat or cushion if you have one.

Class Structure:
• 10 minutes: Loving-Kindness Meditation techniques to cultivate compassion and empathy.
• 40 minutes: Insight Meditation, incorporating mindful prostration, walking, and sitting practices.
After the session, participants will have the opportunity for individual interviews—either in a group setting or one-on-one. These 10-minute discussions are intended to ensure proper practice techniques and provide personalized guidance for a deeper understanding of the meditation process.

Target Audience:
This class is designed for participants of all levels, from beginners to experienced meditators. It offers a blend of loving-kindness meditation, mindfulness practice, and shared experiences through personal reflection. Consider it a workout for the mind, open to anyone seeking greater self-awareness and personal growth.

About the instructor:
Benny is an instructor from the NMR Buddhist Meditation Center in Raynham, MA. Benny is an advanced mindfulness teacher with a profound understanding of the art and science of mindfulness. With a wealth of experience and a deep commitment to the practice, he guides light for those on a journey to inner peace and self-discovery.

Dancemeditation with Dunya returns!

 We are pleased to welcome back Woods Hole native and resident Dunya Dianne McPherson, for an introductory Dancemeditation session on Tuesday morning, June 11th at 10:30 AM! Click here to register.

The session will begin with Dunya leading a period of relaxing, wordless instruction to focus participants attention followed by a few simple, rich moving meditations to sink down a couple of notches inside the self, touching Self. There will be time for participants to do their own exploratory intuitive movement, to digest and integrate meditative efforts. At the end, we will have time for questions and reflections. Please register by going to falmouthpubliclibrary.org/events, or call 508-457-2555 x 7.

Dancemeditation helps us be present in our body in the moment and brings solace, stability, and magic. Without words, with beautiful music, with eyes open or closed, in a continual flow of breath awareness, we move through the crust of harried worries and into our huge spiritual intelligence. We turn away from the external and turn toward the internal. We turn toward awareness of breathing and motion and our body. Rather than working out, we work in.

A pioneer in embodied mysticism and Founder of Dancemeditation™, Dunya McPherson specializes in opening the wonderment of deep, subtle, peaceful self-perception. She is a Juilliard alumna, a Sufi master, a NY Times a critically acclaimed choreographer, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship recipient, Dunya is a practicing artist, academic educator, and presenter at healing arts centers worldwide including Kripalu. She is also the author of two books on dance as spiritual path. Skin of Glass: Finding Spirit in the Flesh and Sojourn the Inner Heaven: Movement Meditations for Awakening. Learn more about Dunya on her website at dancemeditation.org.

Welcome Hiveclass to FPL’s Online Resources

Hiveclass is an e-learning platform that features bite-sized, engaging videos that teach skills in various sports, physical activities and wellness exercises. The content is led and created by professionals and gives patrons access to practice in their own comfort zone.

Hiveclass is available via FPL’s online resources. Hiveclass provides fun, easy, and high-quality educational videos that walk patrons through improving their skills at field hockey, soccer, and other athletic activities. Along with physical education Hiveclass provides access to video walkthroughs on mindfulness and yoga.

The classes are available in both English and Spanish. It can be accessed on tablets, phones and computers! All you need is your library card number to start your adventure with Hiveclass!

 

 

7 Scientific Reasons to Meditate Now, a virtual event

This Zoom event will take place on Thursday, October 26th from 7-8 pm-it is generously shared with us by the Shrewsbury Public Library. Click here to register on their site! Please note that our library will be closed for the day at that time.

Join this virtual event with Manish Saggar, PhD and Assistant Professor in Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, for a presentation of neuroscientific data on how regular meditation practices improve physical, mental, and emotional health. He will also discuss how happiness and harmony can be gained by focusing one’s attention during meditation.

Dr. Saggar directs the Brain Dynamics Lab at Stanford University, which is dedicated to developing computational methods for neuroimaging data to better understand individual differences in brain functioning. He received his doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin and completed his postdoctoral training at Stanford. As part of his doctoral work, he developed computational methods to understand how brain activity changes with intensive meditation training.

Enjoy some virtual lectures from other Massachusetts libraries this month!

These are Zoom lectures put on by other libraries, who have shared the registration links with us, so our patrons can attend!

There are two at the same time on Tuesday night, August 1st at 7 pm:

White House By The Sea — A Century Of The Kennedys At Hyannis Port, offered by the Tewksbury Public Library-click here for more details and registration! You will also receive a link to the recording after the event.

“Author Kate Storey will discuss her brand new book, “White House by the Sea: A Century of the Kennedys at Hyannis Port,” in this ZOOM webinar. The book provides a sweeping history of an American dynasty that has left an indelible mark on our nation’s politics and culture.”

7 Scientific Reasons to Meditate Now, by the Shrewsbury Public Library-click here to register on their site!

“Join the Shrewsbury Public Library with Manish Saggar, PhD and Assistant Professor in Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, for a virtual presentation of data from recent neuroscientific studies on how regular meditation practices improve our physical, mental, and emotional health. He will also discuss how, by focusing one’s attention during meditation, we can gain happiness and harmony.”

Later in the month, on Monday, August 28th at 7 pm:

An Evening with Bestselling Authors Lisa Jackson & Nancy Bush, also from Tewksbury Library; click here for details and registration!

“Bestselling authors (and sisters!) Lisa Jackson and and Nancy Bush will discuss their latest books in this ZOOM webinar. Jackson will discuss The Last Sinner, a gripping novel of suspense featuring two veteran homicide detectives matching wits with a twisted serial killer lurking in the shadows of New Orleans. Bush will discuss The Camp, a chilling novel of suspense where a diabolical modern twist on Friday the 13th meets Yellowjackets at a summer sleepaway camp isolated in the woods of Oregon.”

 

 

Therapeutic Qi Gong Class

Join us in the Hermann Meeting Room from 11am-12pm on Tuesdays, November 1, 8, 15, and 22 for a short series of classes to sample Therapeutic Qi Gong with Alexandra Lancaster. Please register for these free classes, as space is limited. For this series, register once for all four classes, as the classes will build on each other. If you cannot attend all four classes, please leave the space for someone who can.
 
Therapeutic Qi Gong consists of 36 repeated movements that target the muscles and joints of the body from head to toe.  The movements are done slowly and gently and incorporate deep breathing to help you focus on yourself during this time, making this routine a meditative one in addition to its stretching, coordination and balance challenges. This series of movements can be learned, allowing you to do it on your own in sections or in its entirety.  It all takes place while standing, although the assistance of a chair or a wall is allowed :-).  
 
Alexandra Lancaster learned Therapeutic Qi Gong ten years ago by taking an in-person course off-Cape, and she continues to be re-certified every few years.  Although these movements are part of Traditional Chinese Medicine and channel the energy along the meridians, this course will concentrate only on the physical movements and the focusing of the mind. No mat is needed, but comfortable clothing is. Socks are encouraged; shoes that are flat and not too supportive are ok; athletic sneakers, of course, are fine if you need them.
 
This program is sponsored by the Friends of the Library.