Mindfulness – term which refers to the state of fullness or wholeness achieved through meditation – is a powerful instrument for the development and the fulfillment of the human potential. Its unparalleled aim is to lead the participant to develop a transformative comprehension of the experience, by making the brain more creative and dynamic. Furthermore, it shows that the model of our experiences can be changed at every moment. Moments of lucid vision and intuitive clarity, attainable through meditation, correspond to a sort of reboot of the brain, which dissolves habitual, crystallised mental patterns and gives shape to new ones, more flexible, receptive, powerful.
Meditation has been considered a lay path suitable to anyone for long time, independent from ethnical, religious or social creeds. It belongs to anyone who desires to improve his life experience. It shouldn’t therefore be a surprise that there are more and more meditation courses for managers in their work place.
It is scientifically proven that meditation acts on the synapses and on the production of endorphins, intensifying intuition and increasing the level of happiness. Undoubtedly, when you are well with yourself your actions become marvelous.
The Mindfulness teachers at Nonterapia are extraordinary, as they all practiced for long time in the hermitages in the forest, where the Theravada monks live and teach the ancient and purest techniques.
An excerpt from the book “Imaginal Mindfulness” by Selene Calloni W.
I could experience the beneficial effects of meditation more than thirty years ago, when I had to move to Sri Lanka for work. This is the country where Theravada Buddhism was born and developed. Nowadays, the tradition of Buddhist hermit monks is still very alive; they live in forest hermitages or jungle temples (they are like shelters in the forest) where the adepts visit them at least once per month, during the full moon, offering basic goods and receiving teachings on meditation. In Sri Lanka I met my first master, Michael Williams. Notwithstanding the English origin of the name, he was a Tamil, an expert in an ancestral and wild form of yoga, with shamanic traditions. Shamanic yoga has been transmitted through “initiate lineages” since remote times. And mainly because of initiate lineages, after my master left his body I took on his name. Thanks to Michael I had the privilege to be accepted into a Buddhist Theravada hermitage, for the length of 6 years during my staying in Sri Lanka. I visit the hermitage at least once per year, where one of the monks with whom I had the pleasure to be trained still resides, the Reverend Gotatuwe Sumanaloka Thero.
After the long permanence in Sri Lanka I went back to Switzerland, where I met the famous psychoanalyst and philosopher James Hillman, who became my teacher. Imaginal Mindfulness was born from the union of the Buddhist meditation, of the shamanic yoga and of the imaginal vision, which characterizes the deep-psychology, in particular that of James Hilmann.
Buddhist teachings and deep-psychology go very well together and they allow us – let us not forget that, as claimed by Jung and Hillman, we are part of an imaginal tradition which is undoubtedly “westerner” – to assimilate the Buddhist teaching at its best. Through one’s own imaginal tradition, it is indeed much easier to understand the eastern tradition more deeply.
During many years of practice and teaching, I could ascertain that the imaginal vision is a powerful and effective key for all those westerners who want to get closer to meditation; in short, it makes its application simple and it potentiates its benefits.
Nowadays there is a great number of people who practice, divulge and teach the imaginal Mindfulness.
Among the outstanding teachings received by my master there is one which I want to share with you now: meditation is a sterile act if you do it just for yourself.
“Meditation is a sterile act if you do it just for yourself” used to say Gata Thera. “If you aim at cleaning your mind with the practice of meditation, then you also need to clean the environment that surrounds you, if you want to nourish your soul with the ambrosia of a mantra, then you also need to nourish plants, flowers and animals that surround you with water, food, good thoughts and harmonious emanations”. “Don’t you ever avoid to tell the others inspired words and help them in all the possible ways”. “ Then you mustn’t forget the invisible world and the beings that live there”. “The merits which scatter from your meditations and from your care of the environment need to be offered to the spirits, so that they can be reborn in a new human body and proceed towards the final liberation.”
First of all, you need to offer the merits that you acquire to the spirits of your ancestors, so that they can be reborn in spiritual worlds, like spiritual parents, able to reach liberation in their next life. Then you need to offer merits to all the spirits which suffer and need to improve their condition. When you do that, please keep your intention in your heart, and offer it to the universe, so that it can be perfected, and maybe totally transformed. In the end, you will be able to feel clearly when your intention is in harmony with the universe. Then it will be fulfilled spontaneously and visible and invisible creatures will conspire to make it happen. You will be able to envision what needs to be done, and you will act without any effort or stress. You won’t be struggling to achieve things, but things will come to you. Day after day you will make progresses into a spiral of love and strength which will lead you upwards, towards a wider and freer vision. Therefore, never forget that the first thing to do is “giving”. “Giving” and “giving oneself” is what allows you to see, deeply understand and sort out your internal conflicts, in order that your will becomes flawless and in harmony with the cosmos. Giving and Giving oneself implies that the universe conspires to realize your impeccable will. This is a law of love, which binds all events of the world together.
Selene Calloni Williams, the Reverend Gotatuwe Sumanaloka Thero (Theravada Buddhist monk) and other pupils of the school who have become Imaginal Mindfulness teachers have developed a sequence of practices that one can do daily in order to achieve quick and effective improvements on meditation.
IMMA, Imaginal Mindfulness Meditation Approach, Knowing and Seeing
IMMA constitutes a series of special collections of meditation and awakening exercises. These collections are considered “paths of help” in the Imaginal mindfulness, and are recommended to all the councelling operators who aim at using meditation as a means to achieve their goal.
IMMA is a specific protocol for the attainment of the following objectives:
Knowing and Seeing:
. stress
. traumas
. anxiety and fear
. sadness, suffering and frustration
. addictions
. post-mortem
. quality of the sleep
. disease, discomfort, obstacles
. problems related to social and affective relatioships
. problems related to sexuality
. problems related to the energy of money