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Insight Meditation classes in Central Ohio
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Insight Meditation for Parents

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It's no secret that parenting is stressful. Whether our children are in the terrible twos, the harrowing teens or the uncertain twenties, we struggle to know what to do. And even if our children are pretty much perfect, their constant changes can leave us reeling.

We know that meditation can help us relax in the face of stress. But Insight Meditation offers much more, an understanding of ourselves and our responses to our children and others in our lives. For parents seeking to understand and improve their relationships with their children, these techniques and teachings are invaluable.

We will focus on our reactions and responses to our children. We may react to our children with love and compassion. At other times we may experience very different feelings: frustration, exhaustion, anger and jealously and so on. While these emotions may cause us to respond poorly to our children's needs, they are not enemies or failures. They are human responses worthy of exploration and understanding. Insight meditation gives us the tools to do this. We can use breath meditation to find a sense of peace but also to become aware of difficult thoughts and emotions as they arise. Meditations on loving kindness and compassion can help us be aware in the moment when our capacity for kindness toward our children is momentarily sliding away. Meditations on equanimity can help us to see when it is time to rescue our children and when it is time to let them live the consequences of their own decisions.

Insight Meditation or Vipassana is the oldest Buddhist meditation practice. We all know that our minds wander during meditation. Rather than suppressing this wandering mind, Insight Meditation builds our awareness of the mind's workings. It chips away at the wall of our own self delusion toward an awareness of the workings of reality itself.

This is an 8-week class with each session lasting 90 minutes. Enrollment is limited to 12 participants. The fee is $120.

Meditation Phrases

Loving Kindness Meditation Phrases

Focus first on yourself, then someone you are close too. Increasingly explore more and more difficult people until you reach your limit. When that happens, pay attention to that feeling.

May you be filled with loving kindness.
May you be well.
May you be peaceful and at ease.
May you be truly happy.

Equanimity meditation phrases

May I be balanced and at peace.
May I learn to see the arising and passing of all nature with equanimity and balance.
May I be open and balanced and peaceful.
My happiness and suffering depend on my thoughts and actions and not other's wishes for me.
May you learn to see the arising an passing of all things with equanimity and balance.
May you have true equanimity.
May you be balanced and peaceful.
Your happiness and suffering depend on your thoughts and actions and not my wishes for you.
May I bring compassion and equanimity to the events of the world.
May I find balance and equanimity and peace amidst it all.

Compassion meditation phrases

May you be held in compassion.
May your pain and sorrow be eased.
May your heart be at peace.
May you have happiness.

May you be free from suffering.
May you experience joy and ease.

Sympathetic joy meditation phrases

I’m happy that you’re happy.
May your happiness continue.
May your happiness increase.
May your good fortune shine.

Meditation Audios

Seated Breath Meditation Audio

Equanimity Meditation Audio

Tonglen Meditation with Pema Chödrön

Tonglen Meditation with Tara Brach

An extended introduction and guided Tonglen Meditation with Pema Chödrön

Focused Awareness Meditation