Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation with Kimberly Brown 11/28/2024

Episode Date: December 6, 2024

The Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art presents a weekly meditation for beginners and skilled meditators alike. Each episode is inspired by a different work of art from the Museum’s collection and is led by a prominent meditation teacher.The episode begins with an opening talk followed by a 20-minute meditation. In this episode, the guided meditation begins at 09:05. Teacher: Kimberly Brown Theme: GratitudeArtwork: A parcel-gilt silver ritual ewer; Tibet or Mongolia; 19th century; parcel-gilt silver; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art; C2011.11Learn more about the Rubin’s work around the world at rubinmuseum.org.

Welcome to the Mindfulness Meditation Podcast presented by the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, a global museum dedicated to bringing greater awareness and understanding of Himalayan art to people around the world. I'm your host, Tashi Chodron. Every Thursday, we offer a meditation session at New York Inside Meditation Center that draws inspiration from an artwork from the Rubens Collection and is led by a prominent meditation teacher. This podcast is a recording of our weekly in-person practice. The description of each episode includes information about the theme for that week's session and an image of the related artwork. Our Mindfulness Meditation Podcast is presented in partnership with Sharon Salzberg and teachers from the New York Inside Meditation Center, the Interdependence Project and Parabola Magazine and supported by the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American

Buddhism. And now, please enjoy your practice. Tashi Dele, welcome to the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Arts Mindfulness Meditation Program at New York Insight Meditation Center. I'm Tashi Chodron, Himalayan Programs and Communities Ambassador, and I'm delighted to be your host today. The Rubin is a global hub for Himalayan art, and we are so glad to have all of you join us for our weekly program where we combine art and meditation. Inspired by our collection, we will first take a deep look at the work of art we've chosen for today. We will then hear a brief talk from our teacher, Kimberly Brown, and then we will have a short sit, 15 to 20 minutes, for the meditation guided by her. Let's take a look at today's theme and artwork.

The artwork for today's session is this Parcel Guild Silver Ritual Ewer, Parcel Gilt Silver Ritual Ewer, origin Tibet or Mongolia, dated 19th century, and this is about 12 into 6.5 into 4 inches, and it's a beautiful ritual object. The connection to the theme, this Parcel Gilt Silver Ewer plays an integral role in daily offerings, which are a meaningful expression of gratitude. This elaborate ritual hour is intended for pouring liquid offerings on a daily basis and during initiation ceremonies and other rituals as well. It could have been part of a monastic setting or a lay household shrine ritual object. It is a fine example of the exquisite silver metal work with traditional Tibetan symbols and aesthetic elements found in ritual items from the region. The central decorative motif

on the belly of the vessel is a gilt dragon surrounded by the eight auspicious symbols of the Tibetan Buddhism, which are highlighted in gold. The spout emerges from the mouth of a water monster known as Makara. The base is in the pattern of a stylized lotus. This is akin to many sculptures from the region. Now let's bring on our teacher for today. Our teacher is Kimberly Brown. Kimberly Brown is a meditation teacher and author. She leads classes and retreats that emphasize the power of compassion and kindness meditation to reconnect us to ourselves and others. She studies in both the Tibetan and Insight schools of Buddhism

and is a certified mindfulness instructor. Her latest book, Happy Relationships, 25 Buddhist Practices to Transform Your Connection with Your Partner, Family, and and friends was released in February. You can learn more about Kimberly on her website meditationwithheart.com. Kimberly, thank you so much for being here. Please help me in welcoming Kimberly Brown. So this month at the Rubin, our theme is gratitude. And psychologists say that generating gratitude, keeping gratitude lists, you know, feeling thankful, that this is the easiest way to feel happy. And certainly, you know, Buddhism understands that there's a correlation

between having appreciation and having good feelings. But that is not the only reason in this tradition that we are thankful and practice appreciation. thankful and practice appreciation. Because in the Buddhist tradition, cultivating gratitude is a wisdom practice. Because it requires us to be mindful. It requires us to really pay close attention to what is true, what we have, our resources and our support, and reminds us that we have so much. And of course, we have so much even in difficult circumstances. You know, we can use our clarity, our good sense, even when things are upsetting, we can be glad for the people in our lives, for clean water, for having clothes to wear.

We can feel glad for our job and for having enough health, for just being alive, actually. And something else to be grateful for and to really delight in is your own beautiful qualities. That means your patience, your love, your compassion, your good sense, your generosity. All of the wonderful aspects of you. And I found with my students and most people I know, including me, that we don't pay enough

attention to all of our own goodness. Many of us feel like maybe we don't have any good qualities or maybe we don't have enough of them. Or some people are only seeing their negative qualities and really just ignoring, neglecting the fact that they have all of these worthwhile and wholesome gifts. So if you're listening to this podcast, I know you have kindness and caring by the fact that you're listening to it signals that. And I also am very sure that just in the past few days,

you have expressed that through your actions. Maybe you made dinner for someone, for your family. You opened a door for a stranger who was holding packages. You helped out a family member or a colleague. Maybe you prayed or just in your mind wished someone a fast recovery or good luck. And that matters. And another way that we don't pay attention to these beautiful qualities that we all have is sometimes there's a sense of, oh, I can't really celebrate the fact that I mowed the neighbor's lawn and that was a nice thing to do. I can't really celebrate that because that's what, you know, neighbors do. That's what people are supposed to do. It's not special. And I would like to remind you that even

if it is something not special or something normal and everybody does, it still deserves to be recognized and delighted in. And that's because what we notice and appreciate, appreciates. It helps us develop more confidence that we have these qualities. And when we don't overlook what we're about, our true selves, well, then we can be useful to the world, that we can recognize how meaningful even small actions are to ourselves and each other. So let's do a practice today that will remind ourselves of who we really are and to offer gratitude for all of our beneficial and affirmative and constructive intentions, actions, and mind states. Those are your beautiful qualities.

And have a seat somewhere comfortable. You can close your eyes if you'd like. But if you're tired today, just know you can keep your eyes gently open, just gazing down. That is also a correct way to practice meditation. Use your wisdom here. And I'd like you just to take a moment and understand why are you participating in this meditation today. You could be doing anything, really.

You could be watching TV, you could be going for a run, having drinks with your friends. But you're taking this time to practice gratitude, mindfulness, compassion. Take a moment to understand your motivation. And please say this motivation, this intention, say it to yourself silently or even out loud three times. and thank yourself. That's an expression of your deep wisdom. And you can put a hand on your heart and a hand on your belly.

Leave them here for the duration of our meditation, and begin to notice, pay attention to, experience your breath, the sensations of your body, and your own loving presence. Just noticing how your body does this for you. You don't have to do anything at all. You can enjoy your body breathing, the sensations of sound and light and smell, your feet on the floor. Just allowing yourself to receive, receive light entering your eyes.

And for a moment, placing your attention on sound. Sound is entering your ears. You can hear my voice, and you might hear the sound in your location. Or maybe you hear silence just for 30 seconds resting here and letting the sound come to you Bringing your attention to your hands, your hand on your heart, your hand on your belly. And I'd like you to connect with a person who loves you and who you love easily, not someone difficult,

a supportive, loving person, a reciprocal, kind relationship. a reciprocal kind relationship. And some of you may not have that in your life right now. You can consider someone from the past. You can also think of a pet, if you're lucky enough to have a loving pet. And you could consider someone who you've never met, but who has influenced you,

and you felt their love. A teacher, a therapist, an author. Many, many writers and teachers have affected me profoundly, and I've never met them. In my tradition, many people will think of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Even if you've never met him, you probably have felt his love and his caring. It's touched you. So make this connection to a loving being. Imagine or sense their presence here with you.

I'd like you maybe to visualize them, that they're sitting right here with you. See their gentle and loving eyes looking at you. Hear them say to you, I'm grateful for your love and kindness. I'm grateful for your life. Hearing them say to you, maybe they say your name,

I'm grateful for your love and kindness. I'm grateful for your life. I'm grateful for your love and kindness. I'm grateful for your life. I'm grateful for your love and kindness. I'm grateful for your life. And I'd like you to continue receiving this. Hearing this being say these words to you,

repeating them to you silently, just receiving them just for a couple of minutes. Thank you. Notice if you've lost your connection, and if you have, that's okay. Recollect. Put your hand on your belly and your hand on your heart. Visualize this person or this animal and hear them saying to you, I'm grateful for your love and kindness. I'm grateful for your life. And just for one more minute, hearing this, allowing yourself to receive it. Thank you. I'm grateful for your love and kindness. I'm grateful for your life.

And you can continue to connect with this loving being, even as they stop saying these phrases to you, and keeping them here, their presence with you as they're supporting and loving you, I'd like you to take a moment to think of a few times in the past week when you've expressed your beautiful qualities, when you've been generous or kind or loving.

Think back these past seven days. Maybe you celebrated someone's birthday. Maybe you texted your sister or another family member to see how they're doing. You might have given money to a good cause or given your time to volunteering. You might have fed your dog. You might have moved your car up a little bit so someone could park behind you. Any moment, however small you might think it is,

considering and understanding how meaningful this is, just taking a minute, kind of noting it in your mind. Thank you. And if any of you are struggling to think of moments this week that you have been kind and loving and generous and caring, right now is one of those moments. Thank you. of those moments. And I'd like you to really connect with yourself. Imagine you're looking in the mirror, keeping your hand on your heart and your belly and feeling your beautiful presence. And I'd like you to say to yourself, I'm grateful for my love and kindness.

I'm grateful for my life. I'm grateful for my love and kindness. I'm grateful for my life. I'm grateful for my love and kindness. I'm grateful for my love and kindness. I'm grateful for my life. And continuing just for another minute or two, repeating these phrases to yourself, like you're giving yourself a gift. Thank you. just checking in with yourself

see if you need to regather reconnect with your loving presence, your heart begin again if you need to I'm grateful for my love and kindness. I'm grateful for my life. And just for one minute more, repeating these phrases silently to yourself. Thank you. I'm grateful for my love and kindness. I'm grateful for my life.

And keeping your connection with yourself, with that loving person or animal. And maybe you imagine everyone you care about, your family, your friends, your pets. And, you know, for some of us, that's like three people. For some of us, it's like 30 people. It doesn't really matter. You're just bringing in everyone you care about

imagine they're here with you bring in a couple enemies or frenemies bring in all the animals you love if you imagine they're around you surrounding you and saying to all I'm grateful for all of our love and kindness. I'm grateful for all of our lives. I'm grateful for all of our love and kindness. I'm grateful for all of our lives. I'm grateful for all of our love and kindness. I'm grateful for all of our love and kindness I'm grateful for all of our lives you can repeat this feel this connection just for 30 seconds Thank you. May we all be grateful for the love and kindness of all beings. May we be grateful for the lives of all beings.

You can let go of the phrases. Bringing your attention to your hands. Light entering your eyes. Just let yourself experience this moment however it is unfolding. See if you can rest here just for 10 seconds. Whenever you're ready, you can open your eyes, stretch and move, and thank for that beautiful teaching on gratitude. Thank you.

That concludes this week's practice. To support the Rubin and this meditation series, we invite you to become a friend of the Rubin at rubinmuseum.org slash friends. If you are looking for more inspiring content, please check out our other podcast, Awaken, which uses art to explore the dynamic paths to enlightenment and what it means to wake up. Season four, hosted by Isabella Rossellini, delves into the Buddhist concept of attachment and explores how the practice of letting go can transform our experience of the world. Available wherever you listen to podcasts. And to learn more about the Rubin Museum's work

around the world, visit rubinmuseum.org. Thank you for listening. Have a mindful day.