Meditation Series
This fall, Yoga Matrika is offering a 12-week Meditation Series facilitated by Bhante Pema. This is a very unique opportunity in Pittsburgh to study and practice meditation. By making a 12-week commitment, you will start to see the benefits of regular practice over the course of three-months.
Dr. Josephine Briggs, the Director of the National Institutes of Health, National Center for Alternative and Complementary Medicine, says that, “It is now well established that the meditative state can be associated with changes in electrical function of the brain, and recent imaging studies suggest that there may actually be neuroanatomic changes as well.” In addition, a new study by the Public Library of Science suggests that regular meditation can have a significant impact on stress related illnesses. “The study found that in comparison to a control group of people who had never meditated, a group of regular meditators actually suppressed twice the number of genes that induce stress responses such as high blood pressure and inflammation in the body.Long term effects of the expression of stress-related genes can have very harmful effects on health, including high blood pressure or chronic pain. Those who meditate regularly are thus at a greatly decreased risk for developing these problems.”
According to NCCAM, over 20 million Americans practice meditation for a variety of health benefits. You can find out more about meditation and the types of research that are being conducted now regarding meditation and impact on specific health problems here.
Our course instructor, Bhante Pema, is a Buddhist monk and is currently the resident teacher and abbot of the Pittsburgh Buddhist Center. He is also working on a Ph.D. in Religious Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. While the instructor is a Buddhist monk, the meditation style and techniques that are taught in this course are secular and this is not a religious group and instruction in Buddhism is not provided. Everyone is welcome to learn these techniques to benefit their health and well being.
REGISTER HERE: $130 for 12-week course
Ven. Soorakkulame Pemaratana (aka. Bhante Pema)
Ven. S. Pemaratana was ordained as a Buddhist monk in 1986 and received higher ordination in 1997. His monastic training was under the tutelage of the most Ven. Attangane Sasanaratana Maha Thero at Sripathi Pirivena, Diyakalamulla, Kuliyapitiya, Sri Lanka. He holds a bachelor’s degree with first class honors in Buddhist Studies from the University of Peradeniya and a master’s degree in philosophy from the National University of Singapore.
He has lectured at the University of Peradeniya and the Buddhist and Pali College of Singapore. He conducts regular lectures and workshops in Buddhist teachings and meditation. The Transcultural Society for Clinical Meditation in Japan gave him the 2008 Haruki Award for his research paper on Meditation and Cognitive Behavior Therapy. He is currently the resident teacher and acting abbot of the Pittsburgh Buddhist Center.
Posted by Sharon Fennimore Rudyk, Owner and Director of Programs for Yoga Matrika, an intimate yoga studio located in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Discover more about our unique programs that explore the incredible healing power of yoga, breath and meditation on our website.
Yoga Works
I’m just about as committed, or perhaps even MORE committed, to the “Why?” as anyone. I think it’s a rather good question to be asked about anything from WHY is the Nobel peace prize winner suggesting that we increase our war activities to WHY do Pittsburghers call sprinkles, “jimmies”. Or, the yoga owner gasps, WHY should anyone do yoga? Just as committed as I am to the WHY, I’m simply frustrated at the infinite number of things that I can’t seem to comprehend or the number of WHY questions that I can’t get a satisfactory answer to. Will someone just give me the satisfaction of a BECAUSE… every once in a while?
If there is one thing that I know to be true and that is that YOGA WORKS. I mean, it works for EVERYONE—children, moms, men, women, older people, teens, injured and sick, athletic and healthy, flexible, idiots and genius alike (generally subjective measurements anyway!)—–yoga works in all cases and without exception. Why? I have no idea! I’m relatively convinced that any answer is only the beginning of an answer or even a fraction of the answer. I don’t care if you got this answer by measuring brain activity, hormone levels, blood chemicals, stress level, decrease in headaches, reported relationship satisfaction, increased fertility, etc. However you get your answer to the why of yoga, it’s only part of the story. The most terrifying thing about this kind of inquiry is that I wonder how many questions I have asked and found an answer to that I really only know the fraction of—maybe WHY just isn’t the right question and every BECAUSE is merely a PERHAPS in disguise?
I can think of two reasons why yoga decreases stress, makes us feel stronger and lighter and gives us energy and a feeling of bliss and joy:
1) We are moving in the most honest of ways and using our body to express, explore and respond to the environment around us instead of privileging the BRAIN and simply dragging the body around as a useful, but mostly frustrating appendage. So many people tell me that they can’t do yoga because they aren’t flexible or because they aren’t “the type.” If yoga was about touching your toes, then I can assure you gentle reader that 20 million Americans wouldn’t be doing yoga! And, I might ask, who is the yoga type and how do you know it doesn’t apply to you if you never try? As you are reading this, I happen to know that you are a live human and you have a body. This being the case, you are, in fact, just the right “type” for yoga. All you need is to be breathing and have a body and yoga will work for you!
2) Yoga is a vacation. When you practice yoga, you lighten your load—you slow down the breath, you take off your shoes and socks, you notice sensations in your body and you shut up. I don’t mean that you just stop talking. I mean that you stop talking, people stop talking to you and you can finally hear yourself think. For beginners, this is a terrifying moment because when you hear yourself think for the first time you can be overwhelmed to discover just how many thoughts you are having every minute or even every second. This flood of thoughts, ideas, feelings, desires, stories and much more just flood over you and once you become aware of this you start to say, “THINKING” and return your awareness to your breath. Ahhh—now isn’t that delightful? It’s not something you can say to your boss–right? Boss sticks her head in your cubicle and starts talking really fast about some immediate emergency double secret deadline and you can’t just say, “THINKING” and turn away! But in yoga, you even get a vacation from yourself and all the trappings and trimmings you have determined as elements of that self. You lighten your load by slowing down, removing obstacles to calm and getting out of your own way. You CAN say to yourself, “THINKING.”
So try a yoga class and move your body and breathe and, well, get out of your own way!
Posted by Sharon Rudyk, Owner and Director of Yoga Matrika (http://www.yogamatrika.com/) and Prenatal Yoga Pittsburgh (http://www.prenatalyogapittsburgh.com) in Point Breeze, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15217.
I’d like to give an appropriate reference to Pema Chodron, a most wonderful writer and teacher who suggests the concept of saying “Thinking” to yourself during meditation when you start to lose your focus or awareness. My personal favorite Pema Chodron title is, “The Wisdom of No Escape,” but you can try any title for excellent meditation information and practical advice and instruction.