ABOUT THE MEDITATION
This week’s meditation session led by Jon Aaron and the theme is: Balance.
The guided meditation begins at 13:02
For centuries Himalayan practitioners have used meditation to quiet the mind, open the heart, calm the nervous system, and increase focus. Now Western scientists, business leaders, and the secular world have embraced meditation as a vital tool for brain health.
Whether you’re a beginner, a dabbler, or a skilled meditator seeking the company of others, join expert teachers in a forty-five-minute weekly program designed to fit into your lunch break. Each session will be inspired by a different work of art from the Rubin Museum’s collection and will include an opening talk, a twenty-minute meditation session, and a closing discussion.
RELATED ARTWORK
The name Vajradhara means the vajra holder or the vajra bearer. In Tibetan, Vajradhara is referred to as Dorje Chang. Vajradhara is the personification of the enlightened state. He is the primordial Buddha. Vajradhara is typically seated in a cross-legged position, as depicted here, with his two hands folded across his heart holding a vajra and a bell. The vajra and bell signify the union of all dualities. The vajra symbolizes compassion and the bell represents wisdom. The vajra is held in the right hand and the bell in the left. When the arms are crossed it symbolizes that the two forces are united, representing enlightenment. As we gaze upon Vajradhara may we be inspired to create a greater sense of balance between wisdom and compassion in our own lives.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jon Aaron teaches meditation, Buddhist dharma, and is a Somatic Experience Practitioner® in New York City. He is well known as a teacher of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) as well as a trainer of new teachers of this seminal eight-week curriculum. Among his primary interests are the use of meditation and somatic work in healing trauma and working with individuals with chronic pain and grief. Recently he has been teaching for the New York Police Department in an eight-hour intervention called Cultivating Mindfulness: expanding the capacity of mind and body to work with stress, anxiety, and trauma. He is a co-founder of the MBSR Teacher Collaborative of Greater New York and a founding member of the Global Mindfulness Collaborative, and is a long-time teacher at New York Insight Meditation Center. When the pandemic hit, along with his partner he co-founded Space2Meditate, an online community of meditators that is still going strong six days a week. Learn more about Jon Aaron on his website.
This program is presented in partnership with Sharon Salzberg and teachers from the New York Insight Meditation Center, the Interdependence Project, and Parabola Magazine and supported by the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism.
