All defilements are self liberating is the great space of awareness.-- The Buddha

With the skillful guidance of teacher Andrea Fella, members of the Honolulu sangha (ranging in age from 13 to the elderly) focused for one week on bringing mindfulness to our habitual patterns. Through daily life mindfulness practice, we learned to illuminate our troublesome mental patterns with interest and attentiveness. Emphasis was placed on noticing when we "wake up" in the midst of our activities, becoming mindful of what is happening as it happens.

We discovered that daily life offers a rich variety of possibilities for practice. We each chose a simple task repeated many times during the day (e.g., standing up or walking through doorways), a more extended task repeated less often during the day (washing hands, doing the dishes, making the bed), and one habit of mind we wished to become more aware of. Some examples of mental habits that sangha members chose to work with were right speech, which many of us regard as an advanced and challenging practice, and procrastination.

Working with the support of the other sangha members who reported back about their experience was very motivating; compassion for ourselves and others was one of the many fruits of this practice.

There are plans for meeting each month to continue with this daily life practice and learn from mindfulness of our patterns.  The project is really about waking up through the great space of awareness.

Andrea’s passionate commitment to the dharma inspired us all during our week of practice. We are grateful for her guidance and wisdom.  Some of her dharma talks can be heard at http://www.audiodharma.org/talks/AndreaFella.html