I Catch My Breath with Bhante Sahti

I interviewed a Buddhist monk today for my Intercultural Communication class. He was very gracious to be willing to share with me some of his insight into the value of meditation. "Bhante" means teacher and although it was only a 20-25 minute interview I felt like I learned alot from him. It will be fun to have that video as a resource. After I edit the video I'll come back and past the clips here.

In the meantime here are a couple of notes:

"ama" - female teacher

"dana" - the practice of generosity or giving, not asking for provisions. This is a value Bhante Sahti practices and the way he is able to be provided for by his students who freely donate money after each session.

"What the Bleep Do We Know"-documentary or movie that Bhante Sahti recommended especially for college age students.

Bhante Sahti website: http://www.triplegem.org/

I used to give a meditation assignment to my Intercultural Communication class when it came to the chapter on cultural values. The United States is a doing culture and so it is very difficult for people to "take the time" to meditate because many feel they should be "using the time" to do other items on their "to do" list. He advised that first time meditators should go to a class where they can be fascilatated by a leader trained in meditation. That way they aren't picking up bad habits or thinking they're meditating if they're not.

He also commented on the fact that meditation has become commercialized and that there's alot of books out there that may be misleading.

All one really needs is to stop, listen, and go badk to their own breathing. I commented that I thought this was interesting as in US culture we have the phrase "I have to catch my breath"--we push ourselves going so hard trying to do so many things that we sometimes lose our breath and almost quite literally need to "catch" it.

Guess I have some more studying to do myself before I can better teach my students on the cultural practice of meditation. I think this video interview today is a great start.