About IMC
Welcome to The Insight Meditation Community Of East Central Florida. We are a newly
formed group of mediators from the local area who have seen a need for an urban-based
meditation community. Our group meets once a week for two hours to meditate, discuss a
topic of the week related to meditation/Buddhism, and then hold an open forum for
class discussion. The facilitator of this group is Michael Kane who has several years of
meditation and retreat experience and devotes his time, as do others in the group, to share
there experience and help others create an open heart and mind. We also offer one to nine day
retreats through our sister organization, The Orlando Insight Group, led by Peter Carlson.
Our Practice:
In the demanding and fast paced world we live in we need to take time out to stop and look
inside, to create a space within ourselves in which to hold our inner world and to see clearly
what is true, what brings us joy and what causes suffering. We do this through the practice
of Insight and Loving Kindness Meditation.
Insight Meditation: (known as vipassana in the Buddhist tradition), is one of the central
teachings of the Buddha. Through careful and sustained observation, we experience for
ourselves the ever-changing flow of the mind/body process. This awareness leads us to
accept more fully the pleasure and pain, fear and joy, sadness and happiness that life
inevitably brings. As insight deepens, we develop greater equanimity and peace in the
face of change, and wisdom and compassion increasingly become the guiding principles
of our lives. At its heart is the practice of mindfulness, a practice that cultivates a clear,
stable and non-judgmental awareness. In meditation we develop mindfulness by
following the breath to gain concentration and equanimity and then open up to
include all of the sensations of body and mind. While mindfulness practice is
highly effective in helping bring calm and clarity to the pressures of daily life, it is also
a spiritual path, which gradually dissolves the barriers toward the full development of
wisdom and compassion.
The Buddha first taught insight meditation over 2,500 years ago after his enlightenment
under the Bhodi tree. From his enlightenment came the teachings which have helped many
to liberate them selves from suffering. The various methods of this practice have been well
preserved in the Theravada tradition of Buddhism and still help us today 2500 years later to
overcome life's difficulties and know true freedom. Through an easy and well charted practice
we to can be Buddha's, we to can walk the middle way.
Some of the physical and psychological benefits of meditation include, stress management,
feeling of centeredness & balance, improved concentration, improved function of the immune
system, decreased anxiety, quieter mind, increased alertness and more energy and Creates a
less reactive mind in the face of difficult emotions.
Loving Kindness Meditation: It is a fact of life that many people are troubled by difficult
emotional states in the pressured societies we live in, but do little in terms of developing
skills to deal with them. Yet even when the mind goes sour it is within most people's capacity
to arouse positive feelings to sweeten it. The object of metta meditation is to cultivate loving
kindness (love without attachment, non-exclusive love) towards all sentient beings. The practice
usually begins with the meditator cultivating loving kindness towards themselves, then their
loved ones, friends, teachers, strangers and finally their enemies. It is a good way to calm
down a distraught mind because it is an antidote to anger. Someone who has cultivated metta
will not be easily angered and can quickly subdue anger that arises. They will be more caring,
more loving, and more likely to love unconditionally. It is my opinion that one should spend
some quality time practicing Metta meditation as a new meditation student to generate kindness
for self and others. When we start to practice breath meditation we need to have a great deal of
kindness and patients for ourselves as we constantly lose our balance and then come back
to the breath over and over till we gain our concentration. The coming back to the breath
generates the kindness and equanimity we need to move forward in the practice.
formed group of mediators from the local area who have seen a need for an urban-based
meditation community. Our group meets once a week for two hours to meditate, discuss a
topic of the week related to meditation/Buddhism, and then hold an open forum for
class discussion. The facilitator of this group is Michael Kane who has several years of
meditation and retreat experience and devotes his time, as do others in the group, to share
there experience and help others create an open heart and mind. We also offer one to nine day
retreats through our sister organization, The Orlando Insight Group, led by Peter Carlson.
Our Practice:
In the demanding and fast paced world we live in we need to take time out to stop and look
inside, to create a space within ourselves in which to hold our inner world and to see clearly
what is true, what brings us joy and what causes suffering. We do this through the practice
of Insight and Loving Kindness Meditation.
Insight Meditation: (known as vipassana in the Buddhist tradition), is one of the central
teachings of the Buddha. Through careful and sustained observation, we experience for
ourselves the ever-changing flow of the mind/body process. This awareness leads us to
accept more fully the pleasure and pain, fear and joy, sadness and happiness that life
inevitably brings. As insight deepens, we develop greater equanimity and peace in the
face of change, and wisdom and compassion increasingly become the guiding principles
of our lives. At its heart is the practice of mindfulness, a practice that cultivates a clear,
stable and non-judgmental awareness. In meditation we develop mindfulness by
following the breath to gain concentration and equanimity and then open up to
include all of the sensations of body and mind. While mindfulness practice is
highly effective in helping bring calm and clarity to the pressures of daily life, it is also
a spiritual path, which gradually dissolves the barriers toward the full development of
wisdom and compassion.
The Buddha first taught insight meditation over 2,500 years ago after his enlightenment
under the Bhodi tree. From his enlightenment came the teachings which have helped many
to liberate them selves from suffering. The various methods of this practice have been well
preserved in the Theravada tradition of Buddhism and still help us today 2500 years later to
overcome life's difficulties and know true freedom. Through an easy and well charted practice
we to can be Buddha's, we to can walk the middle way.
Some of the physical and psychological benefits of meditation include, stress management,
feeling of centeredness & balance, improved concentration, improved function of the immune
system, decreased anxiety, quieter mind, increased alertness and more energy and Creates a
less reactive mind in the face of difficult emotions.
Loving Kindness Meditation: It is a fact of life that many people are troubled by difficult
emotional states in the pressured societies we live in, but do little in terms of developing
skills to deal with them. Yet even when the mind goes sour it is within most people's capacity
to arouse positive feelings to sweeten it. The object of metta meditation is to cultivate loving
kindness (love without attachment, non-exclusive love) towards all sentient beings. The practice
usually begins with the meditator cultivating loving kindness towards themselves, then their
loved ones, friends, teachers, strangers and finally their enemies. It is a good way to calm
down a distraught mind because it is an antidote to anger. Someone who has cultivated metta
will not be easily angered and can quickly subdue anger that arises. They will be more caring,
more loving, and more likely to love unconditionally. It is my opinion that one should spend
some quality time practicing Metta meditation as a new meditation student to generate kindness
for self and others. When we start to practice breath meditation we need to have a great deal of
kindness and patients for ourselves as we constantly lose our balance and then come back
to the breath over and over till we gain our concentration. The coming back to the breath
generates the kindness and equanimity we need to move forward in the practice.
