Change Your Mind Day 2008 was celebrated on June 7th, 2008. (The first Saturday in June)

In 1993 Tricycle (a Buddhist magazine in the United States) created Change Your Mind Day, “an afternoon of free meditation instruction, as a way of introducing the general public to Buddhist thought and practice. Tricycle decided to hold the teachings out of doors, as in the time of the Buddha, in the hopes of welcoming people who otherwise might shy away from the formality of a zendo or gompa.”

The organisation booked a hill in central Park and a few hundred people showed up for the first Change Your Mind Day.  There were newcomers as well as experienced meditators.

The following text is taken directly from Tricycle’s website:

“Seven Buddhist teachers from different lineages gave instruction. Allen Ginsberg and Philip Glass performed “Do the Meditation Rock.”  Maggie Newman got the crowd up on their feet to do twenty minutes of tai-ch’i. And a lone shakuhachi — a Japanese flute — ended the day as the sun began to set behind the trees.

Change Your Mind Day has since grown into a worldwide event and will now be held annually on the first Saturday in June. In response to growing interest, Tricycle began providing international access to this event in 2007 by hosting a virtual Change Your Mind Day. We now provide audio and video files of guided dharma talks on our website, thus making a growing library of dharma resources available to anyone with a computer.

In addition, the Tricycle website serves as the host site for Change Your Mind Days around the world. Some of these gatherings are large, and attract thousands of people, while others consist of a handful of people who sit together and read guided meditations from various Buddhist traditions. But whether attended by many or few, the event is always powerful, connecting thousands of silent sitters around the globe.”

Below is the link for more information:

www.tricycle.com/foundation/change.html

The reason I found out about “Change Your Mind Day” was a Sports Programme called “Grandstand” on ABC Radio. The show revolved around tennis, how the famous players get and stay “in the Zone” and how meditation and awareness can be helpful in getting and maintaining that intense focus that is evident in the very successful players. The commentators’ view was that some past tennis players had highly developed technical skills but could not maintain their focus so their careers never amounted to anything. It seems that intense focus is crucial for success in any field and that highly developed skills are only part of the story. Some food for thought here and all the more reason to meditate regularly.

Connie,

Your Yoga Partner

from

www.yogainahurry.com