Samatha Meditation Part 3: A Guided Practice For Foundations

This is a profound exploration of the practice of Samatha Meditation. This part of the 3-part series goes much deeper into the experience. Samatha Meditation is a foundational training that allows us to teach our mind to be still. This practice is the groundwork for more advanced practices of meditation.

Transcript

Welcome to today's class where we will be covering one of the foundational pieces of meditation. Samatha Meditation. An essential practice to understand in order to move into deeper states of meditation. So let us now travel within. Welcome to today's class on Samatha Meditation. There are two other videos, Part 1 and 2, That go along with this video. Those are more instructional and take you into the process of understanding what Samatha Meditation is and how to practice it. In today's meditation, I'm going to take you a lot deeper to a nice guided practice that you can practice on your own. Without further ado. . . Let's begin. Welcome to today's session. We're going to begin with the asanas. Now, When people think of yoga, They think of the asanas, The movements. However, Yoga is not just the movements. There's actually eight limbs to yoga, And movements are only one. But the asanas were designed to help people move into a deeper state of meditation. So that's why we're going to begin with the 15-minute yoga asana practice. So that we are able to go into a deeper state of meditation once we get there. Let's begin. Breathing in, Pulling palms to your chest. Exhaling. Breathing out. And into the sky with the backward bend, Getting a nice stretch. Exhaling. And two, Four. Forward bend. Excel. Feeling that stretch. Taking a few breaths. You Preparing to. Move into a question pose, We're going to take a breath in. Staying with the right foot back, Exhale. Breathing naturally at this point. This is great for the quads. Great for the left hamstring. Taking their last breath. Breathing in, Pushing back the left foot and into mountain pose. Excel. Feel free to pedal through. Getting a nice stretch in the lower legs. Breathing in as we descend in two. Stronger the mascara. Flattening out the feet. Sale. Breathing in as we extend up into Cobra. Option to twist. Gang and nice. Stretch into the spine. Preparing to ascend into mountain pose. Take a breath in. Excel. Breathing in, Stepping forward with the left foot. Exhale. Inhale, Rising into the forward bend. Breathing in as we ascend. Exhaling. Palms and chest. And to the side This is an excellent way to begin the day. Or even end the day. If you're doing this at the end of the day, It's a great way to release all this stress and tension that you've accumulated in the day. In the morning, It's a great way to. . . Wake you up. Here we go. Breathe in. Palms chest and into the sky. Exhale, Falling forward. Taking a breath. Feeling the stretch. Preparing to ascend in two. The question pose, Take our last breath in. Stepping back with the left foot. And exhaling. Breathing in. Raising into mountain pose. Excel. Go ahead and paddle through one more time. Pair induce. To descend To a stonger namaskar, We're gonna take a breath in. Excel. Relax. Arch the back. Inhale. Washing into cobra pose. Pulling the shoulders back. Taking your last breath in. Rushing into mount post. Stepping forward with the right foot. To find ourselves a due question. One last breath in. Pushing forward. Into your forward bend. Breathing in as we ascend to the sky. I mean, Thanks. The clouds to the sun. To the great weather, If you're having it right now. Exhale. And relax. Moving into our next sequence. Palm to chest. To the sky. And in 2. . . Warrior One. Fail. Arigato. Hey there. You can take a breath in. Into a twisted lunge. Exhale. Take a few breaths in this position. Preparing to unfold from here. Taking a breath in. Standing on my foot. Into pyramid pose. You can hold your ankles, You can challenge yourself. Touching the mat. Whatever is comfortable for you. Keeping you balanced. Providing a nice stretch. From here. We're going to try the pose, Taking a breath in. Unraveling from here, We're gonna move back into Warrior One. And to the sky. Relaxing palms to the side. Clubs raised. Chest into the sky. Stepping back with the left foot. And to Warrior One. Sinking the hips down. Taking a breath in and twisting. Twisted Lunch. Taking their last breath. Breathing in. Locking out the right foot. And in the triangle pose. Just relax here. Holding it to the ankles. Or having an extra challenge or two. Getting it deeper. Strats for putting your palms into the mat. Possible. If not, That's okay. Take in your last breath. Go ahead and inhale. Finding Triangle Posts. Breathe in as we swing around. Coming in to warrior one. And lag up. Palms to your side. Relax. We made it through the asanas. The body is relaxed, The stress is released. The tension that we've been holding. Has. Begun to. Move away from the from the joints. From the muscles. And we're prepared. For Giardina. The meditation. This is a Samatha meditation practice that we're going to be moving into. The practice of Samatha meditation. Is where we are going to be focusing on single points. Of interest for extended periods of time. As their mind moves away. Into the past, The future. We're simply bringing ourselves back to that object. We're going to move from focusing onto the breath. Focusing into the body. And eventually finding our way into the heart. Okay. All right, Go on, Go on. So. Let's begin. Go. Go. Go. All right. Let us begin. Breathing in calmly at this point. We are. Simply focusing on the breath. Moving away from any thoughts. This strengthens our ability to concentrate. To move into deeper states of meditation. This is the foundation. Practices. Allows us to get into deep states. Breathing in and exhaling naturally. Just go with the flow for now. It's super fun. Bring your mind to the breath. It's okay to think. However, When it. . . When the attention moves away from the breath, Simply bring it back. Relax the shoulders. Straighten the spine. We're going to move into a breathing practice that Helps really. Pull our mind into the breath. We're going to breathe in for four. Seconds. And hold for 4 seconds. Release for 4 seconds. Hold for four seconds. Breathe in. Four seconds, Repeat this pattern. You can pick a number that's comfortable with you. You you this practice of counting is going to. Slow the heart. And bringing the mind to the breath. Making it easier to settle into the breath. To stay in the present moment. From here, We can breathe naturally. It's film. Feel the calmness. To build the calmness. Don't need to worry. You don't know what you have to do at work. About the relationships in your life. Whether they're difficult or great. Or what you need to do in the future, This is the time. And bring yourself to the breath. Stay present. Bring the mind to the breath. I want you now to. . . Be aware of something very subtle that's happening. Always happening. Every second of our life. Subtleness of The body expanding. Every breath in. Breathe in deep, Feel the body expand. Feel it expand, Feel it expand. When you release the body. Collapses. Beware this motion. Concentrate on this. Take a deep breath in. Still the body expands. Will it collapse? Concentrate on this movement. Now it's you. With every breath. As you're focusing on the breath, Be aware. Also. And mostly on this expansion and collapsing. You know. Everything in existence is Certainly. Walking. The Rocks. Mountains. Buildings. To the human eye we cannot see. That everything is actually in motion. Peace. Expanding and collapsing. Movement is universal. Microscopic level. Things are not still. They are moving. Phantom Macro. Cosmic level. The universe is expanding. With every breath it takes. And it is collapsing. Everything is calm. The heart has slowed down. Concentration is locked in. Take a deep breath in. Will the expansion hold for 4 seconds? Release. Hold for 4 seconds. Repeat this pattern. Pick a number that's comfortable for you. Slowing down the heart and mind even more. Still concentrating on the expansion and collapsing of the body. We're gonna now shift our focus for a while. And shift our focus in two. The universe. Trying to expand our attention now as far as we can. Seen beyond our skies even. Beyond the sky. Try to become aware of this. Great universe that we are in. Stretch the mind. Far as it could go into space. Beware this fast. Last space that we're in. And with every breath. See this vast space expand. As we exhale. Fill this vast space. Collapse. You you Focus only on me. This. Stay away from the past. Of the future, Just bring your focus into that expansion. We're going to now descend into our final destination which is. . . Center or and go into the heart. Many say the soul sits in the heart. You've got lots of. . . Intelligence and wisdom that sits in the center. We're going to bring our attention. Into the heart. And focus only. Beware hell. It fills. Of the center fills. If your mood, If your mind is moving. Bring it to the heart. Feel the energy that sits in the center. WE ARE BIRD immense amount of love that sits in the heart. Loving everything actually. The Heart Center allows us to. Tap into that. Specific energy of love. Can give us guidance. In a way that the mind can't. When we are struggling. With some aspect of our life. They're overwhelmed. We are needing to make difficult decisions. Coming and sitting with the heart. Provides. Immense and very wise direction. It is the seat of our soul. Bring the mind to the heart. Builds energy. You That's it for the last few moments. Absorbing that energy. Concentrating on the heart. You Bye. As you move into your day. Recognize. How you feel after this meditation. The calmness, The steadiness of the mind. You may feel more focused. And the tasks that you're doing. You may fill. That's responsive to situations. More aware. Be aware of this. After you complete this meditation. Slowly let's come back. Slowly let's come back. Back to the present. We're back to our. . . Our breath, Our body. Unfolding from this meditation. Opening the eyes. Getting a little stretch if you need to. This kind of meditation is a foundational practice for accessing deeper states of meditation. It is a practice that helps improve concentration, Which is an important aspect. Of the meditative practice. So thanks again for joining this class. If you're enjoying these classes, Please leave a comment. And let me know. How you're using meditation, I'd really like to know. Right, Till next time. Namaste.