Practicing Beginner's Mind

For the beginner, possibilities are many. For the expert, possibilities are few. -Suzuki

Learning and practicing to experience each moment as a reflection of what it is and nothing more, curates presence. This is a practical matter, not a spacey or lofty spiritual pursuit. This exercise brings beginner's mind into practice.

I don't script my sessions. I speak from knowing through direct experience.

Transcript

In the beginner's mind possibilities are many. In the expert's mind possibilities are few. That is a little chunk of wisdom from a dude named Shunryu Suzuki. He's a Zen master and I think what he was getting with that was about the nature of mind. We've got this mind that has evolved over millions of years and we were once hunted by by lions. So what was really useful was a mind that was obsessively judging and categorizing. What's this? Is this dangerous? Is this safe? Big? Small? Green? Blue? Right? Ferocious? Gentle? Those of us with the most obsessively judgmental minds survived and we are their descendants. So we have the most obsessively judgy judge Judy categorizing and judging minds. Right? All day long. All day long. We're just experiencing a deluge of judgy thoughts and we can engage with those thoughts in different ways. The beginner's mind is the approach of experiencing what is without bringing those thoughts into the equation. It's really nice to say, Hey don't pay attention to your thoughts. Well that doesn't work if you really don't understand or don't learn how to practice engaging with your your thoughts or retraining your mind. So here's a practice that you can do that'll give you a little space and help you understand the beginner's mind and experience beginner's mind. Instead of just reading about it saying, Wow what a neat thing, Got to remember to do that. Here's a practice that will allow you to experience beginner's mind and begin to live beginner's mind because that's how it works. You learn something intellectually, You integrate it into practice and then it becomes wisdom through experience. Okay so this is the practice. Begin breathing and noticing your breath. Notice the feeling of the breath as you inhale and notice it as you exhale and I don't mean kind of notice it while you're thinking about how big of a jerk your boss is. Focus all, All of your awareness on just your breath. When a thought arises, Allow the thought to drift away like a cloud in a sky. Your mind is the sky, The cloud is the thought. The sky doesn't care what type of cloud is floating through it, What shape the cloud is, How big the cloud is. It's just a cloud floating by. Each breath, Each exhale is a new moment. Bring all of your awareness to that moment, To the experience of the breath and just the breath. Thoughts are persistent, They will keep arising. Simply allow the thought, Allow the thought. I'm gentle with it, Allow it to drift away like a cloud and bring all of your awareness to your breath, To the inhale, The coldness on the tip of your nose, To the exhale, Maybe the heat in the back of your throat. Let's practice this for a minute and take a deep breath in and exhale. Whether that was really easy for you or really, Really challenging for you, It's beginner's mind. Typically, It is pretty challenging for all of us because of the natural state of your mind and how thoughts work, How our minds work, Unless, Until they're trained. So take this with you and practice entering a new moment with each breath, Entering a new moment every breath. If you're walking down the street, Every step or new moment, New moment. And try to feel the new moment in all of you. You're stepping into a brand new moment with no baggage, No past and no expectations of a future. The only place that is, Is now. And we get there by learning to practice beginner's mind. Be good.