Hello,
I'm Chelle from Sydney,
Australia,
So way down under.
Thank you for joining me.
This reading is from Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and the wonderful Plum Village community,
From their book,
Planting Seeds,
Practicing Mindfulness with Children.
But this beautiful story and metaphor as an explanation of a mindful meditation practice is not just for the young,
But especially for us young at heart,
And that's what I particularly love about it.
So find a comfortable position,
Sit back for a moment or two with me in this present moment,
And allow me to share this short extract from the book with you.
Becoming Clear.
Thich Nhat Hanh says,
Before I set up Plum Village,
I lived in a hermitage about an hour and a half drive from Paris.
It was set on a hill surrounded by woods.
One day,
A family that had fled Vietnam as refugees arrived.
The father was looking for a job in Paris,
And he asked me to take care of his five-year-old daughter,
Thuy,
Which means water.
Thuy and another child were staying with me there,
And we agreed that when it was time for the evening sitting meditation,
They would go to sleep and not talk or play anymore.
They would be very quiet as I put on my robe and lit a stick of incense before sitting meditation.
One day,
Thuy and a few other girls were playing near the hermitage,
And they came in to ask for water to drink.
I had some organic apple juice a neighbor had given me,
I offered each a glass.
The last serving of apple juice went to Thuy,
Who did not want to drink it because there was so much pulp inside it.
She left it on the table and went out again to play.
About an hour later,
She came back in really thirsty,
Looking for water.
Again,
I pointed her to the glass of apple juice and asked,
Why don't you drink that?
It's very delicious.
She looked at the apple juice and saw it was now very clear,
Because after an hour or so,
All the pulp had sunk to the bottom.
She was now very happy to drink it.
Then she asked me,
Why the apple juice had become clear?
And I answered that it had been practicing sitting meditation for an hour.
Ah,
She understood,
Because we left the glass there for an hour,
It kept very still and became clear.
She said,
Now I understand why you practice sitting meditation,
You want to become clear.
I said,
Yes,
You understand what sitting meditation means.
If you know how to sit,
How to put yourself in a stable physical position,
If you know how to if you know how to handle your in breath,
And your out breath,
Then after some time,
You become peaceful and clear.
That is why we do sitting meditation every day.
We imitate the glass of apple juice,
Or the apple juice imitates us.
I hope you enjoyed this lovely little piece,
Becoming Clear.
Now let's just take a few more moments here together.
Let's draw a long,
Slow,
Deep breath in,
Really notice that we are inhaling,
We'll get comfortably full with the breath in,
And then follow slowly all the way out as you breathe out.
Noticing that exhalation.
Let's do this mindfully a few more times.
Taking your awareness to your breath.
And as Thich Nhat Hanh's words say,
In out,
Breathing in,
I know that I am breathing in,
Breathing out,
I know that I am breathing out,
Settling any sediment in our mind.
As we notice our breath coming in,
And then releasing out with any impulse or urge,
Discomfort or thought arising,
Do not take the bait to jump away from the present moment,
And from your breath,
Just let it float or pass or reside and settle.
Again,
Like the pulp,
By not stirring it.
The in out breath,
Pausing that overthinking,
And practicing to come back here to reside,
Body mind together,
And not separated.
We come back here to the present moment.
And just witness how that breath takes you from the thinking mind,
When we practice,
We become a little clearer,
A little less clouded with thought.
The mind like the juice,
When it is constantly stirred up,
Turbulent,
It is difficult to see,
But when we calm it all down,
Everything becomes clear.
And as you feel and witness your next inhalation,
Let's also lift our hands to our heart as the chest lifts and expands.
Joining our hands together in Anjali Mudra,
Palms together,
And then we'll gently bow our heads.
Let's honor each other with love,
Kindness and compassion,
And then we'll raise our thumbs to our brow.
As we bow ourselves a little bit deeper,
We'll take this last moment to honor ourselves with love,
Kindness and compassion also.
Namaste.
Namaste.
Thank you for joining me for this short moment together,
This short reading,
And I will see you next time.
From the yin side,
This is Shell.
Namaste.
