It's good enough.
But where if it can always make it better?
I start with my feet.
Again,
Most of the time I meditate on the floor,
On a cushion,
But now I'm meditating in a chair,
In an office chair.
Good enough.
My feet.
I prefer my feet flat on the floor.
Again,
It's a warm climate up here so I've got no socks on.
I really enjoy the feeling,
Getting to be sensitive with my skin on this little mat.
This is a towel which is folded up on the floor,
This is very delightful.
At the same time I make sure my legs are comfortable enough,
They're not going to cause aches and pains later on.
And I adjust,
I fidget.
This is the time for fidgeting.
It's not just aimless fidgeting,
I'm always aware.
And what I'm doing is cultivating kindness to my body.
Just saying I care about you,
Legs.
I'm not going to make you totally comfortable because that's impossible,
But I'm trying to improve your state of comfort.
Once my legs and calves and knees and thighs are reasonably comfortable,
Then I go to my butt.
Making sure that's nice and loose,
Easy.
Then go up to my back.
This time of my life I like the straight back,
Little curve in the back,
Pretty sort of straight up.
If I notice any tightness anywhere,
I make sure I loosen it.
I let it go.
Let it be.
Loosening any things which are tight like my robes over my shoulder.
And experiencing the sensations in my shoulders.
This is just an exercise,
Don't follow it,
It tells you roughly how to relax.
Just imagine that these muscles are being pulled on each side,
Stretched.
It's like the tension.
Of course that's going to ache in a while.
So I just imagine,
I used to imagine these little monsters or demons,
Little things inside my body,
Just pulling those muscles apart.
I tell them,
Let go.
So they stop pulling.
It's only an imagination,
But it helps me to let go of the tension in my shoulder muscles.
I make it really relaxed.
I feel good.
So the muscles don't get tense during a meditation.
Down my arms,
Making sure they're okay.
I don't know why this,
I thought I just paid a bit more attention to my hands,
But I didn't.
So I'm going to do that now,
Making sure that the hands are nicely comfortable.
It's amazing how you've done it so many times,
But sometimes you still forget.
You pass over things.
Where's my hands and my fingers are all in a good position.
I didn't go too much through the front of my body.
If anything's happening over there,
Just go there.
Focus in with kindness.
And hopefully you get the feedback that that part of your body is opening up,
Relaxing,
Being at ease.
You're allowing the body to hear itself.
So many illnesses and disease come from tension,
Fear,
Anxiety.
Makes your body feel tight,
So things don't go there to do the job of keeping it healthy.
You're really loose.
And free.
It feels good.
Again,
Go up to my neck.
Still got a slight bit of hay fever.
There's heavy winds this morning.
That blows all the pollen all over the place.
Winds have stopped this afternoon.
So the hay fever is just not here right now for me.
Nevertheless,
I check and be kind to my poor throat.
I have to do so much talking.
Go to the front of my face.
All those muscles.
I can feel them.
My loose signal,
Relaxer.
Muscles around the eyes.
Pretty loose.
They're harder to close,
But they're not slammed down shut.
There's no fear in my posture.
They're on the nose,
The mouth.
Everything is loose and light.
I know it's that way because it feels relaxed.
And when it feels relaxed,
It soon brings up a feeling of,
For want of a better word,
Pleasure.
The joy of relaxation.
I see the whole body now.
Feel it from the toes,
The knees,
The thighs,
The back and the head.
So don't try,
But it's like you see it all together.
The body at peace.
Relaxed.
To the max.
I can feel an itch on the top of my head and my cheek,
But no need to scratch that.
I'll just make more itches.
So some things you just ignore.
Let it be.
It soon vanishes.
The whole body feels peaceful.
Joyful.
And it's the joy which you can perceive.
Which makes it easy to stay here.
The present place to be.
Especially for what you were doing beforehand.
What is moving around,
Doing things,
Going from one place to another.
This is an effortless peace.
So see it.
And being able to perceive the joy in this moment also enables you to be in the present moment.
If it's present here,
Then you stay here.
And in this moment,
Body relaxing.
After a while,
The body disappears.
It's like it's nothing to do with it anymore.
It's at ease.
Like a child you love is in bed,
Not fast asleep.
You can go and do something else,
Like some meditation,
For example.
Or your car,
All locked up in the garage,
All safe.
You can leave it alone.
Leave it around your body.
No fear.
You should go inside the mind.
You always have the perception of going inwards.
Not onwards,
But inwards.
Your mind now is helpful,
It's skillful to notice how peaceful you are.
Because peace is an important aspect of the mind.
Mind is not thought.
Thoughts are disturbances of the mind.
Peace is a deeper aspect of your mind.
So if you look at how peaceful you are,
You're beginning to become mindful of your mind.
And the kindness is how can it be more peaceful?
What disturbs you?
Your mind.
What disturbs your mind?
What pacifies your mind?
Simple things like present moment awareness.
Don't know what you have to do afterwards.
Right now is where your future is being made.
Right now is the only time you have.
The past,
Whatever happened,
It's gone.
You learn from the present much,
Much more than you ever learned from the past.
It's encouraging you to stay here in this moment.
That makes you more peaceful.
The other thing which makes you more peaceful is stopping this internal conversation,
Talking to yourself.
Instead of listen to me instead.
Listen to this moment.
Listen to your mind.
Because in the silence,
The peace starts to grow.
It becomes more powerful.
Being aware,
Without trying to describe what it feels like.
Not noting and saying any words.
Just knowing.
Just knowing this.
Try not to measure it,
Compare it to anything.
That will just take you back into the past.
As it is right now.
Peaceful.
Silent.
One thing to notice if you can,
If it's joyful,
Present to be in,
Silent,
Present moment awareness.
If it's present,
Then just stay here.
It's a pleasure which allows further disappearing to happen.
The bodhisukha comes from the mind.
If you are aware of your breathing,
Make sure it's just the one breath,
One part of the breath happening now.
Make sure it's a beautiful breath.
Delightful breath.
Once the breath appears delightful.
The mind is content to stay with it.
Stays and stays.
When you're content,
Time loses its power over you.
Time is only there to make you do stuff.
Cause discontent.
Contentment frees you from time.
Just in this moment,
A happy little meditator.
I'm going to be quiet now.
When I speak again,
We'll be close to the end of the meditation.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Now feeling close to the end of the meditation now.
How do you feel inside?
How peaceful are you?
What worked or what didn't work in this meditation?
The last few minutes of the meditation is where we can see our insights.
And how does your body feel?
Sitting here comfortably.
How clear is your mind compared to when you began?
So our hindrances get weaker,
Mind becomes clearer and more easy to see deeply into things.
Now I ask you to please observe three more breaths in and out,
In and out.
The end of the third out breath,
Open your eyes to finish this meditation.
After three more breaths.
And smile.
