Hello,
My name is Michelle.
And welcome to episode 17.
On freshness in meditation.
Happy to have you here.
And share another meditation topic.
So let's start with a five-minute silent meditation practice.
To become more aware of our present moment experience.
Just as it is without any expectation.
Assumption or effort.
So just being open to our immediate direct experience.
And I'm calling.
Up our seed of freshness.
Because we all have this quality within us.
And in this episode we are watering.
Regenerating and resetting our quality of freshness.
So let's sit now for five minutes.
Or so.
And see if we can become more present and aware.
Which naturally leads to.
.
.
The quality of freshness.
In our psyche.
So coming back.
Coming back to.
.
.
Our momentary experience.
Being more aware of our momentary experience.
And my hope is that.
We can both,
You and I.
Maintain closeness and nearness.
To our momentary experience.
Retain.
Even some contact with it.
So in the previous episode 16 I spoke about clarity in meditation.
And I'm continuing that theme.
By speaking about freshness in meditation.
In this episode.
When we're experiencing each moment in meditation.
The mind is working,
It's functioning.
In that there's an activity.
That keeps presenting data.
Or things.
A sight,
Sound,
Feeling,
Thought.
Stuff is arising.
In the psyche.
Or mind.
I feel psyche is a more holistic,
Much wider.
Deeper encompassing term.
Than the more cognitive.
Cerebral term mind.
So in experiencing the present moment,
There is a thing being experienced.
And a consciousness.
Noticing or experiencing it.
Or you could say observing it.
And then,
As the dogma goes,
There is a self.
Consciousness.
Doing the observing and noticing.
But we don't need to go down that road again.
So there's a thing being experienced but we don't want to make a thing about it.
There's observation and consciousness.
And even an ego.
But we don't want to make any of those things a thing.
So a careful amount of dissolution is needed.
To free up potentials for Awakening.
And change in each moment.
So newness or freshness of each momentary experience.
Involves interest and curiosity.
And this interest and curiosity.
Prevent us from slipping into familiar,
Habitual.
Patterns and structures and dogmas.
So freshness is about dissolving old structures of heart and mind.
But without losing the structure of manifest experience that holds us together.
And keeps us grounded.
In the present moment.
Freshness is letting go of assumptions,
Expectations.
Outcomes and goals.
Ideals,
Hopes,
Wishes,
Fantasies.
Letting go of our mental and emotional clutter.
And clearing past narratives.
So that we can set our mind in its natural state of being.
We're not setting it,
We're just resting or settling.
In the mind's natural state of being.
With past.
Structures.
Present and future structures clutter.
Coming and going.
And we're not attaching to anything.
So that we can experience a fresh new momentary experience.
So if we're not feeling our momentary experience as fresh.
And you Why are we not experiencing it as fresh?
What is.
.
.
Unfresh,
Stale or stagnant.
What is not dissolving?
In our momentary experience.
What's the stagnation?
What's not changing?
Or what's staying the same,
What's not new in our momentary experience.
And the answer to this is that.
.
.
In meditation.
We do tend to see.
Our staff,
Our issues,
Our complexes.
On Neurosis.
That's deeply ingrained.
Usually subconscious.
And it doesn't dissolve so easily.
We cannot let go of it so easy.
I think I called it a complex.
I mean.
.
.
If it's been there for many,
Many years and usually has.
It's almost a structure.
So in meditation.
If things are not fresh and new,
It's because we're holding on to something.
Something is there.
Something is stuck.
In our heart,
Mind,
Body.
Psyche.
There's something determined.
That we are holding on to.
Something predetermined.
Pass narrative script.
Pattern habit.
Or something that's holding on to you.
Something that we may be stuck in.
Something that may be stuck on us.
So this present moment experience What really is this present moment experience?
What is the grip of this experience?
Is it coming?
Going?
Is it old or new?
Is it repeating?
Or is it fresh?
Is there some loyalty,
Duty?
Dogma or habit.
That's making or helping you,
Making you feel secure.
Helping you to feel secure.
And how much of this pattern,
Habit or dogma or structure How much of it is really needed right now,
This moment?
Because freshness is experiencing.
Each moment anew.
Experiencing anew with new eyes.
New experience rather than relying on.
Outworn dogma obligation pattern habit or ideals and fantasies of what meditation should be?
Or casting.
The South.
In a role of a meditative person needing to use.
Some form of identity.
In meditation as being meditative.
It's thrilling!
Asking.
A lot to fix yourself in one roll.
Or pattern.
Or habit.
Or structure or form.
During meditation.
Of course there is some form,
But there's also formlessness.
And the form is just there to keep us grounded and present.
So that we can experience the formlessness.
The freedom which is new and fresh.
So is it really appropriate or kind to have these internal obligations,
Patterns,
Habits,
Duties for yourself in your meditation?
Having those.
Holding on to or fixing those patterns,
Habits,
Routines,
Structures.
Are they helping you to experience freedom,
Newness and freshness?
So it can be helpful to drop our assumptions.
Expectations and routines about what our meditation should be.
Freshness is about the end of the autopilot cycle of automatic habit.
Automatic expectation,
Assumption.
And instead allowing us to experience.
Without these expectations and judgments.
So freshness is about preventing repetition and routine.
And we do this.
By actively noticing the micro and subtle details of our present moment experience.
For example,
In each unique breath in your counting in your awareness of your bodily sensation.
Each taste in your mouth.
In each moment,
Maybe different.
The smell in your nostrils in each moment.
The weight and pressure of a specific area.
Part of your body.
May be different in each moment.
In fact,
Are different in each moment.
Bodily adjustments are always taking place,
Even subtly.
Tightness,
Looseness,
Tension,
Stiffness,
Pain or relaxation,
Softness,
Dryness,
Moisture,
So many things coming in and out of our awareness.
All this psychic call.
Bodily activity.
Hunger,
Digestion,
Bloating,
Distension.
Tiredness,
Fatigue,
Drowsiness.
Alertness Aliveness.
Wakefulness.
Joy sadness.
Much psychical activity,
Mental,
Emotional,
Sensorial.
Going on.
In the heart,
Mind and body.
So if we can honestly and truly meditate with acceptance of what's going on in each moment.
Acceptance of whatever noise,
Worry,
Judgment,
Anxiety.
That may be present in each moment.
If we can value.
Each and every experience just as it is.
Then there's the possibility for our meditation to be new and fresh.
So in Buddhism,
We have the term beginner's mind.
And it refers to approaching each moment with like like a child.
Like a complete beginner.
Approaching each experience or encountering.
Experience.
As unique.
Something new.
And therefore fresh.
A unique perception.
A unique thought in that moment.
So each thought in its own right.
Is unique to that moment.
Unique in its shape.
Texture.
Construction.
Each sound,
Smell,
Breath.
Pulse,
Heartbeat.
Is unique in each moment.
It's happening for the first time.
And it's happening now.
And it won't happen again.
Each momentary experience is happening now.
Is finished.
And gone forever.
And an entirely new,
Fresh experience.
Is happening now.
In the next moment.
A new breath in the next moment.
A new bodily sensation.
Or movement in the next moment.
A new perception.
Moment by moment by moment.
So beginner's mind is meditation.
As if it's our very first time.
We haven't meditated.
Before.
Each moment is a new moment.
And because this meditation,
This moment is our first moment.
Its new and fresh moment.
Because we have not experienced it before.
So beginner's mind is a bit like a child's mind.
One hasn't had the experience before.
There isn't any expectation.
Of what should be.
Of what's right or wrong.
What's allowed and what's not allowed.
It just is what it is,
Just as it is.
So beginner's mind or freshness.
Prevents our meditation from.
.
.
Being mechanical or routine.
And it enhances our awareness.
To notice the subtle momentary changes.
To notice each breath,
Each movement,
Each sensation,
Each thought,
Each feeling,
Each mood.
Each momentary experience that is new.
And fresh.
That hasn't happened before.
So we generate this freshness in our meditation.
Through the first time check.
The aha moment.
That is a fresh new experience.
Often referred to as wonderment.
Which I imagine I will be.
Speaking about,
Teaching about.
And speaking of that,
Through my speaking.
My public speaking.
Probably in the next episode.
Or the next few episodes.
So there's a sense of wonderment because it's brand new,
The experience.
So we can treat each inhalation as new and unique and different because each inhalation in breath is unique and different to the previous one and the next one.
We can treat each exhalation,
Each out-breath as unique and different.
It's the first and last time that you will have This out breath.
It's a birth and a death.
This exhalation.
And the next exhalation is born.
And will die.
And we can notice the uniqueness of each inhalation,
Of each exhalation.
We can notice the exact texture.
Peace.
Speed,
Rhythm.
Temperature.
Depth Bleh.
What is this next?
In breath.
Lie.
How can we fully experience in micro detail?
Itch.
In breath.
And each out breath.
So experiencing the noises.
In my home.
How can I let go of any goals or expectations?
For this recording.
Rather than anticipating or expecting.
A specific experience or.
.
.
Trying to achieve an ideal.
State of being.
For this recording.
Trying to achieve or expecting ideal conditions.
For this recording.
So embracing impermanence.
And remembering that nothing no two moments or two days or two recordings or two conditions.
Are the same or identical.
And whatever arises.
In one's inner life.
In one's environment.
Is different and entirely new and unique in each moment.
So grounding ourselves.
In each present moment with compassion.
So that we re-engage with our immediate direct experience here and now.
Exactly as it is.
Without any expectation,
Grasping.
Any desire for it to be.
Anything different to what it actually is.
One of the ways that beginner's mind or freshness can we can notice its absence.
Is when our meditation feels routine.
Or stale or stagnant.
And We don't have that.
Experience of newness and freshness.
And we can.
Remedy this.
By changing things up.
We can introduce some variety.
Perhaps swapping a silent sitting.
Meditation for a guided meditation We can change.
Our anchor.
The focus on a difference.
Sense.
Like focusing on sounds rather than focusing on your breath.
Or you can change your meditation posture.
So you can have a different meditation experience.
At a different time,
In a different place.
So,
It's new,
It's not always the same.
It can be formal and informal,
Sitting,
Walking and moving meditation.
So there are many ways,
Many things you can do to reintroduce the feeling an atmosphere,
An experience of beginner's mind.
In your meditation.
So coming to the close of this episode,
I can hear.
.
.
Some music in the background but My IT Manager May tidy up this recording after after it's recorded as usual.
So you may,
You know,
May not be able to hear the music that's starting.
So.
.
.
I am going to make an assumption now.
That my IT manager will.
Create silence for us as we sit together.
And the artificial machine-made silence that he will create for you.
Is not the experience that I'm going to be having while sitting here with you and for you now.
So I'm going to sit now.
In silence.
In silence in terms of no longer speaking myself.
But I will be experiencing.
The sounds in other rooms in the house coming from family members.
I am experiencing the sound coming from the wind.
In the trees in the garden outside my window.
I can hear some music in another room.
I can hear the wind in the trees in the garden.
I can hear my breath,
My in-breath and out-breaths.
I can feel different sensations in my body.
So as we sit together here now.
Experiencing many,
Many,
Many unique Experiences,
Brand new experiences in each moment.
That are happening now.
In these unique moments.
And will not happen again like this ever again.
So I can.
Give you an example of the unique experiencing.
That I'm having now at this moment in these five minutes of silence with you.
And after I've given this very brief description.
Of my unique experience now.
I'll continue sitting in silence.
And the invitation.
Is for you to notice.
Your unique experience now as you sit with me in silence.
So simply noticing.
What's happening?
What's going on in your body,
In your heart,
In your mind,
In your environment?
In your psyche.
In the atmosphere.
Noticing everything going on.
Within you and around you.
In your perception,
In your psyche.
In these moments we have together now.
At the end of this episode.
And we can take some more minutes.
To just sit.
And realise.
That these moments are unique.
So I'm noticing my abdomen.
Rising and falling.
And the rhythm is not uniform.
The rhythm of my breathing is not uniform.
Each rise and fall is completely different.
And I can hear my disabled brother next door.
Playing songs on his radio I can see the wind.
Swaying the leaves in the trees outside my window in the garden.
I can feel sensations in my legs.
In my neck and shoulders.
I can hear my voice,
The sound that I'm making.
And the sound I'm making is not uniform,
It's changing.
Constantly.
And the change of the sound.
Is in direct relation to my feeling tone.
Etc.
Etc.
So let's sit now and see how many things you can notice.
In your momentary experience.
So coming to the close of this episode on freshness in meditation.
Feeling a little bit more settled.
In a natural state of being.
Feeling a bit more present and aware of our momentary experience.
So thank you for listening and I hope you find some of this teaching helpful in some way.
Bye for now.
