Overcoming Inner Chatter

Here is something that can help as a remedy: as soon as you notice your inner narrative, bring your attention to the tip of the tongue, place it against the palate, just behind the upper teeth, and concentrate on the sensation of touching the palate, rather than on the content of your thoughts. Stay for a while with your focus on that point of touch between the tongue and the palate to land again in calmness, in the serenity of stillness, and achieve a fresh, clear mind.

Transcript

During Zazen,

Sit with all your energy as if the entire planet was revolving around the verticality of your spine.

Instead of losing time,

Engaging in an inner dialogue,

Focus your attention on just the posture,

Follow the rhythm of your breath,

Just sitting,

Fully sitting,

In full attention,

In full presence,

As in embodied awareness.

Usually it doesn't take long before our mental engine starts the inner chatter again,

An inner dialogue,

As if we were endlessly replaying an old record.

Such inner dialogue stands in the way of the direct experience lived here and now.

It obstructs us from being fully absorbed in the present moment.

While we are engaging in inner dialogues,

We cannot surrender to reality and find acceptance and peace.

Here is something that can help as a remedy.

As soon as you notice your inner narrative,

Bring your attention to the tip of the tongue.

Place it against the palate,

Just behind the upper teeth,

And concentrate on the sensation of touching the palate,

Rather than on the content of your thoughts.

Stay for a while with your focus on that point of touch between the tongue and the palate,

To land again in calmness,

In the serenity of stillness,

And achieve a fresh,

Clear mind.

About this inner dialogue,

Master Wan Chi says,

When in the serenity of the stillness,

Every word is forgotten,

Bright clarity appears for you.

When you reflect it,

You become vast.

When you embody it,

You are spiritually uplifted.

Tuning in to full presence enables us to align ourselves with the depths of our being,

To rediscover our normal state of freedom,

So that the vast dimension of the heart's intelligence can flow and unfold freely.

This intelligence of the heart nurtures a mind that doesn't stagnate in habit,

That doesn't stagnate in what it already knows,

In automated,

Conditioned patterns.

It nourishes a mind that naturally opens up,

To become fully available to the new and unforeseen circumstances that occur in our lives,

Without obstruction,

Without entanglement,

Really free.