Finding The Flow

Listen in as Meditation Teacher Brandt Passalacqua describes "Finding The Flow" in our meditation practices, or in his words "swimming downstream in the waters of our own nature." In this episode, Brandt talks about the concepts of samadhi and how teachers and teaching are important, but "the real gift is actual experience of consciousness." He also leads a 5-Kosha Meditation.

Transcript

There's lots of aspects to practice, But finding the flow is a large part of it. And so, Let's talk about that a little bit and read you a few sutras that I think might be helpful for all of us to contemplate as we go into this. But one thing that eludes a lot of people, Including myself occasionally, Is that it practices a gift. It is an opportunity for us to kind of swim downstream in the water of our own nature. And as we're swimming downstream, It's like we're feeling the currents that naturally propel us. They're already there, But practice is an opportunity to actually feel those currents. And when we're in the flow like this, Practice is easy because we're not really doing any work. And often it can feel like work, And that can be a detriment to practice. But practice can also feel like a break from our ordinary experience, Which you could say is contracted. And it's not that we are contracted, It's just that our consciousness itself is slightly contracted, So we feel things a little differently. But when we're in the flow and we're going downstream, We have a chance to feel something that, In yoga, We call samadhi. So in the Valladha Sutras, There's some nice translations of how to think about this. And one goes like this. Free of attachment, Your true self will shine in the purity of samadhi. Consciousness slices open the night sky. Wisdom and truth spell out, Overflowing in the downpour of stars. And those sutras are pointing us to that we feel the wisdom and truth when we're kind of flowing downstream in our bodies and our minds. It's a felt experience. But of course, Sometimes this is difficult, Because we're people, And that flow eludes us. And we seek to change the channel and get back into it by getting help, If we're smart. And that smart comes from looking at teachings, Listening to teachers, And we're hoping that these things will nudge us back into the flow. And it's important to remember that the flow is always there, And we're always in it. It's just that our consciousness contracts and we don't feel it. So what the sutras remind us is that while teachers and teachings are a gift, The real gift is the actual experience of consciousness. So here's his translation of that. The truth of wise teachers and great books are gifts. The truth you discover through reason is a treasure. The most rare and precious jewel is the truth of experience. Experience Samadhi, Experience your true self, And become truth itself. So this is why we're here today. It's to give ourselves the gift of experience. And maybe right now even we're all getting nudged by thinking about it, But it's really the sitting and practicing that will do it. And as we return to practice over and over again, Whether it's day after day or week after week or right now minute after minute, We will have many experiences of becoming truth itself. It is happening. It's going to happen right now as we sit. And that experience itself is Samadhi. It's the thing that we're looking for. And when that happens, Pathways are cleared, The mind becomes fit for feeling the flow more regularly. And as a side, Which is important to us, But really as a side thing, We get what we actually seek in the moment, And that could be a little different for each of us, But generally it goes something like happiness, Contentment, Peacefulness, Better relationships. That all comes from the experience of being in the flow, Which we're going to do right now. And just know that no matter how many times you fall out of it, Even in a brief 30-second period, That gift is being bestowed on you over and over and over again. And if you're new to meditation, I'd just like to add that that can be a little hard to understand if you've meditated for a while. So there's a little faith involved, So if you're here for a certain reason, If you'd like a particular thing to be better for you, Just know that these practices are designed to help you get there with all this in mind. So it might not seem linear at first, But it is. So today we're going to practice three meditations, All of which are from the Course. I've got some slight differences today, But generally if you've done the whole Course, You would know what they are. The first one is going to be the Five Kosho Awareness Meditation, And that's to open our minds more into our full awareness. So it's in a way a prep meditation, So that our minds are open and soft and prepared to feel things. And then we're going to do a meditation that involves the central channel, The base heart and asana chakra, So what is in essence a central channel meditation, Because as we focus on the central channel, It expands our ability to have a natural awareness of the flow we've been talking about. And then the third meditation is the Prana as Consciousness Meditation. After those two meditations, We'll be much more open to finding that natural awareness and feeling the power of consciousness itself. And so the first two are preps for that. So they're in this order, And every day is an experiment, So they will experiment with using those in that order and seeing where they land. But my hope is that you'll enjoy the day, And that as you meditate, You'll feel, Maybe today we can all orient towards a little more sense of ease. So I'm going to ask everybody to not try super hard, Not feel as if they need to be in any particular place. When you're looking to find the flow, The funny thing is you have to not try to find the flow. So we're going to try to be as open and as comfortable as possible, And so in a physical way, That means being comfortable. Feel free to move your positions between meditations. You'll see me sitting most of the time, Probably all the time, But if you have to move during a meditation, That's fine. If you have to change positions, You're also welcome to lie down as long as you don't pass out if you want to stay awake. That's fine too. But you want to be physically comfortable, And you don't want to be fighting your body as much as that's possible. So most meditation is done upright, And that's because like today we're meditating for a couple hours and it's very easy to fall asleep while you lie down, But that's the only reason. So if that's more comfortable for your spine and all that, Feel free to do that. On the other side, Try not to move when you don't need to. So we all have our habits of sort of adjusting, And that's fine. If it comes naturally, It's fine, But if you notice yourself with a, Especially if you haven't done longer meditation before, You may notice yourself itching, Twitching, Lots of impulses to do lots of things, And that's because your mind is trying to knock you out of the experience because it's not what it's used to, And that's the only reason it's trying to do that. Think of your mind as somebody you have to help and be like, No, It's okay, We're sitting here for a couple hours, Then I promise we'll go back to our regularly scheduled program. For me, That would be shoveling. For you, That might be something else, But until 1230, We will not be moving. So just let yourself know that. Okay. Any questions before we begin? Great. So we're going to start with a five kosha awareness meditation. So find yourself comfortable. In a way, It's ideal to have the eyes closed because it draws our attention inward. For some people, That just is very distracting because the thoughts move so quickly. We aren't able to meditate, So if that's you, Feel free to have your eyes slightly open, And the best way to do that is to just let the light in through your eyes so they're at least three quarters closed, So you're not really looking at anything, But that might help. So that's one of those two options. And let's begin by feeling a few breaths in and out together. So nice, Long, Slow inhale, And if you can, Let the belly expand. A nice, Long, Slow exhale, Feel the belly contract. Just take two more breaths like that. Long, Slow inhale, Belly expanding. Long, Slow exhale, Belly contracted. And one more breath. Inhaling. And exhaling. And now feel your whole body, So whatever that means to your mind right now, Feel your whole body here in space. See where your mind naturally wants to land in your body for a moment, See anything attracting it. Now we'll spend a few minutes bringing our awareness to different parts of the body. Your only job is to simply notice that part of your body with your mind's eye. You don't have to adjust it or do anything different. Move your attention to each part of the body as I guide you there. So we'll start with our feet. Maybe with your mind's eye, Notice your toes and that you have toes. Notice your feet. Notice that you also have ankles, Feel that joint and the space around it. Notice your lower legs, Calves and fins. Let me turn around for a moment. Notice your knees, The fronts and backs of your knees. And your attention to our upper legs, Fronts of your thighs. And the backs of your thighs, And the muscle bones in there. Noticing the upper legs. Notice the attention flowed up to your hips, Pelvis. The thing attached to your pelvis, Your muscles, Your glutes. Settle there for a moment. Notice your hips, Pelvis, And your glutes. Feel your belly, And the muscles and organs in your belly. And the awareness to walk around to your lower back, Your lower spine, And the muscles of your lower back. And allow that awareness to flow up to your middle and upper back. Your back still wearing this, And the middle and upper back. And your attention to our hands. Feel your whole hands, Your fingers, Arms, Backs of your hands. Notice that you have hands. The awareness rests on your lower arms, Wrists, Forearms. And the fronts and backs of your elbows. Let the awareness move into the upper arms, Fronts and backs of the upper arms. Let the awareness to the shoulders. The awareness across the entire chest. The awareness up into the head and neck. Now let the awareness shift to the breath. Something, Notice your breath moving in and out of your body. Notice that you are breathing. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Now allow the awareness to flow to the mind. Notice that you are thinking, Hearing my voice, Other thoughts. And a few moments watching thoughts come and go. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Again to notice that thoughts come and go on their own without us having to do anything about them. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Now begin to notice that there's some space between all the thoughts. Some thoughts come and then there's space and then the thoughts go. Imagine yourself widening that space, Focusing more on the space between the thoughts than the thoughts themselves. And as you do this, Begin to relax into that awareness, Noticing the space between the thoughts, Relaxed body and mind, And letting those spaces become deeper and wider. Relax and enjoy sitting in that space between the thoughts over and over again. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Let the awareness shift to the breath.