Nothing Is Lacking

In this podcast, you’ll hear dharma talks and meditations as given by Breathing Deeply founder Brandt Passalacqua. In this episode, Brandt references multiple texts that offer, in their own unique ways, the concept that "Nothing Is Lacking." When we meditate with this in mind, over time we see we already have all the many things for which we are searching. Brandt invites us to explore this as he leads us in a Spine Breath meditation. The recordings are from our meditation training program.

Transcript

So today I entitled it Nothing's Lacking.

It's a popular kind of concept in meditation world,

But especially yoga.

This idea that we already have the thing we're looking for,

It can sound sort of,

Yeah,

Yeah,

I get it,

But of course we don't experience that because if we did,

We wouldn't be here.

We'd be experiencing it and we'd have no need to do anything.

So we're gonna kind of examine that a little bit.

In yoga there's this idea that there's this sort of inner consciousness that pervades things and that we all have access to.

And the reason we might practice is to remind ourselves of that.

So that's the overarching theme.

We usually come to meditation because we feel that,

Like we feel something's missing or lacking or just not quite right with ourselves.

It might even be like a psychological state or emotional state we don't like.

And we're looking to find relief from that.

And it feels as if we just look hard enough,

We'll find that missing piece.

And so a lot of people will bounce around to different practices and things,

You know,

Hoping that when they find the one,

Right,

They'll find the missing piece and everything will kind of click together.

And in a way that's true because as you deepen your practice,

You start noticing things differently.

And what's great is that that sort of feeling of lack motivates us to practice.

It motivates us to look within ourselves and see what's actually there.

And the great seers who have been kind of handed to us in the forms of texts also think this is a great thing.

So in the Yoga of Ashishta,

For instance,

The main character is totally despondent because he basically has no idea what's going on and has no idea why he's living.

He's pretty bummed out.

And all the sages are like,

Well,

That's great.

Because they know that this is the first step towards his enlightenment that he realizes that he has to maybe do something or look somewhere else.

So that book is about that.

And there's like,

I don't know,

12 or 1400 pages after that moment where they explain everything to him and he becomes enlightened.

So that's like one example of that.

The Yoga Sutras tells us in the first few sutras that once we stop identifying exclusively with our thoughts,

We find yoga,

Which can be translated as union.

Or you could also translate that as deep inner contentment.

And that's right in the beginning.

And that contentment comes from the experience or the realization that nothing is lacking.

So that's right in the beginning of that book.

And the Yoga Spandrakita reminds us in a different way.

And what that says is that in the first nine sutras,

It basically says all of the things we experience are manifestations of this one thing we're looking for.

So no matter what the experience is,

You're actually finding it.

And all of our desires,

Which include our desire for things to be different,

Are expressions of that thing we're looking for.

We're free and there's nothing really to do because awareness is all that there is,

So you're already doing it.

So it's just like another way of saying the same thing from a different viewpoint.

And finally,

In terms of text,

The Tao says,

You don't have to do anything at all.

Once we free ourselves from striving,

And right in the beginning of the book in verse three,

It says,

Everything will fall in place.

That's the translation.

Just do nothing and everything falls in place.

So there's like four different versions of trying to tell us that there's no problem.

But of course,

Again,

Those are ideas and most of us feel like there's a problem.

We don't experience this all the time.

So the whole reason we meditate and we're here today is to try to match those ideas with our reality.

And if we choose,

We can sort of have faith that those ideas are true.

And I picked those four things,

I literally could have given you 50.

These books are very popular.

People keep writing them,

Who have this experience,

And they keep trying to say the same thing in a different way.

But we do have to be still enough,

Basically,

To experience it.

So we're here now.

And when we find it,

And that might be for long periods of time,

Or that might be for just a fleeting moment while we're sitting,

We see that the thing we're looking for,

We already have.

And that's because it's a little logic loop,

But clearly we already have it because we're just sitting still and all of a sudden we feel way better.

So it was already there,

We just paid attention for a second.

So in the next two and a half hours,

We're going to sit with kind of this in mind.

And we're going to go in,

Hopefully,

With the attitude,

I guess is the right word,

That nothing's lacking.

And that we're here to practice to kind of match that with our thoughts,

See if our thoughts will come in line with that,

And our experience will come in line with that.

And that even though we're meditating,

We're actually also not really doing anything.

So what that really translates out to in terms of what we're actually doing right now is we're going to meditate,

We're going to follow the instructions,

We're going to do the techniques,

But we're going to remember that we don't have to try super hard.

We just have to be here and do it.

There's no working harder part of this next two and a half hours.

You're here,

You're going to sit on your cushion or mat or bed or wherever you are,

You're going to hang out and play around with your mind,

We're going to do a few techniques,

We're going to see what happens,

And then it's over.

That's the whole thing.

And the DAO really emphasizes this part.

It's like,

Stop trying so hard,

Stop trying so hard.

But of course,

This is better than just eating donuts and yelling at the TV.

So we're going to do this instead of that.

So that's why we're here.

And I'm glad we're all here together.

It's a lot easier to meditate together.

I know a lot of you have meditated a bunch and alone and apart.

And I'm sure those of you who have experience know this,

That in community,

This is way easier.

Even though it's a solo activity,

Just knowing that other people are there with you is extremely helpful.

And it's a great vehicle for our own evolution.

So look at the boxes right,

Left,

Up and down and diagonal,

Give them a little namaste and thank your friends for sitting with you in advance.

It's lovely.

And yeah,

So we're going to do that now.

So today we're going to do three meditations.

They're all meditations from the course.

I might give you some variations on them,

But they're all meditations from the course.

The first one is like they're doing train us and get our mind into the eternal and connected to the expanded consciousness that comes when you find your energetic energetic center.

So that first one is a version of spine breath,

Because we want to find our central channel and allow our mind to open that way.

So that's how we're setting ourselves up.

And then we're going to do move into after we take a break,

We're going to do a second meditation.

And the second meditation is a natural dharana meditation.

And now that we're sort of entrained,

We're going to allow our mind to rest on what it wants to rest on within our bodies.

I know a lot of you have done this.

We're going to work on our we're going to work on our natural ability to concentrate.

But what that concentration really is,

Is our mind's natural ability to rest on the self.

So we'll do that in second.

And then third,

We're going to do a version of ananda yoga nidra.

And we're going to glide ourselves through the koshas through the aspects of ourselves all the way to our center.

And we're going to simply rest there.

And if that goes well,

We will find ourselves resting in that place that feeds our mind with the reality that we can be content because everything's basically okay.

So that's our little journey today.

If we don't end up there,

That's fine too.

This is not our only shot at realizing nothing is lacking and finding contentment.

But as we repeat this process over and over again,

The way it manifests for us is we find ourselves more content in general.

So you're going to have your experience today practicing.

And that could look a lot of different ways.

But know that over time,

And this time included,

The practices themselves will leave us feeling a little more centered in the fact that things are as they should be for each of us.

I'm gonna say one more thing because I can't help myself.

That's true,

Even if we don't like the current conditions that we're in.

Nirgaspandara Keeta reminds us that that is just a prelude to the next thing,

Whatever that next thing may be.

And so we can be content and annoyed simultaneously.

So I'll leave you with that thought.

Both of those are not in opposition whatsoever.

But hopefully by the end of today,

You will not be feeling annoyed.

You will feel you'll be feeling more content than annoyed.

And we'll do it that way.

So a couple sitting instructions real quick.

You want to be very comfortable.

Please give yourself permission to move if you need to move.

However,

Don't move if you don't need to move.

So we try to stay still,

But that does not include pain,

Or some sort of physical discomfort.

Also,

If you find that you're moving into difficult mental states,

Especially if you have a trauma background,

It's perfectly okay to take a break and go back in.

Don't feel like you're doing something wrong.

If that needs to happen,

There's lots of ways this meditation thing can happen.

So as you find your seat,

Find your posture fully.

So feel your sits bones,

Which are the bones at the bottom of your seat,

And see what they're landing on.

And then lengthen your seat.

And then lengthen your spine and maybe drop your head back for a minute so you feel the relationship to where your head is and how the weight drops down through your seat.

And for yourself,

Find the perfect spot for your head where you feel comfortable sitting.

You feel aligned,

And most importantly,

You feel like the interior of your torso is open to your awareness.

So as best we can,

And there's many ways we could be limited here,

But as best we can,

We position ourselves so that there's an opening for our minds and our minds to be open to the central channel,

The center of our torso.

And it's fine if that's not totally obvious,

But just look for it for a moment.

So Then begin to deepen your breath,

If you can,

Through your nose.

So breathing in and out through your nose.

If that's not possible,

You can breathe out through your mouth.

If you can't breathe in through your nose at all,

Just breathe in and out through your mouth.

Not the deepest breath you can take,

But enough that it draws your awareness down into your body.

And we feel our belly expanding and our ribs expanding a little bit on the inhales.

You get more of a sense of the interior of our body.

Feel the awareness in the interior of the body and the outer part of the body more relaxed.

So enough effort to keep us here,

But no more than that.

Fingers relaxed,

Jaw relaxed,

Awareness moving into the interior body with the breath.

And then bring the awareness even more pinpointed right along the front of your spine.

So as you breathe in,

Follow that breath down along the front of your spine,

And as you breathe out,

Follow the breath up along the front of your spine.

For a few breaths,

Just begin to find that awareness.

Sleep it out.

As we do that,

We're going to allow our mind to be flexible enough to see where our awareness of our central channel is for ourselves.

As you breathe in and out,

Down and up,

You might find yourself all the way down to your seat or pelvic floor.

You might find your breath going all the way up,

Maybe to your Ajna,

Like your midbrain,

Or out your nose,

Or out the top of your head.

But it could be any variation within that where there's a smaller area where your awareness wants to be.

Spend the next few minutes finding that,

Like where does your awareness want to be where it can easily track up and down the central channel?

No pushing or striving,

Just seeing what your mind wants to do as you inhale down and exhale from the bottom up.

As you release,

Don't let your inhales go.

.

.

As you slow down,

Slowly reduce,

Ber Freud Orion you you you you Now that we've found our awareness of our central channel We're going to let the breath move as it wants to so no controlling of the breath just notice the central channel as you breathe And notice your mind moving up and down your central channel as you breathe We become distracted at any point We can go back to deepening the breath and following the breath down and up the central channel And then at some point return to this place where you simply watch your breath and watch the central channel at the same time We can go back to deepening the breath and following the breath down and up the central channel you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you Very very slowly allow your eyes to open maybe a quarter of the way Your eyes open a little Let's maintain a inward focus We've developed in the meditation even as we open our eyes a little more and be and begin to take in the room around us Let's do inner and outer focus at the same time And then let your eyes open fully and see how much awareness remains of the central channel as you do that Bring your palms together in front of our hearts Bowing to the consciousness that is ourselves Bring your palms together in front of our hearts.

Bowing to the consciousness that is ourselves You