Week 2 Mindfulness Instructions

Week 2 instructions of a 6 week introduction course to mindfulness, created by Brent Morton, Spirit Rock and IMS trained meditation/dharma teacher.

Transcript

Welcome to the second installment of mindfulness meditation instructions,

Week two.

Each week we add more and more instructions.

For this week,

We're going to start to open up towards sensations in the body.

Last week we focused primarily on the breath.

This week we're focusing,

We're expanding our attention to include all of the body.

So as the weeks go on,

The trajectory is this expansion.

The meditation starts very narrow and it slowly expands until it encompasses all of our human experience with no part left out.

So we're going to start to open up to the body this week,

Which means we're going to open up to a lot of difficulty perhaps.

So allowing the posture to embody the qualities of ease and wakefulness and dignity,

It's like the posture is saying,

Here I am,

Come what may,

I'm going to show up for it,

Here I am.

Relaxing the jaw,

The shoulders,

The belly,

Those three points of contact,

This stays the foundation of our practice.

We always come back to a soft body,

Soft jaw,

Soft shoulders,

Soft belly.

And beginning to notice that you're breathing,

The sensations of the breath.

Picking that part of the body where it was easiest to feel the breath,

Perhaps the nostrils,

Perhaps the chest,

Perhaps the belly.

Feeling those sensations,

Simply experiencing them,

Not thinking about them.

This week we'll play with adding noting,

The noting practice.

This is the practice of putting a mental note on your experience.

It can be very helpful to stay connected to your experience.

So as you notice your breath coming in,

You might gently say to yourself and your mind,

In.

As you notice the breath going out,

You might gently note out.

The experience stays the root of our meditation.

The noting practice is just a very gentle whisper,

It's like a dragonfly wing,

Very soft.

So the experience stays at the forefront of our meditation with the note,

The very soft description of our experience.

Feeling the breath come in,

Noting in,

Feeling the breath go out,

Noting out.

Another technique we'll add this week is what's called the touch point.

So when we're meditating on the breath,

A common thing that happens is that there's a space in between the breaths.

In that space there's not much happening,

There's not much sensation for the mind to focus on,

So that the mind goes out.

So we often lose touch with the present moment in that gap in between the breath,

Because there's not much going on.

We start to think about work and whatever.

So in that space in between breaths,

Allow there to be a touch point.

So you might feel the touch of the butt on the cushion,

That can be a touch point.

You might feel the hands,

That can be a touch point.

You might feel the lips,

That can be a touch point.

So the technique looks something like this.

Belly rising with the inhale,

Noting in,

Belly falling with the exhale,

Noting out.

And then in that gap,

Allowing the mind to rest in the sensations of the lips touching.

You might note touching,

Touching.

And then the inhale happens on its own,

Exhale happens on its own.

And then the touch point in between the breaths.

These are skillful means,

Skillful means of connecting to our experience.

They don't work for everyone.

Give them a trial run.

The Dalai Lama says a trial run should last about ten years.

Give them a trial run,

See if they work for you,

If they don't,

Let them go.

The breath is our anchor.

The breath is the main object of meditation.

So we're going to open it up a bit this week.

Feeling the breath,

Not thinking about the breath.

And begin to notice if there's something else going on in your body that is stronger than the breath.

Might be a pleasant sensation,

Might be an unpleasant sensation.

For example,

You're feeling the rise,

The fall of the breath,

Noting in,

Out,

Noticing that touch point in between the breaths.

And all of a sudden you get an itch on your nose.

It becomes much stronger than the breath and it's unpleasant.

Let go of the breath,

Bring your attention to that itch on the nose.

You might allow words to form in your mind describing that experience.

Itching,

Itching,

You might say to yourself.

Staying with that experience,

Allowing the itch on the nose to become the object of your meditation.

Mindfulness is a non-judgmental,

Kind attention of the present moment.

So with that sensation of the itching on the nose,

For example,

Our habitual tendency is to want to itch it,

To get rid of it as quick as possible,

To run away.

Rather than following that habitual pattern,

Instead,

Try to just ride the waves of itching on the nose.

Try to see if you can create space for the sensations.

Stay in your seat.

The visitor of itch on the nose has come.

There's no need to let it run your life.

There's no need to let it drive the bus.

See if you can stay in your seat and allow the itch to follow its nature,

Which is to itch.

So we'll maybe feel that itch on the nose.

It might last for 30 seconds and then it does its thing,

Disappears.

If that happens,

We come back to the breath.

Breath is always where we return to.

We might return to that soft jaw,

Soft shoulder,

Soft belly.

Rising,

Falling,

In,

Out,

Touch point in between the breaths,

In,

Out,

Touch,

In,

Out,

Touch.

Inevitably,

Especially when we first start sitting,

And if we're trying to sit on the floor,

There's going to be body pain.

So there's a pain that arises in the knee.

The practice is to get close to that pain.

Dogen,

The 12th century Japanese Zen master,

Described enlightenment as to be intimate with all things.

The practice is to get intimate with body pain,

To get close to it,

And to meet pain on a non-conceptual level.

So perhaps we feel an unpleasant sensation in the knee.

Try to notice what that sensation feels like on the level of direct experience.

Notice if it's burning,

If it's pinching,

If it's tingling,

If it's swirling,

If it's aching,

If it's vibrating.

Notice our habitual pattern to run away from pain.

Instead of doing that,

Experiment,

See what it would be like to simply meet the pain on its own terms without running away.

You have never failed at meditation.

Sometimes we're just not up to the task.

We're not up to meeting our pain.

Think of meditation practices,

Especially at this point,

As an experiment.

Let me see how close to the edge of the cliff I can get without falling over into overwhelm.

So meeting that pain in the knee,

Trying to pick it apart,

Feeling the burn,

The ache,

And when it gets overwhelming,

Shift your posture.

And do that mindfully,

Note shifting,

Shifting.

There's no reward for getting overwhelmed.

Getting overwhelmed is exhausting.

It doesn't help meditation practice to get overwhelmed and fall into despair.

So when the body pain becomes too strong,

Switch the posture,

Start again.

You've never failed.

The only way you can fail is to stop meditating.

Start again with that softness in the jaw,

The shoulders,

And the belly,

And then pick up the breath.

Also very important that when we feel pleasantness in the body,

To also become mindful of that.

So we're sitting here,

Rise,

Fall of the belly,

And then we just notice that there's this sense of expansion behind the heart,

Or maybe a sense of tingles or vibration that's very pleasant.

Put down the breath and allow that pleasantness to become the object of your meditation.

Simply resting the mind in the pleasant sensations of tingle and vibration.

Try to notice what part of your body you're feeling those in,

Maybe the upper arms or the chest.

And that pleasantness,

Just like everything else,

Has the nature to change.

So that pleasantness will do its dance.

It will eventually go away.

When it does,

We pick the breath back up.

Maybe connect again to that soft jaw,

Soft shoulders,

Soft belly.

For some,

Letting in that pleasant is difficult as well.

This meditation practice is an interesting exploration of our minds.

Some people,

They feel that pleasantness and then the mind starts to tell stories.

I don't deserve this.

I don't have that degree yet.

I haven't finished that report for work.

I don't deserve to feel this pleasantness.

Noticing that movement of the mind and meeting that movement of the mind with kindness as well,

With mindfulness.

A quick review.

Sitting,

Knowing that you're sitting.

First connecting to that soft jaw,

Soft shoulders,

Soft belly.

Allowing the posture to convey the sense that here I am,

Come what may.

I'm going to show up for life,

Life on its own terms.

Connecting to the breath as the main anchor.

Perhaps adding a mental note to describe your experience in,

Out.

Perhaps adding that touch point in between the breaths,

In,

Out,

Touching,

In,

Out,

Touching.

When there becomes an experience that's stronger than the breath,

Put the breath down and go to that experience in the body.

That tickle on the nose,

That burning in the knee,

That tingle in the throat.

Ride the waves of that sensation for as long as you can until you get overwhelmed.

Or until that sensation changes.

If you get overwhelmed,

Change your posture,

Find ease in your body again and then pick the breath right back up.

If the experience,

The body sensation changes or goes away,

Come back to your breath.

We'll sit together for 13 more minutes,

Then I'll ring the bell.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

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Thank you.

Thank you.

Perhaps thanking yourself for your hard work.

Thanking yourself for showing up,

For turning towards what we have maybe been running from our entire lives,

For moving towards freedom,

Towards the path of freedom.

For moving towards freedom,

Towards greater well-being,

Ease in the world.

And may whatever benefit this practice have for us,

May we share that benefit with all beings.

Thank you.

Reviews

Hey another great practice. It's always good to touch on the basics again. I learn something new every day. Thank you. ☮️💖🙏🖖🪷🕉

Amazingly simple and effective. Thank you so much. 🙏🏽

First half of session is instruction, second half is reserved for practice. Great advice for staying focused. And a lovely soft voice. Thank you for sharing.

This is an instructive companion as I begin our 365 day Insight Timer challenge. Maybe, as I think about it, success isn't so much - or solely - about the discipline of daily mediating, but about the evolving skill in meditating.

Some of the best guidance ive received for a successful meditation

Wonderful, thank you!🙏🏽

Excellent guidance and space to just be 🙏

Really tangible suggestions to stay focused on the meditation. The 3 points of contact : soft jaw and soft shoulders, and soft belly. Focus on sensations. Feel an itch don't let it control me. Let the itch do what it supposed to do: itch.
Great meditation session: Nameste ~

Well done, nicely paced. Appreciate the time for practice. Unique experience attending to the sensations, especially the "negative" ones. Thank you 🙏🏻

I thank you so much for this meditation series! It has been an incredible help.

I've been meditating for several years. This course is a good refresher to remind me of the basics.

Thank you so much mr Brent for sharing this content with the community! Blessings!

I am a new meditator and these have been so helpful for me. Thank you for your light and guidence. Namaste

Absolutely fantastic meditation. Did you get 13 minutes of silence after the instructions, is very useful to apply the newly learned concepts. Thank you Brent!

So very grounding and relaxing. Thank you.

i am noting that this meditation is super wonderful

Fantastic! Great instructions. Many thanks

Very helpful instructive progression. Will definitely continue as well as repeat. Thank you.

Love his teaching. Very clear.