Week 3 Mindfulness Instructions

3rd week instructions for a 6 week introduction course to mindfulness, created by Brent Morton, Spirit Rock and IMS trained meditation/dharma teacher.

Transcript

Bell Sit in a comfortable way, But alert, Straight spine, Sense of dignity. Sit like you belong here, Like you are a child of this earth. Beginning to know that you're sitting. Today we'll open up to sounds, To hearing. So simply beginning to know that you're hearing. Notice sounds that are close, Sound of my voice, Sounds that are far away, Maybe outside of the building you're sitting in. In case it's very quiet, I'll just play the singing bowl from time to time so you have something to listen to. From the point of view of mindfulness, There is no such thing as a distracting sound or a fearful sound. There is only sound. Allowing sound to be heard. Noticing that hearing is effortless. There's no anticipation, No effort required. Sounds are simply known. And just like every other style of meditation we've done, If you get distracted, If you lose track of sounds, Simply come back to sounds without judgment, Without blame. Let your attention be big. Let your attention be big. Let your attention be big. Let your attention be big. Letting go of hearing meditation, Now beginning to know that you are breathing. Know that you're breathing in, Know that you're breathing out. So feeling where the breath is most easily felt and resting there. As you notice the breath come in, You might note to yourself gently in. As you notice the breath go out, You might note gently out. And that space in between the breaths where the mind can slip, You might feel the butt touching the ground, Feel the lips touching, Feel the hands. You might just note touching, Touching. In, Out, Touching, Touching. In, Out, Touching, Touching. The experience is 95% of our attention denoting a soft whisper 5%. Other experiences will come. For example, Body discomfort might come or body sensations. Should a sensation arise that is stronger than the breath, Let go of the breath and allow that sensation to be the object of meditation and stick with that sensation until it becomes unbearable or until it goes away or until it changes. At which point when the strong body sensation changes or goes away, Returning to the breath is our anchor. Should the sensation become unbearable, No problem. Change your posture, Work out that kink and start again. Start again with a soft jaw, Relaxed shoulders and a soft belly, Allowing, Making space, Accepting. Other experiences can arise as well. Experiences of emotion and thought, Mind states. Should you notice that an emotion is present, A strong emotion, You might go through the RAIN exercise, The RAIN acronym. And that's to recognize, Accept, Investigate and non-identification. So for example, You feel a strong gripping in the jaw, Heat in the shoulders, A writhing in the chest and you've identified these sensations as anger. Simply recognize anger is present. Move on to acceptance. Anger, It's like this. Not trying to fix it, Not blaming anyone for it, Not judging it, Not wishing it were somehow different, But a radical acceptance. Anger is like this. No need to run away, No need to fix, Let me be with anger. I for investigation, Let me look deeply into this experience of anger, What are the sensations in my body when I'm angry, What are the various stories that my mind is telling me when I'm angry. Oh, He shouldn't have done this, She should have paid me more respect, Yada yada. See the beginning of anger, See the middle of anger and see the end of anger. As we deepen our investigation, We'll see that emotions behave just like everything else in the universe and that is that they change. No emotion is forever. In fact, Looking closer at emotions we might notice that it's rare that they last for 30 seconds before they switch to something else. The anger turns into sadness, The sadness turns into loneliness. Note your experience, Be there for the whole dance. And then the end, Non-identification. Since this anger is constantly changing, Since it's here for a little while and it goes away, We can't take ownership. We can't put the totality of who we are into these emotions since they're always changing. It's not our anger, It's the anger. No emotion we can feel is totally unique to us. Every emotion has been felt by some person at some place in time. Should no emotions be present, Resting in the breath or resting in the body? Not looking for anything special, Allowing experience to come to you. No need to go coal mining. There are only six things happening. There's the sense of touch, Which can be felt in the body. There's the sense of smell. There's the sense of taste. There's the sense of seeing. And there's the sense of hearing. The sixth sense in Buddhist philosophy is mind states, Thoughts and emotions. These six things are an exhaustive list. All of human experience can be lumped into these six things. These six things are like the colors on an artist's palette. They color our experience. Each of these six things can be known, Can be met with mindfulness, A non-judgmental, Kind attention. Simply resting in your body in this present moment and knowing what you're experiencing. I'll ring the bell in fifteen minutes, Marking the end of the set. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. May the beneficial energies of this practice be for the highest good of all beings. Thank you. Thank you.

Reviews

Beautiful “sound” advice, thank you!!🙏🏽

Enjoying and appreciating this series.
Thank you.

Yet another great one , truely special when I open my eyes to see fat snowflakes falling Namaste

I have really enjoyed this series. Thank you!

I feel that the generous 15 minutes of silence are key to practice and let the teachings sink in. I can't wait for week four. Thank you Brent!