Week 4 Mindfulness Instructions

Week 4 of mindfulness instructions, part of a 6 week introduction to mindfulness meditation taught by Brent Morton, Spirit Rock/IMS trained meditation/dharma teacher living in Seattle.

Transcript

Hello,

Welcome to the final instructions for mindfulness or Vipassana.

So that means you can listen to this CD track for the remainder of the course and you'll be all set.

So just focusing on this one rather than bouncing around to all of the previous instructions might be nice for you.

So let's take an inventory of what it's possible to be mindful of.

You can be mindful of sounds,

So just noticing hearing.

You can be mindful of smells,

So noticing smelling,

If there's any smell present.

You can be mindful of tasting,

Even if there's not food in the mouth,

There might be a residual taste of toothpaste or your last meal or the coffee.

You can be mindful of touch.

We've spent a long time on the touch,

Various sensations of the body.

The body is always in contact with something.

And you can be mindful of seeing,

Even if the eyes are closed,

You can see shapes and color and sparkles behind the eyes.

So the five senses,

Mindfulness can be applied to.

And in the Buddhist teachings,

The sixth sense is the mind.

So being mindful of thoughts,

Emotions.

So it's just six things that make up our entire experience of being alive.

If you notice something outside those six things,

Be sure to let me know.

I'd love to hear about it.

And these six things make up the palette or like an artist's palette and create our experience.

So we'll relax,

Soften the jaw,

The eyes,

The shoulders,

The diaphragm,

The chest,

The buttocks and the low back.

From that place of ease,

Picking up your breath,

Knowing that you're breathing,

Knowing that you know that definition of mindfulness,

Knowing that you know.

How do you know that you're breathing?

It can be nice to begin a period of breathing meditation by elongating the breath,

Deepening the breath,

Noticing where you're not breathing in your body,

If the chest or belly is tight and the breath isn't getting into there,

To just take some very deep breaths to move the breath into those tight spots in the body,

Breathing into the throat,

The chest,

The diaphragm,

The belly,

The low belly,

The buttocks,

The low back,

The mid back,

The base of the neck,

Even the face.

Sensing the body and breathing into the ease.

Enjoy.

And when you feel ready you can release all control of the breath just allowing the body to breathe and not getting too anal about not controlling it at all.

There will perhaps be a subtle level of control now that we've brought our attention to the breath.

Don't worry about it,

Just do your best.

And as we allow the body to just breathe we get interested in the breath,

Resting the mind in the area of the body where it's easiest to feel the breath.

The belly can be especially juicy.

And as you notice your belly rising with the inhale you might note rising.

As you notice the belly falling with your exhale you might note to yourself softly falling.

That mental note,

Very soft.

The experience,

The felt sense is 95% of your attention,

The noting is 5%.

Maybe a simpler mental note in,

Out.

And then if it works for you that touch point in between the breaths the mind will often go out.

So if there's a gap in between the breaths maybe feeling your lips,

Your hands,

Or your butt on the cushion.

Note touching,

Touching,

Tingling,

Warmth,

Softness.

The And as we sit here,

The other experiences will come,

Experiences that are stronger than the breath.

Maybe a loud noise comes,

There's someone starts doing construction next door using a jackhammer.

If that happens,

We let go of the breath and then the jackhammer turns into our meditation.

We note our experience,

Loud,

Piercing,

Unpleasant.

And just a reminder from the perspective of mindfulness,

There's no sound that's annoying,

There's no such thing as a fearful sound or a distracting sound,

There's only sound.

And the jackhammer will run its course,

It'll abide by the law of impermanence,

It'll last for a while but not forever.

After a while,

The sound of the jackhammer will go away,

At which point you can return to your breathing.

Then maybe another experience will come that's stronger than the breath,

Leave the breath behind and experience the burning,

The pinching,

The aching,

And the knee.

And that experience will run its course and when it does,

Coming back to the breath is the anchor.

All the while noting your experience,

Becoming intimate with all things.

Sometimes experiences of emotion will arise that are stronger than the breathing.

Becoming mindful of emotion.

How does this frustration feel in my body,

For example?

How do I know I feel frustrated?

It's a great question to ask yourself.

How do I know I feel bad?

How do I know I feel good?

Teasing out the elements of emotion,

Recognizing the emotion that's present,

Accepting it without resistance,

Investigating it,

Non-attachment,

Not taking it personally.

Non-identification.

Emotions,

Just like everything else,

Abide by the law of impermanence.

They have a beginning,

A middle,

And an end.

No feeling is final.

If an emotion is present,

Ride the waves of the lived experience,

The felt sense of the emotion in the body.

And the final instructions I want to offer today are mindfulness of attitude or mindfulness of kalesa.

So this is to look at your mind and notice how you're relating to this experience.

So this involves inquiry,

Asking yourself three questions.

And this can be done at any point in your meditation.

You might do this every five minutes in your meditation.

You might do it every minute.

Even after a while,

As you develop concentration and get good at this,

You can meditate on this in a moment-to-moment level.

It can get very interesting.

So the first question to ask yourself is,

Am I wanting something to happen?

Look at your mind and ask yourself the question,

Am I wanting something to happen?

Whether that's a meditative experience or wanting the meditation to end or wanting to win the lottery,

Am I wanting anything to happen?

And if you are,

Notice wanting.

How does wanting feel in the body?

Is there a leaning forward?

And if there's not wanting,

I mean if there's freedom from wanting,

What is that experience like?

And then the next question is,

Am I not wanting something to happen?

Or am I aversive to something that's happening?

Am I wanting that jackhammer to stop?

Am I wanting this pain in my knee to go away?

Am I not wanting to be meditating?

Am I not wanting that person to treat me like they did?

Am I not wanting this emotion?

And if so,

Feel that experience,

Become mindful of the experience of not wanting or the experience of aversion.

The extreme form is hatred,

All of the subtler forms are fear,

Anxiety,

Frustration,

Anger,

Revenge.

It's subtle pushing away or not so subtle pushing away of experience.

Become aware of it.

And the third question is,

Do I know what's happening?

Do I know what I'm feeling in this moment,

What I'm experiencing?

This is a meditation on greed,

Hatred,

And delusion,

The three calaises.

And one description of freedom,

Awakening,

Or enlightenment is a mind that's freed from greed,

Hatred,

And delusion.

So notice when these forces of mind are present and notice when they're not present.

If you have a particularly sticky version of greed or hatred that arises in the mind,

You can antidote it.

So say you're meditating and you just cannot stop thinking about Thai food or a cup of coffee or whatever it is that you're pining for.

You might,

Instead of constantly thinking about this thing that's going to make your life so much better,

You might do a gratitude practice,

Just reflect on something you're grateful for,

Something you already have that you enjoy.

Oh,

I'm grateful that I'm in a healthy body.

I'm grateful that I'm well fed,

Well hydrated.

I'm grateful that I have a roof over my head.

I'm grateful that I live in a peaceful place.

I'm grateful that I'm breathing alive.

That cultivation of gratitude has a tendency to cut off the greed.

And imagine,

Or you have a aversion attack.

You can't stop thinking about that coworker that you just can't stand the sight of or that politician that you just want to strangle.

And you're filled with this hot,

Aversive energy of frustration or anger or anxiety or fear.

The traditional antidote to hatred or all of its other forms is metta,

Loving kindness.

So you might replace that hating thought with a loving thought,

May I be truly happy.

Or you might think of kittens or your favorite waterfall or hot springs.

Or you might think of directing loving kindness towards the person you're having the aversion towards.

Or you might think of your benefactor,

The great friend or someone who warms your heart.

So replacing these thoughts and emotions that cause us suffering with ones that cause us happiness and well-being.

The anchor is the breath.

If all of these instructions get in the way,

Let them go.

Just sit and know that you're sitting.

So to practice the meditation on attitude,

Maybe once every five minutes,

Once every minute,

Turning your awareness towards your mind and asking yourself the question,

Am I wanting something to happen?

Am I not wanting something to happen?

Do I know what's happening?

Once you're satisfied with seeing the attitude,

You can return to your breath,

To whatever is dominant in your experience.

We'll sit together for eight more minutes.

Then we move on to the Jigal house.

You you you you you you you you you you you you you now that we've come to the end of the meditation perhaps reflecting on your attitude is the wanting gone,

The wanting the meditation to be over,

Is that still here?

Interesting bell bell bell may whatever benefits this practice have for us,

May we share those benefits with all beings

Reviews

Outstanding! Thanks 🙏

I return over and over to this meditation - it has taught me to be more aware of wanting and not wanting, in meditation and in daily life. And how to antidote it. Thank you❤️

An outstanding series which I feel has taught me to fish rather than just give me the fish. I highly recommend this series for all beginners. Thank you!

Wow! Nice! Thank you 😍

Really enjoyed this series. Thank you.

One of my favorite bookmarked sessions. Never gets old. We all need a reminder sometimes. Thanks.

Using the word "anal" heightened my 6Th sense until that passed.

Great questions and framing of mindfulness.

Loved the questions.

Helpful narrative/instruction focusing on attitude, constructive self questioning

Love it...helps me to refocus and add new elements to my silent meditation practices.

I've never asked myself those three questions relating to greed, aversion and delusion. Very helpful to my practice!

Very informative. This is the total package for neophyte meditators.

Excellent! I am so glad to have this series!

Amazingly powerful and transporting in those lAst 8 minutes

Very useful instructions. Thank you!

thank you for sharing.

Excellent teaching and understanding of meditation for me as a beginner. Thank you!