Let's settle the body in its natural state,
The respiration in its natural rhythm,
And then with the awareness permeating the whole field of tactile sensations,
Count 21 breaths to help stabilize the mind.
And with a deep sense of ease and looseness in body and mind,
Let your eyes be at least partially open,
Your gaze vacant,
Resting in the space in front of you.
And direct your mindfulness now for the time being primarily to the foreground of the mind,
The thoughts and images,
Other mental events that arise,
The players on the stage.
Observe them arise,
Go through various transformations,
Eventually dissolve.
Without following them or tracking them,
Without preference,
Without desire or aversion,
Let your awareness be still like space as you observe the movements of the mind.
And now attend especially to the intervals between thoughts,
That intervening vacuity,
The space of the mind,
Which is the same space of the mind from which thoughts and images emerge,
In which they are present,
And into which they eventually dissolve.
Shift your attention from the foreground to the background of the mind.
As you attend to this vacuity,
The space of the mind,
You will note that there is something else taking place apart from the vacuity or that empty space itself.
And that is your awareness of that vacuity.
So even attending to the space of the mind is attending to an object,
A vacuity,
Which is something,
Which is an appearance,
Albeit a subtle one.
Now withdraw your deliberate attention,
Your focused attention,
Withdraw it from even this appearance to the mind.
Withdraw it from thoughts,
Withdraw it from all sensory fields,
Even though appearances continue to arise.
Draw your awareness inwards,
Right in upon itself.
And as one phase of this practice,
You may find it very helpful as a means to balance the attention,
To,
In an oscillating fashion,
Invert your awareness right in upon that which is aware,
Concentrating,
Inverting your awareness,
Focusing your attention,
And then releasing utterly,
Including releasing any thoughts or mental activities,
Releasing your awareness into space,
With no object,
Nothing to grasp onto,
While sustaining this awareness of awareness.
And then drawing your awareness in,
Marshalling your forces,
Focusing your attention,
Inverting your awareness,
Right in upon that which is aware,
In that way overcoming laxity and dullness,
Knowing the nature of knowing,
And sustaining that cognizance,
That knowing quality of knowing,
Release your awareness deeply into space,
Sustaining the flow of knowing of knowing.
As you invert your awareness,
Focus carefully,
Is there something that is inverting and releasing the awareness?
Is there something in here that is controlling the awareness,
The attention?
Observe closely,
What is the nature of that which is inverting and releasing the attention?
And let's bring this session to a close and take a couple of minutes to stretch.
