How To Rest
How can you really, really rest? Not just taking a break, but actually giving your whole body - and your mind - the chance to deeply, deeply relax. To really rest, stop moving. But also, stop even preparing to move. Stop even paying attention to anything that might mean you have to move. This four-stage meditation uses very simple, straightforward language to guide you step-by-step from wherever you are to a deep, clear and restful stillness. Inspired by Buddhist Mahamudra practice.
Transcript
Part one,
The path to the clearing.
One,
Not moving.
Imagine giving your arms and legs some time off.
Every time you might move them or think to move them,
You invest a little energy in them.
Think of the intricate sequences of tightening muscles,
The subtle tensions required for your arms and legs to move you from lying down to standing up.
Imagine your arms and legs ever alert and ready to move,
And then imagine giving them some time off.
Not just not using them,
Not just relaxing them,
But deliberately commit to taking them out of commission.
Not just not using them,
But more like consciously turning them off.
Your legs,
Your arms,
Your spine,
Your muscles,
Your head,
Your tongue,
Your eyes.
Let them rest.
Nothing happens if you let them rest.
They don't disappear,
They're still there.
They don't stop functioning,
You just stop adding any tension there.
You stop putting any effort into making them do something in particular.
You could say you're relaxing them,
But it's more than that.
Don't just stop talking,
Close your mouth,
Let your tongue rest,
And give your whole mouth some time off.
Notice all the work your spine might do for you,
Twisting,
Bending,
Carrying weight,
And give it some time to itself.
Letting all the vertebrae quietly rest one on top of the other,
Like a well-constructed tower that needs no support.
Simply staple,
Resting in place.
Commit to not making your spine do anything.
No need to twist or turn or bend,
Let it just be there having some time off.
You can do this for your whole body.
You might start with your legs,
Give them rest,
Let them know nothing is asked of them.
Time off.
Stay with them until you can feel they're quietly resting,
Just as you might watch someone fall asleep.
Stay with them until they are at peace.
When they are at rest,
Leave them be.
Then feel your arms and let them rest.
First your legs,
Then your arms,
Then your spine,
Then your muscles.
Imagine the whole musculature of your body wholesale,
Relaxing all at once,
Like butter melting.
Then your head.
Go slowly.
You may have to be very still and quiet before you can feel the most subtle efforts you're making.
Your neck,
Your brow,
Temples,
Jaw.
Let your head know nothing is asked of it.
Time off.
Could you relax your nose,
Your ears?
Imagine any energy that is there,
Softly falling away,
Just as leaves settle when the wind drops.
Then your mouth.
Let it know it can rest.
Imagine your mouth sleeping,
Resting,
Nothing to be done.
Then your eyes,
Still more subtle.
Could there be any little tension in your eyes?
Eyebrows,
Eyelids.
Let them rest.
Your legs,
Your arms,
Your spine,
Your muscles,
Your head,
Your mouth,
Your eyes.
When they are all at rest,
You are out of action.
There may still be feelings and thoughts.
There may still be intentions or some appetite to move.
The mind may move,
But physically you've committed to resting.
And here,
As you rest,
This is the ground,
Not moving.
The clearing is a place of rest.
Two,
Not preparing.
You have stopped moving.
Your body may move,
May make subtle shifts as it relaxes,
As subtle energy unwinds,
But you are not moving.
If you are not moving,
But you still intend to move,
Then the intention is still a tension you're holding.
But you can let even this intention rest.
You might think of how you need to go somewhere,
Do something.
And with that thought,
Your heart might beat faster in preparation,
Blood moving,
Oxygen to muscles ready to move,
Before you have moved anywhere or done anything already,
Some small tension.
Even not moving,
Thoughts of all you might need to do might mean you breathe a little faster,
A little less deeply.
The readiness of being prepared to move might be held as subtle tension in your diaphragm,
In your lungs,
As if ready for quick action,
Though you may be sat so still,
Eyes closed,
Head bowed.
Imagine you might relax even those subtle tensions,
Reassuring your heart and your lungs that you have no intention of moving,
As if you could withdraw any mental tension you might direct at your own heart,
As if you could let it rest,
As if you could let your blood,
Heart,
Arteries,
Veins rest,
Lazy flowing rivers.
Notice any tension you might invest in your breathing and let your breathing relax.
Remind yourself that you are not moving,
You do not need to be ready,
You do not need to be poised.
Let your breathing rest,
You don't stop,
You just don't push,
You leave your blood and breath alone,
First resting your heart,
Then resting your lungs,
Your heart,
Your lungs.
It's as if you have switched off your capacity for intention.
We have dropped any intention to move anywhere or do anything with your body.
Let that whole world of possibility subside,
Not preparing.
The clearing is a place of rest.
Three.
Not exploring.
You are not moving,
Not even preparing to move,
But you might be quite still with no intention to move and yet your senses might still be exploring,
Scanning,
Focusing on this or that sound or smell or anything around,
But you can rest your senses.
If you rest your hearing,
Your sight,
It doesn't mean they stop working,
They function.
If someone made a noise very close to you,
You'd hear them,
But there is a difference between hearing something and listening.
Listening out for something takes an effort,
Listening for what is happening takes an effort,
So make no effort.
Your ears may hear,
But you are so passive you pay no attention.
Your eyes may see something,
But you make no effort to look at it.
No focus,
No exploration,
Just letting your eyes rest.
They may be bathed by the images in front of them,
Even if it's only the inside of your eyelids,
But you make no effort to keep your attention there.
You pay no attention to anything you might see.
Your tongue might sense a lingering taste in your mouth,
Your fingertips might feel the impression of your chair or your shirt or your other hand,
Your nose might note a certain fragrance,
But you are at rest,
So you make no effort.
You give no attention,
You let your eyes and ears and tongue and fingertips and nose rest.
This is time off for them as well.
Let them rest,
Don't make them go to work.
Rest.
You might even gently turn your attention inwards.
You might imagine that there is some quality of rest that has started to develop inside you as you relax your arms,
Legs,
Spine,
Muscles,
Head,
Mouth,
Eyes,
Heart,
Lungs.
You might turn your senses gently inward,
Not looking at the world,
But turning your visual focus to a growing quality of rest inside,
Gently listening inside for that quality of rest,
As if it was something you could hear.
Not even making any particular effort to do that,
But with this inward turning in mind it may be easier to withdraw from any urge to scan the world out there with your senses.
Let your five senses rest.
You're seeing,
You're hearing,
You're tasting,
You're touching,
You're smelling.
You may still see,
Hear,
Taste,
Touch or smell something,
But you pay little attention.
You let your attention rest.
Not invested in action,
Not invested in attention,
Not invested in exploration,
Not exploring.
The clearing is a place of rest.
Four.
Not paying attention to anything at all.
At this point,
Taking no action,
Holding no intention,
Making no exploration,
You become quite still,
Quite self-contained.
But even if you are not moving in the world or communicating with the world or paying attention to the world around you,
Your attention could still be so active.
Without the distractions of movement or intention or the senses,
It might even feel like you become more active than ever,
And paying attention to all kinds of thoughts and imaginings,
As if you've made space for them and can become entirely occupied with following them where they go.
On the surface then,
You might be very restful,
But if your attention is still following every thread of thought and interest,
Then it won't feel very restful.
Your arms and legs might be having some time off,
But your attention might still be working hard.
You might still be adding tension there,
Still investing yourself in exploring and examining and interrogating and creating within the world of ideas.
But this part of you deserves a rest too,
So stop investing in your thoughts.
Like all the other things,
They may carry on.
Thoughts may exist,
May still show up,
But they are like the sound of the wind in the trees that carries on flowing to your ears,
Even if you pay it no attention.
Pay your thoughts no attention.
As you pay less and less attention to your thoughts,
You become more and more restful.
But even when you are so restful,
Your attention may still be moving in subtle ways,
Still working with subtle effort.
You might not think about it,
But still be investing attention in yourself,
In a kind of awareness of and focus on who you are and how you are and your presence in the world,
Even sitting here quietly doing nothing.
You might be investing attention in the mere fact of being here,
A very subtle,
Understandable effort to notice that you are here,
Maybe just checking that you're okay.
Even this subtle kind of attention can be let go of though,
It can rest.
Pay no attention to who you are or how you are.
Withdraw any attention from where you are,
From the world at all,
From anything existing anywhere,
You or anyone or anything else.
You will still be here.
Everyone and everything will still be here,
But there is no need in this moment for your attention to do the hard work of focusing on any of it.
Give your attention wholesale some time off.
Pay no attention to your thoughts,
Yourself,
The world.
At this point your whole being has arrived something like a state of being at rest.
Your usual everyday investment in action,
Intention,
And attention has been withdrawn.
Not moving,
Not preparing,
Not exploring,
Not paying any attention at all.
Not paying any attention at all.
The clearing is a place of rest.
