Cultivating A New Relationship With The Mind

My entire life, I've been trying to turn off my mind for years through meditation, through breathwork and practice. The journey of the mind is different for everybody but in order to find that switch you must explore yourself and find the quietness beyond your thoughts.

Transcript

Hey everyone,

Welcome back to meditation time!

Recently I have noticed that my mind runs all the time.

Whether I meditate for an hour every day or for five minutes every day or once a week,

My mind still seems to do its thing.

Running running running,

Almost like a television set that's always on and sometimes it's muted.

But it's always on.

I realize for most of my meditation practice I've been trying to turn it off and it doesn't really work.

Sometimes it works for a period of time,

But then it turns back on.

Then I realized it's so much easier to just stop watching TV.

I don't care what's on anymore.

I don't have to watch.

So today will be a meditation about exploring the quietness beyond our thoughts.

To recognize that we don't need to quiet the mind to be okay.

That we can explore that okayness while the mind wanders.

So we'll start with some breath work because it's nice.

Let's roll the shoulders back instead of tall.

And notice where your breath is right now.

Maybe you're super calm and the breath is long.

Maybe the breath is shallow.

Is it in the belly?

Is it in the chest?

Don't change anything.

Just notice.

What's my state right now?

How am I?

How am I?

We'll start some stair step breathing.

So inhale for six,

Exhale for seven.

We'll do that twice.

Inhale for seven,

Exhale for eight.

We do that twice and so on.

Let's take a deep inhale and exhale to release anything that we've come from.

We inhale for six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Hold,

Exhale,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Inhale,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Hold,

Exhale,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Inhale,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Hold,

Exhale,

Eight,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Inhale,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Hold,

Exhale,

Eight,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Inhale,

Eight,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Hold,

Exhale,

Nine,

Eight,

Seven,

Six,

Two,

One.

Inhale,

Eight,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Hold,

Exhale,

Nine,

Eight,

Three,

Two,

One.

Take a deep inhale and release.

Release.

And notice any changes in the body or mind.

Sitting in stillness.

What's changed?

And I want you now to imagine.

Imagine that you're sitting in your living room and the TV's on.

You can't find the remote to change the channel and you don't particularly like the channel that's on.

Maybe a soap opera.

A drama about your life.

And as you sit glued to the TV,

You suddenly have this realization.

That despite not being able to find the remote to turn it off and you can't find a button anywhere on the TV,

You notice that you don't have to watch the TV.

And as you draw your attention away from the images on the screen,

You start to notice other things in the room.

You notice the couch or the space that you're sitting on.

How comfortable it is.

Or uncomfortable.

You notice the furniture in the room.

The colors.

Perhaps there are books.

And you see one book.

Maybe on the shelf,

Maybe on the table.

You stand up and you walk over and you pick it up.

And you sit back down.

And as you start to open the book and bring your awareness,

You barely even hear the television anymore.

You open the book and on the first page it just says,

You got it.

You're the best.

You flip through the pages and they're all affirmations.

I love you so much.

Everything's going to be okay.

You flip through some more and see any affirmation that you need right now.

You're safe.

This will pass.

And you start to realize as you're reading these affirmations and probably smiling,

Like yeah,

Everything is okay.

That the TV being on isn't so relevant anymore,

Isn't so significant.

And you close the book and smile.

You stand up and walk into the kitchen,

To the next room.

TV is still on.

There's just in the kitchen.

And in the kitchen waiting for you is a really,

Really,

Really healthy,

Delicious platter of food.

Your body is so excited.

Thank you for nourishing me.

And you just take a moment to close your eyes and bow in gratitude for this beautiful earth that provided you this amazing food,

This amazing house,

This amazing life,

And the nice TV you have as well.

And as you bow,

Everything fades away into darkness.

And we take a moment to close our eyes and bow in gratitude.

And we take the next few minutes to observe when the thoughts come or if any sounds come like this motorbike in the background.

And if you can hear beyond that there's a silence right behind the thoughts,

Behind the emotions,

Behind the TV.

There's a silence that holds the sound like the house holds the television.

See if you can explore that silence that never disappears.

The house doesn't go away when the TV turns on.

See if you can explore that spaciousness with any rising thoughts or agitation or frustration or discomfort or joy,

Whatever is coming up.

Can you see the container that holds it?

Noticing that all the sounds come and go,

All the thoughts come and go and fade back into the spaciousness which holds everything.

Let's take a deep inhale and exhale to finish our practice.

One more just to really let go.

Bringing the hands,

The third eye between the eyebrows and just bowing down to this TV set in our heads.

It is sometimes very useful and lovely and sometimes just reality TV.

Thank you for your practice today.

Thank you for sharing this practice.

I hope you enjoyed it.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

We're not the TV.

Reviews

I had to do it twice cause my TV was so loud. Thank you for helping me manage to find moments of quiet behind my TV. I will be retuning to this meditation, it's so helpful 🙏

Bodhi Samuel has a way of bringing about peace and a smile when I'm feeling otherwise. 🙏🏼

Remarkably effective. Thanks.

Very cool analogy with the TV ...it took me to my place of stillness beyond the noise of my mind. With gratitude 🙏🕉️

So great. And I love that the music trailed today. It left time for quiet then prayer.

Love this new perspective for my amazing mind!💗

This was so so relaxing wow .
Enjoyed this meditation outside & almost fell asleep 😴
Namaste🧘🏽‍♀️☮️🌻

so beautiful and helpful in seeing our beautifully wild minds in love and in perspective 💌

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and guidance. 💐🙏