Traditionally,
Vipassana or insight meditation is undertaken to gain greater understanding and liberation from what are called the defilements,
Which are habitual harmful states of mind like greed,
Aversion,
Or delusion.
These harmful mental states reflect mistaken or misguided thoughts,
Assumptions,
Feelings,
And beliefs that cause us to suffer.
Initially,
In insight practice you can focus on a primary object like the breath.
In time,
You discover the unique qualities of each breath,
And that the experience of the breath is ever-changing.
With continuous practice,
You become familiar with a variety of objects,
From the physical experience of the breath in the body,
To physical sensations,
To witnessing the feeling tone of experiences,
And whether they are pleasant,
Unpleasant,
Or neutral,
To observing mental states and recognizing the presence of our wanting,
Or being aversive,
Or not seeing things clearly.
We observe the present moment to gain insight into the nature of mental and physical experiences.
As your awareness opens up to the range of experience,
You can attend to whatever calls your attention.
In doing so,
The common characteristics of your experience are revealed.
It is revealed that your experience is temporary,
That you are vulnerable to suffering,
And that there is no unchanging permanent part of who you are.
For example,
When you have an experience like anxiety,
You come to see it is not my anxiety,
But you recognize anxiety is coming up in the mind.
You see it as temporary,
You see it definitely causes suffering,
But thankfully you also come to see,
This does not define who I am.
Anxiety is simply a visitor to the mind.
If you can acknowledge and recognize internal and external conditions as unstable and changing,
And not be dependent upon them to feel satisfied,
Then you are less reactive when conditions do change.
Being aware,
Compassionate,
And accepting of the nature of your mind and body,
And the conditions in which you exist,
Will support you in dealing with life's inevitable changes and challenges.
As you gain the ability to face the ever-changing nature of life,
Your alignment with reality becomes a source of happiness.
You will begin to see,
I can be with this,
I can be with my experience whether pleasant or unpleasant.
Therefore,
Vipassana,
Or Insight Meditation,
Is the advancement of our insight into and understanding the nature of our experience.
There's no need to strive for insight,
It is a natural consequence of your efforts.
Let's take a moment to settle into practice.
You can close your eyes or keep them open with a soft gaze downward,
Just a few feet in front of you.
Make sure that your body is in a position that is relaxed,
And that supports the breath to be at ease.
You can follow the breath throughout this whole practice,
Perhaps resting your awareness on the rise and fall of the abdomen.
Or you can also move into trying to exercise more open awareness and attending to whatever calls your attention in observing its nature,
Both mental and physical experiences.
Settle into your practice.
Really nudging your awareness again and again to the present moment's experience.
I'm going to be giving you a lot of space to practice with a few gentle reminders along the way.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Is the mind aware?
Remember the mind's job is to think,
So at times you should expect the mind to be easily lost in thought.
When you find the mind particularly overwhelmed with thought,
Rather than it being a reflection of you being a failure,
It is likely an indicator of what feels burdensome in your life and is playing itself out in the mind.
You can simply observe that the mind is lost.
Perhaps the mind is overwhelmed,
And you smile at your return to awareness,
And welcome yourself back to the present moment.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Is the mind aware?
Whether you are following the breath or practicing open awareness,
When the mind gets distracted,
It may be helpful along the way to name what you are observing.
You can name thinking,
Physical sensations,
Emotions,
Or whether the quality of your experience is being perceived as pleasant,
Unpleasant,
Or neutral.
Once you've made this observation,
This naming,
Come back to the present moment's experience.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Is the mind aware?
When you recognize that the mind is on autopilot and lost in thought,
There's no need to judge or even move on.
In fact,
This moment of mindfulness is a precious moment where you can simply observe and take delight in the fact that your awareness has arrived once again to the present moment.
Often I will smile to mark this instance.
I smile to nurture the joy of awareness.
Simply observe the experience of being aware.
As this moment comes to pass,
We either return to the breath or attend to whatever calls our attention.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
As we wind down today's practice,
Know that you have done the best that you can.
Let whatever you were able to do today in your practice,
Let it be good enough.
May the benefit of our practice be for all beings everywhere.
May all beings experience peace and freedom and ease of well-being.
May our efforts make it so.
