31-Day Meditation Challenge: Day 1

Welcome! This is the introductory lesson to a 31-Day Meditation Challenge recently recorded in July of 2020 entitled "Seek and Find Within." The audio recording is divided into an opening discourse and a guided meditation. The discourse defines meditation and highlights key points a meditator should consider to meditate as committedly and powerfully as they can.

Transcript

All right,

What's up everyone?

Good to see you all.

Hello.

First off,

Thank you all so much for taking this challenge head on and adding a little bit more something to do,

A little bit more responsibility to place that I'm sure are at least full enough.

So again,

Thank you,

Thank you.

This is day one and my hope for this challenge,

And I'm calling it Seek and Find Within,

Within that sort of title,

There's the essence of meditation and the essence of what I hope to sort of open to you.

I hope to teach you that meditation is a lot more physical than sort of it's represented to be,

And in that I think a lot more approachable and simple than what we might think of it as.

I hope to teach you enough techniques and enough sort of information about these techniques to lead you to the experiences of this practice that are,

Without exaggeration,

Legendary.

Meditation is a hobby that's been sort of pushed through centuries.

And so it's unique and distinct in terms of what humans like to do and what humans push forward for future generations to participate in.

And the last is the significance of regularity with meditation.

Like anything we want to integrate into our lives,

It depends on us giving our time to it,

And meditation is no different.

Meditation is special because it is uniquely profound but also distinctly subtle.

And so it takes time,

It takes consistency to recognize the profundity of this practice,

And that sort of is overlaid with its nuance.

So these are all just ideas sort of to throw out at you today.

And so today's the introduction class.

I think it's sort of nice to start with the beginning.

The question is,

What is meditation?

And so there's a simple answer and there's a complicated answer.

But both of these answers depend on each of us as individuals taking a second to connect to our humanity and through our own capacities appreciate that life is at once familiar but also deeply mysterious,

That we are all looking for something.

We're looking for many things.

There is a reality of dissatisfaction.

There is a reality of either happiness or discontent.

But the more capable we are appreciating the fullness of what it means to be human and to sort of like recognize that within ourselves,

The more meaningful the answer to this question,

What is meditation?

And so the simple answer is,

What we're going to learn through these next 31 days is how to relax our bodies and sort of suppress the flood of thoughts that seem to run without control through our minds and in that generate a little bit more well-being and peace throughout our days so that we can live our lives with a bit more energy and a bit more clarity.

That's the simple answer.

The more complicated answer involves us looking back into the history of this practice.

And so I like to throw out two definitions.

Meditation is nirod.

Nirod is a Sanskrit term and nirod means self-restraint.

And so meditation is about learning to control your organism,

Your breath,

Which leads to control over your nervous system,

Which leads to literal control over your thought process.

Every flash of thought,

You know,

We have 50 to like 100 thoughts per minute.

So by negotiating our breath and in that our nerves,

We extend our consciousness and our capacity to manipulate this sort of sparkling flood of thought that really sort of hues how we live our lives and interpret our moments.

And so it's nirod,

It's control.

And the second word is rahita.

And so what this means is that through this exceptional control that we're learning to develop through our organism,

We learn to wipe out the thought process.

And as attractive or sort of meaningless as that goal is,

It's the wiping out of the thought process,

Which is surprisingly literal,

That leads to the experience of nirvana or enlightenment,

Which is associated to like remarkable states of bliss that are derived from just sort of existing without any sort of external stimulus.

And so for me personally,

The rumors,

The claims that a human being can touch unparalleled degrees of bliss,

Real bliss,

By wiping out their thought process through controlling their organism is just something worth investigating.

And so I hope at least not necessarily to push that on you,

But to whet the appetite and to consider that that experience,

Nirvana,

Which means to extinguish the self,

Is real and true and accessible to those that take the time to work towards it.

Okay.

And so the last little thing I wanted to talk about before we get into our first practice,

Which is lovely,

Is that for all of these definitions,

For meditation to make sense deeply,

And I think it has to make sense if you're going to commit 31 days and hopefully more than that to this hobby,

We have to appreciate three ideas.

And the first idea is that the human experience is conditioned through suffering and dissatisfaction.

Even if we are oriented towards positivity,

We look out into the future,

We look out into our immediate moment,

And what we see is what we want,

The things that make us smile,

The things that make us excited,

The impulse to reach for those things.

Let's just say it's an apple that we're hungry for.

It is sparked by dissatisfaction.

It's sparked by the reality that there is no apple,

And so I want the apple,

So I grab the apple.

And this sparking,

This catalyst of dissatisfaction is really the heart of all impetus to live.

And so meditators really take it to heart that the human condition originates in dissatisfaction,

And they look into that truth.

They have to acknowledge their own suffering,

And they work to dismember or unravel that fundamental aspect of our experience.

So the first thing to appreciate is that there is some degree of suffering inside all of us in all moments,

But also in sort of like the overarching pattern of our days,

Months,

And years.

The second fundamental to appreciate is that while we may know ourselves to a degree,

There is an ever-present mystery to our own being,

As there is a mystery to life.

And as thinkers,

As intelligent animals,

Mystery is provocative.

And when we take the time to appreciate that we don't know ourselves fully or completely,

This also instigates the desire to meditate seriously.

And it's a really beautiful idea to appreciate the fact that we are unknown to ourselves.

And so the yogis sort of attach the word avidya to this other fundamental of the human condition.

We do not know our true self.

And this is where the conversation of like true self emerges.

And then the last thing to appreciate is that as we look out into the world,

As we look to define ourselves and discover ourselves,

As we look for satisfaction and pleasure and success in whatever capacity we do look for those things,

The last thing to appreciate about meditation is that when you decide to sit down and close your eyes,

As we're going to do in a couple moments,

What you're saying is that,

I think I can find these answers and this happiness and this joy within me.

And that is a remarkable sort of epiphany to appreciate seriously,

That our senses,

Every bit of our evolution,

What we are as physical beings,

It compels us to look outside into the environment,

Into each other,

Into the opportunity of like a physical world.

And what a meditator ultimately is saying is that as real as all of that seems,

As tangible as it is,

I think for whatever reason that I can find what I haven't been able to find out there inside myself.

And so that's romantic and poetic,

But it also becomes deeply useful,

Again,

If we take our humanity into account,

If we appreciate there's a little bit of suffering inside all of us and that we don't actually know ourselves.

And so the potential of exploring this inner experience becomes increasingly valuable.

And so that's really it.

That's all I wanted to talk about today.

You know,

It's a lot of information,

But through the practice of just being still and closing your eyes,

All that knowledge,

All that data becomes more and more obvious.

Even if the intellect doesn't sort of remember everything,

You'll hopefully start to feel it.

Cool.

So what we're going to do today,

How I like to start sort of the initial sort of meditation journey is just letting you go at it on your own.

Tomorrow,

We're going to start with the techniques of stillness and posturing,

But I find that meditation is actually deeply intuitive,

And we all sort of have the benefit of beginner's luck.

You're going to invest.

You're going to be exceptionally curious and uniquely committed because I'm not really going to guide you at all,

If anything,

Today.

So the one little bit of advice I will say,

Because we have about 20 minutes to meditate,

If you've never meditated or you haven't meditated for that long before,

Just commit to not moving.

And if you do move,

If your nose itches or you have to adjust yourself,

Of course move.

But the key skill,

At least at the very beginning,

Is suppressing the impulse to respond with your body.

Cool.

So again,

Happy you're all here.

Let's get into this comfortable seated position.

And so we're definitely going to go over that.

If you're a little tight,

If you're not used to sitting on the floor,

Please sit down in a chair and disregard the image of a Buddha sitting with crossed legs.

And so if you're sitting on a chair or on the couch,

Take a second to sit at the edge of your seat.

And so your back isn't supported by the cushion.

So this is going to provoke you to sit upright on your own.

It's going to force you to work your body,

And that's going to encourage wakefulness.

If you're sitting on a chair or a couch,

Place your feet directly underneath your knees.

Your feet are about hips width distance,

Six to eight inches apart.

Now everyone,

Take a second to tilt your hips forward.

And as your hips tilt forward,

You should feel that your torso lengthens and your chest opens into the space in front of you.

And it wakes you up.

Shut your jaw,

Press your tongue into the back of your two front teeth.

Everyone take a second to rest your hands on your knees.

Now the second instruction on this first day of your challenge is just to breathe slowly and deeply.

And notice as you breathe more slowly,

You become more awake,

More alert to your body.

And that the breath itself is invigorating,

Euphoric,

Satisfying.

It's simultaneously stimulating and soothing.

So the single bit of advice I want to give you is try not to move.

Try not to react.

If an itch arises,

If your posture becomes uncomfortable for whatever reason,

Bear it.

And let your response be a deeper and slower breath.

And instead of focusing on what's antagonizing you,

Control,

Nirod,

This Sanskrit word,

Control yourself and choose to focus on the exhilaration,

The aliveness,

The comfort,

And the tranquility of your breath.

Let's all take a deep breath in together.

Breathe into the belly and then into the chest.

A very,

Very slow exhale.

You can appreciate the tranquility,

The physical sense of peace.

So you're on your own for 10 minutes.

Allow yourself to be confused.

Rely on your intuition.

Consider for yourself why you exactly are participating in this challenge.

Let those answers and conclusions inform you on how to meditate.

Again,

Which is intuitive.

Let's all take a deep breath in together.

Let's all take a deep breath in together.

Let's all take a deep breath in together.

Let's all take a deep breath in together.

Let's all take a deep breath in together.

Let's all take a deep breath in together.

Let's all take a deep breath in together.

Let's all take a deep breath in together.

Let's all take a deep breath in together.

One very simple reason why meditation is increasingly necessary in our lives is because of over stimulation.

Because a globalized world is moving faster and faster.

Technology more and more accessible.

Screens everywhere we look are becoming less sensitive to our bodies.

Our minds are encouraged to quicken.

So just by being still and closing your eyes and feeling your breath,

What you might be feeling is an increase in anxiety.

But that's nervousness you've never taken the time to consider and to soothe.

So if there's an increase in anxiety,

It's to be expected.

Just keep breathing slowly and it will be smoothed out in time.

But the value of this stillness,

The value of looking away from stimulation and towards sincerity,

Is we can feel our depths with greater ease.

So this is the evidence.

Before we can understand what meditation is,

We have to appreciate these three truths.

We all have a degree of dissatisfaction,

A degree of stress,

A degree of confusion,

A degree of unmet expectation for ourselves and for life.

And I'm certain with your eyes closed in the privacy of your inner world,

That truth is more obvious.

Whether it's small or monstrous,

Dissatisfaction compels us both to act,

But it also becomes a powerful force motivating us to meditate.

So just feel that.

So as real as that dissatisfaction is,

Traditional meditators believe that all of our distress,

What they coin as suffering,

Is the consequence of misperception.

It's the consequence of an untrained mind.

When our minds are trained through meditation,

We learn that our distress,

Our dissatisfaction with who we are and what life is,

Is nothing but an illusion.

An incorrect vantage point on a world and an experience that is fundamentally good.

So the second bit of evidence that shutting our eyes,

Intuitively relaxing our bodies,

Calming our thoughts,

Looking away from stimulation increases sincerity,

Maybe even sacredness.

The second point before we can appreciate meditation is that we don't really know ourselves fully.

Life is a process of continuously discovering and rediscovering ourselves until the very end.

So take a couple moments to appreciate that and feel that there is a mystery within you that you rely upon to make brand new and courageous choices.

And so yogis believe just by doing what you're doing regularly,

This deeper mysterious self becomes more familiar.

And over decades of doing this regularly,

The true self becomes what you associate as atman,

Soul.

And some signs that you are connecting to this atman,

This soul or this true self is a sense of confidence and security,

A sense of hope,

A sense of appreciation.

You don't have to take this literally,

But these philosophies are explaining and expressing a process that is both philosophical,

Psychological,

And physiological.

The last little detail is that you as an individual,

Because you signed up for this,

Are starting to believe that there's something inside you.

I think this is the most potent point that is entrancing and real as the physical environment that you live within is.

A certain moment arises as we become more and more mature as living beings that the outside isn't the only piece of the puzzle.

And so for the remaining five minutes of your first meditation,

Appreciate that through your stillness and your steady breath and your shut eyes,

You are looking away from the outside,

From your home,

From your relationships,

And looking into yourself to resolve this dissatisfaction in some capacity and to resolve the mystery of who and what you are.

And that this,

As subtle as it seems,

Is a most epic journey.

Slow breaths.

Slow breaths.

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Reviews

Good

Nice work brother.

I just finished this challenge and I can’t say enough good things about it. Every day has informative and transformative dharma talks as well as guided meditation experiences. It’s very well done and a fabulous introduction or review of a wide variety of meditation techniques and practices.

Greta first session, a new approach to my nomarl routine. Looking forward to the next 30 days

Loved day 1. There is a lot of knowledge here. Thank you for welcoming me like a friend to practice. Namaste

That was cool and a nice way to start the series. I look forward to more. Meditation=enlightenment. ☮️💖🙏

Incredible. I have been meditating for some time now. But you made it simple, light yet meaningful. Thankful that our paths crossed.