31-Day Meditation Challenge: Day 13

Welcome! This is the thirteenth 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.

This video is mostly unguided to permit solo-time, making the INTERVAL MEDITATION technique your own.

Enjoy.

Transcript

All right,

Good evening everyone.

Good to see you all.

So day 13,

In case you didn't know,

This is another integration day.

So you're gonna spend most of the time just practicing interval meditation on your own.

But before we get into that,

Just highlighting some of the key ideas behind this exercise.

One,

The opening and the closing of the eyes should feel somewhat disruptive to the flow of your practice,

And in that,

Inform you on two details that are entwined.

One is that I actually want to keep my eyes closed.

I want to internalize.

That is attractive to me for whatever reason.

And the reason isn't important right now.

Just feeling the affinity for the internal space,

Or what yogis call the self with a capital S,

Not your identity,

But your raw sense of being.

It's something to connect to.

And then the second idea,

Entwined with that affinity for the internal,

Is a disinterest with the external,

That for whatever reason,

You're taking the time again to meditate 30 minutes a day for 31 days.

That is provoked by a degree of dissatisfaction with what the external,

With what the physical,

With what relationships,

With what hobbies,

With what career,

And with what responsibility can provide.

And it doesn't necessarily mean that the external is diminished,

But that you are compelled,

Or you are intuiting that there is more,

And that this more is,

It can't be perceived by the senses.

It's not outside you.

And all of this sort of snowballs into the impulse to just sit down and be.

So that term in Sanskrit is called vairag.

And again,

It means to turn the world gray.

And so that's the first idea.

The opening and the closing of the eyes should feel disruptive.

And if it does disrupt you,

That's a good sign.

The second is that technically what you're trying to build in terms of how to meditate is a perfect unit of meditation.

It is a perfect breath in and a perfect breath out.

And that perfect unit is defined by stillness,

Posture,

The depth in which your torso inflates,

And the intensity,

Not necessarily speed,

But the intensity in which your torso and abdomen deflates as you breathe in and out.

You just wanna think of maximum range of motion while inhaling and exhaling.

And so once you've discovered for yourself and practiced this perfect unit,

Meditation becomes very simply,

At least mechanically,

You just have to recreate that unit over and over and over again,

And allow the practice to become that simple,

But also that mindless.

And then,

Because you're gonna sort of be left to your own devices for this session,

How can you deepen,

Right?

If meditation is about internalizing our awareness and replacing intellect and thought and analysis with feeling,

Right?

I just want you to contemplate this for a moment.

If all you're doing is breathing and replicating a perfect unit of meditation,

But in sort of the parentheses,

And you're trying to feel as much as possible,

How can you increase your ability to feel?

How can you increase your sincerity within that perfect unit of breath without just sort of like trying within your head?

And what physical way do you think you could increase physical sensitivity?

Just think of it for yourself.

Okay,

And so becoming really connected to the details and consequences of respiration and changing respiration is a huge part of like a mature meditative practice.

The first is just slow down your breath.

When we're stressed out,

We are compelled to externalize our awareness,

To look at the problem,

To analyze the problem that is outside of us.

But when we're relaxed,

We are more willing to internalize our awareness.

And because we trust the world around us and we give ourselves the time to fall into the sanctuary of our own being.

And so if we can relax,

It'll be easier to feel your inner body.

And the word is to interocept,

To perceive this inner space.

And so slow breaths will help you with that.

But if you really sort of wanna boost or trigger wakefulness,

Take the time to hold your breath for just the slightest little blip at the top of your inhale and the slightest little blip at the bottom of your exhale.

So you'll inhale very slowly,

Again,

This perfect unit,

Hold for a flash,

And you'll notice this waking up within your mind and then exhale very slowly.

And again,

Hold for a flash.

And you'll recognize again,

This wakefulness,

This flash within the mind.

And that's sort of it.

So let's get into this comfortable seated position,

Tall spine,

Eyes closed.

So very straight arms,

Bring a random finger to each thumb.

Again,

This gesture with the hand signifies that you're conscious.

You're not just sitting down,

You're organizing yourself.

And the organization of the body reflects the attempt of organizing the mind.

So you're gonna take three breaths,

Inhale,

Open the eyes,

Exhale,

Close the eyes,

Two breaths,

Inhale,

Open,

Exhale,

Closed.

And then that one perfect breath,

Inhale,

Open,

Exhale,

Closed.

If you want to boost your focus throughout this pattern,

Hold your breath for a flash at the top of your inhales and the bottom of your exhales.

Okay,

Everyone,

Integration day,

Make this yours.

I'll chime back in in about 20 minutes.

Okay,

Everyone,

Let's get into this comfortable seated position.

Okay,

Everyone,

Let's get into this comfortable seated position.

Okay,

Everyone,

Let's get into this comfortable seated position.

Okay,

Everyone,

Let's get into this comfortable seated position.

Okay,

Everyone,

Let's get into this comfortable seated position.

Okay,

Everyone,

Let's get into this comfortable seated position.

Okay,

Everyone,

Let's get into this comfortable seated position.

Okay,

Everyone,

Let's get into this comfortable seated position.

Okay,

Everyone,

Let's get into this comfortable seated position.

You you you you you you you you you you you you you you you Slow down the breath Let's change the pattern One breath in and out eyes closed And then inhale open the eyes exhale close the eyes again one breath inhale open exhale closed Notice that when you open the eyes it disrupts your experience and informs you that yes,

You want to internalize you you you you you you you Slow down the breath now keep the eyes closed Remember to hold your breath for a flash at the top of your inhale notice in that spark of Deeper stillness you're not even breathing anymore Alertness presence and awareness increases Slowly exhaling and again holding your breath at the bottom of the exhale noticing the same phenomenon Perfect breaths a Perfect unit of meditation Repeated mindlessly and simply through the technique of breathing what you are aiming to do is simply feel the white noise the buzzing the tingling and the innate aliveness of your body appreciating that as the anchor that pulls you in You You You You You And now externalize your mind just listen to the environment around you and in that relinquish any idea of effort So the closing definition of meditation meditation is the absence of effort you're just sitting still Doing nothing meditation is the absence of unconsciousness And so despite doing nothing you are here present open and sensitive to everything that is inside and outside And so the evidence that something has changed through this subtle and deceptively potent effort Bring your hands to heart center relax your shoulder blades down your back boost your posture slightly just to provoke more awareness and presence and As you listen to the world around you Appreciate that life is good And that somehow despite the ups and the downs Despite the loss despite the pain despite the failure It's only good And if you can feel that a Little bit more than you'd expect to feel that that is the evidence And So this new proclivity for optimism this capacity to be present To the divine the divine being the supremely good physically is the consequence of relaxing your nerves.

That's it And that's the power of this Thumb knuckles to third eye center press your thumbs into the skin of your forehead with a little bit more force getting back into technique And so the more capable we are at feeling our bodies and pushing back our thoughts The easier it is to guide our bodies into physical tranquility Which affects our minds and allows us to see what ancient yogis labeled as the divine Broad sweeping goodness and so focus on your thumbs touching your forehead that little tingle.

Let's take one breath in One Breath out Hold your breath release your wrists to your knees random finger to each thumb When you need to inhale breathe mindfully through the nose and then hold your breath again One last time for today's class a perfect unit of meditation everyone take an exhale with Your next inhale open the eyes,

I'm still meditating You

Reviews

Lots of nice quiet time to practice today. I am finding that even when opening the eyes and disturbing the practice, it is easy to drop back in. And stay calm. Thank you. ☮️💖🙏