31-Day Meditation Challenge: Day 17

Welcome! This is the seventeenth 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 is a review of the Rotation of Consciousness technique. Learning what it feels like to think, by first feeling our attention "touch" and scan the body, permits a greater degree of control over the mind and its incessant movement.

Enjoy.

Transcript

All right,

What's up everybody?

Good to see you all.

Day 17,

If you have not been counting on your own,

And we're reviewing the technique,

Rotation of consciousness or rotation of mind.

Okay,

So let's get into sort of the discussion.

This is again the first time we're sort of actively and directly interacting with the mind and specifically our capacity or inability to focus.

And so I was thinking about the mind and I think it's valuable to appreciate the brain.

So the brain is distinct from the mind.

The brain is the organ and the mind is the psychological experience of that organ.

And so in the same way that our heart beats and we can interact with our heart through that beating,

Our brain speaks and sort of dreams and thinks and visualizes.

And so it's a much more involved dialogue that we have with our brains.

And so the brain has 100 billion neurons and it has 100 trillion neural connections.

So that's a huge,

That's an astronomical number that's really hard to fathom.

So I went on Google and I asked Google,

Much smarter brain than mine,

How long would it take if I counted,

I counted every second in a day,

How long would it take for me to count to 100 trillion?

The answer is 317 million years,

Right?

So that is sort of the force,

That is the aliveness and complexity of the human brain.

And for that reason,

Many scientists,

Astrophysicists,

Theoretical physicists argue that the brain is one of the most,

The human brain specifically is one of the most complicated sort of visions of nature that human beings have encountered.

It's right inside our own head.

And so the whole point is,

Even though this isn't exactly how it works,

When we're attempting to still the mind,

We're attempting to articulate or control the mind the way we may be control our fingers or control our speech or attempt to control our choices,

Which are choices specifically vestiges of the mind,

We are attempting to control a technology,

An engine that has 100 trillion neural connections.

And so there's a lot of force,

There's a lot of power in that,

Even if it bubbles underneath the surface of our consciousness.

And so the first dimension of the mind that the yogis sort of labeled and identified was something called manas.

And manas refers to the wind nature of the psyche.

And that means that these 100 trillion neurons,

Neural connections that are always sort of like sparking and communicating through themselves,

They generate a sense of eternal and persistent movement with our own thought flow.

And we observe that,

You observed that yesterday as the mind continuously scanned the body.

It's doing it right now,

It does it when you're asleep.

From the day of your conception to the day of your death,

Your mind and your brain will continue to scan as best it can the infinity of the present moment.

So that's a monumental task for the brain to sort of commit to.

So that's sort of it.

The best way to interact with this process of stilling the mind is to sort of isolate in specific ways in which the mind moves.

And one of the best ways is to isolate the movement of perception or the movement of awareness through the physical body.

There's a lot of scholarly or historical sort of suggestions from ancient yogis that say feeling the body,

Internalizing the mind into flesh is one of the most effective ways to still the thought process and achieve yoga.

And so we're just doing that.

And so mamas,

The wind nature moves and moves and moves and we feel it and study it and interact with it and sort of learn it.

And just through that observation,

Giving time to observing its patterns and feeling those patterns within us,

We gain the ability to almost predict how the mind moves,

Become very sensitive to the feeling of the mind before it moves.

And in that we sort of bolster our capacity to in some way still those movements or mamas.

Okay.

And so before we get into the practice,

One last thing I mentioned yesterday,

Sort of the evolving relationship that people have with their brains or with their psyche.

And the first was that initially it's non-existent.

So this is the story of like human development.

Young kids,

They don't think about who they are.

They don't doubt who they are.

They just sort of roll forward through their moments.

At a certain point,

We question ourselves.

The mind becomes an obstacle.

The identity becomes something to discover or overcome.

You know,

This is the realm of insecurity and the realm of security or the willingness to become who we are.

But eventually,

The mind becomes a miracle to the open-hearted and internally sensitive.

The reason I'm saying this,

Especially in regards to meditation,

Is when we attempt to seriously control or still the thought process,

We can view our distraction or our thoughts as negative and sort of cannibalize our relationship to our psyche,

Which is not what you want to do.

You don't want to demonize your brain for doing its job and you don't want to sort of punish yourself for thinking,

Right?

Thinking is one of the most wondrous opportunities that human beings have.

But it tends to happen because the goal is to still the thought process.

And so if you perceive the mind as a miracle while practicing,

While attempting to still it,

Those distractions and those sort of moments of stumbling become moments of joy as well.

So it's win-win either way.

The last thing I wanted to say before you get into this and really sort of work the stilling of the mind is that it's really a good sign actually if you feel that your distraction is uncontrollable.

And so if you go back to this idea that first the mind is nothing and then it becomes an obstacle,

When it becomes an obstacle it means that you're actually sensing your thought process.

You're becoming aware of those 100 trillion neural connections,

Speaking and thinking and feeling and remembering and wanting and hating and judging.

So your distraction at first is an excellent sign.

So just sort of like keep that in your pocket when you do your work today.

Awesome.

So let's get into this.

Seated position.

Nice tall spine.

Again the technique is rotation of consciousness.

And immediately design perfect posture.

Immediately commit to your stillness.

And initiate perfect breaths.

And this is all meditation has to be.

If you commit to what you're doing right now for 10,

15,

20 minutes a day,

Every other day,

Once a week,

It is enough.

But that isn't to say there isn't more.

The dogma of meditation is that when we learn to powerfully still our thought process,

We access a center point in the eye of the storm.

And that center point proves to be incomparably satisfying and enriching.

That center point proves to help us understand who we are in ways that we couldn't predict.

It helps us connect to the immediate moment,

The richness and wonder and miracle of existence as it imprints itself into us in every second.

And so there is a summit to this mountain we're all attempting to climb.

And if we are to do that one day,

We must take the definition of meditation seriously.

The road,

Restraint.

So we have to become accustomed to what the mind feels like as it moves.

The way a tiger might study its prey instinctively.

In that we can predict its movements.

We are sensitive to distraction before it becomes full blown.

Feel the center of your forehead.

And now move the mind to your left eye.

Move the mind to the right eye.

Move the mind to the tip of your nose.

To your lips.

To your teeth.

To your tongue.

To your chin.

Left ear.

Right ear.

Feel your entire face.

And so the point of focus expanded.

Feel your entire head.

And again the point of focus has expanded.

Now notice whatever thoughts you're thinking.

And so the wind nature of mind,

Manas,

Moves through the body of course,

But it also moves through the mind itself.

Listen to your environment.

And manas has moved to the environment.

Back to the tip of your nose.

Throat.

Chest.

Feel the entire inner volume of your ribcage.

And now reduce your point of focus to something the size of a baseball.

Reduce your point of focus to the size of a ping pong ball right in the center of your chest.

Reduce your point of focus to the size of a pencil eraser.

If you find this difficult,

It suggests your sensitivity to the body can be improved.

Just keep trying to feel.

Left shoulder.

Move the arm or move the mind down the arm to the left elbow.

Down to the left wrist.

Left hand.

The entire hand.

If you haven't brought mudras,

Fingertips to thumbs yet,

Do so now.

Then feel the point of contact between your left finger and your thumb.

Move the mind to the right shoulder.

Right elbow.

Right wrist.

Right hand.

Fingertip and thumb.

Into the belly.

Again,

The entire volume of the abdomen.

Slow down the breath.

Reduce it to the size of a baseball.

Reduce it to the size of a ping pong ball.

Pencil eraser.

Focus on the hips.

Right thigh.

Right knee.

Right shin.

Right ankle.

Right heel.

Right foot.

Left foot.

Left ankle.

Slide the mind up the shin.

Feel the knee.

Left thigh.

Entire body.

Slow down your breath.

This is not necessarily meditation.

It's meditative.

It's a technique that will empower your ability to focus and feel.

By taking the time to study the movement of your awareness,

Whether you are controlling it or it's happening spontaneously,

By taking the time to feel your body and learn how to feel your body more,

You increase the probability of accessing that center position,

The eye of the storm,

Within those 100 trillion neural connections.

The only reason you would spend your time doing this is if you are called to it for some anonymous reason.

But the dogma is this is what all people seek,

The discovery of themselves,

Not externally but internally.

Now I want you to consciously scan your body on your own.

Play with moving slowly from point to point and really feeling the tissues and the bone and the blood flow and the temperature.

But then experiment and move the mind quickly.

What you're doing right now is learning to sense again the touch of your attention.

When the mind wanders,

That's okay.

The mind is a miracle.

But feel how it moved and how you pull it back.

Let's take a deep breath in together.

Slow breath out together.

Let's take a deep breath in together.

Let's take a deep breath in together.

Let's take a deep breath in together.

Let's take a deep breath in together.

Let's take a deep breath in together.

Let's take a deep breath in together.

Let's take a deep breath in together.

Let's take a deep breath in together.

Notice you are guiding the wind nature of the mind.

You're guiding your attention from point to point to point.

But alongside that guidance,

The tendrils of distraction are reaching into analysis and narration and commentary and emotion.

Slow down the breath.

Again,

Breathing deeply into the belly.

Manipulating the body and our physiology tempers the mind enough to make it slightly more manageable.

So what are you going to do now?

Follow your mind,

Your attention as it scans your body on its own.

A couple insights to help you find that movement.

It moves very quickly.

And it moves erratically.

Your forehead,

Shoulder,

Belly,

Back,

Foot,

Eye,

Arm,

Hand,

Fingertip,

Face.

Very quickly.

Like trying to keep track of a fly buzzing around you.

Invest in following manas,

The wind nature of the mind.

Feel how it moves.

In the beginning the mind was nothing.

And then it became something.

And as we pursue meditation as an actual experience,

The mind inevitably becomes an obstacle.

But distraction is good.

It means you're becoming sensitive to the storm of the psyche.

And that storm is one of the most complex systems that human beings have yet discovered in the natural world.

Feel one little blip of that system moving through your body.

All by itself.

Automated.

So that system of movement and perception,

It distorts our experience of the world.

And so the aim is to still those movements so we can see the world clearly and ourselves clearly as the yogis put it.

So now the work.

Now on the road.

Now actual yogic restraint.

Hold the mind in the center of your chest.

Baseball size.

And the wind nature will buzz around inside the volume of that baseball of focus and attention.

But keep it there.

Your posture will help you.

It'll wake you up.

Your slow breaths into the belly will help you.

And from time to time as you participate with this extreme focus called dharana.

Just repeat in your mind.

Now I am meditating.

Now I am playing the game.

You you you you you you We can feel this Newtonian principle here.

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction the more intensely we internalize the more specific our awareness becomes the more powerfully we can externalize the more expansive our attention can become.

And so now externalize the mind.

Appreciate the world around you.

Allow the mind to think.

But guide the content.

Think about Earth.

Think about the sun.

Think about the oceans.

And the forests and the deserts.

Think about the seven billion people that are peppered throughout the land.

Then feel yourself.

I have the storm.

A point of openness a clearing inside the body inside the mind.

Slow down the breath.

And so there is that experience of yourself deep inside that is atman.

Something like pure consciousness.

Something like the blank self.

And then there is everything else.

To bring your hands to heart center boost your posture slow down your breath and choose either externalize consider everything else including your body and your thoughts or internalize come back to that little point of sensation.

The more still and focus the mind is the more obvious that clearing.

From there repeat this phrase this mantra.

I am alive.

Increase your sincerity appreciate the dogma.

The dogma is that all people,

Whether they know it or not,

Are seeking this inner experience.

We simply aren't educated on it.

And so we look elsewhere.

The dogma is discovering this inner experience for ourselves is the purpose of human life.

And as you become more familiar with it and the intense satisfaction and peace that arises when you are occupying it,

It starts to make sense you can empathize with the yogis and why they believe these ideas so intensely.

I am alive.

Thumb knuckles to third eye center.

Closing ritual technique.

You can see your thumbs pressing into the skin of your forehead.

But now you know the game,

The single pointed awareness.

Right the warrior prince that only saw the blackness of the bird's eye.

The state of mind isn't better or worse than any other state of mind,

But it is unique.

Take one more inhale.

One more exhale.

Hold your breath release your wrists your knees random fingers to each thumb nice tall spine.

Enjoy the symbolism,

The tradition,

Hold your breath for as long as you can when you need to inhale slowly through the nose,

And again hold the breath.

So you're collecting prana life energy to stimulate wakefulness so that you can focus more intensely.

And you're building co2 to pull the body to pull the wind nature of the mind into flesh.

So as you're holding your breath focus on that same point in the chest notice it's a little bit more obvious.

From here everyone take a breath out mindful stay tall in the spine.

With your next inhale open your eyes.

Just repeat in the head.

I'm alive.

Inside and outside.

This recovered depth.

Reviews

Really like the body scanning. Helps keep the mind focused and also helps bring it back when it wanders. Thank you for another good lesson and practice. ☮️💖🙏