Welcome to day 24 of mindfulness with the moon.
We are in the final day of our waning gibbous phase and we are still sharing our fruits with each other and with the world and we're working with today in our Dharma talk and in our meditation pain and discomfort that inevitably arises in our life and then of course in our meditation practice.
So we'll start with about a 10 minute Dharma talk about pain and I invite you to move your body and stretch potentially if you need to today just listening to your own body's wisdom what your body is communicating with you before we drop into a 20 minute meditation where we work titrating in and out of places in our bodies where we might feel some pain to practice.
So everyone without exception encounters pain.
Most of us have the conditioning to not like pain or to be afraid of it and that pain is actually telling us that there's something wrong.
It's a very Western view of pain that pain is not natural and that pain is not supposed to be happening and that pain needs to be controlled.
But our reaction of not liking and being afraid ends up taking over and being the worst part of it all.
As many of you know,
We're in pain in the world and our worlds can get really small and our minds can start making up a lot of stories and our bodies and our hearts can become contracted and we pull ourselves away from fully living.
So the invitation here is to turn towards the pain because working with pain and discomfort can actually bring huge freedom when we can move towards it.
Tara Brock shares some basic wisdom teaching from her lecture that I'll share with you now.
Pain is inevitable and suffering is optional.
It's inevitable that these bodies are going to experience pain and pleasure,
Wanting and fear and it depends on how we relate to what's going on.
So if we're trapped in unpleasantness and we're hating this and we're feeling oppressed by the pain and we're feeling trapped by it,
It starts to feel like the pain is a part of who we are.
So in contrast,
Pain as with anything that arises can be really good at grabbing our attention,
This muscle that we've been exercising with mindfulness with the moon.
So pain grabs our attention and in having our awareness and our attention,
There can be a massive opportunity for awakening to the wings of mindfulness of wisdom and compassion and it takes practice and it's not always easy.
There's a way that we can actually shift how we're relating to the pain to create more ease and space and compassion.
So what happens when pain arises?
Typically we start to resist on all levels and resistance we're finding makes it worse.
Our minds love to try to figure out what's wrong.
How do we make it better?
What's happening?
Tarbrock also shares pain times resistance equals suffering.
To the degree that we're resisting,
There's going to be suffering and there's actually a tremendous amount of suffering when we disassociate from our bodies,
When we're contracting away from our bodies,
When we contract away from the pain,
But this is what we think we should do.
It's kind of our body's instinctual reaction.
However,
If we can train ourselves with mindfulness and with compassion and with wisdom,
We can actually learn to be with the unpleasantness of whatever is arising pleasantness or unpleasantness.
And then we get to start being more and more kind to ourselves.
So how do we be more kind to ourselves and take care of ourselves?
Chogyam Trungpa says,
You meet your edge and soften.
We meet our edge and soften.
And instead of using the word pain,
Perhaps we could call them a constellation of sensations that are changing.
The idea here is noticing what we can about the changing sensations.
And that way it becomes possible to feel into the center of what's happening and to potentially start to see if we can feel this space around the sensations and actually notice how the sensations move and shift.
And sometimes changing the language to sensations can really allow for us to engage from a witness place with care around these edges that arise based on what we're feeling in our bodies.
And the key here is also just to notice the resistance.
Even if you're not doing anything to change your pot,
Your body position,
Your body posture,
We're not trying to say,
Just let go of the resistance.
Instead we're just noticing that we're noticing the sensations.
And this is the magic of mindfulness,
Right?
In the noticing more of you is inhabiting the space of awareness and less of you is attached to the feeling that something is wrong.
So I invite you to scan for resistances.
And then there's a learning that we're teaching ourselves to stay.
Thich Nhat Hanh says this phrase,
Darling,
I care about the suffering.
I'm here.
I care.
I'm with this.
And when we can create the space of loving kindness where there's room for the pain,
Then the mantra of resting in loving awareness can come more easily.
Let's practice.
You'll hear three bells to begin and three bells to end.
Noticing your breath,
Finding yourself in a comfortable position.
How does your body want to be today?
Just bringing into awareness this deep sense of being right here,
This deep sense of presence,
Allowing for your breath to be strong,
To be an anchor or establishing another anchor that works for you to keep you grounded in the moment.
Noticing sensations.
Noticing the constellation of sensations.
See if you can attend to your moment to moment experience.
Allowing yourself to open as much as you feel comfortable to being with your body,
To being with yourself.
Meditating right here on this day,
In this moon cycle right now.
As we sit and breathe,
I'm going to read a poem.
See if you can notice what arises for you as I read this poem and you make space for all the sensations that may arise as you hear.
This is Anne Morrow Lindbergh.
She says,
Go with the pain.
Let it take you.
Open your palms and your body to the pain.
It comes in waves like a tide.
You must be open as a vessel lying on the beach,
Letting it fill you and then retreating,
Leaving you empty and clear.
With a deep breath,
It has to be as deep as the pain.
One reaches a kind of inner freedom from pain.
As though the pain were not yours,
But your body's.
The spirit leaves the body on the altar.
What if it's not our pain?
It's the body's pain.
It's the life that's living through us.
It's like waves in the ocean.
With a deep breath,
It has to be as deep as the pain.
How much can you notice?
Only noticing allows for the sensations to be in our awareness.
And with more awareness,
We are present.
And with presence,
We are free.
Can you attend gently and kindly to your experience?
Your moment to moment experience,
Meeting those constellations of sensations simply with your awareness,
Open,
Palms open,
Receiving what's here.
Can you be aware of the sensations that change as they increase or decrease with intensity?
Can you notice a hardening or a softening of the energies?
Do they feel heavy or light or a combination of both?
Can you notice if there's a texture or a quality to the sensations?
Do you notice anything visual as you stay with yourself,
Following the wave,
The wave of sensation as it moves through your body with each inhalation and each exhalation?
Is it possible for you to trust that your awareness will open you to a space of more balance and freedom right here,
Right now?
Can you float in the awareness right here and now?
And if you find that this moment feels really challenging,
You might ask yourself,
How bad is the sensation in this moment right now?
Is it tolerable?
Maybe you just give yourself 10 breaths to stay,
But not like a muscling through,
Kind of pushing yourself to the limit type of stay,
The type of stay that is compassionate and listening and that is leaning towards the resistance to see what's in there for us.
Noticing your sensations,
Noticing what's arising and breathing with kindness right here,
Watching the waves move through you and no matter what's arising,
Remembering the quote from Thich Nhat Hanh,
Darling,
I care about the suffering.
I care.
I'm with you in this.
When we learn to say that to ourselves,
What starts to change?
Slowly,
Slowly bringing your awareness to your body,
Maybe rocking side to side,
Moving at a pace that allows for you to be gentle with yourself as you release this meditation.
Thank you,
Sweet friends,
For doing this really important work.
Thank you for sharing your fruits with us and with the moon.
See you tomorrow.
