Sitting With Dignity

This is a beautiful and instructive explanation on how you can sit with dignity, composure and comfort. This is followed by a mindfulness meditation, encouraing you to slip into a deep state of inner contentment, comitting to shedding uptightness and going with the natural flow of your mind and body. Note: this is a live recording, so there a minor muffle in the sound.

Transcript

We're trying to establish a way of sitting that feels good for us. That feels ennobling. That feels suffused with self respect. So, How can you. . . What feels good for you in terms of how to sit? By that I mean maybe it feels good to connect to a sense of elegance in the way you sit. So, Your spine is straight and you're sitting in a way that reveals your self respect, Your inner beauty. Or maybe it means you're sitting in a way that makes you feel strong like you're a samurai. Your back is straight. Your carriage is elevated. This is how we approach sitting. We sit and immediately we connect to this quality of inner whatever it is for you, Inner beauty, Inner strength, Self respect, Dignity. So, Can you sit in that way? Explore that for real. What does that feel like? To sit and okay, Here I am, I'm present. And the person I'm present to is worth being present to. Quality in the way we sit. So, Right at the beginning, Sometimes I even think of it as just like a lack of uptightness. So, Uneasy going to be that quality. There's something in our carriage. And then we're gonna move into this training of concentration. So, Meditation is a training. It's a training in how you want to be in the world. And these different qualities of mind and heart can be boosted up. They can be developed just like a muscle group. So, One of the muscle groups is this quality of self respect and dignity that gets clearer as we go on. But another one is this concentration piece. So, We choose direction in our experience. Sound is one. You might want to explore that now. Just sort of checking in for a moment with listening. Noticing the sounds. How far out can you spread your mind into sound? And then another one is down into the body, Body sensation. So, The direction of how your body is feeling where it connects to the cushion in the ground. Maybe the feeling in the hand. The feeling in the belly. So, Body sensation. That's another direction. And another direction is the breath. The feeling, The sensation of breathing. Maybe where it comes in at the nostrils or enters the chest or even down in the belly. The gentle rise and fall of the belly. So, Concentration, I think, Of concentration is holding the direction. It's not about straining. It's about deciding right now to commit to one of those three directions. So, Even if they all seem interesting, Even if there's a tendency to move between them, Just sort of deciding here, You know, I'm gonna commit to one of these just for a few minutes of this meditation. I'm gonna decide to just feel the breath or just listen to sounds or just feel the body. Concentration is a commitment to hold that direction. But in a light way. So, You're not straining to penetrate the world of sound or the breath. You're just holding your attention, Say, For example, On the breath. Feeling it. And then, Of course, The mind will wander. And you just notice that. Do you feel good about noticing it? Yeah. Come back to awareness and then you swing your attention back to the breath. And that's the training. Drifting, Coming back. The more we do this, The more we find this natural capacity to concentrate, The focus starts to build. Concentration sometimes sounds like a kind of eat your vegetable thing, But actually gets very enjoyable. Concentration is flow. It's very blissful actually. So, Right now, Choosing your direction. Are you gonna commit to sound the body sensation or to the breath? Commit to one of these and then just hear it, Feel it as fully as you can. Try this for a little while. Up Earlier And so if you're feeling a little tired you can take a couple deep breaths. I'm trying to connect to the oxygenating, The refreshing quality of the in-breath. Stretching up the spine. If you're feeling like you've got almost too much energy, Lots of swirling, Thinking, Anxiousness, You can take a nice long exhale. As you're breathing out, The snow globe settling, Breathing out any tension, Softening. Holding this direction. How delicately can you feel the breath of the body? How delicately can you hear the sound? How delicately can you signal? How delicately can you tell that when you're in a out of nowhereitch? When you're in paradise owner BlondeRI I can't do same thing. I've nothing else. Looking up things, Odd Hip yet wimpy. . . We're training this concentration capacity to choose how we want to pay attention. Can we hold the direction of committing to this soft feeling of breathing, Of sitting, Sounds. Another skill we're training is this background easygoingness. I'm not gonna get up tight about the fact that there's gonna be thinking and sounds around us. We just go, Yeah, That's okay. Let that be in the background and choose what to highlight in the foreground. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . You can stretch your powers here. You notice the most soft part of the breath, The sublest part if that's what you're working with. Or you're working with the body. The quietest little bit of sensation at the bottom. Zooming in the most delicate way. Same with hearing. Those smallest sounds little pauses. Like we're slowly turning up the resolution dial on one of those old fashioned televisions. Create a better resolution on our camera. . . Your curiosity is really helpful. How much can I hear? How much can I feel? . . . . . . . . . . . . Finally, Can you just sort of flip a switch and decide to experience this ever so slightly enjoyable? That breathing sort of feels good. Having a body feels kind of nice and sounds something ever so slightly interesting about them. Enjoyable about them. The more we find this very subtle quality of enjoyment, The more concentration builds that feed off each other. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A couple minutes here. Really seeing how fully you can feel a sensation of breathing or of having a body. How clearly you can hear. How wide you can listen. Just check in. Are you sitting in a way that's easy going? Another thing is your face is maybe a bit tense. Just breathing out. If you're feeling tired, Taking a couple deep breaths. Stretching up the spine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Knowing that wherever you are, You're exactly where you need to be. Learning about our mind. Learning about meditation and silence, Our bodies. All this is a learning experience. The more we have that understanding as we go into this, The more real learning we'll do. That's how we are. . . . . . . . .

Reviews

Great clear tools for meditation

I appreciated the emphasis on posture and what it can embody, ie elegance, dignity, etc. I also liked the instructions and reminders about breath. The long pauses gave me time to “lose” myself and “find” myself again and again. I really liked this meditation. Thank you!