Why We Meditate: Short Talk & Guided Mindfulness Practice

Can I hold whatever's in my experience with kindess? This is a short and insightful 7-minute talk on why we meditate, followed by a fifteen-minute guided mindfulness meditation, gently led by Hugh. Please note: This is a live recording so audio quality may be compromised.

Transcript

Do you want to share some reflections on maybe why it is we do this and why it's so important that we do it,

That we take this time?

I mean,

As most of us,

Probably all of us know,

We spend much of our time,

Much of our lives somewhat separated from ourselves.

How many of us are living a lot of our time on autopilot?

We're kind of our minds on the way somewhere.

We're in the future,

Or we're in the past,

Or we're wanting something we don't have,

You know,

Our minds kind of fixated on,

Got to have this,

Got to get there.

Or that we want to not have something that we do have,

You know,

Some unpleasant experience,

You know,

Why is this person being like this?

Or why is this situation like it is,

As it is?

I want it to be different.

And mostly we're not even very conscious that we're not aware.

We're just in that kind of unconscious mode.

We're AWOL,

As it were.

We're not fully here for our lives.

There's a great line in James Joyce's stories,

The Dubliners.

Dubliners,

He said,

Mr.

Duffy lived a short distance from his body.

And in a way,

You know,

We're living,

Often we're living a short distance from our own experience.

We're not really embodying it.

We're not fully here.

We're kind of,

You know,

It's almost like some separation there.

And mindfulness is a practice of remembering to come home and remembering that we can come home to ourselves,

To this moment.

So just being here right now,

You know,

Right in this moment,

As I'm just saying these words,

You could be just aware of what what you're experiencing right now.

And meditation is when we consciously,

As it were,

Carve out the space for to be present,

To come home to ourselves,

To our bodies,

To our feelings,

To this moment.

So it's being present with the intention of meeting whatever we're experiencing without judgment,

With kindness,

With acceptance.

So that's the kind of the invitation of all of this practice is whatever is here,

Can I can I meet it with kindness?

Can I say yes to this moment?

You know,

Maybe it's an unpleasant moment.

Maybe it's a difficult memory or a painful emotion.

And the the aspiration,

The intention is to to hold this to with kindness doesn't mean it's always going to be easy.

But but the invitation is to say,

What would it be to move into this,

To say yes to this rather than doing what we do so often,

Which is kind of putting a wall around our experience and trying to avoid avoid what we don't like,

Hold on to what we do like.

So,

You know,

In the words of when we come here,

You know,

Or to any any class like this or any even when we sit down on our own to meditate,

We're doing what Mary Martha Postlethwaite,

The poet speaks about of creating a clearing in the dense forest of our lives,

You know,

That that sense of creating a space amidst all of the hustle and the bustle where we can meet whatever is here and watch it come and go,

See that everything changes and open to whatever insight,

Whatever clarity might come from just sitting in the stillness and in the silence with whatever is.

And the Buddha taught that mindfulness,

This present moment awareness is the direct path to liberation,

The direct path to freedom,

That whatever we're experiencing,

We can enter through the doorway of this moment,

This emotion,

This feeling,

This sensation,

This thought,

This experience,

That if it's met with kindness,

Without judgment,

With acceptance,

Then it can be a doorway to deep insight and to letting go.

And in that letting go is freedom.

We see that nothing can be held on to,

Nothing can really be clung to.

And if we see that deeply,

There's a real depth of freedom that's possible,

Kind of letting go,

Of thinking,

I can control this,

I can change this,

You know,

Some things we can and it's wise to.

But at a certain point,

You know,

When we get sick,

When we get old,

When we lose things,

And even in the everyday experiences of our lives,

We don't control everything.

But if we meet what's here with kindness and with acceptance,

There's a deep freedom that's possible for us in this kind of letting go of the struggle,

Coming into a wise relationship with ourselves and our lives.

So it's,

You know,

We often say this is a simple practice,

But not an easy one.

It's simple in that,

You know,

The invitation is just be here now,

You know,

As Ram Dass said 40 years ago,

You know,

Be here now.

Be here now,

Three words.

And yet it's not so easy because there's so many things that take us away from being here now.

You know,

If you're feeling uncomfortable being here now,

It doesn't feel like a nice thing to do.

No,

No,

I don't want to be here now.

I want to be more comfortable.

I want to be warmer.

I want to be with other people,

Not these people.

You know,

I want to be in a different situation.

I want to have a different job or a different relationship or whatever it might be.

You know,

So so be here now is easier said than done,

Isn't it?

So the invitation is to it takes practice to so much so many ways that we get kind of caught up in our habits and our conditioning and ways in which we do separate ourselves from our experience.

So it takes a training.

It takes practice,

You know,

To create new patterns and new habits and to let go of,

You know,

The unhealthy ways of relating to our experience.

So just want to share those few words as a reflection as we begin and go into a meditation.

This will be about 15 minutes.

And so invite you to find a comfortable,

Relaxed posture.

Sitting with your back straight,

Let the chest be open so that you can breathe easily.

Maybe tuck your chin in just slightly.

If you can relax your shoulders.

Letting go of any unconscious holding if you can,

Resting your hands in your lap or on your knees,

On your thighs.

And if you like,

You can let your eyes gently close and let your attention come inward.

If you feel more comfortable,

You could keep your eyes open and just look ahead of you,

Maybe five or six feet ahead of you,

A few feet ahead of you.

Let your attention drop down out of the thinking mode and just feel the body here.

Feel the contact of your your seat,

Your buttocks,

Your thighs with a chair or with a cushion.

Feel the weight of the body pushing down on your sit bones,

On your thighs.

Feel the contact of your feet with the floor.

See if you can feel the sensations from the inside.

Maybe there's tingling,

Pulsing,

Warmth,

Coolness.

Feel the sensations of your hands touching whatever they're in contact with.

Legs or one hand touching the other.

Feel the sensations of the hands from the inside.

And now you might bring your awareness to your breathing and just notice how your breath is right now.

You might take a few longer,

Deeper breaths to help more fully arrive and settle.

So a nice full deep in breath,

Filling the lungs,

Filling the chest.

And then releasing long,

Slow out breath.

Till all of the breath has been released in a nice full deep in breath.

So you're inflating a balloon.

Then releasing long,

Slow out breath.

Letting go of any holding,

Any tension,

Stress you might have been carrying.

Breathe in.

Just inviting a quality of calm.

You might say that silently to yourself,

Calm as you breathe in.

Calm as you breathe out.

Breathing in.

Calming the body.

Breathing out.

Calming the mind.

And in your own time,

Just letting the breath come back to its natural rhythm whenever you're ready.

Letting the breath settle back.

In breath,

Out breath.

You might invite a smile to your face.

Again,

Just the smile sends a message to our brain and our nervous system that we can relax and be at ease.

So inviting a smile,

If it's helpful,

Just think of a loved one.

A dear friend,

A child,

Baby,

Grandchild,

A pet.

Someone or being that easily makes you feel happy,

Joyful.

And just inviting that sense of relaxing smile.

You might let the smile be the expression of how you wish to meet the world and your experience.

See if you can meet it with a smile.

The expression,

The attitude of a smile.

And just checking into your experience right now.

Body,

Bodily feelings.

Your mood,

Emotions.

Just notice what's present for you right now.

Notice if the mind is relaxed and calm or more busy and active.

See if you can meet whatever you're aware of with acceptance and with kindness.

The kind,

Receptive awareness of whatever is here right now.

Martha,

Apostle Thwait,

A poem clearing.

Do not try to save the whole world or do anything grandiose.

Instead,

Create a clearing in the dense forest of your life and wait there patiently until the song that is yours alone to sing falls into your open cupped hands and you recognize and greet it.

Only then will you know how to give yourself to this world so worthy of rescue.

In the sense of creating an intentional space of awareness and of kindness,

Opening to whatever is present.

If it's helpful,

You might just let your attention rest gently on your body.

Let your attention rest gently on your breathing.

Breathing in and breathing out.

As a way of gathering your attention.

Aware of the sensations of the breath of the nostrils or the chest,

The belly.

In breath and out breath.

Breathing in,

Know that you're breathing in.

Breathing out,

Know that you're breathing out.

It's kind attention to your present moment experience.

Breathing in,

Know that you're breathing out.

Breathing out,

Know that you're breathing in.

Breathing out,

Know that you're breathing out.

And just noticing where your attention is right now.

In any time that you become aware that your attention has moved into the future or the past.

Into planning or remembering,

Problem solving,

Daydreaming.

Any of the other many ways in which we go off,

The mind goes off into thought.

Gently when you notice that,

Gently and kindly,

Just let your attention come back to the body and the breath.

See if you can do that with kindness,

In a friendly way.

It's not a problem when the mind goes into thought.

It's a habitual tendency of the mind and we can kind of guide the attention back.

And incline the mind back to this moment,

This breath,

This feeling,

This sound.

Here and now.

Here and now.

Just remembering that peace is here,

Available in any moment.

We can meet what we're experiencing with an open heart,

With kindness,

With acceptance.

As Dorothy Hunt says,

Peace is this moment without judgment.

This moment in the heart space where everything that is is welcome.

We'll finish this meditation with a poem remembering Mary Oliver,

Her own poem,

When Death Comes.

When death comes like the hungry bear in autumn.

When death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse to buy me and snaps his purse shut.

When death comes like the measle pox.

When death comes like an iceberg between the shoulder blades.

I want to step through the door full of curiosity,

Wondering,

What is it going to be like,

That cottage of darkness?

And therefore I look upon everything as a brotherhood and a sisterhood.

And I look upon time as no more than an idea.

And I consider eternity as another possibility.

And I think of each life as a flower,

As common as a field daisy and as singular.

And each name a comfortable music in the mouth,

Tending as all music does towards silence.

And each body a lion of courage and something precious to the earth.

When it's over,

I want to say all my life I was a bride married to amazement.

I was a bridegroom taking the world into my arms.

When it's over,

I don't want to wonder if I have made of my life something particular and real.

I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened or full of argument.

I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.

Reviews

Good stuff💯

That was a meaningful commentary to meditation and the heartfelt poetry really touched me.
Thank you for this precious meditation. It helped me and carried me today. I shall listen again.🙏🫂

Hugh brings you right to the core of mindfulness like no one else. Thank you.

Absolutely beautiful and just what was needed!🙏namaste!

Thank you for bringing solace.
A grateful heart,
Melora

Soothing voice, good recording, no distracting background noise. He built his talk around quotes from a poet and does it very well. I think I will listen to it again and write down her name.

Instructive, beautifully simple reminders sprinkled among the breath and sublime poetry. 🙏💫

Thank you for your wisdom 🙏💚 Nice to reflect on your words and poems to enrich my life!🙏🌞 Grateful✨

Great meditation, thanks Hugh. I loved the poem. You always give me so much to ponder. 💖💖
Eb

Thank you, Hugh! Beautiful as always! Especially your ending poem! 🌻

Gentle return to now and to “a simple practice yet not an easy one..”
Thank you sincerely Hugh 🧚🏻‍♀️

I recommend it to anyone who intent to make a new healthy habit of meditating or who is inpatient with ‘well-being...’

Needed to remember why we meditate... to come home. Great ro be reminde by this meditation. Thanms Hugh!

That was truly wonderful, bringing me the inspiration I was looking for to start this day. Thank you so much.

As always, his calm, supportive presence makes sitting a true joy.

Beautiful talk and meditation, thank you...

Wonderful, thank you Hugh 🌿

Thank you so much

Your talks and meditations always guide me to a place where I can connect with my inner being in a fresh and natural way. Thanks a lot for your help and advice!