Hi and welcome to The Daily Insight.
My name is Hugh Byrne and I am a meditation teacher here on Insight Timer.
This 20-minute meditation provides four key guidelines for mindfulness meditation practice.
In this meditation we'll explore these four guidelines for meditation practice to help us bring a kind and non-judging awareness to our experience and return when the mind wanders into thought.
The four guidelines are first it's like this,
Second pay attention,
Third welcome the guests and fourth come back.
We'll discuss each of these and finish with a period of meditation practice.
The first guideline it's like this invites us to open fully to our experience just as it is without judgment,
Clinging or resistance.
The Thai forest meditation teacher Arjan Sumedho used this expression in his meditation.
Sadness it's like this.
Anger it's like this.
Itchiness it's like this.
Calm it's like this.
It's a recognition that this moment is just as it is and an invitation to meet our experience with acceptance.
Tightness it's like this.
Whatever comes up in meditation or in our life is not wrong.
It has come out of previous causes and conditions and meeting it with acceptance and with kindness is the first step towards making needed change.
The second guideline pay attention is a reminder to be here now to simply observe what is present.
You might bring your awareness to your experience as it is right now and notice what's present for you.
You could name what you're aware of.
Coolness,
Tingling,
Squeezing,
Warmth,
Tiredness,
Calm.
Whatever's here simply pay attention to it.
Be aware of it without judgment.
You can also pay attention by using the breath or another object like a mantra or the sounds around you or the feelings in your body as a focus or anchor for your awareness.
So for example focusing on the breath simply being aware of the sensations of breathing in and breathing out.
The third reminder is to welcome the guests.
This expression comes from the Sufi poet Jalaluddin Rumi's poem The Guest House where he invites us to welcome the guests even if there are a crowd of sorrows who empty your house of its furniture.
Still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out for some new delight.
So the invitation is to meet whatever comes up as if it were a guest coming to visit and as much as you're able to meet what's here with a welcoming and friendly attitude.
This discomfort,
This itch,
Can I meet them with a welcoming and accepting attitude?
Rumi's poem continues the dark thought,
The shame,
The malice.
Meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.
The fourth guideline is to come back.
However experienced we are the mind will move off into thought.
This isn't a problem.
We're not failing at meditation when the mind is busy and active.
It's simply something to be aware of,
To observe.
And when we notice that our attention has moved from our breath or other focus into thoughts,
Into problem-solving or remembering,
Worrying,
Daydreaming,
Maybe snippets from songs come up in the mind,
We simply return our attention to our breath and our body,
To our present moment experience.
So these four guidelines,
It's like this,
Pay attention,
Welcome the guests and come back.
See if you can be in one or more of these states as much as you can while you're meditating.
So sit comfortably in a way that's both relaxed and also alert,
Aware of your experience.
Let your back be straight,
Invite your shoulders to relax and let your attention drop out of thoughts,
Out of thinking,
Down into your body,
Feeling the sensations of the body,
Feeling the weight of your body pressing down on your buttocks,
On your thighs,
On your feet,
Sensations of the clothing against your skin,
The warmth or the coolness of the air around you,
Feelings in your hands,
Sensations of pressure,
Warmth,
Tingling.
You might take a few longer deeper breaths to help you relax and settle a little bit more,
Filling the lungs,
Chest as you breathe in,
Relaxing,
Releasing as you breathe out.
And as you breathe in you might invite in a quality of calm.
Calm as you breathe in,
Calm as you breathe out,
Breathing in,
Calming the body,
Breathing out,
Calming the mind.
And you might invite a smile to your face,
Just enough to activate the muscles at the corners of your eyes and the corners of your mouth.
If it's helpful you might think of a loved one or a dear friend,
A child or a grandchild or a pet,
Letting their image come into your mind and into your heart.
Just letting the smile come to your face and come down into your body.
If you can let the smile come down into the area of your heart.
Just remembering too that you can come back to the smile.
The smile sends a message to our brain and to our nervous system that we can be relaxed,
Be at ease.
We can let go of hypervigilance and being on alert.
Just relax into being here.
And just notice what's present for you right now.
Whatever's here,
It's like this.
If it's helpful you could name what you notice coolness,
Heaviness,
Warmth,
Calm.
It's like this,
Whatever it is,
This is what's here right now.
Just to meet it with acceptance.
Just paying attention to what's present.
And you might find it helpful to focus your attention on your breathing just as it is.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Whatever comes up,
See if you can welcome this guest.
Perhaps thoughts come up about something you have to do or a situation that occurred,
Gets pulled into your mind and you get caught up in thinking.
Just welcome this guest.
Let the thought come,
Let it go.
Just choosing not to follow it wherever it goes.
A strong emotion comes up.
See if you can allow yourself to feel it.
How does it feel in the body?
How do you experience it in your mind?
Just letting it all come and go.
Welcoming the guests.
And when you notice that your attention has moved into thinking,
Into worrying or problem-solving or planning,
Remembering,
Simply let your attention come back to the body,
Come back to the breath,
Come back to this moment.
Just beginning again in any moment,
Just coming back.
In breath,
Out breath.
So noticing what's here,
Whatever's here,
It's like this.
Pay attention to what you're experiencing here now.
This breath,
This sound,
This feeling.
Being here now.
Nothing to do but to be aware of what you're experiencing.
And whatever is here,
Can you meet it with a welcoming attitude?
Can you welcome this guest and this one?
And when you become aware that the mind has moved into thinking,
Simply come back,
Incline the mind back to your body,
To your breathing,
To this breath,
This moment.
It's like this,
This moment.
It's like this.
Paying attention to what's present right now.
Focusing on the breath as a way of grounding your awareness in the present moment.
Welcoming the guests,
Whatever's present right now,
Whatever's coming to visit.
See if you can make space for it.
Letting the feelings and the sensations come and go.
And when you become aware that the mind has moved into thinking,
Planning,
Comparing,
Judging,
Worrying,
Daydreaming,
Simply come back.
Let the mind come back to the body,
To your breathing,
To this breath,
This moment.
Finishing with this poem by Lehmann,
Pung,
When the Mind is at Peace.
When the mind is at peace,
The world too is at peace.
Nothing real,
Nothing absent.
Not holding on to reality,
Not getting stuck in the void.
You are neither holy nor wise.
Just an ordinary fellow who has completed his work.
