The Power Of Conscious Awareness: A Mindfulness Practice

After a brief reflection on attention as a key element of mindfulness practice, this meditation invites us to open our attention with kindness and curiosity to our moment-to-moment experience. This practice includes some poetry and a closing cultivation of loving-kindness to ourselves and all beings.

Note: This is a live recorded practice so there is minor background noise in the beginning.

Transcript

A couple of words as we begin this meditation this morning.

One of the elements of mindfulness is,

I'm sure you're aware,

Is our attention.

Where we're putting our attention.

A lot of what I was saying earlier,

That our attention is often in a whole different place from where we are.

We're in the future,

We're in the past,

We're caught up in worrying or planning,

Whatever.

The invitation,

What mindfulness helps us to do,

Is to really to gather our attention,

To choose where we're putting our attention and to bring our attention into the present moment.

Attention's been described as psychic energy.

We could ask ourselves,

Am I putting my psychic energy into what's helpful to me if I'm worrying about the future and kind of catastrophizing?

Is that helpful use of this energy,

This energy of the psyche?

Or would it be more helpful to just be present with what's here?

Is that more of a pathway to growth and to well-being?

In meditation,

One of the things we do is we channel,

If you like,

Our psychic energy.

We move our attention where it will be most helpful.

For example,

Using the breath as a focus for our attention or opening to whatever might be coming up in our experience and just using the attention to say,

Okay,

This moment is like this and meeting it with kindness.

Let's begin this meditation by finding a comfortable,

Relaxed posture.

Just paying attention to,

First of all,

To the posture,

To your posture,

To how you're sitting,

And inviting a relaxed,

Open posture.

Imagine,

You think of the Buddha sitting under the tree of awakening,

Relaxing the shoulders,

Relaxing the chest and the belly as much as you can.

Just letting yourself arrive and settle into this moment.

You might take a few deeper breaths to help yourself relax a little more,

Settle.

Letting go of any tension,

Any tightness on the out-breath.

Releasing,

Letting go as you breathe out.

You might invite a smile to your face,

Consciously letting the mouth and the eyes come into the expression of a smile.

And it can be helpful to think of,

Kind of envision or think of someone or something that easily makes you feel happy,

Joyful.

Young child or a baby can often do that,

Or a pet,

Or a loved one,

A dear friend,

Or a partner,

Or a spouse,

Parent.

Just taking in any feelings of warmth,

Connection.

Let the smile come down into your heart,

If you can,

Down into your body.

Letting go of any tension,

Any tightness,

Any tightness on the out-breath.

So we sit in a way that's relaxed and alert.

So notice if there's any sense of doing or tension around,

Or I've got to do this,

Or I've got to sit like this,

Or breathe like this.

And see if you can let go of any sense of doing.

Just allow yourself to be here in a relaxed,

Easy way.

And at the same time,

Be aware of what you're experiencing.

Be aware of this breath.

This bodily feeling.

This emotion or mood that might be moving in you.

Maybe a kind of energy of restlessness or tiredness.

Just meet it with a kind attention.

The poet Rumi speaks of welcoming the guests.

It can be a helpful image to see whatever is coming up in our experience is like a guest coming to visit.

We're inviting ourselves to meet whatever comes up with an open heart,

With a receptive awareness.

And I meet this with kindness,

With acceptance.

It only takes perhaps a minute,

But I certainly cannot give you an instant.

And you might notice how your mind is right now.

Is it very active and busy getting pulled into various kinds of thoughts?

Or does it feel more relaxed,

More just present here and now?

Not as a judgment,

But just as a practice of awareness,

Of noticing.

And if your mind is very active,

Very busy,

It can be quite helpful to have a focus for your attention.

To counter the tendency of the mind just to wander wherever,

You know,

Wherever the mind habitually goes.

It can be helpful to just bring your awareness in a very conscious way,

But also a relaxed way to your breathing.

Breathing in and breathing out.

And not controlling or changing the breath,

But simply aware of the sensations of breathing in and breathing out.

You could let the breath be your home base or your anchor.

What grounds you in this moment?

And when the mind does move into thinking,

When you notice that,

You can just kindly and gently let the attention come back to the body,

Come back to the breath.

In breath and out breath.

And if the mind is more,

Kind of more relaxed and at ease,

You can also,

You could find it helpful to let go of any particular focus of your attention.

Not focusing particularly on the breath or the body or sounds,

But just letting whatever's here come and go in its own time.

Kind of a more open awareness.

And you could envision your awareness as being like the sky.

All sorts of things pass through the sky.

Birds and planes and smoke and clouds.

Insects.

But the sky is open and unaffected by what passes through it.

And in the same way,

Our awareness can be open and include everything.

The sounds,

The smells,

The thoughts,

The emotions,

Feelings.

But the awareness doesn't need to be affected by or isn't ultimately affected by the content of our experience.

We can just watch it all come and go in its own time.

So the awareness is more of an open,

Spacious awareness.

Mind like the sky.

You might choose to use your attention in the way that's most helpful to you.

Could be some other focus,

Could be the sounds around us or bodily feelings.

Just being here and coming back when the mind moves into discursive thought,

Plans,

Memories,

Daydreams.

Just being here and coming back when the mind moves into discursive thought,

Plans,

Memories,

I'll just share a poem by another poem by Mary Oliver,

A poem,

Wild Geese.

Just to sit with if it might be helpful.

She says,

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert,

Repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.

Tell me about despair,

Yours,

And I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile,

The world goes on.

Meanwhile,

The sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes,

Over the prairies and the deep trees,

The mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile,

The wild geese high in the clean blue air are heading home again.

Whoever you are,

No matter how lonely,

The world offers itself to your imagination,

Calls to you like the wild geese,

Harsh and exciting,

Over and over,

Announcing your place in the family of things.

Do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk through the desert repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.

Just this breath,

This feeling,

This moment.

Whatever your experience,

Just see if you can meet it with kindness.

With acceptance.

With interest,

With curiosity.

If you're experiencing something difficult or challenging,

Something painful or just hard to be with,

If you can meet it with compassionate curiosity,

To quality of interest,

With kindness.

The practice of mindfulness is to know we can always begin again,

No matter how much we might have been caught up in painful or harmful experiences or just in distraction,

How many times we're lost in thought,

How often we're gone,

That we can let that go and just come back to this,

This moment,

This breath,

This feeling,

Just being here.

Always available to us this possibility,

Just being here,

Coming back,

Coming home.

Peace is this moment without judgment.

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

Peace is this moment without judgment.

Peace is this moment without judgment.

Peace is this moment without judgment.

As we move towards finishing this meditation,

I invite you to first just appreciate your own effort and your intention in just taking this space,

Creating this clearing in the dense forest of your life,

To be present for your experience and to be here together in community.

We're really making a choice of what we plan to do with our one wild and precious life.

We're choosing to be present,

To open to our life when we might make other choices which are more about comfort or ease.

So just taking that in,

Appreciating that and also appreciating everyone else who's here,

The intentions and the sincerity of every person,

Just feeling the connection of our hearts together in this space,

Wishing for the well-being of ourselves and each other and of all beings everywhere.

It's wishing that all beings be free from harm,

Free from suffering,

That they be safe and happy and healthy and well.

All beings without exception.

Just holding each other and holding all beings in a field of loving-kindness.

The intention of kindness and compassion,

Caring about the suffering and happy in the happiness of others.

Finished with this poem by Antonio Machado,

Last night as I was sleeping,

Last night as I was sleeping I dreamt,

Marvelous error,

That a spring was breaking out in my heart.

I said,

Along which secret aqueduct,

Oh water,

Are you coming to me,

Water of a new life,

Are you coming to me,

Water of a new life,

That I have never drunk.

Last night as I was sleeping,

I dreamt,

Marvelous error,

That I had a beehive here inside my heart and the golden bees were making white combs and sweet honey from my old failures.

Last night as I was sleeping,

I dreamt,

Marvelous error,

That a fiery sun was giving light inside my heart.

It was fiery because I felt warmth as from a hearth and sun because it gave light and brought tears to my eyes.

Last night as I slept,

I dreamt,

Marvelous error,

That it was God I had here inside my heart.

Reviews

Very nice. Such a calming voice. I liked the quiet pauses. Thank you

I love the sacred and practical aspects of this meditation.

Hugh, you always seem to say just what I need to hear. Thank you.

Wonderful as always. With deep gratitude 🙏🏻 The perfect balance of gently guidance, space and inspiration.

The doves were singing the whole time we meditated together, I felt our spirits merge. I knew our connection was deep and real and whole for a time. The gift of solace in a world of chaos. Namaste 🙏🏼

Hugh, Thank you for this peaceful, and beautiful meditation session❣

Beautiful & Lovely with
the poems added for extra
Mindful Moments 💫 🌟
Thank you 🙏

The poems you read to us makes me want to read more poems. Thank you.

You know that “just right headspace” that leads to outstanding meditation practices? This meditation aligned perfectly with one of those for me. Thank you for enabling an incredibly powerful practice today. PS: loved the poetry. 💜🙏🏽💓

Dear Hugh, thank you for another beautiful and meaningful talk and meditation.

Thanks for this supportive guidance, I meditate since quite a while and I even teach mindfulness, but this morning I have felt the paradox to hear the invitation to hold what’s here with an open heart and awareness as the heart and awareness themselves were like « unavailable » so caught by hard feelings and thoughts. The recognition of that was a bit softening... which means awareness was not completly unavailable 😊 finally and cognitive comprehension manifested through thoughts can be a support... Thanks again Hugh for your guidance, I hope to have the chance to practice live with you one day.

Thank you for this. I appreciate your gentle guidance and the wise words of poetry that you share in this meditation.

It is always good for me to listen to talks and meditations from Hugh. Thank you. Peace be with you.

Dear Hugh, Your meditations are life changing. You always have just the right words, messages, and your voice is such a calming presence. Your use of poetry is so moving. More please! 🙏💕🙏💕🙏

Always relaxing always useful.

Thank you Hugh for your wonderful guided meditations 🙏

Beautiful, Hugh! Thank you

Just lovely, Hugh. Thank you for your presence and for inviting my curiosity. 🙏

Love the poetry. 🙏

Gentle wise peaceful and inspiring. Well worth a try. Thanks. Namaste.