Mindfulness And Poetry Meditation #2

This is a second guided mindfulness and poetry meditation that includes an invitation to cultivate an open-hearted awareness; poems by Wendell Berry, Pablo Neruda, Antonio Machado, Holly Hughes, and Martha Postlethwaite; and periods of silence to help create the conditions for ease and insight.

Transcript

This is a second recorded meditation on mindfulness and poetry.

The earlier meditation included meditation instructions along with poems from Mary Oliver,

Wendell Berry,

Rilke,

Rumi and others along with periods of silence to help allow the poems to settle and land.

And this meditation is an invitation to settle into a spacious open-hearted awareness and let the poems break through our conceptual thinking so that we can arrive fully present in this moment which is really at the core of the spirit and practice of mindfulness.

To begin this meditation you might find a relaxed,

Comfortable posture on a chair or cushion or whatever position allows you to be present in a way that's relaxed and alert.

Let your chest be open and your shoulders relaxed.

You might take a few deeper breaths,

Long full in-breath,

A long slow out-breath and as you do so you can invite a smile to your face,

To your eyes and to your mouth and bring a kind and receptive attitude to whatever is present for you right now.

Invite a sense of calm and peace as you breathe in and breathe out and when you're ready let the breath relax into its own natural rhythm.

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

This short poem,

Clearing by Martha Postlethwaite,

Speaks to the spirit that it's wise for us to bring to the practice of meditation or contemplative prayer or other spiritual practice.

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 that you are in the forest of your life.

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

You might envision that you're creating a clearing or a space amidst the busyness and the responsibilities of your life.

In the dense forest of your life and in that clearing in that space with a spirit of being rather than doing.

Clarity and insight can arise from the stillness and the silence.

The spirit of being rather than doing.

Clarity and insight can arise from the stillness and the silence.

As you sit,

Bring an open spacious awareness to whatever you're experiencing.

If there are strong bodily sensations,

Open to these feelings and meet them with kindness.

Any emotion that comes up,

Sadness,

Joy,

Anger,

See if you can meet it with kindness.

If there's a lot of thinking,

Notice that the mind is active and gently bring your attention back to your body and to this moment.

You might envision your mind as being like a sky and everything that passes through the sky can come and go and not affect the sky which remains open and spacious.

In the same way our awareness can receive whatever sounds,

Sensations,

Feelings,

Emotions and thoughts without being affected by them.

They can come and go like birds or clouds passing through the sky.

So allow your mind to be open to include whatever arises coming and going,

Rising and passing in this open sky of awareness.

This open space of awareness.

And if at any time it feels hard to let your mind be open and spacious or if you feel spacey or disconnected,

Feel free to let your awareness rest in a more focused way on your breathing,

In breath and out breath.

See what is most helpful for you right now.

Here is a poem by Wendell Berry.

I go among trees that speaks to how we can befriend our fears and our difficulties.

I go among trees.

I go among trees and sit still.

All my stirring becomes quiet around me like circles on water.

My tasks lie in their places where I left them,

Asleep like cattle.

Then what is afraid of me comes and lives a while in my sight.

What it fears in me leaves me and the fear of me leaves it.

It sings and I hear its song.

Then what I am afraid of comes.

I live for a while in its sight.

What I fear in it leaves it and the fear of it leaves me.

It sings and I hear its song.

After days of labor,

Mute in my consternations,

I hear my song at last and I sing it.

We sing,

The day turns,

The trees move.

Thank you.

Sitting in a way that is relaxed and open,

Allow whatever is present to be here,

With kindness and without judgment.

If something feels difficult,

A strong emotion or an uncomfortable bodily feeling for example,

See if you can make space for it.

Does it change or soften when you allow it to be here and not push it away or resist it?

What do you notice when you meet what's difficult with a receptive and open attitude,

Saying yes to what is here?

The poet Rumi speaks of welcoming the guests even if they're a crowd of sorrows.

How does it feel to welcome the guests that are coming to visit?

Does anything change when you bring an open-hearted attitude to what you're feeling and experiencing?

This is a 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,

O water,

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.

Opening to whatever is present with kindness and without judgment.

Resting in a spacious awareness with your mind like the sky.

Everything can come and go in this open sky of awareness.

Making space for whatever is present in the body,

The heart,

The mind.

Letting everything come and go in this open space of awareness.

Or if it's more helpful,

Just letting the attention rest on the breath and the mind wanders coming back to the breath.

Meeting whatever you're experiencing with acceptance,

With kindness,

With interest.

Watching it all come and go.

Nothing to hold on to,

Nothing to push away.

Just simply aware of the rising and passing of experience.

This poem is called Mind Wanting More by Holly Hughes.

Only a beige slat of sun above the horizon,

Like a shade pulled not quite down,

Otherwise clouds.

Sea rippled here and there,

Birds reluctant to fly.

The mind wants a shaft of sun to stir the grey porridge of clouds.

An osprey to stitch sea to sky with its barred wings.

Some dramatic music.

A symphony.

Perhaps a Chinese gong.

But the mind always wants more than it has.

One more bright day of sun.

One more clear night in bed with the moon.

One more hour to get the words right.

One more chance for the heart in hiding to emerge from its thicket in dried grasses.

As if this quiet day with its tentative light weren't enough.

As if joy weren't strewn all around.

One more chance for the heart in hiding to emerge from its thicket in dried grasses.

One more chance for the heart in hiding to emerge from its thicket in dried grasses.

One more chance for the heart in hiding to emerge from its thicket in dried grasses.

One more chance for the heart in hiding to emerge from its thicket in dried grasses.

Meeting whatever is present with kindness,

With acceptance,

With an open heart.

This is Keeping Quiet by Pablo Neruda Now we will count to twelve and we will all keep still.

For once on the face of the earth let's not speak in any language.

Let's stop for one second and not move our arms so much.

It would be an exotic moment without rush,

Without engines.

We would all be together in a sudden strangeness.

Fishermen in the cold sea would not harm whales and the man gathering salt would not look at his hurt hands.

Those who prepare green wars,

Wars with gas,

Wars with fire,

Victories with no survivors,

Would put on clean clothes and walk about with their brothers in the shade doing nothing.

If we were not so single minded about keeping our lives moving and for once could do nothing,

Perhaps a huge silence might interrupt this sadness of never understanding ourselves and of threatening ourselves with death.

Perhaps the earth can teach us as when everything seems dead and later proves to be alive.

Now I'll count up to twelve and you keep quiet and I will go.

13 When I ring the bell,

You might,

If time allows,

Continue sitting with an open,

Spacious awareness.

And let the words of the poems reverberate,

Or just sit in your own silence and stillness,

Listening to whatever is arising in the body,

The mind,

The heart,

The spirit.

When I ring the bell,

You might,

If time allows,

Continue sitting with an open,

Spacious awareness.

Reviews

Weaving poetry into meditation is very helpful for me

I love the poetry meditations so much. Thank you.❤️❤️

I have listened to Hugh many times speaking this poem and I love it …

Really enjoying the poetry, it does impact and creates a quiet pause for mindful reflection. Thank you.

I love these poetry meditations. Please make more Hugh.

Hugh has become one of my favorite teachers here in IT.

What a treasure of poetry shared in this meditation. And a voice tone that is so peaceful with periods of silence interspersed.

I just love these poems. Such a powerful aid to medidation. Thank you.

Thanks for this very nice poetry and meditation! Joe

Thank you. That was beautiful and helpful.

I love poetry and find it a perfect support for reflection and stillness. I appreciate the skillful curation of the poems in this session and the gentle guidance. Thanks, Hugh. 🙏

Please do more meditations with poetry. Beautiful and just what I need! Thank you!

Thank you Hugh! It has been a beautiful way to start de day! 🙏

Lovely and inspiring.... such a wonderful way to listen to poetry. I read it and feel peaceful, I listen to it and feel included in a larger more expansive plane of thought 💭 namaste 🙏🏼 Hugh 🙏🏼✨😊

This review is for both Mindfulness and Poetry guided meditations, #’s 1 & 2: marvelous! I love not only the selection of poems, but the organization of them - the flow from one to the next and the progression of mindful thoughts and awareness, the deepening of the meditative state. What a brilliant concept! I’d read &/or heard most of them before, yet experienced them in an entirely new way. Thank you.
✨🙏🏽🌸💜☯️✨

Hugh is extraordinary- integrating poetry with insight. A deeply informed spiritual leader.

Lovely, emotional

I listen to this meditation from time to time again. Finding it peaceful and the combination with poetry very fruitful. Thank you

Lovely meditation!