The Practice Of Mindfulness & Poetry - 20 Min Daily Insight

Poetry and meditation are a powerful combination in helping us calm the mind and open the heart. Poetry helps us drop out of our conceptual, problem-solving mind and helps us rest in present-moment awareness. In calming and settling the mind and opening to our experience here-and-now we can gain insight and deepen awareness--allowing us to live with ease and freedom.

Transcript

Hi and welcome to the Daily Insight.

My name is Hugh Byrne and I'm a meditation teacher here on Insight Timer.

This meditation is a meditation on poetry and mindfulness.

Poetry,

I believe,

Can help us drop out of our conceptual mind,

Out of our thoughts and stories,

And into a deeper contemplation of what truly matters and more fully into being here now.

In this meditation,

I'll focus on some of the best-loved poems of the late Mary Oliver,

A beloved poet and a true national treasure in the United States.

So begin by relaxing and settling finding a comfortable posture where you can feel a sense of ease.

Bringing awareness to your body,

Feeling the contact with the floor and whatever you're sitting on or walking on.

You might consciously drop your attention out of thinking,

Out of the area of the head,

Down into the body.

With the intention of being as fully here as you can be during this period of meditation.

And you might take some deeper,

Fuller breaths,

Inviting a nice deep in-breath,

Filling the lungs,

Filling the chest,

And relaxing,

Letting go on the out-breath.

Breathing in as though you're inflating a balloon and then releasing.

Imagine you're letting go of any busyness,

Tension,

Stresses of the day,

Just letting them go as you breathe out.

And when you're ready,

Letting your breath settle into its natural rhythm.

And you could invite a smile to your face enough to activate the muscles at the corners of your eyes and the corners of your mouth.

A smile sends a message that we can be at ease,

That we can relax.

We don't have to be tight or vigilant.

If it's helpful,

You could think of a loved one or a dear friend,

Child or a baby or a pet.

Someone who easily makes you feel joyful,

Happy.

And take in that smile.

See if you can bring it into the heart area,

Down into the body.

This expression of a smile,

This attitude of a smile.

See if you can let that be the attitude you bring to whatever comes up in your experience during this period of meditation.

And you might think of two or three things in your life that you feel grateful for.

Loved ones,

Experiences,

Qualities that allow the heart to feel glad,

Feel appreciation.

Just take in that feeling.

Gladdening the mind.

Making the mind feel more glad,

More happy.

This is Mary Oliver's poem,

The Summer Day.

Who made the world?

Who made the swan and the black bear?

Who made the grasshopper?

This grasshopper,

I mean,

The one who has flung herself out of the grass,

The one who is eating sugar out of my hand,

Who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down,

Who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.

Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.

Now she snaps her wings open and floats away.

I don't know exactly what a prayer is.

I do know how to pay attention,

How to fall down into the grass,

How to kneel down in the grass,

How to be idle and blessed,

How to stroll through the fields,

Which is what I've been doing all day.

Tell me,

What else should I have done?

Doesn't everything die at last and too soon?

Tell me,

What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

The question that ends the poem,

Tell me,

What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life,

Has become iconic,

But retains its power,

Inviting us back to ask,

How am I living my life?

How am I meeting this moment?

So opening to whatever is present for you right now,

Bringing a kind and non-judging awareness to your experience.

This moment,

Just as it is,

This breath,

This feeling,

This thought,

This sound,

All coming and going,

And only becoming a problem if we come into conflict with any of our experience.

If we try to hold on to anything,

If we resist and fight against what's here,

Or if we check out or escape from our experience,

We experience that as unpleasant or difficult.

So the invitation is to be with what is here now,

Saying yes to what is.

If it's helpful in steadying and calming the mind,

You can let your attention rest on your breathing,

Just as it is,

Without controlling it,

Just aware of the sensations of breathing in and breathing out.

Letting your attention rest in the sensations of the nostrils,

Or the lip,

Upper lip,

Or the chest and the belly rising and falling.

And when you notice that your mind has moved into thought,

Getting lost in stories or daydreams or plans or memories,

Just gently coming back to the breath,

Coming back to this moment,

In breath,

Out breath.

This is Mary Oliver's poem,

The Journey.

One day you finally knew what you had to do and began,

Though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice,

Though the whole house began to tremble,

And you felt the old tug at your ankles.

Mend my life,

Each voice cried,

But you didn't stop,

You knew what you had to do,

Though the wind pried with its stiff fingers at the very foundations,

Though their melancholy was terrible.

It was already late enough and a wild night,

And the road full of fallen branches and stones,

But little by little,

As you left their voices behind,

The stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds,

And there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own,

That kept you company as you strode deeper and deeper into the world,

Determined to do the only thing you could do,

Determined to save the only life that you could save.

Listening to the poem,

We might reflect on how we can attune to our own inner voice of wisdom,

That can help us embark on a journey of waking up and untangling ourselves from what keeps us stuck,

So that we can do the only thing we can do and save the only life we can save.

Bringing a kind and friendly attention to whatever is arising in the body,

The heart,

The mind.

Saying yes to this moment,

This experience,

Just as it is.

Meeting what's here with kindness,

With acceptance,

With curiosity,

With interest.

If you notice yourself pushing away from some experience or resisting it,

See if you can become curious about it,

Curious about a difficult feeling or an unpleasant sensation.

Moving towards it,

Making space for whatever is here right now.

In-breath,

Out-breath.

Remembering the smile,

It's available to us at any time to come back and invite a smile.

Perhaps softening any feelings of tension or tightness or resistance.

Meeting this moment,

This experience with the attitude,

The expression of a smile.

Meeting this moment,

This experience with the attitude,

The expression of a smile.

Noticing where your attention is right now.

Beginning again in any moment,

Not making thinking into a problem.

Just simply noticing that the mind will habitually tend to go off into thought.

For some it might be planning,

Others it might be thinking about the past,

Or daydreaming,

Or worrying,

Or just images and stories.

Whatever it is,

Just pause with kindness and friendliness.

Let the attention come back to the body,

Come back to the breath,

Come back to this moment.

Let the mind come back to the breath,

Come back to this moment.

Finishing with Mary Oliver's 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.

Thank you.

Reviews

This was the perfect meditation to start my day. Thank you so much!❤️🙏

A truly precious meditation with the touch of the Sacred.
🙏🏻🕊

Lovely reflections with the work of one of my favourite poets alongside ❤️🙏🏼

Delicate, calming, insightful. Thank you Hugh for sharing the wisdom of Mary in such a lovely way.

Wonderful mix of thoughtful poetry, guidance, and silence

just what I needed and just in this moment…thank you💕

I find that my words of gratitude for this meditation are already expressed within it.

His voice so soothing and the poems so much of what I needed today! Thank you

The combination of poetry & meditation is a powerful one. Thank you for always curating such a beautiful mix.

I enjoyed the poems of Mary Oliver and your voice so calming and gentle. Thank you for this beautiful meditation.

Magical moments. My heart & mind were receptive to the moment. Thank you.

Loved this! Perfect new year contemplation meditation. Thank you!

Thank you for this meditation this morning that brought me from drowsiness to a sense of wonder.

So very beautiful
Thank you
And smiles 😊the whole way through 🙏🏻

Beautiful meditation! Thank you for sharing your beautiful gifts with me and insight timer it’s been a blessing to find you as a teacher Hugh !!! Sending you much love & gratitude 🙏 Namaste

Beautiful, love the poetry and the gentleness in which Hugh Byrne shares

Thank you Hugh for this calming and centering practice. Namaste

Excellent. Exactly what I needed. Thanks for reminding me of the powerful poetry of Mary Oliver. Thank you. Thanks.

Wonderful meditation! I love the weaving together of poetry with deep and thoughtful insights and ideas to ponder. Thank you.

Beautiful weaving of poetry into this meditation. Thank you.