Day 084/365: Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm

This is a guided meditation with Ajahn Brahm. About 15 minutes of Dharma talk/meditation advice and inspiration. About 20 minutes of guided meditation and about 25 minutes of silent meditation practice. These are followed by a Q&A session/closing thoughts after the meditation practice.

Transcript

This is the ongoing class where we just talk a little bit about meditation to begin with and some aspect of meditation just to enhance one's practice and then afterwards we do about 40-45 minutes sit.

I just come back from Melbourne where I taught at a conference and talking about meditation as well over there.

There was one person who was talking to a length about her meditation and she was just saying how much she was struggling and trying hard and then one day she'd ask,

What the heck,

I'm just going to relax.

And then just with that attitude change,

Her meditation took off and she felt really peaceful and very happy.

It's such an important thing even though you keep stressing it again and again and again.

The purpose of meditation is to learn how to relax the body and also relax the mind.

If you keep in mind what the word relaxation means,

You understand maybe,

You may not be able to write an essay about relaxation but at least you know its feeling and the sensation of the mind which is at peace with itself.

In the same way when a body is relaxed,

You can feel there's no tightness,

There's no tension anywhere in the body,

Everything is loose and open.

The reason why the body is relaxed is because you're not holding anything tight,

You're letting the body tell you where it needs to be and what it needs to do.

Basically you're getting out of the way.

I know that sometimes I might start meditating sitting in a particular posture and I think it's a good posture but my body disagrees with me because it aches or it's tense,

It's tight.

And for these days I never sort of take my word for it,

I feel what my body wants to say.

When I let go of what I want the body to do and let the body decide,

I find that tightness,

That pulling,

That pushing,

That squashing disappears.

The whole body feels relaxed,

It feels open.

I am not deliberately pulling anything,

Pushing anything,

Squashing anything,

I'm just letting the body be.

I know that sometimes I've used the description of imagination.

I used to use this with a children's class in meditation I did many years ago.

Imagine your body like a sponge and that sponge is all squashed and also twisted.

Imagine just that sponge untwisting,

Unsquashing until it gets this really light and fluffy sponge.

I use that because it was a very simple and maybe we might say simplistic metaphor but at least the kids could understand that sometimes our body and our mind are like that,

It's like a sponge which is twisted and squashed.

Of course that's not good for the sponge at all,

In the same way it's not good for the mind and the body.

So you learn how to untwist things,

Unsquash things,

Take away the tightness,

Take away the tension.

I think you can all relate to that in your body because you all had times when you have a pain here and ache there and you've learnt,

I hope,

How to at least relax the body,

Mostly when you're at home in an armchair or maybe when you're in bed at night learning how to relax the body.

Now,

Can you do the same thing with your mind?

Because the same techniques,

They do work with the mind.

Imagine your mind like a sort of sponge which has been twisted and squashed because of all the things you had to do,

All the things you had to put up with,

All the external stresses and strains on your life.

The poor old mind has been really squashed and battered.

So you learn how to untwist the mind,

Unsquash it,

To let it become really soft and loose like a real sponge should be.

And just even that imagination means that we take away all of the tightness,

All of the demands and constraints,

All of the control which we put on our mind.

And just like the body,

The body starts to untwist,

Expand,

Feel at peace.

So a lot of healing can go on in the body.

In the same way when the mind tends to really relax,

Get rid of all these demands and controls and things you want to achieve and what you want to get,

When all that stuff which squashes and twists your mind is relieved,

Your mind is like the sponge,

It expands,

It feels soft,

It's got no pressure on it,

No tightness on it.

You are relaxing.

Now when you start to learn about what I mean by relaxing the mind,

Not sort of pushing and pulling it all over the place,

That relaxed mind feels very pleasant.

In the same way when the body relaxes,

There's a lot of sources of very refined and subtle pain disappear,

Your mind is relaxing.

And when it relaxes,

It's a very pleasant place to stay.

Like any time people go on holiday and they really relax,

You love staying there,

You know,

Seven days,

Two weeks,

It's not long enough,

You just want to carry on if it's really relaxing.

There's a certain joy and pleasure of this state of ease and relaxation.

And that is an important part of that meditation technique.

It's because once the mind really relaxes,

It feels pleasant.

And because it feels pleasant and joyful,

The mind doesn't want to fall asleep.

It doesn't want to go wandering off thinking about this,

Planning that,

Going back into memories,

Which are just ways we escape from the unpleasantness of our moment-to-moment life.

So once we get the joy that we relax the mind,

It feels really good,

You find the wandering mind doesn't really come into it.

Why doesn't it come into it?

Because you're enjoying yourself too much.

Remember,

This is a very general teaching,

But very deep teaching.

The only reason why people can't stay where they are,

Why they can't be still,

Why they keep wandering off in their mind,

What they call the monkey mind,

The only reason for that is because the monkey isn't happy sitting where he is.

The monkey's happy,

He doesn't wander anywhere.

So if you're happy just being here,

Then all these wandering thoughts just don't come up.

So the job of relaxation is learning how to get this feeling of ease in the mind,

So you feel at peace,

You feel happy,

And then you get a natural course as a natural order,

Some stillness.

So you can understand sometimes why people's mind does wander off.

You're not relaxing,

You're giving yourself all sorts of demands.

I must sit still,

I mustn't go to sleep,

I must stay with my breath,

I must do this and I must do that.

My goodness,

You are the worst of bosses.

You are telling that to yourself,

You poor things.

So in this meditation,

Learn how to relax and be kind and just use the same sort of attitude to relax in the body.

Don't hold anything tight,

Just hold it loosely.

Don't have any great demands on yourself.

This is a time for just letting things be,

To allow some tightnesses in your mind to open up.

Stretches and strains when you're trying to make yourself something which is different than what you are.

All this tightness is pulling and pushing,

Please let that go.

Learn to relax the mind,

So the mind feels just really soft and easy.

Yes,

Sometimes people do feel a bit sleepy,

But that's just par for the course.

It's because of what we keep saying as sleep deficit.

Because many of you don't actually sleep enough,

You may put in the hours but you don't sleep efficiently and deeply.

Worry,

Taking away the tension,

The anxiety of your day into your sleep so you don't really fully relax.

So what you're doing here is if you do learn how to relax the mind,

You might get sleepy for a while,

But just relax with that.

If that's what my mind wants to do,

That's fine by me.

I'm relaxed.

You'll find after a little while the sleepiness just disappears by itself.

The mind's had its little break or the brain had its little break,

And then you carry on and your mind is very peaceful and very deep.

At the end of the meditation you come out really peaceful,

Really happy,

You have actually relaxed.

What a beautiful thing that is to do.

Not only is that important for your daily life and for your health,

You can take that to very deep levels in your meditation to relax the mind so much.

There's no tightness,

No tension,

A lot of happiness,

A lot of poise,

Which means you really stay still and get in some powerful meditations.

As I've been teaching for so many years,

Not just on my own personal experience but talking to and teaching others,

The deepest of meditations when you really let go,

When you relax to the max,

You just don't do anything.

But you go to this beautiful sense of ease and the happiness born of ease.

That's why the meditation just works on both goals of enhancing your daily life and your relaxation,

Your abounding of stress,

But also taking you into the spiritual depths or heights,

Whichever you call it,

Of meditation.

So you really get some great spiritual insights into the meaning of life.

That's how it works.

But that particular lady,

She got the message,

She did relax,

And she was just telling me just how wonderful it is.

Instead of trying to watch her breath,

Which was her main object,

She said,

What the hell,

I'm going to just relax.

And she got her some very nice,

Peaceful,

Joyful meditations.

And so may the same be for you.

Relax.

Okay,

So let's start the meditation now.

Oh,

Is there any questions on that?

Okay.

And please don't worry about falling asleep,

Especially if you're on the chairs.

Don't worry about it.

You don't actually fall forward when you go to sleep.

You actually tend to go back.

But if you are really afraid,

I'll get you one of these chairs with a seat belt on.

So if you do fall asleep,

The seat belt will stop you.

And if you're sitting on the floor,

You can put a cushion in front of you.

It's just the same thing as an airbag in a car.

Okay,

So let's get ourselves comfortable so we can start the meditation.

I'm just,

You know,

I think I know everybody here.

So here we go on the 45-minute meditation.

So you close your eyes.

Bring awareness onto your body.

Experience the body.

And relax your body.

Looking for any tightnesses,

Muscles which are being pulled,

Parts of the body which are being squashed.

And see if you can release as much pushing and pulling as you possibly can.

Take time on this.

Again,

It's not just about relaxing the body.

It's about establishing the attitudes of mindfulness and compassion.

Enough to bring the body to a state of ease.

And then we transfer those same attitudes to your mind.

Okay.

So you expect just things parts of the body putting your mind for the sake of adding kindness,

Feeling that whole part of the body become at ease,

Relaxed.

Notice the sense of pleasure with relaxation.

The same type of joy when the body is at ease.

The same type of joy when the body is at ease.

The same type of joy when the body is at ease.

The same type of joy when the body is at ease.

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The same type of joy when the body is at ease.

The same type of joy when the body is at ease.

When the body is relaxed,

Let it go and start relaxing your mind.

Taking away all tightness,

All pushing and stretching.

So the same feeling of joy,

The pleasure of ease comes into your mind.

The same kind of joy when the body is at ease.

The same kind of joy when the body is at ease.

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Very close to the end of the meditation now.

How do you feel?

How relaxed is your mind and your body?

And how does it feel?

See if you can notice the joy,

The pleasure of a relaxed,

Free,

Open mind,

At peace with itself.

Hold now in the gong three times.

At the end of the third winging of the gong,

You may open your eyes to end the meditation.

Hopefully this afternoon you've got another piece of the jigsaw of meditation.

Relaxation is another word for the result of when you let things go.

Relaxation was sort of the goal.

But the way into that relaxation was to let go of control,

Let go of doing,

Just to leave things be.

Just as some of the great teachings of Ajahn Chahal or the Buddha,

They always used to say,

Used to remember him just holding up his hand and just give that simile of a leaf.

The only reason a leaf moves is because the wind is blowing.

Take away the wind and the leaf moves less and less and less until the leaf comes to its natural state of stillness.

Using that simile,

He'd often say the natural state of the mind is to be still.

If you can only relax around the mind,

It will become still all by itself.

The reason why our mind moves is because we're always making it do things.

We're not relaxed enough.

No relaxation means that we let go.

One of the reasons why people don't relax in their mind is the whole thing of fear.

Fear is the cause of control.

And we're too afraid.

I don't know when the last time I told this simile here,

Probably just last week.

But anyway,

The simile of that bird on a tree.

Did I tell the simile of the bird on a tree last week?

Sorry?

Why a bird?

When it goes to sleep at night,

It sleeps on the trees,

Up in the branches and the twigs.

It doesn't matter how strong the wind is.

It doesn't mean if a tree moves left and right,

Swaying all over the place,

The bird never falls off.

You may imagine,

How can that be?

The bird must be awake all night,

Just holding on for a grim life.

That's the only way it can stay stable up in a tree when it sways backwards and forwards.

But the truth of the matter is that the more the bird relaxes,

The more it lets go,

The more its claws close up on the branch or the twig.

And the more relaxed it is,

The more closed are those claws.

In the early morning,

The bird has to put forth a lot of effort,

Has to strive to open up the claws.

So the more it relaxes,

The more it lets go,

The more stable the bird is.

That's why only the insomniac birds fall off.

But once they get into a very deep state of sleep,

They're happy,

They're perfectly safe.

Even though there's no will,

There's no control,

There's no doing,

They are perfectly stable because the relaxation causes the claws to close the most.

There's a very beautiful similar which someone told me years ago.

It's exactly the same with the mind.

The more you relax,

The more you let go,

The less you strive,

The more stable you are,

The more relaxed you feel,

The more peaceful you are,

And the less you move and wander and dream.

So relaxation is one of the great keys.

At the very least,

It means you don't end meditation all stressed out and tense.

In some meditation techniques,

People are more tight than when they started.

What's the point of that?

It means you haven't really done the meditation correctly or hasn't been taught correctly.

It's a way of letting go,

A way of peace,

A way of kindness and gentleness.

All the sorts of words which describe the path in this beautiful state of relaxation.

You relax with the world,

You relax with yourself,

You relax with the moment.

You're not fighting anymore.

You're taking a break from the battle of life.

Relaxing,

Being at peace.

So remember that word,

Relaxation.

It's an important one in the path of meditation.

Okay,

Any comments or questions about today's emphasis on relaxation in one's meditation?

Yes,

John?

Yes,

This is on the loving kindness meditation which sometimes I teach here.

A lot of time I teach on retreats.

One traditional method is to start by giving loving kindness,

Compassion,

Acceptance,

Warmth to oneself first of all and from oneself spreading it out to others.

But I think that may have worked in ancient cultures but certainly in western cultures,

Everybody knows.

We've just got a low regard for ourselves.

It's so hard for us to love ourselves.

In fact it's one of the hardest things for modern people to do,

To be at peace with themselves,

To love themselves,

To care for themselves.

So it's,

I used years ago this simile of lighting a fire.

You don't light a fire by holding a match onto a big sappy wet log.

You know,

You're just wasting time.

And I found when I first came here and started teaching metta meditation,

Loving kindness meditation,

People just couldn't do it.

They could do it to say their dog or their cat or to someone they liked very much.

And from that realization inside I started teaching meditation,

Of metta meditation on the easy objects first.

So it's like holding the match to a piece of paper that easily takes the flame.

So I first of all do loving kindness meditation on something which is easy to love.

As you know you've heard me do that,

Take me before I use an imaginary object.

My imaginary kitten.

Yeah,

Because I like cats,

Especially young animals,

They're very easy to love.

Puppy,

Baby or whatever.

So you start with something which is easy.

And then you work up gradually.

There's the fire,

Gets,

Takes on the paper then you add small twigs,

The kindling it's called.

Then bigger twigs,

Then bigger pieces of wood and then bigger pieces of wood.

Until when the fire is established,

You've got like the bonfire,

Then you can put on the big wet sappy rocks.

And they dry out and they start burning.

It's exactly the same with you,

You're the big wet sappy rock.

Which means that you're hard to take the flame of loving kindness.

So you build up your power of loving kindness and metta first of all,

With easy objects.

Then you put yourself on towards the end.

And it's wonderful,

People have really hurt you.

People who it should be so hard to have walked kindnessly given us towards you can do it.

It's quite wonderful when you do that first time,

That wow I'm actually,

I'm really legitimately loving my enemies.

And then you can look at yourself and say all the terrible things you've done Jon.

Ahhh,

Never mind,

Good enough.

And then you can love yourself.

So practically speaking I can see the reason behind it which is what I've explained to you.

But also having taught like that for many years,

It does actually work,

It's more effective.

One of the nice things about Buddhist meditation,

It's not something which is cast in stone,

It's not like something written in a holy book which you have to follow word by word,

Dot by dot.

The theme,

The underlying theme is unchanging but the way it's expressed,

The way it's taught from culture to culture,

Time to time will always change.

The heart of it,

The power behind it,

The stillness,

The kindness,

How it works with different people will change but the general path and the goal will always be the same.

That's one of the great things about teaching this in the West,

You can innovate,

You can change,

You can see things from a different perspective,

Invent new similes and metaphors.

But the underlying direction is always the same.

The means change but the goals are the same.

Does that sort of answer the question?

Thank you for that.

Are there any more comments or questions?

Was that one?

Did you put your hand out quickly?

No?

Oh no,

Okay.

I thought you were asking a question but she was actually brushing away her fly.

Put your hand out quickly.

Never go to an auction and do that,

Otherwise you'll find you're buying an expensive painting for $10,

000.

Okay,

So we might as well end now.

For those of you who are interested,

There is a sutta class tomorrow,

It's number 39,

Maha Asapura Sutta.

It's a long sutta,

Some of the long ones I haven't done before because they're quite long but it's an interesting sutta anyway.

It's number 39 tomorrow,

With a magiminikaya and that would be between 3 and probably 4.

30.

Okay,

So let's play a spectacle,

Dhamma Sangata,

We can depart.

Reviews

Relax the body and the mind tends to follow. Loving the silence. Thank you. ☮️💖🙏🕉️