Now is the time when everyone can just relax.
It's very easy to relax the body,
But the hardest thing to do is to relax the mind.
To relax the mind,
We have to find a way of just retreating from the world,
The world of busyness,
The world of time,
The world of possessions,
The world of problems.
And one of the first things you can do is just close the eyes.
When the eyes close,
You become more aware of the inner world.
And instead of thinking about the inner world,
We can feel it.
Remember meditation is not an intellectual exercise.
It deals with the emotions,
Especially the emotion of peace.
We begin by feeling peace,
Just bringing it to our mind,
And allow our whole body,
Our whole being,
To resonate with the meaning of peace.
Peace centers us and gives us a strange sense of freedom.
The freedom from the world of striving,
Of struggling.
It's the center point within where everything becomes still.
So we move towards that center.
And as you've been doing this,
You might notice your body has relaxed already.
So as you take your attention away from the body,
It usually calms down.
It doesn't matter what posture you're sitting in,
As long as you're reasonably comfortable.
As long as your body can calm down,
The itches and the aches start to vanish.
Can you imagine this body just sinking into the softest cotton wool cushions?
There's no pressure,
No tension in the body.
You can ask yourself,
In my body,
What is the most prominent sensation?
It's usually a pain or an ache or an itch.
Attend to that sensation,
Calm it down,
Calm it down,
Calm it down.
So the sensation just vanishes,
Or at least eases.
You can do this with the second most prominent and the third most prominent sensation.
Noticing,
Calming,
Releasing.
Noticing,
Calming,
Releasing.
Until the body feels at ease.
You go back to your mind.
The mind and the body are interrelated.
As you calm the body,
You calm the mind.
As you calm the mind,
You calm your body.
The first part of mental calm is calming it from the tyranny of time.
The time is the torturer.
Now we get free from that torture camp of past and future.
It's never give us a free moment.
Now we take that freedom by deciding to be now.
All past,
All future,
We let vanish.
Allow it to disappear.
So all we have left is the perception of now.
Thoughts of the past interrupt,
Say no.
If plans for the future start to beckon you,
Say no.
As you deliberately stand your ground against the winds of time blowing into the past or the future.
Stand your ground in the moment.
It's the only place where you can be free.
Give this time the present moment.
It's the only place where you can be free.
It's the only place where you can be free.
It's the only place where you can be free.
It's the only place where you can be free.
It's the only place where you can be free.
It's the only place where you can be free.
It's the only place where you can be free.
It's the only place where you can be free.
It's the only place where you can be free.
It's the only place where you can be free.
It's the only place where you can be free.
It's the only place where you can be free.
It's the only place where you can be free.
Just being in the moment,
Being now.
Maybe you can calm down the inner commentary,
The inner speech.
So instead of talking about what you are experiencing in your head,
Allow it to happen without the mind giving it a name.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
If you want to watch the breath,
Please do so now.
Just knowing the breath as it goes in,
Knowing the breath as it goes out,
There's a focus for the mind.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Coming close to the end of the meditation now,
It's time to ask yourself how you feel.
Find out what has happened,
What the result of this 30 minute meditation is as an experience which you can feel.
How much of the emotion of peace is present before you now?
And why?
What made things peaceful?
What destroys inner peace?
Know those two things.
And you'll know the skill of meditation.
I'm now going to ring the gong three times.
As usual,
It brings you out of meditation gradually.
So listen to every sound from the gong with your eyes closed.
And only at the third sound,
Begin to open the eyes to come out from meditation.
Okay.
Very good.
