The Stillness Is Already Here

Meditators often try to seek stillness by controlling certain elements of their practice. But the stillness is already omnipresent, and it is our attempts at control that mask its presence. In this practice, we allow ourselves to relinquish all control and experience the stillness that prevails.

Transcript

So this morning, I thought we might look at this idea that the stillness is already here. It's not something we need to try and attain. It's just something we need to settle into. It's not something we need to try and create or invent. It's not ours even. It's just here. And to look at this from the perspective of what we do to try and make meditation happen. There's plenty of methodologies out there and almost to a T, They all require us to do something. And as we do something, We're actually creating a separation between ourselves and stillness. Because we're trying to control it. We're trying to manage it. We're bringing ourself into it. And in so doing, We're creating this veneer, Perhaps, Between ourselves and the stillness. I'm trying to be still instead of allowing a settling into stillness. So the invitation today is to observe, To notice all the ways in which we do this. Counting the breath or a mantra or making observations, Like particular notes and naming things, Etc. All of these are fine techniques. And if you need to utilize them, Please do. And just notice, As you do, How that interacts with your relationship with stillness. So the invitation today, Essentially, Is to do nothing. So having said that, Let's find a nice awake posture and settle in, Perhaps, With a few deep breaths as I somehow attempt to give you instructions on doing nothing. So just allowing attention to settle. Whatever you've been doing this morning to get to this point, Just allowing that to be now. Just to be. Allowing this to be. Whatever this is. Settling. Settling. Now one of the first ways you may notice that you try and control this environment, This inner environment, Is the way you deal with thoughts as they arise. What do you do? Do you try and push them away? Do you try and suppress them? Do you try and stop them in any way? See if you can let go of even that control. So if thoughts arise, They arise. Noticing too that engaging in thoughts is another way to in some way try and instill a sense of control on a situation. So if thoughts arise, They arise. That's it. Another way that many of us try and control a situation is by. . . Is through expectation. It should be like this. I should be still. I should be relaxed. I shouldn't be tense. Notice wherever there's an expectation. And as best as you can, Just relax into that expectation. Rather than trying to stop the expectation, That's just stopping another thought. Just ease into it. Relax into it. See what happens. Essentially be with the thought, The expectation. No attempt to control. Notice in any ways you may be attempting to control your environment. It needs to be quiet. It needs to be still around me. It needs to be a certain way. And again, Rather than trying to push away that expectation, Sit with the expectation. Be with it. Neither wrong nor right. It's not something I'm engaging in right now. A human being, Not a human doing. Being with, Being with this. Inviting a quality of receptivity. Noticing how a quality of receptivity responds to discomfort, For instance. Discomfort in the mind, Discomfort in the body. Just being open to that. Open to that being here now. Not trying to make it a certain way. A receptivity that perhaps allows a sense of being one with this. Whether it's an internal or external stimulus, Sensation. Just be one with it. As one with it. When I'm not trying to control my experience. When I'm not trying to control my responses to my experience. Perhaps it allows a flow of experience through this, Whatever this may be. A conduit. And if at any time you find yourself caught in a stream of thought, For instance, Just noticing what the act of noticing results in. What happens when I simply notice, Oh thinking. Perhaps without even naming it, Just seeing it. Just seeing it. Where does that thought stream go? What becomes of you, The sense of you, The sense of me, I, When you relinquish control and when you notice yourself in that space of management. What becomes of the sense of I then? And you notice yourself caught up in thoughts, Feelings, Emotions. Where is the sense of I? How powerful is it? And then when you see that, Or when that is seen, Where does the I go? Noticing perhaps the energy it takes to maintain a sense of self. A constant doing. Constant doing. Constant recreation. Constant reinvention. It's a lot of work. Allowing attention now to return to body as body. And here you are. Sensing into that. And allowing that. Feeling the solidity. The groundedness. The completeness. Sensing into feet and hands and belly, Chest and shoulders, Neck, Head, Face, Forehead. Sensing into the top of the head. And thank you for your practice.

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