Awareness And Sublime Abidings (At Rootbound Dec 15, 2022)

This 12/15/2022 edited guided meditation at Rootbound on Main Street in St Charles, Missouri starts off with a body scan. We then get into awareness practices of mindfulness of body, feeling, mind, mind objects, and awareness itself followed by the sublime abidings of loving-kindness, compassion, vicarious joy and equanimity

[I added a starting mediation bell and did significant noise removal, loudness normalization and equalization to make it now somewhat listenable.]

Transcript

And we'll go right into mindfulness of the body with the breath.

So feel free to,

If you want to do a lying down position,

If you need to stand up,

Do standing for a little bit and then sit back down,

You're welcome to do so.

So find a posture that's comfortable when you can sit in for more of an extended period.

And even though the breath might be more pronounced right now,

Let's just scan through the body,

Inviting it to relax.

So from the head,

Deep inside the head.

So take a breath deep inside to the brain.

And if the brain was a muscle,

We can invite it to relax for now,

Inviting all our troubles and cares,

Everything we're dealing with,

The shelf for now,

They'll be there and better able to address when we're done.

So allowing the muscles around the eyes to relax,

Breathing the whole time,

Breathing out in and out of these areas,

Muscles of the face,

Relax back of the neck and throat,

Inside the throat,

Neck,

Top of the shoulders,

Relax.

Inside the shoulder sockets,

On the shoulder blades and chest,

Down through the entire arms,

Hands,

Fingers,

Relax.

Back up to the shoulder sockets,

Relax.

Chest,

Back of the chest,

Sides,

Relax.

Middle torso all around,

Lower torso all around,

Hip and pelvic area,

Relax.

Upper legs,

All sides,

Relax.

Knees,

Shins,

Calves,

Sides,

Down to the ankles,

Feet,

Top,

Bottom,

Sides,

Toes,

Spaces between the toes.

And then more quickly sweeping up from feet to the knees,

To the hips and pelvic region,

Entire torso to the neck,

Arms and hands,

Back to the neck and head,

Relax.

Now the internal organs,

Whatever's accessible,

Invite those to ease,

Open,

Melt as well.

Now even down to the bone,

Cartilage,

Layers,

Layers,

Marrow,

If that's accessible,

You can just set the intent for that even to relax.

So muscles fall away from the bones.

Now notice what you can notice about the breath.

Areas of noticeability usually include the stomach,

The lower stomach.

See how low in the body you can notice the breath breathing there.

We're just working with the natural breath from every moment of the inhale on through the end of the inhale.

There is a slight pause a lot of times before the start of the exhale starts,

Every micro moment on through the end of the exhale,

Or there's another pause before the inhale starts again.

Notice the sensations involved with this.

You can notice the movement.

There's also a rhythm or rhythm,

Tune into the relaxation around the rhythm of the breath in and out.

That's right.

I've noticed it in the chest,

Slight rocking of the body,

Maybe through the throat,

Nasal passages around the nostrils,

Upper lip.

Tune into the pleasantness of the breath,

Invite that to expand.

Not that we're denying any pain right now.

We're fostering a conditioned environment of wholesome pleasure to stay with the breath and strengthening the awareness muscle.

Move into other areas,

But for now,

Let's focus on the body breathing.

We're giving our internal organs a massage too.

Maybe you notice slightly cooler air on the in breath,

Slightly warmer air on the out breath.

There's also the energy of the breath.

So it tends to be energizing and brightening on the in breath,

Life-giving nourishment,

And on the out breath,

A release,

Letting go,

An expelling of all that we no longer need.

Also,

We can notice the difficulty level.

However it is,

It's okay.

Sometimes it feels like we were running a marathon or we're just sucking wind desperately.

It's okay.

It can be the opposite end where it's so effortless.

It's like we're being breathed.

It has nothing to do with it.

It's completely wide open.

It can vary in different areas of the body too.

Also,

Perhaps there's a texture.

Use the imagination to describe what the breath feels like.

Again,

It can vary anywhere from the sandpaper,

Very rough,

On through to velvety or silky smooth.

Take a moment to notice the texture.

Again,

If this is too subtle,

It's okay too.

Welcome to put a hand on the stomach to better feel the breath,

The movement of the breath.

Okay.

So I invite you to stay with the breath,

But now we'll move on to the second foundation of mindfulness is pleasant,

Unpleasant,

Or neutral.

It's called hedonic tone.

I like to call it hedonic tone.

People call it feeling tone.

Basically everything in our experience is either pleasant,

Unpleasant,

Or neither of these.

So just noticing what is going on in our experience,

But noticing it from,

Is it pleasant,

Unpleasant,

Neither.

Breathing in and out of however we experience this.

So being aware of this helps tremendously because usually if we experience something as pleasant,

We want more of it.

We don't want it to go away.

It's unpleasant,

The opposite.

We grab hold of it in order to get rid of it and to not want it to happen.

There's no judgment either way.

It's just being aware of this.

And then there's also experience that's neither of these.

The tendency usually is to zone out,

Become disinterested,

And start looking for something that's pleasant or unpleasant.

So turning towards whatever we notice in our experience,

But noticing it pleasant,

Unpleasant,

Neither.

This can switch fairly rapidly.

It also just be stuck with one thing.

We won't stay with this for long,

But just give a few moments of silence here too for your exploration.

This is if you're viewing it kind of from the outside.

So we want to try to disentangle from it,

Disengage,

Unhook,

And view it as an observer instead of this is who I am.

This is me.

Just noticing pleasant,

Unpleasant,

Neutral.

And we can see this,

We have more of an opportunity to view it differently or respond.

So to react to more choices open up.

Again,

Pleasant,

Unpleasant,

Or neither.

This can be with the breath as well.

And moving on to the third foundation,

It's mind.

So bringing awareness to the mind.

The most common things we notice about the mind can be thinking.

So we don't need to necessarily make thoughts happen.

Let's just tune to mindfulness of thinking.

So some experience thinking mostly in images,

Others in words.

Usually one of these is more predominant.

So if it's images,

You can just sit back like we're watching Netflix or something on the screen and just let it play out as outside observer.

You can notice where in our experiences those images seem to be coming from.

A lot of times inside the middle of the head.

And then where they're viewed with the eyes closed,

Usually somewhere in front of us,

Short distance in front of us.

And if there's no thoughts,

That's okay.

Just can stay with the breath.

You're more of an auditory thinker.

You kind of find out where the words are coming from,

Maybe the throat or inside the head.

Then whose voice it sounds like they're coming from.

People report anything from their own inner voice to maybe a parent or teacher,

A friend,

Maybe an authoritarian figure.

With this,

It's just like listening,

Like you're listening to the radio or something.

The metaphor with this is like you're at a train stop or you're stopped for a train going by.

There's no need to get out of the car and go jump on one of the train cars.

You just sit in the car and watch the train of thought go by.

Okay.

A few moments,

We'll switch to the fourth foundation,

Which there's a lot of different translations for it.

The best one is dhammas,

But that doesn't really mean anything without lots of explanation.

I won't go into.

Let's just make this an open awareness practice.

So basically open to everything in your experience,

No particular experience.

So phenomena can be the senses internally or externally,

Sounds inside and out,

Sights inside and out.

If you have your eyes open,

It could be smells,

Could be probably not taste,

But if you're doing a memory of a taste.

And then tactile sensations,

Which can be tingling,

Hot,

Cold,

Vibration,

Pressure,

Traction,

Release,

Numbness,

Pain,

Pleasant sensations.

And of course,

Phenomena of the mind,

Thoughts,

Memories,

Planning,

Images,

Colors,

All manner of mind phenomena.

So allowing whatever your experience is to come and go and notice what arises and passes away moment to moment.

If this becomes too destabilizing,

You can always return to the breath.

Okay.

This is anything in experience,

Especially sense impressions of sound,

Sight internally and externally,

Smells,

Tactile sensations,

The mind phenomena.

Stay with this just for a short time,

And we'll switch to being aware of awareness itself.

With being aware of awareness itself,

Easy way to oil down experience.

So there's only two things that's ever going on,

Knowing and what's being known.

So in Europe,

We're paying attention to phenomena as it rises,

It's whatever's occurring,

And then the knowing of whatever's occurring.

So in this practice,

We tune in not so much what's being known,

But the actual knowing itself.

So for example,

Again,

Tune into the breath.

The breath is what's being known,

But now tuning into what's knowing the breath and making that the object,

Being aware of being aware,

Of being aware,

Noticing the act of noticing.

So if you need an image to interrupt the mind around this,

Imagine you're in a movie theater,

An old one,

And the projector is projecting onto the screen,

The movie,

Which you get up and you turn around and you look at the projector itself.

You're also the very source of the projection itself.

Knowing the knowing,

This actually can be quite profound,

But also very pedestrian because all day long we're knowing something or another,

But we're usually paying attention to the objects of what we're knowing.

With this human faculty,

To be aware,

To know,

To know,

You can turn the attention back on that.

We'll stay with this just for a few more moments.

Okay.

So now might be a little pause before we transition into some of these heart qualities known as the Brahma Viharas.

So we just have time to sample these really briefly.

One translation of this is the sublime abidings.

There's four of them.

Loving kindness or unstoppable friendliness is one,

Most common one.

Then there's compassion,

And then there's altruistic or vicarious joy or rejoicing,

And then there's equanimity.

So if you'd like to readjust now,

Now would be a good time to.

And with the loving kindness,

This is,

We'll do it for really briefly for a loved one,

For a neutral person,

And for probably an enemy.

So the challenging of someone we find our enemy or a difficult,

Challenging person.

And then I'll do it briefly for all beings everywhere.

But what this is,

Is bring,

We'll start off where it's easy.

So bring a loved one to mind,

Someone where there's no emotional complication.

Maybe it's your offspring,

If you have offspring.

For me,

It's a niece and nephew.

It could be a pet too,

Or even a tree.

Anything where it's not emotionally complicated,

It's really easy to show goodwill.

And this can be a very high and mighty practice,

But it doesn't need to be.

It's just basically an absence of ill will.

So whenever there's an absence of ill will,

That's basically loving kindness or unstoppable friendliness.

And we can start with what most people take,

Or what we take for granted most of the time,

That we more than likely,

I guess I'm speaking for everyone here,

We haven't taken another human life today.

Not everybody on earth can say that.

So again,

Bring to mind someone where it's easy to show goodwill,

A mental image of that.

And then I'll say some phrases.

You're welcome to repeat those silently to yourself too.

Just listen to the words or use your own.

And then notice the feelings that come up.

And don't be shocked or alarmed if the exact opposite comes up during this,

Because that's very common.

Things will come up to be seen and known and released and let go of.

So it's totally normal for that to happen.

So again,

Bringing the image to mind,

May you be safe inside and out.

May you be happy and joyful.

May you be healthy and strong.

May you live with ease.

May you realize awakening and be free and safe inside and out.

May you be happy and joyful.

May you be healthy and strong.

May you live with ease.

May you realize awakening and be free and safe internally and externally.

May you be happy,

Joyful,

May you be healthy,

Strong,

And you know,

Peace and ease.

May you realize awakening and be free.

Okay,

Now on to where I say a neutral person,

Basically someone where there's no emotional charge.

Maybe it's a clerk at a store.

Maybe it's someone you pass in the street and barely notice.

There's not a lot of feeling one way or the other.

Nobody comes to mind.

You can just kind of think of a random person or whatever.

May you be safe inside and out.

May you be happy,

Joyful.

May you be healthy and strong.

May you live with ease.

May you realize awakening and be free.

So the key here is to be as authentic as possible.

And just,

If that's not possible,

That's okay.

We can just notice what happens when we attempt to practice this.

That's just as helpful.

May you be safe inside and out.

May you be happy,

Joyful.

May you be healthy and strong.

May you live knowing peace and ease.

May you realize awakening and be free.

I'll just go on now to a challenging person.

So bring to mind,

Maybe not our arch enemy,

But one who we find difficult and maybe they find us difficult too.

And kind of see what happens when we bring image of them to mind.

Notice what the feeling's like.

And then the phrases may you be safe inside and out.

May you be happy,

Joyful.

May you be healthy,

Strong.

May you live with ease.

May you realize awakening and be free.

Let's do it one more time.

One more time.

May you be safe internally and externally.

May you be happy,

Joyful.

May you be healthy,

Strong.

May you live knowing peace and ease in your heart.

May you realize awakening and be free.

And for the sake of time,

Let's just move on to compassion.

And basically this,

By what I mean by compassion,

Is just acknowledging pain.

So let's bring probably not our most challenging situation ever,

But some instance in our lives where we wish we could have,

Or the other person or both of us could have done something maybe in a better way,

And it caused pain.

So now the phrases for this,

We'll start with the other person.

I acknowledge your pain and I care about your pain to the best I'm able to now.

May your pain release.

May you know peace.

I acknowledge your pain and care about your pain to the best of my ability now.

May your pain release.

May you know peace.

And then for ourselves,

I acknowledge this pain and care about this pain in the way that I'm able to now.

May this pain release.

May I know peace.

Acknowledge this pain and care about this pain.

May this pain release.

May I know peace.

And again,

The practical version of this is,

How can I help?

Is there anything I can do?

Just asking that question.

Okay,

So now the more uplifting is known as altruistic joy or vicarious joy.

So if there's so many million people on earth,

That ups our chances of happiness that many times because there is no limit.

Sometimes we feel that there's not enough happiness to go around,

But truth is that we can be happy for other people's happiness.

We can bring to mind maybe someone that told us good news,

One of our close friends or family,

And we just felt overjoyed for their being overjoyed.

And so it was kind of contagious in a good way.

Spills over and we're just as happy as they are because they're happy.

So we can bring them to mind a situation like this and we can use these phrases.

May your happiness increase.

May it continue.

May it never cease.

May your happiness and good fortune continue.

May it increase and may it never cease.

May your joy,

Happiness,

And good fortune continue.

May it increase and may it never cease.

Then we had more time we could do that for other folks in our lives.

And not to do much of a formal equanimity practice,

But to kind of give the flavor of equanimity.

It's kind of this grandparently wisdom where we've seen it before and we're wise and we know how it is.

It's not indifference.

Indifference is the near enemy,

But it's this balanced,

Even keel caring.

And at the same time,

Knowing that we can't live someone else's life for them,

No matter how much we want to help out.

Maybe we have in the past,

But we can't be there for whomever we're trying to help all the time.

They have to live their own lives and make their own decisions.

So just as we're responsible for our own actions,

They are too,

Even though we can be there to help and guide and support when we can.

So that's kind of the flavor of equanimity.

So with that,

May all beings everywhere be safe inside and out.

May all beings everywhere be happy and joyful.

May all beings everywhere be healthy and strong.

May all beings everywhere realize awakening and be free.

When you're ready,

You can open your eyes,

Bring the awareness back to the room,

Move around,

Do slight movements to ease back into everyday life.