Integrating Presence Meditation: Classic Mindfulness Images

Classic mindfulness images and similes (recorded live): Relaxed cowherd after harvest; surgeons probe; ploughshare prepping the ground for wisdom; elephant’s neck supporting the head of wisdom while turning the full body not just the head; animal hitching post taming; climbing a platform with detachment for a broader perspective and overview; town gatekeeper knowing who to keep out and can direct who comes in; wheel spokes connecting body hub to the wheel of our experiences; and balancing oil bowl atop the head.

Transcript

So let's just take a moment to arrive in the room,

Take a few deliberately deep breaths again,

And then let the breathing return to normal.

Let's just take a moment to check in,

Review our intention for being here.

Maybe what we hope to get out of this time together,

Colds.

And then let's just take a moment if anything is wanting to come through right now,

Any messages or anything that needs the adjustments that need to be made,

So where we can sit aside 15-20 minutes for this practice.

And that way if things come up along the way we can just say,

Okay,

I see you and I'll come back to you.

It's like if we were to meet somebody on Main Street here in town and we're not in a hurry,

We can get there with plenty of time,

But that's what we're gonna do even though we can pass by shops and see that,

Oh,

I'd like to go in here,

I'd like to talk to this person in there.

But we can know we can always come back to that after we meet with our friend on Main Street.

Okay,

So now let's just tune into the breath and we'll spend a few moments setting the breath as our anchor.

Before we do that,

Let's do a quick progressive relaxation.

So,

Inviting the head to relax,

The inside of the head,

Hair,

Scalp,

Eyes,

Face,

Teeth,

Gums,

Tongue,

Chin,

Neck,

Shoulders,

Top of the shoulders,

Inside of the shoulders,

Shoulder blades,

Top of the arms,

All the way through to the hands,

Back up to the shoulders,

Front,

Back and sides of the upper torso,

All around the middle torso,

Lower torso,

All sides,

Pelvic area,

Relax,

Upper legs,

Knees,

Shin and calves,

Relax,

Ankles,

Feet and toes,

Relax,

Back up,

Through the legs,

On up to the knees,

Top of the legs,

Hip and pelvis,

Lower torso,

All the way through to the middle,

Upper shoulders,

Arms,

Neck and head,

Relax.

And now we're tuning into our breath,

Whatever we notice about the breath,

Wherever we can most easily notice it.

Movement,

Sensations,

Pressure,

Temperature,

Ease,

Challenge,

Texture,

Rhythm.

So,

One definition of mindfulness is the capacity to bear something in mind.

So,

That's primarily the definition we'll be working with.

So,

One of the metaphors or similes of mindfulness is like a garden plow.

So,

Mindfulness helps prepare the soil for wisdom to take place,

To be possible or more likely.

Sometimes they say enlightenment is accidental and what we're doing is we're making ourselves more accident prone with these practices.

Another image is the neck of an elephant.

So,

I didn't know this until recently but elephants don't move their neck to look at things,

They move their entire body,

Kind of like Batman.

So,

When they go to pay attention to something,

They use their whole body to pay attention to it.

So,

Their full attention goes into what they're paying attention to and not just part of it.

Also,

The neck of an elephant is like mindfulness where it supports the head of wisdom.

Okay,

So one of the images for,

Another image for mindfulness that we can practice with is that of like a hitching post.

Our post that if someone's trying to tame a wild animal,

One of the techniques they've used at least in the past is to tie the animal to a strong post.

So,

Likewise when we're training,

It's a good solid base,

Our mind and attention can want to run out to other things but the post remains solid and stable.

So,

We can,

You know,

Not be in a tug-of-war with whatever our mind wants to do,

Whatever our experiences is,

Is.

You can just stay firm and centered in that post and just let everything run its course until it kind of dies down naturally or tames itself naturally.

And also it can help things from wandering off when they are tamed temporarily.

So,

We can use that with the breath,

Mindfulness of breathing as that post.

Another image is balancing a bowl of oil on top of the head.

So,

Things might come up that distract us,

Try to throw us off balance but the main attention is on our meditation object which in this case is the breath.

So,

Even though we might be jostled or or have to maneuver other things,

The goal,

The primary attention is on balancing that bowl of oil,

Staying with the breathing,

Adjusting so where we can stay with it.

And another proactive image is that of a city gatekeeper.

So,

There's a walled city with just one way in and out.

Mindfulness can be like the gatekeeper letting in those gatekeeper knows and those who have a legitimate reason to come in.

Like maybe somebody has a message and he can direct that message exactly where the message needs to be delivered within the city,

The goods.

But also there's guards available so any kind of riffraff,

Anything that needs to stay outside the city walls can be done so.

So,

This is like with our senses.

So,

This is when we're staying with the meditation object of the breath and maybe a distraction comes along or something that's not going to benefit the meditation like maybe a dog barking.

So,

If it's a possibility of starting stories about the dog barking,

This dog shouldn't be barking,

How can I stop the dog from barking,

I can't meditate with the dog barking.

So,

That's when it's breached to the city walls.

We can just say,

Oh,

There's a sound there,

Back to the breath.

It's almost as if we're on a road and the train's coming by,

We can just sit in our car and watch the trains go by.

We don't need to get out of the car and jump on each individual car and find out what it's about,

If there's anything I can do.

But if some message comes in or something arises,

Oh,

I can better pay attention to the breath like this,

My meditation object like this.

So,

Immediately seen and incorporated.

Okay,

Another image is less effort involved.

So,

This is like a cow herd,

A cow herd someone who watches cattle and the harvest is already done.

So,

There's no fences but there's no risk of the cows wandering in a neighbor's property and damaging anything because everything's already been harvested and they're just eating what the leftovers on the ground.

And so,

The cow herd sits under the tree in the shade and really relaxes,

But still attentive to everything that's happening but there's not much need for being involved.

They still got an eye on everything.

So,

This is just like not only is there the breath but we can just kind of open and allow everything in our experience to be there.

So,

Sounds,

Images,

Thoughts,

Feelings,

Memories,

Even planning anything that's in our experience,

We can just allow it to be there.

We can kind of see it all and be centered in the middle of our breath while everything is just kind of there doing its own thing.

Okay,

Another image.

Is that of a surgeon's probe.

So,

Before a surgeon operates or even a dentist if they're working on the teeth or maybe looking for a cavity there,

Usually it's a metal instrument or maybe it's made out of wood or plastic or some material and they're just kind of poking around to test,

To get information.

So,

This is usually noticed in the body.

So,

We can pick an actual area of the body.

We can let go of the breath for a moment.

Maybe any area that's challenging but maybe not too challenging in the body and we can just use our attention to go into it and around it and investigate.

So,

Is there pleasure or pain there?

Is there some kind of pain?

Is it kind of a pulsing,

Stabbing,

Aching,

Burning,

Grinding?

And then also,

What is the intensity of that and location?

And how long does that last in that area before it changes?

And the borders of that too,

How far does it spread throughout the body and where does it seem to be the epicenter located?

It can also be a pleasurable part of the body too.

Same things,

Different sensations,

Tingling,

Warmth,

Vibration,

Radiation,

Waves.

So,

This actually can be applied with the breath too.

It can probe into different areas of the body and different things about the breath too.

Another image is that of a watchtower or a lookout tower.

So,

We can be anchored in the breath.

We can also have a broader perspective.

So,

While we're climbing the lookout tower,

It's kind of like a non-attachment,

A detachment,

And unhooking from everything except a steady,

Continuous progress towards the top,

Climbing.

And this can actually be staying with the breath too,

Getting,

Knowing it deeper and deeper from a broad and expanded perspective and perspective.

And then also,

Once we get to the top,

We have a broad overview,

Can see even further beyond just the meditation object without forgetting it too.

And we can notice more and more things about our experience,

But also things that we see off in the distance that may need changing.

We don't have to run down from the tower immediately,

Hop in our car and go address that.

You can just notice it for now.

And the last simile is that of a wheel,

So an old wagon wheel.

So,

Mindfulness is like the spokes of the wheel,

While the hub is our body,

Our mind,

Body,

I guess,

And energy.

And then the outside of the wheel would be our everyday life experience.

So,

This one might be helpful to open the eyes a little bit.

And what mindfulness does is it links the body with our sense experience.

So,

Whatever we're seeing,

Smelling,

Tasting,

Touching,

Hearing,

Thinking,

Or mental phenomenon,

It can keep our body and the sense experience connected to each other without being too withdrawn into the body,

Or without losing a sense of the body.

Connecting factor.

And one great way to do that is the breath,

Because the breath links mind and body too.

Mind being our intake of the sense experience,

Or some of the sense experience.

Consciousness,

Sense consciousness.

Okay,

A few moments I'll ring the bell.

You ready?

You can open your eyes,

Bring yourself back to the room.

The body any stretches or movement feel good right now.