Friends.
Welcome to this meditation on accessing somatic subtlety.
Ideally,
You've already meditated for a little while to calm,
Quiet,
Still the mind to the degree that's possible now,
And there'll be no ending bell.
So if you'd like to continue trying these practices,
You won't be distracted by an ending bell.
And then on subsequent listens,
You can just fast forward past this brief introduction,
Which I'll give a few moments of silence now to allow time to bring ourselves into presence.
When the body and mind already has some degree of calmness,
Stillness,
Stability,
Tune into the body and see what is the most apparently obvious thing that's noticeable right now.
This could be feeling.
More importantly,
We'll go into energy within the body.
Also,
Any other phenomena?
Where does it register in the body?
The sounds of this voice?
Where is it known?
And how is it known in the body?
Any other sounds,
Thoughts?
Where are any thoughts arising noticeable in the body,
Especially feelings and emotions?
Any images,
Mental activities such as planning,
Remembering?
Opening to all phenomena by being known and recognized in the body.
So there's a few ways we can approach this.
If there's a more predominant sensation or noticing or noticing our area in the body that the attention is easily drawn to,
Let's keep it there and investigate that.
First,
Start with the sensations.
Know that these words can only point and allude to the actual experience.
They're not the same as the experience.
Maybe it might be helpful to put a label on it temporarily.
There could be pulsing,
Aching,
Vibrating,
Throbbing,
Cool,
Warm,
Hot,
Dullness,
And aching,
Stabbing,
For painful sensations,
Unpleasant sensations,
And buoyancy,
Vibrancy,
Joyous,
Rapturous,
Happy sensations,
Bubbly,
Uplifting.
So this goes into the energy of what's being noticed in the body.
Now we've noticed what it actually is,
Perhaps,
As far as labels.
Now we can go with the movement,
Tracing how the energy arises in the body,
Starting with these sensations,
Any noticing sensations,
Focusing now on where is this coming from?
How is this arising?
These don't need any answers,
Hard to be thought about.
Just a focusing in the body,
Knowing in the body.
See if the awareness can be expanded to bring in not only the origin of what's being known in the body,
But also the duration of how long any particular sensation seems to remain the same.
The origin,
The duration,
The duration of the location and movement,
Perhaps,
Too,
Of noticings within the body.
And then expand just a little bit more,
Maybe much more,
Into the cessation of any noticing in the body,
Either changing or leaving.
Again,
This is not to get it right or wrong,
Or to think or trace or track it with the mind.
Tuning into the body,
The arising,
Perhaps,
Sustaining,
Then changing or ceasing,
Along with movement and location.
Tuning into that for just a few moments,
It's too confusing,
You can just drop all that and notice what can be noticed throughout the body.
Arising,
Passing.
And now where we might have started with a predominant noticing,
Now let's expand the awareness to cover the entire body,
And even beyond the body without forcing,
Restraining.
Might be very close to around the physical body,
Might be quite beyond the physical body,
The physical body might seem to sort of disappear from the awareness.
And just notice arising and passing of phenomena,
Maybe as it's related to the body or not.
And if this becomes too ungrounding,
Just return to the body in the breath,
Until more stabilized,
Then expanding the field of awareness to include the body,
Somatic experience,
And the boundaries of that,
Where it begins and ends.
Investigating how there is a body involved in awareness.
This is where subtlety comes into play.
Playing now with bouncing this expanded awareness back into the body,
Noticing the energy and sensations when the awareness is brought back to the more clearly discernible physical body.
And then again,
Perhaps dropping any notions of the physical body,
Expanding beyond the physical body into the field of awareness,
Noticing size of access to that field of awareness,
Maybe less intensity by not limiting it to the physical body.
And then again,
Returning to the body,
The physical body.
So as that was on a more macro level,
Start to wind this down by zooming way in on a micro level.
So again,
Pick one smaller area in the awareness of the physical body and bring attention there.
It could also be two or three small spaces,
As long as the mind and awareness can keep track,
It's easier perhaps just on one.
We're going to bring our microscope-like ability to investigate here,
Not a place we live from,
But just this exercise.
So zooming way in,
What is the energy like?
Is it bright,
Vibrant,
Dull,
Relaxed,
Open,
Closed?
What is the movement like of the energy there?
Is the rate of change involved in what's being noticed?
Is it like a dance of sensations?
Is it pretty stable?
Now taking that micro spot and expanding it,
Expanding awareness throughout the body,
Physical body doing the same thing,
Noticing on minute details,
Subtle layers,
What's going on.
We allow awareness to open and flow between what's being noticed throughout the entire body on a moment-by-moment basis,
From a location in the body,
At the same time noticing the body as a whole,
The interconnectedness,
The interplay,
The dynamics,
The dance of a detailed singular location,
And how it interacts with the body as a whole.
So you're welcome to continue exploring this last particular dynamic and go on to review some of the other techniques we did as well,
Just draw on one's memory or go back and listen to this recording.
Sense well,
Friends.
