So we'll now practice the soft butter method from Hakuin.
It's not so much a practice that you would do just one time or a method,
Yes,
It's something that would be repeated because the habit patterns of the body and the mind are very repetitive and persistent,
So to meet them with repetition is quite important.
I'm going to add in a few cues and a few things that are not in the text from Yes and Kanna,
But otherwise I follow the text quite closely.
The ideas of settling inside the body are mostly the points that I might add a little bit onto,
Otherwise the method itself is quite straightforward.
So when you're ready,
Come sit upright,
It might be in a chair or something,
Just as long as you're spine is a little bit stacked up,
It's not falling forward.
After a bunch of repetitions of this,
You could probably do it laying down and in all kinds of different shapes,
Even when you're walking.
Yes,
Staying settled down into the legs and the feet,
But to start,
Sitting up is useful.
And you can go ahead and close your eyes.
Again,
You could do it eyes open if you'd like,
But you might want to take a few reps of it with your eyes closed first.
So sitting upright,
You bring your attention just up to the crown of your head,
Not so much up to the center of the top of your head,
But a little further back in the crown.
And I'd like you to imagine that there's a little square of butter,
Or maybe like a little drop of honey there on the crown of your head.
And as you sit,
The heat of your body begins to melt that butter or honey.
And as that substance melts,
It begins to spread over the whole top of your head,
The top of your skull,
Softening the entire top of your skull completely.
And then as it continues to melt,
It will begin to come down through the forehead,
Down through the sides of your skull,
And down through the back of your skull as well,
Softening downward the top kind of quarter of your skull.
And then at the same time,
That substance,
Butter or honey,
Is going to come down through the physical brain inside the body,
Soften all the muscles behind the forehead,
Soften the physical brain,
So allowing you to let go of your grip on that internal space.
And then it comes down,
Continuing down behind the eyes,
Softening all the muscles behind your eyes,
So you feel that you're behind your eyes,
Softening the temples,
Softening the forehead,
Right around through to the back of your head.
And then that butter or honey continues down through the internal space of your nose,
Softening completely the internal space of your ears,
The space behind your cheeks,
Right through to the back.
So coming down to begin to soften the very upper spine,
Coming down through your cheeks,
Your jaw,
Your teeth,
Your tongue,
Your gums.
And then coming right down through the center of your head,
So the muscles deep inside of the head as well,
Letting go of your grip on all of those,
So you can feel that you're resting inside the internal space of your head.
And then that butter or honey will continue down through your neck,
Almost like it's coming right down through your voice box,
As well as through the front of your neck,
The back of your neck.
So it's coming down,
Relaxing the spine,
Softening your grip on the spine or the back of the body,
Softening your quality of voice,
So your voice can rest.
And then that butter or honey comes down behind your collarbones,
Down through your shoulders.
Again,
Right back through to the spine,
So letting go of your grip on the space between your shoulder blades,
Relaxing the heart organ,
All the muscles and tendons of your chest,
And down through the internal space of your shoulders,
Your shoulder sockets,
Settling the whole system downward into itself.
And then it continues down through the chest,
Through the back spine,
Through the upper arms,
The triceps and biceps can soften.
And then that butter or honey will continue down through your midsection,
Through the back ribs,
Through the sides of your ribs,
Through the front ribs,
And then right down through all the organs of the stomach,
And all the digestive organs of the stomach,
At the same time softening your elbows.
And that substance comes down through your forearms,
The lower arms.
I didn't give it time,
No rush.
And notice as you move through it,
As the substance comes down through you,
If you end up pulling forward of the body in the face,
Or maybe in the chin or the neck,
Just notice that,
And again,
Let go of your grip on that part of the body,
And come back down to the midsection.
As that butter or honey now comes down towards your pelvis,
Moving through all the organs of the lower belly,
Down through your wrists,
Down through your hands.
And then it continues right down through your pelvis,
Through the lower back,
Lower spine,
Right down to your tailbone and right down to your sits bones,
Settling and softening the whole internal space of your pelvis.
And then it continues down through your hip sockets,
Where your upper leg bone meets the bottom of your torso,
Right in the center of yourself.
And continues down through the internal space of your thighs.
The thighs have a lot of space inside of them,
Yeah.
So again,
Notice if you're looking down from the head or living in front of yourself,
Let go of your grip on that part of the body,
Come back down into the internal space of your thighs,
Where that butter or honey is softening the internal space for you.
And then you can let go of your grip on the internal space of your knees,
As the butter or honey comes down through the knees,
Both sides equally.
And then down through your lower legs,
Through the shins,
The calves,
Right through to the back of the legs,
Right down through the center,
Letting go of your grip into yourself.
And then the substance continues down through your ankles,
Softening your ankle bones and softening the space between your ankle bones,
So that you can inhabit that space.
And then finally,
The butter or honey comes down through your feet,
Through all the bones,
Tendons,
Muscles of your feet,
Right down to the soles of your feet.
And then at this point in the practice,
You would go ahead and repeat that same exercise.
If you feel quite settled,
You're going to stay inside your whole body,
And let your breath open up below your belly button.
As all the energy stays settled downward into the legs,
Ankles and feet.
And if you notice something pick back up,
Like if a thought comes up and picks you back up in the body,
You just let go of your grip on it and settle back down.
So you can work with it by staying settled downward in the body,
Breathing low in the torso,
Just naturally,
You don't have to force the breath.
Or you go ahead and you repeat that whole method again.
