Context in a sense is everything.
When we sit for a meditation,
That's what we've chosen to do.
Chosen to spend some time breathing,
Quieting ourselves,
Dropping into something a little mysterious.
But we've chosen to do that.
And then what happens,
Of course,
Is the flood of thought.
Every little reason why we shouldn't be doing this right now.
Why this isn't going to be valuable.
It's not the right use of my time.
I have all this other stuff to solve.
I have all these problems.
Maybe I have to go to the bathroom.
Maybe I'm hungry.
Everything comes in.
When we look at ourselves over time,
We can just notice that this is just what happens.
This is just the way the mind works.
We're not doing anything.
Oh,
Well,
We have all these problems to solve.
Get to it.
Once you pay attention to one of the problems,
The nervous system gets engaged to help you try to solve it.
You start feeling more energy in your body.
Maybe you feel some emotion around it.
Oh,
That's really scary.
I forgot to do that.
I better go do that.
So that's just the way that our minds keep us in problem-solving mode,
As opposed to allowing us to rest.
Because the mind needs that level of control.
The ego needs to keep itself,
To save its face,
To be powerful,
To be successful.
But we can choose where to put our attention.
And so that's what we practice.
In meditation,
We practice paying attention.
And so we can allow that attention now to go in internally,
And feel our physical body,
The sensations.
We can notice things.
One of the first things we can notice is just all of the tension the body holds,
Which is a physical manifestation of all of that chatter going on in our heads about all that is wrong,
Or bracing,
In a sense,
For the impact of the next bad thing.
We can notice our breath being trapped in the chest when we're stressed.
And then we can choose to match the body with what we're doing,
With the context.
So we're sitting in meditation,
We want to relax.
We can move that breath down into our bellies.
As the belly comes out,
Diaphragm goes down,
More air comes into the lungs.
And the signal to the body is that we're safe enough to do that.
Because that's the way we normally breathe when we are safe,
When we're completely relaxed.
So we breathe,
Gently breathe in and breathing out.
All the signals to the nervous system,
To the to the brain,
Are saying it's okay now to let go.
It's okay to turn down all the stress response.
As we do that,
As we're able to continue that,
And keep our attention on the breath,
Eventually the thinking mind does slow down,
Allowing us more time with our attention away from the thinking.
Thinking is always there,
Always available.
It'll be there when we come back.
So putting all that attention on the breath,
Making it a very physical,
Sensual experience.
Feeling body expand,
Take in the air,
Listening to the sound of the breath.
For a moment there where you can really tune in to the sound,
To the feeling,
You'll notice that moment is not also attending to a thought.
But very soon after,
You might drift away into the thought,
Commenting,
Always commenting on what's going on.
And just allowing all that to happen,
Which is another great tool to work with.
Just allowing things to happen the way that they're happening,
Not resist.
So if I'm lost in thought,
I'm commenting,
I don't need to resist to get back to my breath,
To get back to paying attention.
Notice that and bring my attention back to what I had previously chosen.
With each breath in and breath out,
Just slowly elongating,
Bringing in a little bit more,
Breathing out a little bit more.
Allow that out-breath to just extend a little bit longer than the in-breath.
Just a moment by moment practice of bringing attention to the breath,
Signaling to the body,
The whole system,
To let go,
Release and relax.
And after the next breath in,
Full breath in,
Just holding that breath for a few seconds.
After the in-breath,
Releasing naturally to that out-breath,
Letting that whole breath out and then holding a few seconds on that end as well.
And just noticing the different parts of the breath cycle,
The way the body feels,
The way the sensations are.
There's a full breath in,
Being held,
Waiting to be released.
The body is empty,
Holding,
Waiting to be refilled,
Deeply connecting your attention to the breath.
Noticing throughout each breath cycle where the attention is,
Looking to drop just a little bit deeper into the unknowing,
The undefined,
Spaciousness beyond thought.
And after your next breath out,
Just allowing yourself to let go,
Not anymore holding,
Not directing the breath,
Allowing the breath to happen automatically,
Bringing your attention back to notice.
Notice all that is happening automatically,
All that your body is doing,
All that your mind is doing,
Without any intentionality on your part at all.
Just watching without needing to be involved.
Noticing again your attention,
How it flows,
How it is drawn and continuing to develop that skill of pulling,
Noticing back into your body,
Feeling your hands and your feet,
Slowly and gently opening your eyes,
Still in a quiet state,
Allowing the same information that was coming in before to have that quieter energy to it,
Imprinting that,
Allowing it to be,
Allowing everything just to be.
