Awareness Of Thoughts & Emotions

In this practice, we hold our seat in open awareness, just watching whatever arises as it arises. We use the breath as an anchor. This is a practice for life off the cushion. The ability to relax into whatever arises, whether pleasant or unpleasant, strengthens equanimity and will keep you grounded when life touches your stuff (as Michael Singer writes).

This script was inspired by the work of Saki Santorelli, a professor of medicine and author of "Heal Thy Self: Lessons on Mindfulness in Medicine."

Transcript

Population. In this guided practice we'll connect with a felt sense of aliveness, Of being. It's the power that animates you now. It's regulating your heart rate, Body temperature, Digesting your last meal, Balancing electrolyte levels, Creating hormones that produce red blood cells, Resisting infections, Repairing damaged cells, Filtering waste materials, And a host of other functions you're not aware of. You can't feel these processes. What you may feel is a tingling over here, A throbbing there, Numbness, Heat, Cold, Pressure, Movement. You can experience hundreds of sensations throughout the body, Some gross and perceptible, Some subtle. So assume a comfortable position, Whether sitting or lying down, And observe any currents or movements of energy within the physical structure. Note their direction and flow. See if you can follow some of these sensations. Notice how far out they radiate or how deep they reach. Note the quality of the sensations, The intensity. Just sitting or lying here, Noticing the aliveness in the body. There's 7. 5 octillion atoms in constant motion that make up the body you're inhabiting now. These atoms make molecules, Which make cells, About 37 trillion of them. There's movement, Motion. What you experience now is the illusion of wholeness that comes courtesy of this power that orchestrates far more than you are conscious of. That's it. That's it. This power has been with you from the very beginning. It formed you from a single cell in your mother's womb. It knew to replicate and to assign specialized cells to form the spinal column, The foot, The toe nail, The eye, And the millions of cells that make up the eye. The you that you think you are had nothing to do with creating the you that you imagine yourself to be. In this practice, There's nothing to imagine. There's nothing to create. Nothing to become. We don't have to make an effort to notice the sense of presence or aliveness here. There's nothing to do. Just be. Be. Be. Be. Be. Be. Be. Be. Be. Be. Be. What we're doing here is simply bringing attention to that power which exists independently of the you that you imagine yourself to be. Don't resist. Rest in it. Trust it. Don't hold on to the person you take yourself to be. You can trust that power. It doesn't need your help. You're being breathed, For example. As you breathe, Receptors that detect pH levels in the blood send signals to the respiratory centers of the brain to adjust the ventilation rate. All you may notice is whether the breath is fast or slow. Another part of the brain sends signals to the muscles that control respiration. These signals travel down the spinal cord. The diaphragm contracts. You don't feel the nerve impulse traveling from the brain stem down the spinal cord to the diaphragm, Which you experience as the abdomen rising and falling. Intracostal muscles are recruited. Some elevate the ribs and expand the thoracic cavity on the inhale. Others depress the ribs and bend them inward on the exhale without any effort on your part. So just relax. Just be. Don't interfere. Relaxation is what's left when you stop interfering. Focus your mind on simple being. See, Everything is emanating from the presence or liveness which is the source of your own being. Hold on to this. Be content with what you are sure of and the one thing you can be sure of is this power, This energy that is coursing through you. Stay with it and reject everything else, All concepts, All ideas and beliefs that pretend to be this power. Much of this technique is negation. Refuse to think of yourself in terms of this or that. Stop attributing names and shapes to what is nameless and formless. Reject the idea that you are nameable or describable. Reality is beyond the mind. Keep turning attention away from thought and towards that which observes. Be content with what you are sure of and the one thing you can be sure of is this power, This energy that is coursing through you. Stay with it and reject everything else. Be content with what you are sure of and the one thing you can be sure of is this power, This energy that is nameless and formless. Be content with what you are sure of and the one thing you can be sure of is this power, This energy that is nameless and formless. Be content with what you are sure of and the one thing you can be sure of is this power, This energy that is nameless and formless. Be content with what you are sure of and the one thing you can be sure of is this power, This energy that is nameless. That which observes is not personal. It's alive in you and me. It's not mine or does it belong to you. It's coursing through us. You did not create it. It is not a Christian power. It's not a Hindu power or Jewish power. It's not Buddhist or Muslim. The power that animates you is neither male nor female, Neither young or old. That which makes you think you're human is not human. It is unperceived but makes perception possible. It's unfelt but causes feelings. It's unthinkable. It precedes thought. It abides in this moment. You're here and now. You can be aware of your being here and now. You can be aware of your being here and now. You can be aware of your being here and now. You can be aware of your being here and now. You can be aware of your being here and now. Go beyond mind altogether. Rest in this felt sense of aliveness. You can be aware of your being here and now. You can be aware of your being here and now. You can be aware of your being here and now. You can be aware of your being here and now. You can be aware of your being here and now. Stay in noticing, Not trying to move on to something else. Whatever arises, Just watch. The mind is interested in what happens, While awareness is interested in the mind itself. The child is after the toy, But the parent watches the child, Not the toy. When the mind stays in open awareness without moving, You enter a state which cannot be verbalized, But it can be experienced. Hold on to this. You can be aware of your being here and now. You can be aware of your being here and now. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. As you sit quietly watching, All kinds of things may come to the surface. Do nothing about them. Don't react to them. As they come, So will they go. Offer no resistance, Not even to discomfort, Pain or suffering. Just let anything happen, Good or bad. But don't let yourself be spellbound by what happens or carried away by what happens. Just realize that nothing observable or experienceable is you or binds you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Let the person you imagine yourself to be dissolve in this awareness. Watch thoughts, Emotions and sensations come and go. In silent observation, You may see pictures, But you are not the picture. You may hear sounds, External sounds or internal sounds in the form of thoughts, But you are not the noise. Just leave your mind alone. Don't go along with it. Thoughts only dominate you if you are interested in them. Neither resist what comes uninvited. Like this, You will approach a state of non-grasping, Of joyful non-attachment, Of inner peace and freedom, Indescribable yet felt. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. What matters? We take refuge in what is. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Put your awareness to work, Not your mind. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Let your mind and bring it to the felt sense of aliveness. Bringing the mind to the feeling of aliveness helps turn the mind away from everything else. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

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