038. Experience Your Pure Presence In Consciousness

Immerse yourself in this one-hour meditation, designed to guide you into a deep connection with your essence and presence in consciousness. Captured in a live group setting. Accompanied by the gentle sounds of nature, this practice invites you to explore a journey into the heart of your being.

The practice also emphasises the subtle shifts in awareness that occur as one transitions between states of open-eyed and closed-eyed focus. This is coupled with an exploration of the breath, encouraging participants to observe the natural rhythm without altering it. The meditation highlights the stillness and space between each breath, inviting practitioners to dwell in this quietude and become aware of the consciousness that persists beyond physical sensations and thoughts.

We touch on the idea of an all-pervading wisdom and consciousness that underlies all experiences, encouraging a sense of unity with this fundamental presence.

[Meditation Group, Week 38, 2024/06/19]

Transcript

Welcome to this meditation which was recorded live in an online meditation group. It's one hour long and the online participants found it brought them into a very deep experience of their essence, Their essential presence in consciousness. I suggest putting your cell phone on flight mode and if possible turning off any Wi-Fi in your environment so that your body, Nervous system and psyche can fully relax into its natural state. Let's begin and if your eyes are still open just taking in the space, The physical, Visual representation of that veil that is so thin and yet so captivating. It's meant to be so that we engage, We believe the roles that we're playing so that they're convincing enough to keep the Creator entertained. And just feeling your whole body in that space and that whole space throughout your body. If you can supporting your own back so that it's engaged, Alive, Not slouching into something and allowing your eyes to be in an open focus so you're not honing in on anything in particular, Just everything in general, The whole body in this space. And when you're ready to go into this space within the body just gently closing your eyes and noticing the transition, The shift. You can even open and close your eyes a few times if you like. There's a shift, A very subtle shift. Brain waves change, The sense of awareness and attention changes and whatever else you experience in that transition. Kind of move through the body bit by bit, Relatively quickly. There's nothing to do other than to be aware of each body part. And you may or may not notice as we move through them that the body tends to just more deeply relax on its own accord. Starting with the right hand, The right thumb, Bringing all your attention, Your inner sensibility to the right thumb, The index finger, Second finger, The ring finger, The little finger, Back of your hand, Palm of the hand, The space between the fingers, The wrist, Forearm, The elbow, The upper arm, Shoulder, The armpit, The right side of the torso, The right hip, The femur bone, The space, That thin space between the femur and the hip socket, Upper right leg, The knee, The back of the knee, The shin, Calf muscle, The ankle, The heel of the right foot, Top of the foot, The sole of the foot, The arch, The point in the middle of the foot, The ball of the foot, The big toe, Second toe, Third toe, Fourth toe, Little toe, Whole right foot, The left thumb, Index finger, Second finger, Third finger, The little finger, Back of the hand, Palm of the hand, The space between your fingers, The whole hand and the wrist to the fingertips, Just the wrist, Lower arm, Elbow, Upper arm, The left shoulder, The armpit, Side of the torso, The left hip, The waist, The upper left leg, The knee, The back of the knee, The shin, Calf muscle, Whole lower leg, The left ankle, The heel, The top of the foot, The sole of the foot, Arch of the foot, Point there in the middle of the foot, The big toe, Second toe, Third toe, Fourth toe, The little toe, All of the left foot, I am here, I am present, I am simply being with the body, Soles of both feet, The right buttock, Left buttock, The right lower back, Left lower back, Right shoulder blade, The left shoulder blade, The whole right side of the back, The whole left side of the back, The spine from the tip of your tailbone all the way up to the base of the skull, Back of the neck, The back of the head, The top of the back of the head, The very top of the crown of the head, The hairline, Forehead, The right temple, The left temple, The right eyebrow, The left eyebrow, That point between the eyebrows, I am here, I am present, I'm moving my attention through the body, Right eyeball, The left eyeball, The right eye socket, The left eye socket, The right ear, The left ear, The right cheek, Left cheek, The nose, Top of the nose, Down to the nostrils, Tip of the nose, The upper lip, The lower lip, The mouth cavity, Tongue, That thin plane of contact between the lips, The chin, The whole face, The whole head, The collarbone, The right side of the chest, The left side of the chest, The middle of the chest, Just below the chest, The solar plexus, The upper abdomen, The navel, Belly button, The pelvis, Genitals, The space between the excretory organs and the genitals, Whole right arm, The whole left arm, Whole right leg, Whole left leg, Whole torso, Whole body, Just to be aware of the whole body from the top of the head to the tips of the toes, Bringing your attention again to the point between the eyebrows, Just dwelling here, Nowhere to go, There's nothing to do, There's nothing to accomplish, I am here, I am present, And expanding that space from the point between the eyebrows to the point at the corner of the mouth, Of the nose, In this triangle, And just simply being aware of the arising and passing of breath, The earth breathing your body, Your body breathing in the earth, Perhaps you notice a slight difference in temperature of the incoming air and the outgoing air, Maybe one nostril is more open than the other, Not changing the breath, Not trying to do anything with it, Just the natural breathing, It's arising, Self-arising breath in this body, In this earth, Constant exchange of intelligence, Of living wisdom, Between the space within the body and the space beyond the body, Constant reciprocity, Giving, Receiving, The mental activity, Thoughts may arise, And just as spontaneously as it arises, It passes away, I am here, I am aware of the breath, I am aware of the body breathing, And on the next exhalation, Just allowing your attention to move down through the body, Just in front of the spine, Somewhere in the center of the body, All the way down, To a point below the navel, Maybe two or three finger widths below the navel, In towards the center of the body, Towards the spine, A couple of finger widths, Somewhere in that general space, And being aware again of the body breathing, The expanding and contracting of space. What is the difference between the breath and the act of breathing, Of respirating, Inhaling, Exhaling? Is that the breath? Exhalations and inhalations, Or is the breath something else? Something subtle? Within whom is this breath arising? This inhalation or exhalation? Within whom is it passing away? Emerging and dissolving within this space and consciousness? Within whom is the awareness of the body breathing? Within whom is that awareness arising? And passing away? And the awareness of even considering that question, And dwelling in the silent response, Within whom is that awareness arising? And in whom does it pass away? The body's always been breathing, Inspiring, Expiring, And yet now there is awareness arising of the body breathing. And you may even find now that there's almost like an awareness of being breathing. Being aware. A sense of I am-ness. Undefinable presence. Consciously aware. Aware of awareness itself, Of the breath arising and passing away. Perhaps even aware of periods of distraction, Of tension following trains of thought, Feelings. Moments of awakening from that, And again being aware of the breath. And the awareness of breath arising and passing. As it does now. And with the next inhalation, Simply moving your attention up through the body, The core of the body. You may have a sense of clear definition, Like a tube running up in front of the spine. You may have a more vague sense of just the space of the body. Whatever the case, That's fine. Or it may just be a feeling, Something you see. Whatever your way is of moving your attention up through the body as you inhale. So that by the time you reach the end of the inhalation, Your awareness, Your attention is at the top of the head. And in the same way as the body exhales, Just going all the way down with that exhalation down to this point below the navel. So just gently, Tenderly, Lovingly, Moving up and down through the space of this body, Defined by the body. Inhaling to the top of the head. Exhaling to the base of the torso. If you're familiar with the Ujjayi breath, The oceanic breath, The very slight contraction in the throat, The inner sound of breath. Gauge that now, If you wish. Moving up through the body with the inhalation, To the crown of the head. Down through the body with the exhalation. And as your attention follows this pattern in the body with the breath, You may find that your awareness is fully in that point of attention. Or you may find you remain aware of the whole space through which your attention is arising to the top of the head, Descending to the base of the body. If you have any difficulty remaining attentive within this movement up and down, Through the body, You may find it helpful to imagine that with the inhalation, The body is filling with a liquid. Maybe a light liquid nectar. And your attention is within something roughly the size of a ping pong ball, Floating on top of that liquid. As the inhalation fills the body, Your attention in that ping pong ball, That ball of light, Rises to the top of the head. As the body exhales, That liquid goes down, Drains down, And that ball of attention moves down through the body. Whatever works now, As you move with the breath. There's nowhere to go. There's nothing to become. There's nothing to do. And on the next inhalation, As your attention moves down, The attention rises up through the body, The spaciousness of the body. Noticing that transition from the inhalation to neither breathing in or out. And then the exhalation arises. You move down through the body. At the end of the exhalation, There's another transition, A moment neither breathing in or out. Whether it's a fraction of a second or a few seconds, Whatever's naturally there. There's this point at the top of the body, The base of the body, Where I am not inhaling or exhaling. The space between two halves of the breath, Of the breathing process. Simply continuing and being aware, Increasingly aware of that point, Top of the body, The gap between the inhalation and the exhalation. That point at the base of the body. The gap or space between the exhalation and the emerging inhalation. There's a stillness in that space between each half of the breath. You may find your attention is dwelling in that stillness, Even as the next half of the breath arises and eventually draws your attention to the other end of the body. To that same stillness. You may find your awareness dwelling there again, Even as eventually your attention shifts to the other end of the body with the fulfillment of the next inhalation or exhalation. As though you're increasingly dwelling upon that space, That stillness behind the breath. And there in the background somewhere is an awareness of breath arising, Inhalation arising, Passing away, Exhalation arising, Passing away. Like the movement of tides, Of waves, And the stillness of the beach on which they arise and pass away. The stillness of the breath behind the activity of breathing. Breath being the loving engagement, Marriage, Consciousness with the body, With the earth, Matter, Martyr, Mother, The matrix, The womb, The breath behind the breathing. Within whom is awareness of the stillness of breath arising and passing away. Thoughts arising, Awareness of thoughts arising, Passing away. Awareness of sensations arising, Passing away. Awareness of awakening in the morning and dissolving into that stillness in the evening. The arising of incarnation, Passing away of incarnation. Self-arising consciousness. It has no needs, Has nothing to achieve. I already am pure and total consciousness. The body arises, Passes away. Hopes, Dreams, Aspirations, Disappointments, Frustrations, Challenges, Feelings, Emotions. These all arise and eventually pass away. And yet I remain. Non-discursive consciousness. Continuity consciousness. And within this spaciousness, Stillness, There is an all-pervading wisdom. So pervading it's easy to not notice. A wisdom of life. The intelligence, The loving presence of divine wisdom. We can't see it because there's nothing else upon which to create a contrast. It's total, It's absolute. And yet she's right here. All the time, Time and space. And the stillness behind that space, Behind the time. Within whom is this spaciousness. This all-pervading wisdom arising. Who am I? So pervading is this wisdom. May have the experience of seeing it or not. Perhaps feeling it. Sensing it. Even tasting it. Or it may just be pure and total consciousness. Silent stillness. She's always here. Right now. Always present. Always present. Most especially curious. Interested. In how well we love. How fully. How wholeheartedly. In this space of pure and total consciousness. And the phenomenal existence that arises and passes away. Just like a caring mother. Cares about nothing more than whether my daughter or son, My child. Knows love. Being aware of the whole body. Spaciousness and form of the body. From the crown of the head. To the soles of the feet. Palms of the hands. The space of the heart. Solar plexus. The navel. And this point below the navel. The living wisdom throughout this whole body. Experienced as the whole body. Embodied wisdom. Being aware of the breath arising. Passing as it does the breathing process. Being aware of the space around the body. Just a few inches, Some centimeters out from the body. From the surface of the body. And the space even further beyond the body defined by the room. Just being aware of that. The sense of that. That in a few moments I'll be opening my eyes to that. And yet I am here. I remain. Presence and consciousness. And when you feel ready to begin the transition of opening your eyes. My invitation is to do so just slightly. Remaining very aware of this inner space. Spaciousness. And the shift. However that is for you. As a little bit of light. Of sight. Worldly sight. Sensation comes into that space. That consciousness. And you can close the eyes again. And just feeling that. Being present to that transition. For this thin veil. This liminal space of the transition. From this inner to what we perceive as this outer phenomenal experience. It's so thin. So fragile. It's barely even there. And yet most of the time it seems to be everything. So substantiated. I'm just gently cracking open the eyes a little. Closing them. Tenderly. Lovingly. Being attentive to that transition through that space between. Noticing how the spacious awareness. The pure and total consciousness. Remains. It's all pervading. Now the apparition of the phenomenal world arises. Just as it will at some point pass away. As I open and close the eyes. Feeling your whole body in this space. You can see your body. See the walls. The space around you. You can feel them. I am here. I am present. I am pure and total consciousness. Arising in the creativity of life.