Hey everyone,
It's Judy Cohen and this is Wake Up Call 343.
And here in my small corner of the world,
We are in the heart of the first intensive for MLTT 2022.
We have these amazing,
Amazing,
Brilliant,
Resilient,
Powerful students,
And it's such an honor to work with this team.
And between the intensive and the many other things that are going on in the world,
It feels like a good time to offer a practice I've been working with on and off since last year about this time.
And the practice arose as an exploration of equanimity,
Which is that practice of looking at what's happening internally and externally,
And simply dropping in with the intention of exploring what's here and realizing that in each moment,
That's all we can do.
Which doesn't mean that's all we can do in our lives in the world.
We can do a lot,
We do do a lot.
But as a formal practice,
The cultivation of equanimity is,
I think,
Some of the most important work.
It's certainly some of the most important work that I know that I can do.
Because in cultivating equanimity,
We're staying balanced in this ever shifting world.
Now we're ensuring that our loving kindness practice is wholehearted and isn't clingy or graspy.
We're checking that our compassion practice doesn't slide over on the one side into pity or on the other hand,
Into dispassion or nihilism.
We're modulating our empathic joy,
That joy that we feel in the happiness of others,
So that it remains steady and true,
And doesn't tip over into jealousy,
Or shift the other way into a kind of over exuberance that belies a kind of panic state.
So I've been practicing ground as a formal practice and also in life as a portable practice.
And yes,
I thought we would do that together today.
So first,
Just finding a comfortable posture that is upright.
And also relaxed.
Taking a few intentional breaths.
Inviting the attention to the breath in the body,
The body breathing,
Just that sensation of breathing.
Allowing the breath to nourish the body.
And then sensing into the ground,
The G for ground,
The ground,
The connection to the earth.
So you might be fortunate enough to be standing on the earth right now.
Or maybe close enough that there's a window and you can just see outside.
Or you can sense into the ground beneath your feet,
Whether it's just beneath where you're standing one one story down,
One step down,
Or whether it's many stories down.
But getting,
Getting connected.
And really,
Really taking a sense of this earth and just the way that the breath nourishes the body,
The earth is also nourishing us.
Provide solid ground on which we walk.
And all of the plants and trees that grow on the earth provide oxygen for us to breathe and sustenance for us.
Shelter.
And even in connecting with the ground,
There may be a connection that you can tap into to your ancestors.
Even if your ancestors are in diaspora,
Like mine are,
There's a connection to this earth and to the places where they walked.
Now in our hearts and our imagination,
We can connect in those places.
So to our ancestors and also to our families,
Our community,
Our tribe,
The many tribes to which we belong.
So this,
This vertical connection to our ancestors and also this horizontal connection to family,
To community,
To tribe.
So we can be rooted and we can be connected and we can ground in those connections.
And then GR is ours for rest in this connected place.
Just inviting a few moments of rest.
This can be a time to lay down anything that we might be working on or any struggles that we may be engaged in.
However worthy there's time to pick them back up.
All right now just to rest.
And seeing if this place of rest or this moment of rest is,
Can become a kind of imprint,
A place to which we can return when we need to during the day just for one breath or for two breaths.
Getting a sense in the body of what it feels like to rest.
Sometimes this can be available as a felt sense on the out-breath.
And then O-O-G-R-O.
O is open.
What's here?
What's here in the body?
Just checking in how is your body doing right now?
What's happening?
Is there tightness?
Is there relaxation?
Is there warmth?
Is there coolness?
Is there hunger?
Is there satiation?
And also opening to whatever mood is here right now.
Whatever affect,
Whatever tone,
Whatever feeling tone is here.
Is the moment pleasant?
Is it unpleasant?
Maybe neither.
And how about the mind?
What's happening in the mind?
Is the mind quiet?
Is he wondering?
Steady?
Are there a lot of thoughts?
Are there a lot of emotions?
Are there very few?
Just opening to what's here.
Not trying to create or change.
And then U-G-R-O-U.
Unclench.
Okay?
As you notice what you're opening to in the O,
Is there anything you're holding on to?
Is there anything that's clenching?
And is it possible to to unclench?
Anything that you're kind of caught around or twisted around or that feels wound up and can you untwist,
Unwind?
Let go.
The great meditation teacher,
Ajahn Chah,
Let go a little,
A little peace.
Let go a lot,
A lot of peace.
Let go completely,
Complete peace.
And unclenching can also point to anything that you're trying to change right in this moment.
Are you trying to get better at your meditation?
Are you trying to overcome sorrow or frustration or fear or anxiety?
Is there a sense of wanting to get to this meditation or to the end of this meditation or back to something that you were doing before you have done?
And can you let go there as well?
And can you even let go of trying to let go?
If there's any striving at all,
Can unclenching be on this most unclenched of levels,
At least that I know of,
Of just even letting go of any efforting around letting go?
And to whatever extent things still remain sticky and feel solid and like things that can't be let go of,
Then can we can we trust those things to be our teachers?
You know that whatever this heart and mind just isn't letting go of,
Can those things be our teachers?
So G-R-O-U-N is for notice.
What's it like now?
Any grounded or come to ground?
And so Joan Halifax says,
Rested and opened and unclenched at whatever pace and whatever level we can today.
Notice what's it like now?
So notice what's it like now?
And also notice is there anything that you need?
And so maybe you need a little love and kindness,
You know,
A little self-compassion,
You know,
Whatever is needed.
Take a moment.
So,
Wish yourself well.
G-R-O-U-N and then D is drop.
Just drop all of this.
And just be with the breath,
The breath,
And the body.
Take a minute.
And then yesterday this insanely fierce and courageous human,
This former comedian President Zelensky,
Said to the U.
S.
Congress,
Being the leader of the world means being the leader of peace.
Wow.
Yeah,
I'll leave my soul with that.
Thank you everyone for being on the wake-up call today.
Take good care.
Stay safe out there.
See you next week.
