Hey everybody it's Judy Cohen and this is Wake Up Call 513.
So I'm in London and in an hour I'm going to go and meet with Elizabeth Rimmer and Elizabeth is the chief executive of Law Care and Law Care is the organization in the UK,
You might know about it if you are familiar,
That offers support for all the lawyers in the UK including mindfulness support.
So I'm really interested to hear what they're up to and yeah I'll report back.
So let's go to the third step on the Noble Eightfold Path or the third one in the way that I'm organizing the path just for this series which is wise concentration and we've looked at wise effort and wise mindfulness and wise concentration is the third of these three Samadhi steps of the path or the elements of settling and focusing the mind.
So and I've studied and practiced concentration formally only a little bit only a little bit so I know just a tiny little bit and then I only know about the precursors to the fully concentrated states only the first precursor to that and those fully concentrated states you might have heard the word jhana I've heard the word too but I haven't I don't know what they what that is and it's it's like a little bit like a secret society so I can't really I can't really say much about the jhanas but I'll share what I know about just basic basic concentration and the way that that that sharing seems organized in in my mind or the way that wise concentration breaks down for me is in terms of the the how or the instruction like what are we doing in order to to move the mind to a more concentrated state and then in terms of the benefits so first the how or the instruction for for basic concentration relax that's the whole instruction pretty much which sure surprised me when I first heard about it but once I tried it it actually made perfect sense so perfect sense but not if you're thinking about the concentration that most of us learned in law school or college or from our parents or what I was taught anyway before I'd ever heard about why is anything right was that concentration was when my mind was kind of locked down on something you know or drilling down into something or bearing down on something you know which which makes sense for work and for some other things too and I don't know about you but I've had lots of moments of that kind of concentration writing these crazy hundred-page leases and reviewing pleadings and you know or doing the 2 a.
M.
Woulda coulda shoulda rumination dance right so doing what I was taught and locking my mind down onto something or in the case of rumination watching the mind get locked onto something right which at least in the case when I'm trying for that kind of concentration can be really important to know how to do I couldn't have gotten through even one of those leases without it right but that's not wise concentration not what is meant by wise concentration on this path wise concentration is it's it's totally different it's actually the opposite so it really is about relaxing the mind and also the body and and paying attention without that bearing down energy right so I was taught to do this by paying attention to the sensation of the breath at one particular point where the air flows over the top of the upper lip but there are probably other ways too but it's it's paying attention in this light easeful relaxed way so if you've done this practice you know how interesting it is to pay attention like that or or to do your best anyway and then to notice where there's still tightness in the body or where tightness arises where there's tightness in the mind and how interesting it is when you see that to let go over and over and over just a little bit more each time and how interesting it is to see when you do that the mind kind of coming together in this gentle and stable way for me so far in my practice there have been really few greater moments of ease than those when the mind lets go of all the busyness all the emotionality all the grasping and clinging and desire and aversion and just rests right stable and easeful and concentrated in my case on the breath at the upper lip and I think many of us have learned that so that's what I can tell you about the how or that's as much of an instruction as I as I can offer and also people who teach concentration are authorized by their concentration teachers to teach that so I'm not authorized to do that at all but I'm just sharing what what I know other than I would say one other thing which is that the practices as it for me is a kind of a conditioning that feels like it's a conditioning of nurture and a condition of love so it's a it's a very loving practice which which points to the two possibilities wise concentration has to offer and one of which is that the concentrated mind is is just resting in the present moment it's not grasping or clinging or averting or hating or sleepy or jumpy or anxious or it's not even doubting the importance of letting go of all the doing and and just being it's not it's not doing any of those things the concentrated mind is is free for the moments that it's concentrated free of all those stressors free free of the hindrances in the mind or you could say free of suffering not in a permanent sense which is why I'm saying for the moments that it's concentrated right because nothing lasts of course we know that even even on longer concentration retreats what I can report of my again very basic concentration practice is that it's there and then gone there may be a little more sustainably gone and so on and then less accessible after the retreat or as the time goes by after the retreat but also over time more and more available to to to summon up into practice right to intentionally sit down and practice and what's available what's available really is is peace peace which is not only a beautiful thing right but it's also such a relief right given our world but it doesn't equate with being unaffected right we live in the world we see a lot as lawyers we care a lot as lawyers as humans and the things we see and care about and the humans we see and care about you know they they touch us they impact us so we're not unaffected in fact the opposite there's there's compassion which is great it's it's what we it's what we want it's what we're pointing at but the difference is we're just we're not shaken by what we see right this concentrated mind the conditioning of concentrating the mind stabilizing the mind means that we can bear we can bear the world and that's the difference the heart is touched moved moved even to tears but the concentrated mind remains non-reactive and quiet and stable all of which gives rise to the second possibility of wise concentration which is that the quiet stable mind is the mind that's open to insight right insight into the fact that it's it's not this challenging world and the people in it that cause us to suffer it's the way we relate to all of that right insight into the impermanent nature of everything as a reassuring understanding and insight into the ways we're completely interconnected I mean look here we are interconnected you know continents apart but also in so many other ways and and so the only alternative is to bring as much love to each moment as we possibly can so the first possibility of wise concentration is freedom and the second is insight which makes which makes it a worthwhile practice as far as I can tell so let's sit and I'll share this very teeny tiny droplet of basic information about what I know about how to dip dip the toes into this practice and if this doesn't feel resonant for you or you have another practice that is better please do whatever is best for you and I'm sorry I forgot to bring my bell across the pond so I don't have a bell so let's find a find find your posture of stillness and let that be a posture that is as comfortable as possible while also being upright and while also being relaxed so maybe just do a basic body scan and just notice where there might be tightness or holding and just as you scan through the body and notice that just let it go and if if relaxation isn't available let go of the trying to make it be so and then bring the attention to the breath unless for some reason attending to the breath would be activating for you and in that case take a moment just to settle the mind on the sounds in your environment and then specifically bring the attention to the sensation of the air flowing across the top of the upper lip if you have a stuffy nose and you're breathing through your mouth and just continue to breathe through your mouth but if you can sense the feeling of the air flowing over the upper lip just do that and whenever the mind wanders and you notice come back to that space at the upper lip that sensation and let the attention rest there with just the lightest of touches just the greatest of kindness ease no effort and as you do this just see if the mind is settling just a little bit or just a little bit more and if there is great if there is settling and if there's not let go of there being any problem with unsettledness and bring some joy into this practice too don't forget the joy and make it make it fun make it interesting sweet and you can gently let go of the the concentration and just relax flutter the eyes open and know that you can you can take this with you into your day and just take a minute or even 30 seconds and yeah just drop into this very relaxed state okay everybody sorry there's no bell but thank you so much for being here and take good care be safe out there and i'll see you i'll see you next thursday
