Good morning.
Hello.
Good afternoon,
Wherever you are.
It's Judy Cohen.
This is Wake Up Call 510.
I had a different opening,
But we just had a bear walk by the front of the house up here at Tahoe.
So I'm just like thinking about the bear.
She was beautiful.
She was big,
And her paw was hurt,
So she was limping.
Anyway,
So that was just a moment ago.
So today,
What I want to do is look at the why.
Why practice wise mindfulness,
Which is where we are on the Eightfold Path.
And last time,
I said a little bit about how to practice by bringing the attention to the breath,
Body,
Or sound,
Using these as anchors or refuges,
Which is essentially the basics of the first foundation of mindfulness.
And how it's important to do that with diligence,
But also with kindness and love,
So that when the attention wanders,
Which it will,
We can be amused at the wandering mind,
But not upset or frustrated with it.
And that as we practice,
What we're doing is training to pay attention in the present moment.
Before we look at the other three of the four foundations of mindfulness,
I thought let's talk about why.
Why train the mind to pay attention to the breath,
The body,
Sound?
Why train it to stay in the present moment?
Why train it in what's,
Let's use the catch-all,
Focused awareness meditation,
Right?
Two reasons.
The first might sound like the most practical,
Focused awareness leads to greater concentration.
The second might sound like the most intriguing,
Focused awareness can lead to insight.
So focused awareness pointing towards concentration,
It is practical.
Greater concentration means we're less distracted by our thoughts,
Less distracted by the world,
Less distracted by our devices.
It means we're more present and therefore happier,
According to the science.
It means we can more easily stay on task and be more efficient.
And it means we're more present for the people we love.
Concentration also makes us calmer.
And this has to do with concentration itself,
The practice,
Which as I've been trained,
And I've only had maybe three full weeks of this training,
Is a state of profound relaxation.
Concentration is combined with a very,
Very gentle but persistent placing and replacing of the attention on the object,
Breath,
Body,
Sound,
Mostly breath for concentration.
It's about inviting the mind and the body into the most relaxed stillness imaginable.
Concentration like this,
When the mind and body are both deeply relaxed and still creates the possibility for the whole nervous system to calm down.
During the practice,
The mind isn't ruminating,
It's not worrying,
It's not focused on a to-do list.
It's not even reacting to whatever is coming and going in the field of awareness.
The body isn't fidgeting.
The hands aren't reaching for a keyboard of some kind.
They're not even really itching to do that.
You know,
The feet aren't tapping,
The fingers aren't wiggling.
We're simply attending to the breath,
The body or sound and letting the rest go.
Whenever something that's been let go arises again,
We're just letting go again and coming back to relaxed stillness.
Even though the to-do list and all the worries will be there when the bell rings,
In my experience,
So will some residue or maybe better to say reservoir of calm.
So focused awareness develops our powers of concentration,
Plus it infuses our practice and it infuses our lives with calm.
And when it doesn't,
When concentration isn't available,
When calm isn't available,
Then you know,
Go to the quote from our beloved Palestinian-American poet,
Naomi Shihab Nye,
Only kindness makes sense,
Right?
The only thing to do when stillness isn't available or concentration feels elusive or calm feels impossible is to be kind.
Be kind to ourselves,
Be kind to the wandering mind,
The agitated mind,
The only thing to do.
So one way to practice focused awareness,
Which naming our bookmark is part of the how of wise mindfulness,
Is in the direction of concentration and calm.
Another way to practice is in the direction of insight or of the three sort of main insights in mindfulness practice,
The insights into suffering,
Impermanence and not-self,
Right?
So when we sit in stillness and let's say we notice pain in the body or a stressful thought or sorrow,
We gain insight into suffering,
We begin to see the truth,
To understand that pain,
Stress,
Sorrow and other difficulties as well,
Like anger and fear and discomfort of all kinds,
All of the difficulties we face are just part of being human.
Yeah,
They're features not bugs,
As Guru Singh always says,
That they're illuminating the experience of the ride we're on as humans,
Which is by its nature a bumpy one.
And when we get this in our bones,
In our whole mind body,
When we stop arguing against the way things are,
I don't know if y'all are familiar with Scott Rogers' work at University of Miami,
His mindfulness work,
He's a professor there,
But he says,
You know,
Stop writing and arguing your own personal never-ending motion for relief from suffering,
Right?
So when we stop doing that,
Because we're going to inevitably lose that motion,
Then we're having a moment of insight into suffering,
Into the truth of the way things are.
This moment is just like this,
As all the great teachers remind us.
Insight into impermanence,
The second insight that's available,
Focusing on the breath,
We see right away how it flows in,
Then it flows out,
Focusing on the body,
How sensations arise and then they fade,
Focusing on sound,
How sound arises and then it dissipates,
You know.
We see through paying attention to memories that arise,
How relationships arise and flourish and can flounder and end or strengthen and persevere,
But they're always in flux,
No matter how much we'd like to tie them down,
Right?
We see through sensations that arise how no pain is constant,
But also how this whole body will someday be,
You know,
Food for the fishes,
Right?
We see the truth,
The truth of the matter that everything including us is just arising and fading away.
And it might not sound like it until we see it,
But when we do,
It's so peaceful and inspiring to see this,
Right?
Peaceful to remember that we don't need to grab onto anything.
We can let life run through us,
Right?
And inspiring because even though we're just here for a minute,
We care so much about the world.
And so the work of healing the world,
Which is our work,
Is really a treasure.
And then the third insight,
The insight into not-self,
You know,
Seeing as we practice that although we might think of ourselves as fixed and identifiable,
In fact,
We're changing all the time,
Even as we sit still,
Right?
There's no fixed duty.
There's this ever-changing flow.
Each of us right here,
We're all different from when we arrived at the call today.
Before this sentence ends,
We'll be different again.
And yet we're human,
So we have volition.
We get to choose how to show up in each moment.
And that choice matters because what we say and do affects everybody else.
So in this insubstantial world where we're bumping up against one another all the time,
The insight into not-self is also the insight into that we belong to one another.
And so we're responsible for one another.
And so there's nothing to do but to be kind.
And that's,
You know,
His Holiness's words,
Kindness is my religion.
Be kind whenever possible.
It's always possible.
Okay,
So let's sit.
So finding a posture which for you makes stillness possible.
And it is worth taking a moment to find that posture.
And then once you're there,
Just do a little check-in.
How's the body doing right now?
Maybe even do a little scan from the top of the head down to the toes,
Just as if allowing the awareness to kind of flow down through the body like water.
And just seeing how's the body right now?
How's my body?
And how is the mind?
What is the state of mind right now?
Just checking in no particular way things should be.
Just what are they?
And then bringing the attention to the breath.
Only don't work with the breath if it will activate you in some way that isn't supportive of your practice.
In which case work with sound as it's arising and passing away.
But if it feels safe and supportive to work with the breath,
Begin to notice the breath as it's flowing in and out of the body.
And let's work with the breath at the nostrils.
Or even more subtly at the upper lip,
The sensation of the breath as it flows across the upper lip as it flows in and out.
And just placing the attention as if you had this precious gem,
Or maybe you found an egg,
A nest,
And there was an egg in it and you were just gently placing that egg on a piece of cotton so that it wouldn't crack.
The kindest and most loving and most gentle placing of the attention on the breath.
So there's no straining.
There's almost no effort.
There's just this relaxation.
The body is breathing all by itself.
The attention is at the nostrils or the upper lip.
Can you relax a tiny bit more?
What can you let go of right now?
And for this last minute or so of practice,
Can you invite in a little bit more stillness,
A little bit more relaxation?
And be kind whenever possible.
It's always possible.
Thanks everyone for being on the wake-up call today.
It's really good to see you.
