Settling into the experience of the body sitting,
Tuning into this whole body experience,
A sense of sitting right in the middle.
No need to fragment or to divide up the experience of sitting,
The experience of the body or sensation.
So that the wisdom and the heart understands it's like this now.
Sitting is like this now.
The experience of embodiment is like this now.
And so in this very straightforward way,
Practicing non-fear,
Practicing non-distraction,
Not forgetting that it's like this now.
Intimacy,
Kind,
Loving presence with the body just as it is.
And you might find it useful to use the rhythm of the breathing process.
So why,
While breathing in,
Remembering to be intimate,
To be aware of the sensations of the whole body.
And while breathing out,
Being intimate with the body just as it is and letting it be.
Releasing into the experience,
Trusting it,
Relaxing,
Accepting,
Breathing in,
Knowing the body just as it is.
Breathing out,
Accepting and releasing and trusting.
It's like this now.
The whole body alive with sensation.
Everything can be included.
The operating assumption that every sensation,
Every flavor of the body is workable,
Acceptable,
Worthy of being intimate and accepting and undefended.
It's such a relief not to have to control,
Not to have to deny,
Not to have to be unaware of the body.
So in a way,
Embracing the exposure,
Embracing the sensitivity to body.
It's also relief not to have to go somewhere to be aware of the body.
The awareness of sensation is right here.
It's already,
The body is already being known.
The heart is already sensitive to these sensations here.
And we know this is true because it feels like this now.
The feeling tone of being intimate with the body.
That feeling tone is what's being known right here and now.
Whenever the mind is undistracted,
It's clear that the body feels like this.
Maybe pleasant or maybe unpleasant or maybe somewhat neutral,
Not clear whether it's pleasant or unpleasant.
In any moment really there's the feeling of the body,
The way the sensations feel and there's also the feeling tone associated with the way the mind's relating or the quality of the mind.
More subtle but there's also a feeling.
So if the mind is grumpy then it feels that unpleasantness of grumpiness.
If the mind is light and happy then it feels pleasant.
So the mind that knows has a feeling and what the mind knows has a feeling.
So given that each moment of experience feels a particular way,
Noticing how to be skillful with feeling given that the heart is constantly being impinged upon by feelings.
The feeling of the particular mood or mental content,
The feeling of body sensation,
The feeling of the sounds being heard,
Constant impingement by sense experience,
Mental experience,
Everything arising with the feeling.
What to do with feeling?
The Buddha teaches that the feeling tone of the experience either drives the reactive patterns of greed,
Hatred and delusion,
Denial,
Distraction,
Or the feeling that's arising with each experience can be the place realizing freedom,
Like freedom,
The heart that's free with the feeling.
Not reactive,
Not constructing anything out of the particular feeling tone that comes with experience.
Not triggering an emotional reaction.
So as a training ground for the next 15 minutes or so and a real support to our small group discussions later,
We can use the training ground of the body and the breath moving in the body,
Being intimate,
Continuous,
Steady presence,
And in particular interested in the feeling tone.
Not assuming that there are only unpleasant feeling tones.
So be interested in whatever might have the feeling of pleasantness or neutrality and of course unpleasantness.
And whatever it is,
Whatever feeling tone is apparent in any moment,
Then experiment about what does freedom look like with this particular feeling?
Or how might the mind relate to this in a way that is experience of suffering or stress,
Something that's heavy?
And because it's less of our habit,
Let's take the first five or so minutes and specifically become interested in pleasant sensation,
Pleasant and neutral sensation,
And pleasant and neutral qualities of the mind.
Don't try to repress the unpleasant.
Just keep noticing whatever is neutral or pleasant.
So for example,
If there's any however subtle quality of calm,
Tranquility,
Or even something more subtle like ease or lightness of heart,
A vibratory lightness of the heart and body,
Then noticing those rather neutral or pleasant qualities.
How to be skillful with pleasantness.
Often the pleasantness or unpleasantness of an experience is more about the way the mind is perceiving what the mind is making out of an experience than the experience itself.
So although it may initially see a sensation as unpleasant,
There may be a way to perceive or interpret the experience as actually neutral or pleasant.
So experiment.
Breathing in,
Feeling the body just as it is.
While breathing out,
Feeling the body just as it is.
This is a simple non conceptual recognition.
The body feels like this now.
Notice the tendency to doubt the feeling or expect it to be another way.
But instead train the mind to recognize that whatever feeling is being felt right now,
This is the feeling.
This is how it is.
Can this be okay that it feels like this?
It's just this feeling being known.
Even if it's ambiguous,
It's just this feeling.
Neither for nor against the feeling.
Willing to be intimate with the feeling in a continuous way.
While breathing in,
While breathing out.
And if and when the mind's distracted,
Then simply notice thinking feels like this.
The feeling tone of this distractedness is like this.
So in this way it doesn't really matter if the mind is distracted or quite stable and steady and beautiful,
Concentrated.
Because we're contemplating that the experience feels like this now.
So whatever the particular feeling of the experience,
Whatever that is,
Can it be known?
With wisdom,
Oh it's just this feeling.
So so so so so so So again for the last four minutes or so,
Keep it really simple.
It's really the practice of remembering that it feels like this now.
The experience of the mind and body,
Whatever it is that's predominant or whatever it is that's being known now,
It feels like this.
Can this feeling be okay?
Is it safe to open,
To recognize that it feels like this?
And even if and when you find yourself reacting to the feeling,
Notice what that feels like.
So so so so so so so so so so so Knowing that this sits about to end feels like this now.
