The Zoom Sessions No 6: Saturday Meditation Drop-In (2nd May 2020)

This is a field recording of a live drop-in meditation session hosted on Saturday 2nd May 2020. Due to the coronavirus, I decided to host a free Saturday night meditation sessions via Zoom. This recording was made to enable group members to return to the session 'as and when' they would like to. The full session contains a Body Scan, a 3 Stage Mindfulness Meditation, a silent Zazen style meditation and Examen style practice to end the day. There is some background noise.

Transcript

Hello my name is Matt Albury.

This is a recording that was made on the 2nd of May 2020 from the Zoom meditation group that was meeting on Saturday evenings.

This was due to the coronavirus lockdown we were unable to meet in person so we were meeting as a group every Saturday evening.

Tonight's practice consists of a mindfulness practice where we observe the three sectors,

Breath,

Body and mind and then there'll be the option to slip into a silent Tsar's End style meditation and then this will end with an ending of the day meditation using the examine practice.

Okay so just bring your awareness then to your feet on the floor and we'll just let ourselves settle in there.

Just noticing that contact with the floor,

Just noticing a nice firm sensation there.

And then take your awareness then to the chair that's supporting your body.

So just noticing the contact.

Contact with the thighs and the backside and possibly the lower back.

And then when you're ready take your awareness to the sounds that you can hear where you are.

Possibly the sounds you can hear outside of the room where you are.

And also the sounds you can hear inside the room.

And we do this with that sense of acceptance so whatever's going on around us is fine.

And then we'll take our two breaths in to settle us in.

So take that lovely breath in through the nose and sigh out through the mouth.

And do that again,

Lovely deep breath in.

And just allow yourself just to settle.

And before we start the body scan just set an intention for your practice.

So just thinking what do you want this practice to be for you?

Maybe it's a time of just sitting still,

A time of healing perhaps,

A time of relaxation.

Just think what you want this to be and set that intention for yourself.

And then we'll start our body scan.

So take your awareness firstly back to the feet on the floor.

Taking your awareness to your toes,

The top of the feet and the ankles.

And just notice the physical sensations there.

And then flow your awareness then up through the lower legs,

Noticing the shins and the calf muscles,

The knees,

The thighs,

The hips and the backside.

And just notice the physical sensations there.

And then take your awareness up through from the hips up onto the belly and the lower back.

Taking your awareness up onto the upper back and the chest.

Then taking your awareness then up onto the shoulders,

The joints.

And taking your awareness then down through the upper arms,

The elbows,

The forearms,

The wrists,

The backs of the hands,

The palms.

Just taking time to notice the little hollow that forms there in the palm.

And then taking your awareness out onto the thumbs.

First fingers,

Second fingers,

Third fingers and fourth.

And then when you're ready just flow your awareness all the way gently up,

All the way up through the arms,

All the way up onto the shoulder joints.

Just noticing the physical sensations in your arms.

And then take your awareness then across up onto the throat and the back of the neck.

Taking the awareness up onto your jaw.

Taking the awareness up onto the mouth,

Noticing your lips,

Your teeth,

Your gums,

The insides of the cheeks,

The roof of the mouth,

The tongue and the space underneath your tongue.

And just take a moment just to notice the tastes and the physical sensations present there in your mouth at this time.

And then we take your awareness up to the nostrils and the nose,

Around onto the ears.

And your awareness up onto the eyelids,

The eyelashes and the eyeballs themselves.

Just notice the physical sensations there.

And then take your awareness then up onto the forehead,

The back of the head and then up onto the crown.

And then as if someone's opened a tap on the bottom of your foot,

Just allow yourself just to be emptied out as if you're flowing all the way through your body,

Just being emptied out through the bottom of the feet.

And just allow anything you want to let go of,

Go as you flow out through the bottom of the feet.

So anything you just have had enough of today,

Just let it go for now.

Just picturing it leaving,

Going into the ground.

And then when you've reached the bottom of the feet,

Flow all the way back through your body being filled afresh all the way up all the way to the top of the head.

Just being filled afresh.

Just noting what's present in your body as you do.

And then when you reach the top of the head,

Just take a moment just to be aware of your presence,

What it feels like to be in your body and the space that you're in.

And then I'll start to guide us.

So this is a mindfulness technique we're going to do first.

So the first place of observation is our breath.

So what we'll do is we'll notice the breath coming in through the nose,

Down the back of the throat and into the chest and into the belly.

So we're watching the movement of the breath coming in.

So you'll feel your ribs move,

Your chest move,

Your belly move,

Possibly your lower back move.

And then you'll watch the breath leaving the body again.

So you're watching the movement again as the breath leaves the body.

So just allow this to be your practice now for the next few minutes until I start to guide you in a different observation.

So now you're just to observe your breath rolling in,

Rolling out.

And as you do this you'll notice a little pause in your breath cycle as the breath rolls in.

A little pause before you start to breathe out.

There's another little pause before you start to breathe in.

So just allow this to be your place of observation.

Okay,

Thanks.

At any point that you get distracted just come back to here.

It doesn't matter how many times we drift off to other things as long as we come back.

Just come back,

Just observing the breath.

Just come back,

Just observing the breath.

Just come back,

Just observing the breath.

Just come back,

Just observing the breath.

Just come back,

Just observing the breath.

So the next stage of our observation now is to bring our observation to our body.

So with this we just notice what's going on in our body,

Perhaps this is a tension.

Just noticing physical sensations.

So we just bring our awareness to there.

And there's the option to bring in a bit of a statement as you look at your body.

So as you sit with your body,

If there's areas of tension in your body,

You just say to yourself,

Breathe in,

I'm aware of my body.

Breathing out,

I soften.

There's that option just to say that to yourself as well,

So as you're breathing in,

I'm aware of my body.

Breathing out,

I soften.

But basically we're bringing awareness to what it means and feels like doing our physical body at this moment.

So just continue with that observation until you hear the next bell.

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So now when you're ready,

Just bring your awareness then away,

That's your physical body,

To bring your awareness then to your mind.

So what we do with this is we just watch the mind doing its thing.

Some of the traditions talk about your mind being a bit like clouds passing through the sky,

Just watching them passing by and moving on in to other things.

So it's a bit like when you're watching the thoughts come,

They're just like clouds just coming into the mind and then just passing on through.

Just allow your mind just to be observed for a moment.

Don't worry about what you're thinking about,

Where it comes from.

So we're actually watching the mind doing its thing.

Suzuki Roshi says it's about like having the back door of the mind and the front door of the mind open,

So the thoughts just calm and go,

Just don't make them tea.

Just let them calm and go.

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Practice this evening just watching the breath coming in and out of the nose and into the body.

And then I'll start to guide us in our exam in of the day.

Come home to yourself,

Come home.

Lovingly welcoming to your home the person that you are.

Let your hands find rest.

And let your hands hold the weave from your day.

Come home.

As we remember the day as it was,

Remember a moment of light.

Something that brought life to your day.

Something energized you.

And gently revisit it,

Allowing it to live again in your mind's eye.

Be still.

Be grateful.

As we remember the day as it was,

Remember a moment that might have caused frustration,

Disappointment or even despair.

And gently revisit this again,

Allowing it to live again in your mind's eye.

And if possible to do it without judgment.

Be still.

Be accepting.

And now when you're ready take the moment of life and light and the moment of frustration or disappointment.

Allow them to settle into the divine love within you.

So just allowing these things to settle into your heart center.

Trust in that divine love to take those two moments away as you let them go.

Be still.

Be still.

And as we move towards the end of our practice take a moment to think of tomorrow and what things you would like to achieve tomorrow.

Or maybe taking this time to think of any qualities,

Intentions you would like to set for your day tomorrow.

And then trust for your tomorrow.

And then just return your awareness then back to your breath as I blow out the candle.

Just remain watching your breath until your three bells.

And then we'll do our grounding technique and open our eyes together.

So take your awareness back to the sounds around you.

Perhaps the sounds first that you can hear in the room where you are.

And then allow your awareness to extend out to the sounds from the outside of the room.

And then take your awareness to the chair supporting your body.

Just notice in the places of contact against your body.

And then take your awareness then down to your feet.

Just notice in the contact with the floor or the bed or wherever you're sat on your feet.

If you like give your toes a bit of a riddle.

You've been sat still for quite a while.

And then we'll end our practice with two breaths.

Taking a breath in through the nose,

Breathing out through the mouth.

Let's take a lovely breath in.

We'll do that again.

Lovely deep breath in.

And then just open your eyes when you are ready.