Starting Fresh, Starting Right

In this session, there is about 10 minutes of introduction and then a guided meditation of about 20 minutes. We are guided first to move out of the functional, doing mind, and land softly in the now. This landing can be felt as finding a refuge, a quiet place that we can trust and rely on. From there, we begin to explore the lived experience without much effort or struggle or trying to get it right. It is more like wandering in a meadow than going to the gym. We are open to experience, including the voices in the mind, with acceptance and interest, giving a light preference to bodily life. This helps to make meditation an enjoyable journey back to ourselves and something we can look forward to daily.

In this session, consisting of a short discussion and guided meditation, we work on those views and assumptions that make it difficult to establish a regular and fulfilling meditation practice. These hindrances might include resistance, boredom, lack of enthusiasm, and a tendency to give up. Sometimes we can listen to them as an authentic voice that says no. But also these scripts can be rewritten, and we can come to meditation as if to a ritual, without preconceptions or expectations. We can be surprised at how pleasant and welcoming it can be, and how we can enter meditation practice as something easy and natural.

We can enter the sacred meditation space with a different mindset. Instead of the usual mind which is dominated by activity, achievement, improvement, and knowledge, we can drop into a space or a presence that is sufficient unto itself. We start with a positive attitude that nothing is missing and nothing needs fixing. This includes the sense that Liberation is not something to be chased but rather to be dropped into. The objects of meditation, such as the breath, can be specific. But this attitude helps us to feel entirely at ease and blessed by the practice.

This session will explore the various addresses where we place our attention. Starting with spaciousness can give us a sense that it is not a project, and there is no pressure. Then we can zoom in on aspects of the richness of bodily life. We will listen to what the body and the breath are telling us, with interest. Samadhi can be connected with formal locations for our attention, and we can zoom in and experience the sensations and experiences that are flowing and changing in the framework of the body. But we can also allow open or choiceless awareness. Insights can arise in all cases.

Here, we will explore the active aspect of meditation and attention. Attention is a form of love. Giving attention to an aspect of our inner life of body and mind will change it. Pain or stress can be shifted and melted if we give it caring attention, just as a child will feel better if the mother notices and holds her. The heart can soften and energize any part of our being, radiating or sending kindness and care, the simplest forms of compassion, to those places. Meditative attention is never bare and neutral - there is always an intention or agenda, however subtle, towards wholesomeness. Meditation has juice and feeling.

We can't necessarily expect realizations and insights during meditation, as they come when conditions that we are not fully in control of, invite them. But we can consistently touch places beyond our usual limits, even if we don't fully experience them. We can touch them, direct our attention towards them, and imagine them. Examples might include exploring the subtle energy body, or the space at the end of a thought. If we allow and explore the unknown, it gives motivation and interest to our practice.

We are so used to the compulsions of our 'to-do list' rather than our 'to-be list'. The habit of doing, changing things, fixing things, and general busyness is grounded on subtle dissatisfaction. From a place of recognition of the perfection of existence, we can find deep rest. Deep rest is a profound surrender to what is. We can let go of the habitual voices and discover a place of deep rest within any meditation. It is a hint of the Natural Great Perfection of Dzogchen, or other non-dual teachings.

We explore the experience of starting right and starting fresh each time. Consciousness is empty, as in the image of the desert, and we are free to explore directions through it and choose what is important, what we want to look at, and what is helpful. For example, one time we may choose to emphasize healing, another to explore mental content, and another time to rest more in a non-dual sense of being. Meditation can be more playful as if it is learning to play music but each time a different tune. It is a gift (Dana in Pali) we give ourselves, and we can be free to give what is needed.

Our plans and decisions about spiritual life are still often influenced by a somewhat unreliable and dependent mind. We can feel autonomy which is very helpful in meditation, to regard appearances that arise and flow past as the raw material for insight and realization. We can let go of agendas and soften a bit of the sense of control and ownership of what we experience. But at the same time, it is helpful to recognize and listen to our inner guru. The Buddha within. This can be a voice of longing, of meaning, of natural inner peace and joy that occurs when it does. As it is said, if we take refuge in the Buddha, the Buddha takes refuge in us.

Faith is a valuable power that can take us beyond our usual mind and open doors. It is not religious faith, but more about trusting our inner capacities. But it should be faith in a whole path, such as the Buddhist Eightfold Path, not just in meditation alone, otherwise we can get too dependent on unreliable meditative experiences as representing the whole of our inner journey. Meditation can be an amazing and powerful tool for transformation and living a fulfilling life, but we should also be able to take it lightly and fit it into our daily circumstances. Finally, we can remember to include compassion, kindness, and gratitude as powers of the heart that can drive a beautiful life.