Relax And Be Aware-Guided Mindfulness, Metta And Gratitude
In these guided Mindfulness, Metta and Gratitude practices, we take time together to explore the ins and outs of creating and doing our practice and strengthening the "mindfulness muscle". Hope you find these recordings useful.
Transcript
Welcome everyone.
This is Michael Morphis.
Really glad to be here with you today for our mindfulness meditation mental loving-kindness practice and gratitude practice find a comfortable position for yourself to kind of explore our Practice today.
So the ideal position is one in which you're able to be really relaxed and yet very very weak alert sharp and clear Eyes can be opened or closed.
This isn't always a formal part of the practice,
But I find it to be really useful to take a couple of deeper breaths and There are several things that happen with the deeper breaths.
So physiologically it kind of Adjust the gears of the mind and the body so that we are more capable mentally physically emotionally to be More fully present and connected to the moment And then for me also taking these deeper breaths have just simply become a reminder to connect with the part of myself That's capable of handling whatever it is.
It's going on With an inner smile doesn't always work,
But it's getting better It represents that that conscious deep breath represents something really important and special to me Which is that I'm gonna be with my intention to be the most Dharmic the kindest Nicest most functional productive person I can be So you can of course play with this sitting well Or whatever position you're taking and just a couple of these slightly deeper breaths And of course because we're breathing all the time we have This tool with us everywhere we go so if we're walking down the street and we're kind of spacing out or we realize that we're Obsessing on something or really just wanting to do something we're obsessing on something or we're not in the Emotional or mental space we'd like to be in We can say hey,
Let me check in here take a couple of breaths and I've been using the phrase reconnect to my dharma reconnect to this part of myself that again is really capable of handling it all And uh interested in figuring out the best way to do that And that seems like about the best that we can do right every situation is different Every day is different and we have to keep on showing up with an open heart open mind and a degree of Strength,
But also flexibility to be able to adapt to whatever it is.
It's going on So Part of this practice part of this skill set of being adaptable and highly functional Is the mindfulness practice?
Um simply saying yes to whatever is here with us and creating this ability and it's really a skill to be able to accurately Accept whatever it is.
That's going on with us and around us And say yes to it And then to notice the reactivity that starts to arise around whatever triggers and phenomena we're encountering And to see if we can hold off for maybe even just a few milliseconds Instead of just going into autopilot and habitual reactivity To notice what's going on to see how we're about to speak or react or behave And then to assess is what i'm about to say or do really useful and uh It's a hard call.
We don't always know but if we get in the habit of checking Uh,
The probability of making better decisions should go up,
You know,
If we also are practicing other things from the dharma teachings like loving kindness practice and gratitude and friendliness and We're populating ourselves with these new habit patterns instead of being purely self-serving and you know kind of maybe reaction reactionary in a way that's uh,
Uh,
Not so helpful then we observe that and we try to see if we can affect change So again striking this nice balance between awake and alert and relaxed We'll do observational awareness open awareness We're really interested in noticing what the mind is knowing and one of the six ways that it can know Is it seeing hearing smelling tasting touching?
Or are you thinking?
And we're not trying to stop any of this from happening.
We just want to get really good at noticing that it's happening So we're aligning ourselves more and more with the part of the mind that is capable of being a relaxed observer right,
And again,
This gets us out of the On a neurobiological level on a neuromechanical level It takes the finger off the trigger,
Right?
Because for most of our evolution it was Action and it was phenomena and reaction phenomena and reaction Now we're at this phase where we have this ability to watch the mind We have a part of our consciousness that is able to use the mind to watch the mind And that's a total game changer,
You know,
I think that uh,
You know,
This is presumptuous and a bit of a stretch But I think that perhaps in the future,
You know,
Maybe a few hundred thousand years or a million years in the future They'll look back if there's any recorded record of this period of time and they'll be like whoa,
You know humans Uh,
This was another evolutionary step for them they were able to use the mind to watch the mind and that had never happened before in the billions of years of our evolution as a species,
Um,
You know,
It's probably more like 200,
000 years and they say that humans have been almost exactly the same for about 80,
000 years,
But um,
It's still Uh,
We're a work in progress and that's uh,
That's the good news,
Right?
Where everything is highly workable as long as you're alive Uh,
There's a lot more that's right with you than wrong with you and everything is workable So getting yourself into this nice balanced position alert and yet relaxed Tapping into our natural ability to be curious And honest with ourselves And that can be a loaded statement,
Right?
It's not like we're uh looking to squeeze out some kind of deep hidden truths or something Like that we just in a very relaxed and normal kind of way Just want to get into the skill set habit pattern of noticing what's going on and saying yes,
Okay That's here.
And if there's something resonating with that we can also say yes to that resonance But we want to see if we can do this in a way where we don't get overly entangled probably most easily Translated as we don't start thinking about it a lot and if that starts to happen the part of the mind that is the supervisor the orchestrator the Overseer of our actions and deeds can intervene and say,
Okay Uh,
Let's see if we can acknowledge And accept what's here And have a different type of relationship to it one that's accepting and observational But not one that is getting caught up or getting entangled or ensnared So with this curious mindset Just ask yourself.
What is the mind knowing?
One of the five senses thinking emotions planning fear joy pleasure pain What is the mind knowing it could be such a gift To give yourself permission To not have to figure everything out right now To simply notice something and let it be We do so much figuring right?
We're always trying and there's a place for that and there's a time for that But we want to be able to also Or it can be very skillful and useful to be able to know when our Intent our desire to fix and figure out Is kind of actually getting in the way right Maybe it's getting in the way of the first step of first fully feeling What it is that we're experiencing And in this noticing process We want to feel it deeply right with our bodies with our minds with our hearts Whatever it is that you're noticing And maybe it's not that profound right?
You're hearing the sound of a car driving by it's not going to probably be this soul-shaking event But maybe it's something resonating there Or maybe we're going through a really tough time.
Uh,
You know relationally or financially or You know relationally or financially or uh,
Politically or whatever may be going on and um,
There's this constant voice in the head of Making us worry making us feel like there's no getting out from underneath a very heavy burden and uh It can be quite a relief to know that it's not irresponsible Or reckless to change your relationship to that type of thinking It doesn't mean that the issues that are important to you don't need to be dealt with The question is can they be dealt with with less anxiety?
Less obsession and more of a sense of possibility and freedom and that's what this skill set can give to us the experience of relating to whatever it is.
The mind is knowing In a more relaxed way And we don't conflate or want to generate this misunderstanding of relaxed meaning that we are not highly Interested in what's going on in our lives and understand that things need to get done We were just trying to take out again this kind of neurotic frantic and panicked Uh reactivity that can very often make a bad or challenging situation worse Or even make a good situation not as good as it could be or not enable us to fully experience or enjoy that So this present moment relaxed awareness of what is Will serve us Pretty much in everything that we do You could be a drummer in a rock band,
Right?
You're playing a hundred notes a minute And you could be mindfully in a relaxed way noticing playing really really fast or you know You know have a very very high stress job or it's all applicable right this present moment awareness Relaxing into noticing what is will always serve As a filter and as a lens for clearer understanding of what our relationship to what is happening is Also as we do the practice more and more we get more familiar with this part of ourselves sometimes called buddha nature the watcher Our inner quietness And It seems and and it's really amazing that the neuroscience the fmris and brain scans seem to Validate this not There are indicators.
It's not exactly clear what's going on,
But it seems like there is a Way that certain brain centers link up at different times where we can be simply in a relaxed state of awareness,
Right and That Mindset is pretty pleasant,
Right?
It's just uh,
It just is okay with whatever's going on and again not in the reckless way not in the way where When something needs to get done,
We don't do it But it's not caught up into the type of reactivity that interferes with clear thinking and the buddha described the state in Four or more ways this four they can think of right now.
He called it nirvana the unconditioned emptiness the deathless And what he was referring to is when we're not caught up into habitual autopilot automatic reactivity especially In ways that generate greed hatred and delusion So those were the three poisons that pretty much Wrecked everything for ourselves and everyone else So we can be in the state of the unconditioned and he even said If there weren't the unconditioned there would be no escape from A lot of the suffering that we're experiencing But there is an escape And it turns out that it's this part of the mind that can simply watch without being so reactive Without being so reactive and that's we're really cultivating here with our sitting practices this familiarity And also a strengthening of what we sometimes call the mindfulness muscle This ability to in this very awake very honest very alert way say oh the mind is knowing this I don't have to get entangled.
Oh,
The mind is noticing that I don't have to get wrapped up This is happening around me I can choose how I will interface with this experience or phenomena I'm,
Not a slave.
I don't have to be a slave to habit patterns to my own or to the conditioning of nature or to social sociological Patternings I can be free and think for myself And that's pretty huge it's almost as if we're sitting in some kind of A prison right and the thing it turns out that the thing that will Free us is sitting quietly And it's almost as if when we sit quietly There's a an energy that we emanate that dissolves the walls and the bars of our prison And again sitting quietly is not trying to stop thinking right the mind is a thinking machine it's not going to stop generating thoughts,
But we can Supervise right what type of um thoughts we're going to entertain and which ones we're going to dismiss as useless at best and hurtful at worst And part of that skill set is in just first Noticing more and more clearly what is actually going on here What is the mind actually doing and knowing?
Okay,
So we're going to move into our meta loving-kindness practice and um Just want to share something I was reading today.
It was an article In a newspaper and they were talking about how to be a really good friend to someone that's having a hard time and they said one of the best things that you can do to be really there for somebody is to Be a good listener And to differentiate between when listening is really all that's necessary and then offering advice When that may be what the person is asking for But they're talking about in the listening part That something that is the most soothing thing is that when we feel heard and we feel acknowledged So if somebody were to say something to you about how You know,
This was really difficult and i'm having a really hard time with this and this is a situation That a really good response might be Yeah,
I can imagine how difficult that must have been for you that they're heard and I'm mentioning this because it resonates for me very much along with the meta practice with the loving-kindness practice when we That the spirit and the attitude of just saying,
Okay.
Well,
What's actually going on emotionally with the heart?
And with the heart mind and to remember that in these practices In the ancient days heart and mind were the same word.
So,
You know,
They're woven together and separably In our culture.
It seems like they're a little bit more considered to be different like this kind of a Dionysian and apollo model from ancient greece,
But from the Traditions where these dharma teachings come from they were considered to be one And so this attitude of just saying like well I I hear you like when you're doing your loving-kindness practice and something is resonating that's challenging Not necessarily to try to fix it right away or change it right away But just to allow yourself to be heard right to say to yourself.
You're that friend to yourself I hear you,
You know,
I feel your pain.
I feel what you're going through and we'll start from there And then,
You know,
And then carefully treading into well What do I need to do to work with this or or to move beyond it and that that's another Investigation but in the part of radical acceptance and being kind to ourselves This might I just felt like it was it was a really beautiful parallel So as you're doing the loving-kindness Phrasings,
You know just again feel it as much as you can.
How real is it for you?
How are you feeling?
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And again,
If it's not there,
Feel that.
Be with that process of being curious.
What does gratitude feel like?
Or if I've felt it before,
Why am I not feeling it now?
And it may be very clear.
You may have a lot of excuses like,
Well,
This has gone wrong and this is difficult right now.
Is there anything you can be grateful for?
And sometimes we have to get really basic.
Are you grateful for being alive?
To be able to breathe and to see and to hear.
I think we're all on some type of electronic device now,
Right?
We have the luxury of being able to have electricity and the financial foundation to be able to pay the bills enough to have our Wi-Fi working or something like that.
Okay,
Friends,
So that's all for today.
Thank you so much for joining.
I see this giant microphone in front of me.
I'm starting to record these sessions,
And I'm trying to record and post them.
So if you felt this was useful and want to go through the same one again,
It'll be listed by the date.
And there's more if you missed a session and you want to have other sessions.
There should be more and more all the time.
I'll also be intermittently doing like a theme.
The last few sessions I talked a little bit about the seven factors of awakening,
And I'll be doing more stuff like that as well.
So things from the Dharma list,
And I'll just leave you with that.
If you go to my website,
It's now MorphysYoga.
Com,
And look under the Dharma meditation section.
There are lists and links to the Dharma lists.
Really,
Really great.
I'm actually also going to be doing a series on the Dharma lists,
Kind of explaining each item in them,
And kind of in a very secular presentation of the Dharma lists.
And I think of these as lenses and as tools in our life toolbox to assist us in our practice so that when something comes up,
We have a frame of reference.
So this is very oversimplified.
Like in the Dharma list,
There's what's called the three marks of existence.
The first mark of existence is impermanence.
So as meditators,
As Dharma practitioners,
We get interested in studying impermanence,
And then we're thinking about it more and more.
Oh,
What does impermanence mean?
How does it affect me?
Am I okay with it?
Am I not okay with it?
And then we're sitting there,
And I think I mentioned this before,
But let's say we knock our favorite glass off the table and it breaks on the floor.
So an undharmic response may be like to curse and to be really upset that our cup just broke.
A more dharmic response may or may not be this,
But for me it might be that initial frustration that I broke my glass,
But then I remember,
Oh,
Impermanence,
Everything's impermanent.
So it's not just me.
I don't have to get into this poor me mode or like why me,
Or how could this have happened?
It's like,
Oh,
That always happens.
Like the Buddha said,
That's the first mark of existence.
Everything is changing,
Right?
And it's not always breaking,
Right?
Some things change for what feel to be more positive things,
But it's always changed.
So that's just one small example of how the Dharma list may be a useful tool in our daily lives.
So thank you so much for joining.
Again,
These are donation-based classes.
Any and all donations are really,
Really appreciated,
Very helpful.
And I hope this was helpful.
And I also hope the rest of your day is filled with peace and well-being.
Take care.
4.5 (2)
Recent Reviews
Tatyana
July 7, 2023
It was very informative and helpful . Very grateful for this practice . Namaste 🙏