Hello and welcome to today's meditation.
My name is Silas Day and I'm happy to have you here with me engaging in this ancient and noble effort of discovery,
Awareness,
And being.
Today we will be practicing one of my most preferred forms of insight meditation,
Noting or labeling practice,
Which is a highly malleable and engaging form of satipatana or mindfulness meditation.
To begin,
Take whatever posture is most comfortable to you,
Whether it be with the legs crossed,
In a chair,
Laying on the ground,
Standing,
Or walking.
To begin,
Breathe in and breathe out,
Centering the mind but not your eyes on the abdomen.
Come to know the rising and falling of the abdomen.
Do not have a vice grip hold onto the abdomen with the mind,
But just cast it in its direction,
Feeling the natural rising and falling of the breath.
If these movements are not very clear to you in the beginning,
Then place a hand on the abdomen and feel the physical rising and falling.
Make the mental note of a rising when the abdomen rises and falling for its downward movement,
But do not repeat these words verbally or think of them as words or symbols within your mind,
But as notions or a half thought,
Merely casting the mind in a focused direction toward that movement of rising and of falling,
Anchoring yourself to it.
Do not be concerned with the form of the abdomen.
Do not dwell on controlling it.
Simply note it.
In this noticing and noting,
We use this method to develop our faculty of attention,
Concentration,
And insight.
As you fall deeper into this current moment through this practice,
The manner of attention and insight becomes ever more crystalline,
And you walk down the insight path of meditation.
If you drift in your focus to memories,
Moods,
Mind states,
Or feelings,
Simply notice that you have drifted and returned to the rising and falling of the abdomen.
This is clearing the field of the mind,
Making room for us to plow its fertile soil and plant the seeds of insight,
Wisdom,
And compassion.
This is the hard work.
The more you can notice your drifting and come back to your attention of rising and falling,
The more you are training and truly engaging in this wonderful learning process.
As we continue,
Try to avoid breaths which are too rapid or too deep.
Simply be totally aware of the movements naturally of the rising and falling in the abdomen without constraint or control.
Continue for another 10 minutes in this practice,
And at the end a bell will ring with a little bit of information if you are interested in this practice.
You you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you Thank you so much for sitting with me today.
I hope you enjoyed this wonderful practice of noting insight meditation.
If you are interested in furthering and deepening this practice through more advanced methods,
There's a Dharma talk on my insight timer page,
Or there should be,
Where I go in to the more deep and complex side of this noting practice.
Not only on the cushion,
But bringing it into our daily lives.
Thank you so much for sitting with me today.
It really does bring me great joy that I get to spend this time with you,
And if it's the only time I touch your life and the only time you hear my voice,
Then that is sufficient,
Because we have got to share this wonderful time together.
Thank you so much,
And have a wonderful day.
