Well,
Hello and welcome.
The topic of today's meditation is going to be mindfulness.
Perhaps in a series of these meditations on mindfulness.
I'm also wanting to go into some of the important reasons why this is such a useful foundation practice for gaining spiritual knowledge,
Knowledge of the self and so on.
So as always,
Let's get ourselves into a comfortable seated position.
Back straight.
You can sit in a chair,
Sit cross-legged.
Just be comfortable for about 20 minutes,
10 to 20 minutes.
Let's relax a little bit as always.
We can take a few comfortable,
Easy inhalations and exhalations.
Just bringing our attention to the breath.
Let's focus a little bit more on that exhalation and release tension in the body on the exhalation.
If you wish,
You can refer to my breathing introduction meditations,
Which are 5 minutes and 20 minutes here in the Insight Timer app.
So the idea is to release the residual tension in the body,
Relax the face and come into the present moment.
So we do this by taking our attention away from the busy mind.
We take our attention away from its common focus,
Daily life,
Comings and goings,
Emotional issues,
Mind states,
Circumstances.
And for this practice now,
We're just going to focus our attention gently into the breath and the feeling sensations of the body now.
This is a very good way of coming into the present moment.
So drawing from the Vipassana system,
It's part of some of the Buddhist practices,
We can take up the practice of mindfulness in a regulated way with a method.
And so the first important one now,
As we're sitting quietly,
Breathing gently,
Being present minded,
Relaxing,
Staying peaceful.
The important one here is focusing our attention on the physical sensation of the body.
So we can focus into the skin as a major sense organ.
We can focus on the feelings that arise,
Come and go in the physical body.
Some of us may even be able to feel the heartbeat.
The breath is coming and going.
And very quickly we'll realize that we have come into observer mode naturally.
So observer mode is simply when we are paying attention to what is happening in a kind of metacognitive way.
In other words,
We're watching.
This is very different to being immersed and deeply identified into usually thought processes,
Emotional responses and also the circumstances and conditions of the apparent reality around us.
So it's sometimes called awareness watching awareness.
We're aware of being aware.
So it starts,
This is a very good place to start,
Sitting quietly,
Observing the breath.
So our awareness,
The foundational awareness,
We're using our attention and it is watching the breath coming and going.
It is watching,
Paying attention to the feelings in the physical body.
Perhaps there's an ache and a pain,
Something bothering.
Perhaps the feelings are good,
Clear,
Open,
Healthy,
Strong,
Vital,
Whatever.
Now for most of us,
We will become aware at some point that there are thoughts coming and going.
A stray thought may come into your mind or the idea of background thoughts,
Sort of almost like half thoughts,
A residual internal dialogue.
So what we do is we simply watch that.
Some traditions will say,
Will note the observation.
So I am thinking,
I am feeling,
I am breathing,
Awareness of sensation.
So gradually we're wanting to almost develop a bird's eye view,
A little bit zoomed out perspective of ourselves as humans in a physical body,
Of our mind with the thoughts going,
Feelings that are rising and falling away.
And of course emotions,
Which are much stronger,
Energy,
Anger and joy,
Love,
Fear.
And the apparent reality,
The circumstances around us,
Is a very common,
Heavy focus for our attention.
And so we fall asleep into,
We become identified into the circumstances and conditions.
So this mindfulness,
As we practice this,
Practice this daily and it becomes established.
And the idea is to take this deeper and deeper into our lives,
Morning,
Noon and night.
So to develop almost a permanent metacognition and awareness of awareness.
So we still participate,
We still engage,
We are experiencing to the fullest,
Range of emotions,
Actions,
Feelings,
Thoughts.
And yet there is a part of us that is always aware,
That is always in a sense noting.
Noting at all different times,
Even washing our teeth,
Working at the computer,
Having a conversation,
Laughing,
Awareness,
Watching awareness.
So we've covered a lot and this is more than enough to get started and be established.
I don't want to make this too long,
So I'll finish off now and rather continue with other meditations to deepen and broaden.
Trust you've enjoyed,
Benefited from this introduction and I look forward to deepening into this very important practice of mindfulness.
I wish you well,
Happy,
Peaceful,
Joyful and fulfilled and we'll see you again tomorrow to continue the journey.
Namaste.
