Mindfulness Of Being

First of six talks on Mindfulness of Being, with 10 min meditation at end. Most mindfulness focuses on the body, thoughts or feelings. But not on Being itself - that Self which is the essence of who we are. When we allow our attention to rest in Being we discover the deep peace and relief that many mystics have spoken of. The more we savor it, the more we can connect with it in daily life. It takes not effort or concentration to open to this deeper level of ourselves; but a letting go of the various veils to our true nature.

Transcript

The theme mindfulness of being it's something it's been in my mind this title a long time and and that's really the background theme to to what I want to talk about and mindfulness I mean many of us have done mindfulness practices I have got a lot of value from from them and there's you know there's different sorts of mindfulness whether it's mindfulness of breath or body or thinking or mood and that's all I mean that's all very valuable allows the mind to quieten down we get a perspective on our own thinking what's behind it our patterns our desires our inversions that's all all valuable stuff but I've always felt it's missing out on an important aspect which is the our beingness we don't have mindfulness of our beingness which I think is really important because if you look at what a lot of the great mystics have said is that you know behind all of this there is something else whether you call it being I like being because it's the most neutral term you might call it the the true self pure awareness the divine there's many different terms we can give to it I like being because it's just it's neutral but this is what we're not normally interested in the attention is nearly always on on the world out there what's going on or on our thoughts on our feelings and and we miss this essential quality in fact the word mystic comes from the greek mystos which means that which is not seen and you know what is seen what is observed what is experienced is whatever's going on in the world whatever's going on in our minds all of that our feelings and the mystos is that which is not we're not aware of and so mindfulness I think traditional mindfulness is great for all that can be observed or that can be experienced but it misses out on becoming more aware of that deeper quality of presence being that that's always there so that's really the sort of background to what I want to do in these sessions and just talking about this time as a background but I want to talk about other other other things I say that are interesting at the current time now one of the things about this is that it's not something we should go looking for it's not we're not seeking being or anything like that in fact you can't really put it in words I mean the mystics often say it's ineffable it's ineffable meaning it cannot be described it cannot be put in words because it has no has no qualities of its own really it's just it's just that sense of presence that's always that's always there but we don't notice because our attention is out on what we're thinking what we're doing one way I think of it as some of you already know is you know being the verb to be if we conjugate it is like what it is it is is the third person you are but I am that's the verb to be and as you also know I like to drop the I because the I becomes another noun another object but just to think of it as amming like the first person of being is amming and as a way of pointing towards something that's always there the sense of amming I am always here that sense of being that sense of presence so it's it's a way of coming coming back to that and bringing the attention back to that but it says not not normally noticed but it is it is so so familiar when we when we drop into it's like ah yes this is it it's not something new it's just something that we weren't actually allowing ourselves to be aware of or just to be interested in the attention always goes to what is interesting in the world or in our thoughts whatever it is it's about becoming interested in what is this sense of being of amming what is this sense it's there so that's what I want to be doing in this in this meditation really yeah what yeah perhaps just leave it at that there's more we can say when we get into the into the questions and into the discussion about sort of amplifying this more so in this meditation really the essence of it is is very simple it's the first instruction is not following thought it's so easy to what we do in daily life we get caught up in a thought and we we follow it at least to another thought into another thought in meditation we're just making that choice whenever we notice we're thinking whether it's you know major big thought or whether it's just a little faint thought like oh this is nice so I'm getting the hang of this whatever it is whatever the thinking is just just leaving it not following it anymore and then when we stop following the thought we just become more naturally aware of what is there in the present moment maybe you know sounds around us what's going on in the body that sort of thing and then and that's sort of more you know classic mindfulness and then in that just to open up to what is this sense of being that's there so in the present moment just coming back and say what is its sense of amming being awaring that's always there and just just being interested in what that is Ram Dass used to say be here now but we're not used to said many times this great phrase of his be here now and I think we put a lot of attention on the here now being aware of the here and now but again that beingness is often missed so what I'd like to do yes I just need a short meditation I've got to bow here at the end of the meditation you want to hear this that is not a sign to rush out I think one common mistake with meditation is people jump out of meditation oh it's over it's it's this is just a sign to say okay let's just gently slowly come back come back to to being here in this world as opposed to being there in the beingness so I think that's it so probably about 10 minutes so if you would like to just get yourselves seated comfortably wherever you want to be and I always find the first thing that's really helpful is just to take a few deeper breaths out that's always a sign that to the body that things are okay if our breathing is relaxed the body knows that things are okay we can just begin to relax in the body so first of all just just feeling that just feeling that sense of physically relaxing letting go of any need to hold the body in any position or anything like that and you'll probably notice as you do that sometimes maybe there's a greater sense of ease quietness probably notice thoughts running through your mind little thoughts in the present moment or you're noticing sounds around you sensations in the body you're saying this practice we're not we're not following the thoughts when you notice a thought just choose not now we've said we're not going to only just think about anything for the next 10 minutes so when you notice a thought just say okay not now later and just when we do that we just begin naturally to come back to just feeling ourselves in the present moment just feeling how it is and probably just noticing sensations in the body the natural movement of the body as you breathe not really focusing on anything I like to think of this as expanding our awareness it's like instead of zooming in which we do so often in our thinking we zoom in on something this is like zooming out having a more open expansive awareness of the present and just allowing it all to just be as it is with no judgment not trying to change anything and each time we just come back letting a thought go just coming back to noticing not only in the present but noticing how it feels as we just let the attention relax usually some sense of greater ease peace openness whatever it is different things for different people but just noticing noticing how it is when we begin to let the attention relax and then just noticing how our whatever whatever experience is there in the moment whatever it is in the background there's this sense of just our own beingness whatever you want to call it that sense of presence I amness and I think it's just just being that sense of here I am ah yes here I am noticing all these different experiences and not trying to focus on it you can't really focus on it but just like however however it is for you it's different things for different people however it is for you when you just become interested in that sense of here I am being that sense of personal presence just being interested in what that's like for you almost forgetting anything you might have heard about it just just being open to it and not trying to hold on to it at all you'll notice soon enough little thoughts start coming in again or you're going off somewhere else whatever it is just when you notice that just just repeating that same process we started with you notice the thinking just choosing not to follow it coming back to being here noticing any greater sense of ease that happens when you do that and then as you begin to just relax into the moment just again being interested in that quality of beingness presence and don't worry if you don't notice too much it's just the intention just to come back to noticing what's there behind all our experiences so I'll just leave us for a few minutes just to continue this practice in your own time just not following the thought allowing ourselves to come back and rest in the present moment and then just being interested in what this personal sense of beingness is like for you you're not trying to find anything but just noticing noticing what's there that's all.